Presented by Traci Bild & Jayne Sallerson It’s Time to Raise the Bar

Raising The Bar You MUST add the sales component to the puzzle to survive and THRIVE! Must be EQUAL priority. It’s Time to Raise the Bar

Raising The Bar

Industry occupancy: – IL % Dec % Dec % Dec 10 87% July % – AL % Dec % Dec 09 88% Dec 10 89% July % – CCRCs are now 89.7% occupied, down from 90%. – You should be at % at all times (you are close!). THERE HAS BEEN A SOLID UPTICK IN OCCUPANCY SINCE 4Q2010

Raising The Bar Record attrition. Older and frailer new residents coming in. Length of stay now down to just under a year and a half. Competitors discounting at record rates. More demanding and educated consumers. Unprepared sales counselors.

Raising The Bar Krackel Mr. Goodbar Milk Chocolate Dark Chocolate

Raising The Bar Having the right people in your community is one of pieces of the occupancy puzzle. Are you hiring the right people?

Raising The Bar Emeritus Senior Living’s state of the art and scientific approach to profiling our Employees.

Raising The Bar Mr. Good Bar – –You are analytical and logical. You gather data first before giving an opinion, play the devil’s advocate at meetings, tend to see all the possibilities and drive people crazy by sharing all the “what- ifs”. You hate deadlines and put off starting things as the consummate procrastinator. You like to be the expert, but do things in your own time frame. You have a tendency to overanalyze things (analysis paralysis. You like there to be rules that everyone follows because your work best with structure…and you hate surprises

Raising The Bar Special Dark- You are patient, thoughtful, insightful, reflective, dependable, resourceful, loyal, and you like to see a project through from start to finish. You are an individualist, a problem solver. You work well with difficult people, though you have little patience for incompetence or lies. You set high standards for yourself and others

Raising The Bar Milk Chocolate- –You are an all American, love baseball, mom and apple pie. You are the cheerleader for your program, a good PR person, a great fundraiser, level headed, kind, thoughtful, playful, nurturing, dependable and loyal. You help others to shine and you always remember everyone’s birthday. Others often turn to you for help.

Raising The Bar Krackel –You are creative, optimistic, and always able to see the cup as ½ full. You are messy (that desk or office), but organized (eventually you’ll find that missing item – you know you will). You like to be hands on. You’re a little off-beat, ditzy, funny, friendly, outgoing and always willing to help. You like the surprising things in life. You also appreciate situations that allow flexibility, change and growth

ED’s are pivotal for creating a Sales Culture

Raising The Bar Entire team is engaged and energetic about sales. You talk about it every day!! Fast response to inquires High occupancy. Great Customer Satisfaction. Huge resident and family involvement.

Raising The Bar SALES: Systematic process of REPETITIVE and MEASURABLE milestones, by which a salesperson relates his offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve his goal in an economic way CULTURE: Generally refers to PATTERNS of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance.

Raising The Bar Are you out of ideas? Tried everything to grow occupancy? You must master sales systems to grow occupancy, revenue, and investor return. Before you master sales systems, you must master your mind. As a leader, must teach your team how to master their mind and get them focused on what it is they want.

Raising The Bar

Filling a community is like putting pieces of a puzzle together. You have to slide one piece in at a time until the puzzle is complete. You have to know what the pieces are and the order in which you need to place them. Why we have filling buildings down to a science. How does that benefits you?

Raising The Bar The difference is in the systems and focus on selling. Look where we have the potential to go!

Raising The Bar A SYSTEM for increasing traffic: Outreach. A SYSTEM for the inquiry process. A SYSTEM for personal visits. A SYSTEM for effective follow up. A SYSTEM to retain residents. Keep it SIMPLE! One step for each aspect of the sales process, that’s it! Must commit and hold people accountable

Raising The Bar

100% communities...what is their secret sauce? Executive Director Resident Care Director (RN,LPN) Marketing Director Collaborate everyday and throughout the day.

Raising The Bar No longer optional. Must come from the top down and be integrated into your culture. Must become a priority and part of your LT strategy. Leadership must set the example. You have to TEACH people HOW to create this type of environment in their communities.

Raising The Bar As an industry we simply don’t collaborate. Executive director, sales counselor and director of nursing must collaborate regularly. Second tier is the departments heads and line staff. Must have business basics 101 for all new hires and current staff to foster collaboration. This is essential to growing to 100% occupancy.

Raising The Bar Make collaboration a consistent part of your message. Never stop talking about it. Reward staff who step up to the task in front of their peers. Incentives work great! Work with the ED to help him/her understand why collaboration is so important and what he/she can do to facilitate it. YOU set the example.

Raising The Bar

Main reason you are not full. What exactly are IPAs? Why do non-IPA’s get all the time and attention? What should the expectation be? How do you hold people accountable? Tough love: What do you do with non- performers?

Raising The Bar Why do we fail to implement here? I see a lot of “All talk and no action.” There is little to no consequence for people who do not perform. Sales counselors are doing everything BUT selling. ED needs to protect their time and ensure 90% of it is spent doing IPAs. Most have not had to really sell in the past.

Raising The Bar Phone coverage for concierge/receptionist or breaks. -1 hour per day -5 hours per week -20 hours per month Chasing paperwork for move-ins -5 move-ins -30 minutes per move-in -2.5 hours per month Signing Resident Agreements -5 move-ins per month -1 hour per move-in -5 hours per month

Raising The Bar Coordinating move-in on move-in day- (handling issues etc.) -5 move-ins -1 hour per move-in -5 hours per month Activity Related Tasks (resident parties, holiday decorations, resident activities) -1 hour per week -4 hours per month

Raising The Bar 36 hours a month on NON -REVENUE GENERATONG TASKS. You just lost at least one move-in for the month-$ per move-ins. Annualized lost revenue- $42,000 If you lost 1 per month- Annualized Lost Revenue- $504,000

Rewards people for their EFFORTS versus their results. Get people focused on what they CAN CONTROL versus what they can’t. Introduce them to the “formula for success” which simplifies filling the building in a BIG way.

System versus idea…

Raising The Bar Referred leads are four times more likely to close than non-referred leads. What is your referral plan?

Raising The Bar Tying into collaboration, Ops must free up sales to go out & do outreach. There must be a strong back up team in place as well. Your Sales Counselor should be out in the community 2-3 mornings per week working referrals and GOING STRAIGHT FROM HOME. Focus must be to bring value, educate, and communicate with referral sources consistently.

Raising The Bar The #1 most important skill factor required to drive occupancy is to get more people in the door.

Raising The Bar Our benchmark is 60% with a goal of 75% Our student average is 74%.

Raising The Bar 40% of all incoming calls are mismanaged. 75%+ are mismanaged at night and on weekends. HALF YOUR LEADS ARE COMING IN AT NIGHT & ON WEEKENDS.

Raising The Bar Getting people in the door is the #1 most important skill factor required to drive occupancy.

Raising The Bar Inquiry Connection Sheets – Adult Child – Prospective Resident – Front Desk Introduced this to you last year. Did you use it? A location for your tool box. COLOR CODE CCS

Raising The Bar Obtain control of the call. Focus prospects on their needs. BILD value. Book a personal visit. Every caller is treated as a HOT lead! Follow the system and move shops to 100% and conversions to 75%.

Raising The Bar

Average Visit to Move in AL = 22% - Our Benchmark is 40-50%* IL = 20% - Our Benchmark is 40% CCRC = 12% - Our Benchmark is 25% Our student average is 40% *Total Visit to Move In includes all re-visits which impacts conversion

Raising The Bar People used to look at 1.9 communities prior to making a move. It then moved to 4 communities prior to making a move. Today, it’s as high as 7-8 communities. How do you stand out?

Raising The Bar What do your prospects FEEL when they come into the community?

Raising The Bar Sales counselors ARE NOT pre-planning their appointments. Communities blend together and no one stands out from the other. It hurts but it’s true. Industry shops indicate over and over that the experience had by shoppers is not positive overall. Why would people be excited to buy?

Raising The Bar Why we are not doing it: Never had to in the past. We are not in a proactive mindset and not looking to see the sale through. It’s always about the next person walking in the door for the sales counselors. Not USING this piece of the system consistently.

Raising The Bar Require that visit planning sheets are done on all pre-set appointments. Spot review them weekly. Talk the language. Engage staff to come up with ideas and to foster collaboration. Never stop asking, “What was your WOW?”

Which works and why?

Raising The Bar Part of IPAs and it is NOT happening at anywhere near the level it should be. Consumers are demanding service and we are not giving it beyond the initial tour. Need a solid, follow up system in place, with measurable results weekly. This must be closely managed if you really want to turn this around.

Raising The Bar Why it’s not happening: We all talk about it but sales counselors are not held accountable. There is no consequence. Lack of effective follow up systems and tools. Call reluctance…it’s very real.

Raising The Bar You can have a great inquiry system in place and an incredible tour experience. Yet if follow up does not happen, the sale will not happen. “He will follows up gets the sale.” It is critical that you focus on this aspect of the business to NET up and grow occupancy.

Raising The Bar Think, “Membership program.” Get wait list people to experience the community so they want more of that experience. Engage more often and they will move sooner. The grass must be greener on your side of the fence!

Raising The Bar You must have a culture of accountability. People will rise to the level you expect of them. Sales counselors seek accountability and want you to notice when they perform. Holding people accountable requires laser focus on core metrics you are trying to improve.

Raising The Bar Why we don’t hold people accountable: In the past, sales came easy. Wasn’t needed. Not sure where to draw the line. Managers are afraid of losing good people. Loyalty to staff impedes ability to effectively manage results.

Raising The Bar Spot check community lead bank weekly. Don’t ask, go right in and look at the evidence. Build follow up call blocks into their calendars. Provide solid follow up tools that foster success (they have them, are they using?). Hold them accountable to follow up calls per day. Create action plans when they do not do it.

Raising The Bar Never take your eye off of the magic number. Maintain CONSISTENT FOCUS each and every week in contrast to many managers or RDSM who give all their time to challenged properties only. Everyone gets attention every week until 100% occupied. Say the same thing over and over and over until the team gets it. Don’t let people off the hook. Role play, ask to see forms completed, etc.

Raising The Bar Sales, operations, and resident care must communicate to make sure the experience is what’s been promised. Sales generates new move ins, ops and nursing find ways to keep existing residents. It requires a collaborative team effort to keep community full. Share why you are not admitting people, etc.

Raising The Bar Make it a system to have sales hand off info to ops and resident care to ensure follow through. The more involved ops and nursing is early on, the more bought it they will be when the resident moves in. Connect the pieces of the puzzle.

Raising The Bar We motivate, educate and inspire. We find out what’s in it for them to get their building to 100%. We use DISC assessments to make sure the right person is in the chair. We make it about them, not us. Our goal is to make the team look amazing!

Raising The Bar What is it you want?

Raising The Bar