Case Study: Why Families Weren't Moving In - What A Tour Audit Revealed!

The visit going well and a family feeling good are not always the same.

Real talk...

Families are visiting, loving the community, and still choosing somewhere else. For many owners and sales professionals, the instinct is to look at pricing, marketing, or the sales process itself. But what this episode reveals, through three real case studies, is that the experience during the visit is where most move-ins are won or lost.

In this episode of Start With Occupancy, I share my experience from some of my visit experience audits out loud, walking through three communities that represent the most common gaps I've seen. The result is a practical, honest, and sometimes uncomfortable look at what families actually experience when they come through the door and what that experience tells them about whether they would trust you with someone they love.

This is not a theory episode. Every case study is REAL.

What is discussed...

Case Study 1: The Beautiful Community Where Nobody Showed Up (The Care Experience)

Case Study 2: The Community That Lost the Family Before They Walked Through the Door (The First Impression)

Case Study 3: The Visit Where the Family Felt Like a Checkbox (The Communication Experience)

Quotable Moments From This Episode

• "The visit going well and the family feeling good are not always the same thing."
• "Being brand new and being beautiful may not mean being best in care."
• "Your staff is selling whether you trained them or not. The question is — what are they selling?"

Resources + Next Steps

• VIP Visit Experience Audit — schedule a VIP First Impression Audit with me. where we will identify the gaps that have become invisible to you. For communities getting visits without move-ins, or for owners preparing to open, contact me.
• Like, Subscribe and Review — help more families by letting me help more owners, operators, and sales professionals like you.

Take what you need. Share what helps. Come back for more.

Transcript

Tiffany Updated voice 0:00

All right, let's talk. Have you ever had a family visit your community, love the building, compliment your decor, and tell you everything smells great, and then you never hear from them again? And you're sitting there thinking, "Well, what happened? The visit went great. They seemed to love it. I don't understand." Well, here's what I want you to consider today as we are discussing this. The visit going well and a family feeling good are not always the same. I want you to stay right here with me because we're going to talk about that. Well, welcome to Start with Occupancy. I'm Tiffany Hill Allen, and I'm a marketing strategist who spent 15 years with inside this industry working on Wall Street for Wall Street companies, and now I'm here to serve you on Main Street. In today's episode, we're doing a case study, um, several case studies, and what I'm calling it is a visit experience audit. We're gonna look at three communities, three very different situations, and three lessons that I believe every owner and sales professional in this industry needs to hear. Because here's the truth that nobody wants to say out loud or say it enough, is that if families are visiting your community and not moving in, your sales process may not be the problem. Your pricing may not be the problem, but your experience might be. And the experience is everything because families are not just evaluating your community. They're imagining their mother, their grandparent, their dad living there, and they're asking themselves quietly without telling you, "Would I leave someone I love here with you?" Well, the question is answered before the paperwork ever comes out. So let's talk about what I have seen within my time in this industry, and let's talk about what you can do about it

Tiffany 1:54

Uh huh. Welcome to Start With Occupancy, the podcast for senior living owners, operators, and sales professionals. /Hi, I'm Tiffany, marketing strategist and former corporate baddie who got tired of producing results for wall street and wanted to make a change on main street. /I provide quick tips, idea nuggets, and case studies to help you with proven sales, marketing, and business development strategies along with leadership concepts so that you can inspire change, impact lives, and improve outcomes for the aging, their families and your teams. /I'm committed to equipping you with the tools, the knowledge and resources that you need to excel in your business. /With experience working inside senior living companies, large and small, I've developed a deep passion for advocating for the aging adult and those who care for them, all while driving business growth. /So whether you're already in the senior care industry or maybe you would like to be, if your mission is to serve them, my mission is to serve you. /Join me as we unravel the strategies and tactics that drive success in your business while making a difference in someone's life. /The goal is to touch, guide, and impact the lives of 10 families per month! /Are you with me? It's time to be inspired, gain practical tips and own your future.

Tiffany Updated voice 3:22

Let's talk about the beautiful community where no one's engaged, the care experience. The first community I wanna talk to you about was beautiful. I mean, genuinely beautiful. Updated finishes, great natural light, tasteful decor, clean as a whistle. The kind of community that photographs well and looks impressive on a website. You know what I'm talking about. Well, families came in, and they walked around, and they complimented the space. They looked at the brochure, and they still chose somewhere else. what they said they noticed was that they were not engaged. The person came in and the per- th- as they were walking around, while the chandelier was beautiful, She said, "It was absolutely gorgeous, Tiffany." And she said, "I should have known that this was gonna be a problem when we would walk down the halls and people would walk by and not even acknowledge us or look at us. she was like, "They really didn't even interact with my mom. I didn't see them interacting with the other residents, and that was my clue that being brand new and being beautiful may not mean being best in care." And I'll never forget that. You know why? Because she was someone who was very influential in our community, and knew the industry very well, and that was her experience with a brand new community that just opened here And then she said, "One thing that I will vehemently say from now on is don't judge the care by what you see surrounding you, the new finishes, the beautiful buildings, the bigness, the, the, you know, what was said was going to be done and what is really and actually done." And I thought, you know, that is so true. Our eyes can deceive us on what we think should happen because of what it looks like it could happen, but care really is up to the individual who's actually providing that and to the leadership who oversees the care is done. And that could be for an independent living community, too. How many times have I been into an independent living community that says, "We have all these activities. This is how we enrich our residents," and you go in and everyone is bored to death, or everyone is just sitting around. So what people see may not be the care, and I say care even in that that's delivered. Here's what the building could not do on its own. It could not smile at the family when they walked in or could it introduce a resident who was sitting in the common area and say, "Hey, Miss Louise, this is the Johnson family. They're visiting us today, and here's Mrs. Sue, and she's thinking about moving in." They couldn't do that. It could not make a grandmother feel like she was going to be known there or cared for there. The staff was not unkind. They just were not engaged, and they kept doing what they were doing, moving along the task-driven day that they have, not because they were bad at their jobs at all, but because nobody had ever told them that their presence during a family visit was part of keeping their job. That's a part of that process, right? Because no resident equals no money for salaries. And that family walked out of a building feeling nothing. No warmth, no connection, no sense that this place would love their person like they would, and so they kept looking. And here's what I want t- you to hear from this one thing. Your staff is selling whether you train them or not, whether you spend time with them or not. The question is, what are they selling? And if your team walks past a visiting family without acknowledgement, they just sold disconnection. If a resident is, is observed sitting alone in the corner and no one thinks of engaging with them, they just sold isolation. If your med tech smiles and says, "Oh, are you thinking about joining our family here? We'd love to have you," that five-second moment just sold belonging to them. You cannot manufacture that in a brochure or on a social media post or even the words you say, but you can train for it within your community. You can set the expectation, and you can make that visit experience a team responsibility, not just yours as an owner or the sales department. Number two, the community that lost the family as they walked through the door. My second case study is a doozer This has a totally different problem. And honestly, this one is harder to hear for some owners especially because it's visible. It's the, it's the physical- physicality of it, and it means that something needs to change before your next visit. I walked into a community where the first thing I noticed was dark walls, boxes strewn all over the place behind the receptionist area. Some were open, some were not. Just like you were unpacking from moving in last month. I mean, that type of boxes, right? They were not inside a storage room or, but they were actually near the entrance where people actually walk in. The lobby was dim. It was not cozy dim, like, oh, romantic. It was, like, dark and it doubled as the nurse's station, so it was cluttered and there was papers everywhere. And the thing is, medically, clinically, this community could have been excellent. The care may have been outstanding. Um, but that family walking in through the first time does not know that yet. What they know is what they see and what they saw was a total story. When I went to do the audit, it was a story. The owner was really excited about their place, excited about me coming in and looking at it and visiting, and they were saying how well they got so many compliments from family members of how well their care was. they told me, that they wanted my fresh eyes to take a look at it because it was, still struggling about fifty-five percent occupancy, for a while. And I was like, "Sure, I would love to come and see your community." I just walked in the door and I saw it from the get-go. On the outside, it was beautiful on the outside. They did a very good job on the outside. But soon as you walk through that door, it was okay, not the most welcoming And it was not welcoming because of the people, but the environment. And here is the reality about first impressions in senior living that nobody says clearly enough. Families arrive already anxious, already grieving a little bit, already second-guessing themselves for the decision that they're going to have to make, and that this is a living option that they're gonna have to consider. And they're walking in emotionally raw, and in that state, their brain is scanning the environment for one thing: Is this the place where my person will feel safe and cared for? Clutter says things fall through the cracks here. Darkness says we stopped paying attention. We can't turn off that light bulb. Boxes by the door says, "We're not ready for you. We know you're coming, but we're not ready." And in one community visit I, I visited, there was dead bugs on the windowsill in the m- model room that wasn't removed, mind you, for weeks, because I've been telling them about it. But it gives a family pause because it says if there's bugs and they're dead, which means they've been there for a while, and they're in the windowsill, and no one's thought to remove it, what would the kitchen look like? Right? None of that is what you mean to do or what you're trying to say or trying to convey, but that is what they hear through their eyes. So the fix here is not very expensive. It is just intentional. It is someone walking your entry and your common areas before every scheduled visit and asking, "What story does this space tell right now at this moment?" That is it. That is the audit. A well-lit, uncluttered entrance with something that smells welcoming, a staff ready to greet. What does the person hear? That is not a renovation. That is a standard operating procedure and one that you should really take a look at implementing whenever you know someone's coming in. But to be honest, it should be what it is all the time. You know, we used to say, um, Are you ready for company?" And that was the m- motto. I don't-- I'm not one who's like, "Get dressed up for company." I'm not one like, "Clean up 'cause company's coming over." When you have your home, you want it to be comfortable, lived in, but always ready for company to come in. Now, will there be moments like you have an event or things like that that might throw things off? But people can see that's temporary. But when they see things that look like this is how you live or this is how you maintain or this is how you keep up the home, this is what goes in people's mind. And if you don't have that standard in place right now, this is the episode where I'm going to challenge you to start to build it. Start looking at it. The third case study is the visit where the family felt like a checkbox, the communication experience. And this third one is the one that you need to sit with because it is the most common, believe it or not, and it is the most invisible to the person who's doing it. I have observed many community visits in my time. I can't begin to tell you how many. And I have coached sales professionals through this where everything on the surface looked good. They did the stuff. They were friendly. They knew the community. They covered the amenities. They handed over the rate sheet for the pricing at the right time. They, they did the process correct. But the family left feeling completely unseen. And why is that? Because that sales manager talked, like, a lot, but they never actually listened. They did not ask the prospective resident's name early in the conversation or used it throughout the visit. They did not ask, "What does a perfect day look like for your mother right now? What does she love to do? What does she miss that she used to do?" And then connect those answers to what the community offers, that connection. We used to call it needs and, um, needs-based analysis, right? So what is their need, and how do we fit their needs into how we can solve them inside of our community? They did not pause when the daughter started to get emotional and to sit with that moment because of the decision she's having to make or because of, um, what just happened. How many times have I heard someone says, "Yeah, my mom fell. She went to the hospital, and she, you know, was in the hospital for five days, and now we're starting to look." And the person says, "Mm-hmm, so she was living at home, and so what else is going on? What else do we need to know?" They go right, like, the woman just told you her mother, the woman who raised her, fell and is now in the hospital, has been there for five days, and you're looking for the next thing, as opposed to sitting in that moment and saying, "Oh, my gosh, how, how is she doing now? You must be going through a lot." If it was a normal conversation, would that be how you respond to someone who'd said that to you? And so the fact that they kept moving, going through a checklist, the family felt like a task really, like something to get through. I'm checking a box on your today's do- to-do list. I remember a 20-year professional in this business, and mind you, she was a sales professional, meaning, like, she was a high-ranking person who's been in this business for a long time, who prepared the salesperson in the community about her visiting with her mom. And she told her, "Look, this is the things my mom's gonna like. I'm telling you now what you need to do in terms to show her the things that she needs because she, like many older adults, was not like, "Yeah, I wanna move into assisted living," or anything like that. So she was trying to help the salesperson along the way, basically coaching her on what to say, what's gonna be the, the, the points that the mom is going to light up with. And literally, rarely do you even have, as a person inside of the community, to know what to say on a visit, where here you're being coached by the person who has probably 30 years of experience, who's dealing with her own mom and is telling you exactly what to say. Well, not only did she not do those things, but she never asked what the lady's name was as she was taking her around the community. She ne- she never heeded the direction of the daughter who was telling her what she should show her mom and what her mom would light up with when she saw it or what she should possibly say to her mom or introduce her mom to that other resident that was there. It was a total, total bust. Very much a total bust. And man, when I tell you my colleague was so disappointed, she was like, "All she had to do was do this, and my mom would've been there, easy." And here's what that communicates to a family. Even if you never said a single wrong thing, You did not really see us. You seen an inquiry. And families making this decision, the decision to make a transition move into someone else's care, they will not move forward with someone that does not see them. It doesn't matter how beautiful the building is. The three things that fix the communication experience are very, very simple. They're not easy necessarily, but they're simple. One, learn the person's name. Ask for the resident's name in the first two minutes and use it, not your mother or your loved one, her name. Tell me about Margaret. What is she like? And then the moment that the family starts to trust you, they're gonna start talking back and forth to you about Margaret. Two, ask before you tell. Before you walk them through a single room, sit down and ask what matters most to them. What are they worried about? What would make them feel right about this decision? Then build your visit around what they tell you. Three, match their pace, not your timeline. This is something that a lot of people mess up. If they need to slow down, you slow down. If they start tearing up, stop. Acknowledge it. You're not selling a product. You're sitting with someone who is going through the hardest moment of their time and of their family's life. Honor that. It will do more for your close rate than any script ever will. I'm remembering, um, an old mantra I would say, um, when starting in this industry, and it's the core of what families want. Well, what is core? Care over real estate. Here's the line through with all three of these case studies. None of them lost their family over price. One lost over disconnection, one lost them over the story, being told before they even walked in, and one lost because the family never felt heard. And here is what that means for you. If you're discounting your rate trying to compete, please stop. Pull back. Look at the experience first, because a family who feels seen, welcome, safe, will many times find a way to make the numbers work for them. A family who feels like a transaction will find a cheaper transaction somewhere else. The visit experience is your most underdeveloped sales tool that you have, and it does not cost what you think it's gonna cost to fix. Sometimes it costs just training and continual reinforcement conversations with your staff. Sometimes it costs a walkthrough of your entrance with fresh eyes that haven't been there before. Sometimes it just costs you slowing down and asking more questions before you even start the visit. And other times, it costs getting someone in there with you who can see what you cannot see anymore because you have been there every single day. Outside eyes catch what familiar eyes won't. So that is what e-exactly the VIP Visit Experience Audit is designed to do. I do them and what I look for is not just what is broken, but I look for what is invisible to you because it's familiar, the experience gaps that have become part of the background. If you have been getting visits into your community without getting the move-ins and you cannot figure out why, or if you're just opening and want to prep for that first conversation with families and prospective residents in a safe space that will not impact your potential revenue first, then it's worth having this conversation with me. you can find out the link in the show notes. So I want to leave you with this question that I always come back to at the end of every audit. And now I want you to ask yourself honestly the same question every family is asking themselves on their drive home from leaving your community. Would I move in? Not would you recommend it? Not are you proud of it? would you have someone you love extensively and deeply move into the place I experienced today? If the answer is anything other than an immediate yes, you have work to do. And now you know where to start as always, right here at Start With Occupancy. Thanks for joining me. Take what you need, share what helps, and come back for more. I'll see you in the next episode.