January 2019 //
Inspiring Senior Lifestyle Marketing & Sales Teams to New Heights
GET 2019 OFF TO A
HIGH-FLYING
START
A MESSAGE FROM
THE CREW
Can You Relate? As we look back on the holidays, the memories we hold dearest are those that celebrate our relationships. They’re not only fundamental to our happiness, they’re the foundation of the work we do and the services we provide. The way we at Senior Lifestyle nurture our relationships sets us apart in every aspect of what we do. You see it in our marketing messages and how we sell to prospects. At the end of the day, each flyer, each sale, each phone call is an opportunity to care for our residents and their relationships. As we begin our work in 2019, let’s ring in our best year yet by enriching our relationships with each other and those we serve.
From Your Sales & Marketing Leadership Team
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TRAINING ALL-CALL MAKE THE RESOLUTION TO STAY INFORMED Keeping abreast of all the new Senior Lifestyle initiatives can be challenging IF you don’t take advantage of all the training opportunities offered. In 2019, resolve to participate.
Data integrity modeling
Analyzing lead sources with Invoca
January digital strategies and ongoing Thursday workshops
Quarterly planning for new and experienced team members
Sales Academy online resources Social Media Academy
Get out of your holding pattern. Your attendance is not only important to your personal career, it’s vital to the success of our company. So many seniors out there are depending on you. If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear them. Email marketingsupport@seniorlifestyle.com.
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A T TA B O Y !
Catherine Erikson, National Director of Marketing & Krystyna Bontrager, Marketing Manager We’re high-fivin’ the collaboration between the Barrington of West Chester and Grapevine
Designs. When Sales & Marketing Director Lisa Fey needed a rush placement and contract for N2 Publishing, she called her Account Manager, Holly Robertson. From there, Grapevine took over with
Love a good party?
quick negotiations,
er, At Barrington of West Chest day. we’ll celebrate you every
event recommendations and
SUNDAY, JANUARY 27 10:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Let’s get the party going. Join us for happy hour with music and dancing.
Based on Lisa’s insights about what
makes the Barrington community so
special, the Grapevine creative team designed two concepts — both of
TUESDAY, JANUARY 8 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Featuring Jazz Vocalist Wendell Anderson (It’s our Wacky Winter Wardrobe Happy Hour so wear your wildest.)
Seating will be on the half
which Lisa loved. The two ads will be
A/B tested and supported with flyers, emails and Facebook marketing.
Cozy up in your own spacio us apartment home surroun ded by caring, friendly staff and great new friends.
Join us for a delicious brunch.
apartment With your own spacious staff home and an experienced ess, life dedicated to your happin year long. here is just more fun all
creative development.
Turn winter blues into blue-sky senior living.
hour between 10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. RSVP today.
today. g. Limited availability. RSVP
Limited seatin
513-777-4457
Living | 2495R Independent Living | Assisted 7222 Heritagespring Drive West Chester, OH 45069 E.COM WWW.SENIORLIFESTYL
513-777-4457
Independent Living | Assisted Living | 2495R 7222 Heritagespring Drive West Chester, OH 45069 WWW.SENIORLIFESTYL E.COM
YOUR ACCOUNT MANAGER IS ON BOARD
Your Grapevine account manager is your one point of contact that will work with you on media and creative requests from start to finish. Kristin Walker 913-307-0225 | kwalker@grapevinedesigns.com Amaka Aniefuna • Kendall Jamison • Lisa Reed Kris Miner 913-563-4545 | kminer@grapevinedesigns.com Frankie Knighton • Regina Umanskiy Holly Robertson 913-563-4536 | hrobertson@grapevinedesigns.com Heather Keena
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Kamron Collins-Johnson 913-563-4544 | kcollins-johnson@grapevinedesigns.com Beth Behr • Dave Richie
WE’RE GOING TO BE
Grape Friends
To create engagement on Facebook, you can send your photos and news to your account manager. Here are some suggestions:
1. Shoutouts. These posts celebrate resident and employee birthdays, anniversaries and personal achievements.
2. Happenings. Snap photos of your residents and prospects during activities and programs.
3. Features. Have you renovated or restyled an area? Is the garden in bloom? Once your account manager receives your email with photos and details, our team will photoshop images, if needed, and ensure it goes online, along with other engaging posts. Plus, our social media specialist will be monitoring your page for any negative comments.
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W O R K F R O N T | New Online Proofing System With the launch of WorkFront, you’ll be able to review, comment and approve your ads, flyers, brochures and other creative requests online. One of the great benefits of this system is that your comments and requests will be documented, eliminating confusion or mistakes. Look for notifications sent by your account manager via email.
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R E V I E W C A R D S | One Step Closer to Converting Prospects Check out the Grapevine Storefront for review cards to distribute to your residents and employees. With every positive online review, you’re one step closer to converting that prospect or finding your dream employee. Resident reviews Any time a resident compliments a service, ask your staff to hand out the review card and say, “Would you be kind enough to give us a review?”
Employee reviews Give your best staff these cards and ask, “Would you be kind enough to review us on the Glassdoor or Indeed website? Here are the instructions.”
Help shape the future of Senior Lifestyle. Let’s get the reviews going.
W O R K S H O P S | January Digital Strategy Workshops The marketing team has been getting lots of questions about our 2019 digital strategy, so we’ve focused all our training in January on just that subject. Knowing and understanding this information is essential for all sales and marketing directors. Make time in your schedule to attend. JOIN US THURSDAYS AT 11 A.M. CST.
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WHAT’S YOUR
PLAN?
—Cindy Ames, Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing Training The key to our success with customers is taking time to plan their community visit experience. And yet, all too often we don’t take time to plan for the visit and end up with less-than-desirable outcomes. As the new year begins, examine your practices and determine if you need to add planning time to your routine. 1. After you take an inquiry call, quickly outline a plan for the customer based on their particular needs and interests. Start with asking yourself what information you still need and formulate questions that you will ask during the visit.
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2. Think about the people they need to meet. You will want to introduce the customer to the key associates who will provide solutions for the customer’s needs. Be sure to include your ED when providing introductions. 3. Write a feature and benefit statement. This step takes the most time because it’s the most important. Far too often all that’s written down is the feature. It’s easy to write a feature: medication management, transportation, etc. What takes more skill and effort is writing down a statement that explains how the feature will benefit the customer, using their story in the explanation. Taking time to write this down will allow you to seamlessly deliver benefit statements throughout the walk portion of the visit. Remember, your benefit statements help the customer to connect the dots between our services (features) and their needs. You want them to walk away explicitly knowing how you can help. 4. Create a wow moment. Sometimes a gift to astound can be challenging to create on your own. Use your daily Stand Up meeting to brainstorm ideas to create high points. 5. Lastly, plan your customer’s next step(s). What is most appropriate next step for this particular customer based on their situation? A deposit and assessment? Maybe a home visit or invitation to a community event? By offering a next step that makes sense to your customer, they are more likely to say yes to you.
IMPORTANT TIP: Get your team involved. Take the Planning Tool with you to your Stand Up meeting and ask key associates to be part of the community visit experience. Having them showcase their services and solutions not only demonstrates what we can provide for the customer, it also connects the associate with the customer. Choosing not to plan for a scheduled community visit can leave you with lackluster results. Plan now to pick up this task in 2019 and watch your impact grow.
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Janine Witte, National Director of Sales
Making a Difference | Changing Lives I would like to recognize the following exceptional performances for November 2018 sales! These tireless teams well surpassed their three month move-in average by helping so many more seniors spend a Happy Thanksgiving in our wonderful communities!
Senior Lifestyle used to have a standard of four move-ins per month. When I came here, I identified how that did not reflect the opportunities possible for many communities, and it was unreachable for some very small, remotely located ones. If you have heard “Four move-ins a month is the expectation,� toss it out the window and work with your Executive Director and Regional Director of Operations to identify the best goal for your community.
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All of these outcomes reflect a much more important picture: This many MORE seniors are living a better life, they can access independence again and they can enjoy services they would not otherwise have. What you do every day for people is very special; always remember that! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and extend to you my deepest appreciation.
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303 E Upper Wacker Drive, Suite 2400 Chicago, IL 60601 www.SeniorLifestyle.com