New Era of Selling Seniors Housing

WE HAVE ENTERED A NEW
ERA OF SELLING SENIORS
HOUSING

© 2012 Bild & Company

INDUSTRY TRENDS
• Record attrition
• Older and frailer new residents
coming in.
• Length of stay now down to just
under a year and a half (AL).
• Competitors discounting at record
rates.
• More demanding and educated
consumers.
• Unprepared sales counselors.


INDUSTRY INFO
• Industry occupancy:
– IL 07 93.8% Dec 08 89.8% Dec 09 88.2%
Dec 10 87%
July 11 87.7% Oct 11 87.7%
– AL 07 91.5% Dec 08 88.9% Dec 09 88% Dec
10 89% July 11 88.4% Oct 11 88.4% (little
to no change)
– CCRCs are now 89.7% occupied, down from
90%.
– You should be at 98-100% at all times (you are
close!).
– Our portfolio of 200+ grew by 9.3% in 2009 &
9.4% in 2010.
HOVERING AT 88%


THE ECONOMIC
OUTLOOK

How can we stand out, differentiate and grow
while others decline?


CHANGE BUSINESS AS
USUAL
• It’s time to step out of the seniors
housing box.

6/13/2012 © 2012 Bild & Company 7

WHILE IT USED TO BE
ABOUT CARE AND
OPERATIONS…
You MUST add the sales component
to the puzzle to survive and THRIVE!
Must be EQUAL priority.

©2012 Bild & Company

COLLABORATION
• No longer optional.
• Must come from the top down and
be integrated into your culture.
• Must become a priority and part of
your long term strategy.
• You have to TEACH people HOW
to create this type of environment
in their communities.


COLLABORATION
• 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.


TRUTH
Most companies in our industry are out of
ideas & have tried everything to grow
occupancy.
• ERA must master sales systems to
grow occupancy and revenue.
• Employees must believe full occupancy
is possible.
• We have to merge new behaviors
(systems) with mindset to see strong
results.


100% OCCUPANCY
• 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 that will benefit ERA.

LEADER FOCUS
• Participate
– Take calls, give tours
– Participate in outreach activity
– You don’t have to have all the answers, but you
have to ask the right questions!

• Accountability
– You’ll celebrate successes with me, but also
support me through barriers or obstacles

• Promote a sales centered culture
– Do your all staff in-services have a sales and
marketing piece to them?
– Documentation and follow up
– Set expectations for back up team


VALIDATE

Saying “Thank You”
• You can never say Thank You enough.
• To make it really effective …
– Make it personal
– Make it specific
– Make it public (for those who like
recognition from others)
– Keep it real
• Make it part of your daily “To Do” List
• Motivate your team to be the best of the best!


REDUCE TURNOVER
• It wasn’t what they expected. • Over 50 % of people recruited in
• Not the right fit for the position to an organization will leave within
• Too little coaching and feedback. two years.
• They feel unrecognized. • One in four of new hires will leave
within six months.
• Work/life imbalance.
• Nearly 70% of organizations
report that staff turnover has a
negative financial impact due to
the cost of recruiting, hiring, and
training a replacement employee
and the overtime work of current
employees that’s required until the
organization can fill the vacant
position.
– HR.BLR.com

©2012 Bild &Company

LEADER VS. MICROMANAGER
Leader Micromanager
• Open, Honest • Directing work
Conversation • Questioning decisions
• Weekly Meetings • Interfering in
• Adding Value meetings, contacts,
etc.


RETENTION
STARTS WITH
THE
RELATIONSHIP


GALLUP FOUND THAT TOP
PERFORMING SALES PEOPLE
SOLD BETWEEN 6 AND 10 TIMES
MORE THAN THEIR AVERAGE
COUNTERPARTS.


ALLEVIATE BARRIERS OR
OBSTACLES
• Drive out the
work that makes
your sales team
“busy” but
doesn’t promote
productivity
• Sales team
MUST focus
solely on IPA
(Income
Producing
Activity)
• Revenue
generation=
Strong Business

SALES SYSTEMS VERSUS
IDEAS AND PROCESSES
What’s the difference & how does this
impact you?


OUR SALES SYSTEMS
EQUATE TO A
DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED
CUSTOMER AND
RESIDENT EXPERIENCE.

SALES SYSTEMS TO MASTER

• A SYSTEMfor increasing traffic: Outreach
(tomorrow).
• A SYSTEM for the inquiry process (today).
• A SYSTEM for personal visits (today).
• A SYSTEMfor effective follow up (tomorrow).
• A SYSTEM to retain residents (today).
• Must commit to systems and hold people
accountable.

6/13/2012 © 2012 Bild & Company 22

CASE STUDY CLIENT A
 Client A has 30 plus locations in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin with a combination of independent living,
assisted living and CCRC communities serving over 9,000 residents. The communities are in both rural
and metro markets. As a company, Client A historically ran at 96-97% occupancy. Not unlike many in the
industry, during this past recession, the company experienced tremendous challenges maintaining its
occupancy, and even greater difficulty in hitting its start up benchmarks. Overall occupancy was at an all
time low of 87% for the buildings we were coaching. Client A decided to conduct a Bild training seminar
and to enroll twenty of their most census challenged properties comprised of multiple housing/care options,
including IL, AL, MC and SNF, into the Bild coaching program.
 As a not for profit, this company had one individual who over saw sales for all locations. Stretched thin, we
were able to step in and provide support by taking over the sales focus for those ten specific locations. We
collaborated closely and worked together to manage results. Our primary focus in working with this client
was to:
 Customize and implement our proven sales system company-wide as Client A had no formal sales process
in place.
 Train the VP of sales through a train the trainer program for a smooth transition at the end of our contract.
 Create a collaborative sales environment where staff work together to capture inquiries and effectively
conduct tours that made impact. The executive director was responsible for both sales and operations and
struggled to manage both so our goal was to better support that position.
 Implement strong follow up systems that shortened the sales cycle. It was important that ED worked smart
and efficient due to the limited time he/she had to focus on sales.
 Because Client A had a CCRC environment, it was critical to equip executive directors with the skill set
needed to build strong value as to offset the pain of selling homes in a downturn economy and making a
move during uncertain times.
 Based on an average $2,000 monthly rental rate less care, this group of communities generated an
additional cash flow of $148,000 per month. At the end of eight months, with the nearly 1,600 units in our
coaching portfolio, occupancy grew a total 4.68%, thus generating an additional $1.776 million dollars of
annual rental income, excluding healthcare.


Starting Current
Total Units Occupancy Occupancy Net
Community A 54 53 54 1
Community B - TCU 34 17 22 5
Community B -TH 50 40 41 1
Community B - SA 56 49 55 6
Community - LTC 267 213 212 -1
Community C - MC 18 18 18 0
Community D - EAL 19 18 19 1
Community E 44 37 42 5
Community F 230 210 224 14
Community G - MC 36 35 36 1
Community G - AL 91 87 88 1
Community H - TH 67 60 62 2
Community H - MC 18 18 18 0
Community H - AL 66 62 63 1
Community I 177 174 175 1
Community I - MEWS 76 36 66 30
Community J - EAL 27 24 27 3
Community J - AL 39 38 39 1
Community K - AL 77 69 77 8
Community K - TH 135 124 118 -6
Total Numbers 1581 1382 1456 74
Percent Occupied at Coaching Start
Date 87.41%

Current Occupancy Percent 92.09%
Total Occupancy Growth 4.68%


CASE STUDY B
 Client B is a national healthcare and senior living services provider with more than 200 retirement
communities with independent and assisted living, memory care and SNF. Current staffing structure
had a corporate sales trainer and five regional sales directors supporting the vast network of
communities. A need for individual community coaching and increased focus was established that
would assist both experienced and new executive and sales directors in maximizing occupancy and
revenue. With increased competition, high attrition, frailer residents moving in, and a new economy
where consumers trust us less and demand more; come the need for sales directors have solid sales
systems in place as well as weekly accountability. Bild works closely with this company’s regional
sales directors (RDSM) to foster growth and had six months to make a strong impact.
 Each community has a marketing director and an executive director. Operationally focused, our goal
was to help transition the culture to put more focus on sales and to make it a priority at all levels.
Rather than launching with a training seminar, this client placed its properties directly into our coaching
program for immediate results. We utilized the Bild Online Training Center to roll out the training and
coached teams through execution via our weekly coaching and support. Our primary objectives with
this client were to:
 Deliver training remotely and implement the Bild coaching program to drive sales results. Due to the
communities being located across the nation, it was cost prohibitive to bring them all in for a seminar.
 Assist busy RDSM with growing occupancy while reducing their workload.
 Grow occupancy in specific regions or areas of the company that had been proved challenging areas.
 Work hot leads with sales director and moving them to close via role plays and specific strategy that
they could use long term to keep move in volume high.
 Concentrated focus on each community with high levels of accountability to move ins and occupancy
growth.


CONTINUED CASE STUDY
B
 We have launched two groups into our training program:
Group one and group two, each having twenty communities.
With each group we are learning more about the company and
driving results faster. Based on 13 coached communities’
individual lowest market rental rate less care, this group of
communities generated an additional cash flow of $148,509
per month after six months of coaching with a potential annual
revenue increase of $1.78 million.
 Based on 20 coached communities’ individual lowest market
rental rate less care, this group of communities generated an
additional cash flow of $125,572 per month after three months
of coaching with a potential annual revenue increase of $1.51
million. Below is a sample of results for both groups:


RED notes move ins during 2010 per
Group 1 (20 buildings) prior to Bild
coaching

GREEN notes move ins during 2011 per
Group 2 (20 buildings) during Bild
coaching

Year to year comparison

RED notes move ins TOTAL per Group 2
(20 buildings) prior to Bild coaching

GREEN notes move ins TOTAL per Group 2
(20 buildings) during Bild coaching

Month to month comparison


AVERAGE INQUIRY TO VISIT
RATES FOR AL IS 45% & IL 35%

Our benchmark is 60%
with a goal of 75%

Our trained sales counselor average is 74%


JUST 20% OF INCOMING
CALLS REACH A SALES
PERSON. WHAT IS
HAPPENING TO THE
REST?

WHAT ARE PROSPECTS
HEARING?


CAPTURING LEADS

• Mismanaged calls are “robbing you blind!”
• We have found well over 40% of leads are
mismanaged during the day.
• 75%+ are mismanaged on nights &
weekends
• How many leads have you lost this week?
• The industry as a whole is not paying
attention to this huge loss.

6/13/2012 © 2012 Bild & Company 31

STOP THE DRAIN

• The average community loses $60,000 per
year due to mismanaged calls.
• You have the power to recapture this lost
revenue.
• What could you do with an additional $60,000
annually?

6/13/2012 © 2012 Bild & Company 32

PROMATURA FINDINGS
Relative importance of sales solution counseling.
1. Emotion 25%
2. Personal specificity 21.4%
3. Value differentiation 17.6%
4. Trust 13.5%
5. Sell 9.2%
6. Practice 9%
7. Move counsel 4.8%
6/13/2012 © 2012 Bild & Company 33

THE BUYER’S EMOTIONAL
SIDE
• New body of lab results: Neuroeconomics.
• Buyers go by feelings, not logic. Sales get made
when people master the tougher objective of
tapping into the customer’s emotions!
• Buyers oftentimes don’t know what they want.
Don’t swallow their stated reason for buying or
not.
• 95% of consumer decision-making occurs
subconsciously.
• The bigger the risk, the more emotions come into
play.
*Robert McGarvy Selling Power 4/06

6/13/2012 © 2012 Bild & Company 34

ON-SITE VISITS
• 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?


CLOSING
• The real estate market.
• The economy.
• People who simply want to wait.
• Multiple decision makers and
family dynamics.
• What does it take to close a sale?


FROM WAIT LIST TO
RESIDENT
• 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!

ACCOUNTABILITY
• 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.

ACCOUNTABILITY
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.

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