The LIFT l September 2019 by slproductions

SEPTEMBER 2019 //

Inspiring Senior Lifestyle Marketing & Sales Teams to New Heights

YOUR TICKET TO HIGH FLYING SUCCESS 1

A Message

FR OM THE CREW September is filled with transitions. Autumn makes its presence known with shorter days, cooler temps and colorful displays. A perfect season to help seniors transition into your community. What changes would you like to see in your sales process? How can you become a more trusted advisor to prospective seniors and their families? This issue of Lift is filled with how-tos that you can easily transform into can-dos. We hope youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s information helpful and valuable.

Wishing you all a season filled with success, Your Sales & Marketing Leadership Team

DDSM CORNER

IM P R OVE SPE ED-TO- L E A D : DIG ITAL LE ADS A N D BEYON D ! – Jordana Jobanputra

Throughout my senior living career I have always tried to put myself in the customer’s shoes, to work with compassion and urgency to respond to their needs. It wasn’t until I was faced with looking for senior living for my grandmother, that it all became even more real for me. I did my research, I had chosen my top three choices, I reached out to schedule tours and ... crickets. I was shocked at the lack of urgency to respond to my need! This was an ah-ha moment for me and one that I have carried with me ever since. So, where did it go wrong? This experience made me reflect upon what determines how valuable a lead is. Is it their buying time frame? The source type (paid or non-paid)? Or could it be your perceived thoughts on how ‘good’ that lead really is? Do these factors ultimately play a role in how quickly (or not) you respond?

LET’S DIVE IN! When our customers search for senior living, they almost always start with an online search. As we know, since the senior living purchase is highly considered, most customers will place a call to schedule a tour or fill out an online form to be contacted. Our digital marketing goals are to increase engagement with these new leads in an effort to enable long term, sustainable, low-cost generation. To optimize the digital advertising ROI and acquire even more prospects, it is important to look at driving these valuable call conversions.

Speed to lead is one of the most important contributing factors to your lead conversion. Prospects and their families are typically viewing four or more senior living websites during the initial stages of their search and third-party referral agencies are sharing one lead with at least three to four providers. How quickly you respond to a lead sets you apart from your competitors.

WHY DOES LEAD RESPONSE TIME MATTER?

78%

of customers buy from the first responder.

Responding within the first hour wins

39% After one

35+%

of the business.

of senior living sales directors wait more than 12

hours

to respond to one lead. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not be a part of this statistic!

hour of no contact to an inquiry,

the ability to schedule a tour drops by

The average cost per senior living lead is

$431 with a conversion rate of

50%. 30%.

That brings value to low-cost digital leads over third-party aggregators.

SO WHAT’S THE SECRET FORMULA? SPEED:

Connect with each new lead in 15 minutes or less. Tip! Send a text for a more immediate response and confirm a call time that works for the prospect.

PERSISTENCE:

Try to connect with the customer at least 3 times in the first 24 hours. Follow the SLC Lead nurturing schedule to ensure timely follow up regardless of source type.

PRIORITIZATION:

Use the “Last In / First Out” method. Start by connecting with your newest leads and work your way back into your database.

DELEGATION:

Train your backup team members to assist with initial contact if you are not able to follow up within 15 minutes.

Regardless of the source, it is important to meet prospects and influencers with resources and calls-to-action that are relevant and helpful for wherever they are in their journey.

HAPPY SELLING!

Sources: McKnight’s Senior Living.com, Investis Digital

DISCOVERY AND CLOSING’S IMPACT —Cindy Ames, Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing Training On a regular basis the Sales & Marketing Training Team listens to your mystery shops to seek ways we can provide support and training to help you succeed greater in your sales role. In case you didn’t know, two mystery shops are requested by our team on every new sales hire. The first one takes place three - six weeks after hire and the second shop takes place after the DSM has had the Skills Implementation Site Visit or, in the case of the Sales Counselor, has completed Sales & Marketing Academy. Trends I’d like to share two trends we are currently noticing in the shops. 1. The first is the lack of discovery.

Yes, we see the questions on the Inquiry Tool being asked … and that’s it. What we’re not seeing is the pursuit of deeper questioning.

Planes/Trains

Great! You just learned mom likes to read.

It can sound something like this, “I completely

Well, what specifically does she like to read?

understand the need to check their schedule.

Does she have a favorite genre or author?

Let’s go ahead and make a tentative

When does she like to read? Where does she

appointment now that will work for our

like to read? These types of questions allow us

schedules. When you meet with your sister,

to understand more fully about the person and

ask if the date and time works for her. If not,

we are better able to create a personalized

give me a call back and we can change it.”

community visit experience for them when they visit the community.

By consistently doing deeper discovery, you will be able to make greater emotional

In addition, through the disclosing of more

connections and provide personalized

meaningful thoughts we can connect on a

community visit experiences. THIS WILL

more emotional level. Granted, you might

GROW YOUR BUSINESS! Especially when you

not be connecting on an emotional level with

combine it with securing time activated next

books, but you never know! Your customer is

steps that resonate with your customer.

likely to be passionate about their hobbies and interests and it would be easy to emotionally connect over those questions. Also, think of what outcomes you might generate from doing deeper discovery on a question like, “What’s your greatest concern?” You will likely generate emotional connections. 2. The second trend is the lack of an effective close. Your goal at the end of an inquiry call is to create a timeactivated next step. Mailing a brochure is not a time-activated next step! If a roadblock is brought up whereby the caller says they need to check in with their husband, brother, sister, neighbor, etc. before scheduling an appointment, agree AND suggest scheduling a tentative appointment.

July Event Recap Call tracking numbers are uniquely assigned to all paid media ads and direct mail. This data gives us insight into what events are generating the most responses. Only calls over 30 seconds are counted, and duplicate phone numbers are eliminated.