"REVELATIONS OF A MYSTERY SHOPPER"

Assisted Living Success, May 2003

You know your marketing staff is doing a good job - or at least you think they are. Your staff consists of warm friendly people, they have been trained on how to present your retirement or assisted living community and the property looks great. But they aren't closing sales, although inquiries are high and walk-in traffic is good. What could possibly be wrong?

With increased frequency, retirement housing companies are starting to apply the techniques used in many other industries. In many cases, this consists of "shopping" both the company's own sales staff and/or that of their competitors. This is not intended to be "big brother" snooping to see what is happening, but bears a closer relationship to quality control. Some forward looking companies actually use the data gathered to create a benchmark or standard for excellence in sales performance against which all of their sites and on-site staff can be measured.

In a recent assignment for just such a company, we traveled to more than 40 different communities owned or under management by a top-ranked company. The facts revealed were simply amazing. In nearly every case, we found warm, friendly staff. These were people devoted to their profession of providing happy and supportive environments for their clientele. In addition, they asked good qualifying questions about the prospect's health needs and were fair on determining social needs or desires. They understood the product offering, the level of services and the price structure. They also gave tours of the buildings that were interesting and informative.

Where the process almost always broke down was in determining the financial qualifications of the prospect. The people who sell and lease retirement housing are "big ticket sales people". A problem exists because they don't know it! My colleague, Joe Roche, introduced me to this concept and I have continued to expand upon it.

In our training seminars we explain to participants that they are in a league with those who sell luxury automobiles, fine jewelry, expensive artwork and antiques, yachts, furs, large stock and bond purchases and also high priced homes.

The average sale (lease) of an assisted living unit is worth about $36,000 to $48,000 a year and on average most residents stay two to five years. Thus, this sale could be worth $72,000 to $240,000. For Independent CCRCs the entrance fees are ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 with monthly service fees in the $30,000 a year range. The value of that sale could easily be worth $750,000 to $1 million.

Learn to be a Financial Counselor

Now I invite you to take a look at your sales staff or invite them to take a look in the mirror. Do they think, act, dress and speak like the type of people we usually see selling the aforementioned products? While this introspection is going on, let's also question whether they have the confidence to discuss the financial requirements needed for a prospect to live in this community. Can they ask the critical questions about a person's monthly or annual income or if any budget considerations exist? Very few people have the ability to look ahead and estimate costs of living in a retirement housing environment simply because they have no knowledge or history on which to base their decisions. In many cases this may also necessitate acting as a financial counselor to either prospect or adult child.

Many times the next challenge is disposing of a home that has been lived in for more than 40 years or more. Now our "big ticket salesperson" has to have at least some general knowledge of the local real estate market, how to interview and select an agent, discuss comparbles, projected length of the selling cycle and possible financial vehicles that may serve to bridge the transition of the move in. Asking the right questions and knowing how to direct a prospect to the appropriate source for these answers should certainly be part of the effective salesperson's repertoire.

Closers Win, Order Takers Lose

The other area of weakness that we see in most shopping assignments comes at the very end of the sales process. Salespeople simply do not "ask for the business." The best presentation in the world will not work if at the end the professional sales person does not close the sale. Unfortunately, our fine people have been pre-conditioned to expect that the prospect will have to think more about the opportunity. This has created a small army of retirement housing sales people who are "tour givers and order takers." By this we mean staff that can demonstrate the community and write up the application form or residency reservation if, just by chance, the prospect decides on their own that they wish to make the decision to live there.

It is true that the move to an assisted living or retirement community may not be a quick decision. But if the question is not asked, the prospect walks away without having received the message that this is a sales process with a begninning and an end. The salesperson should lay the groundwork that a decision is expected. This is also a perfect opportunity to take our special offer out of the drawer to create a sense of urgency. This offer might consist of a unit that carries a price reduction, or the offer of an interior upgrade package or moving allowance. Whatever the offer, it should have a finite time to act attached to it.

Training and coaching are keys to creating a top-flight staff of big-ticket sales professionals. We know our industry professionals have mastered warm, friendly, caring, altruism, qualifying information gathering and tour giving. Now if we can groom staff into financial information advisors and closers we can move into the rarefied ranks of true high-level sales professionals. And oh yes, the side benefit? No more occupancy problems and reduced marketing costs.

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