MARKETING & SALES BASICS

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ICENSED SSISTED IVING IRECTOR

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Monica Hunter, Senior Director of BusinessDevelopment Lifespark Senior Living (Formerly Tealwood Senior Living)

Monica Hunter beganher careerin marketingresearch with MillwardBrown and movedinto health care as an LPN forover 25years. Havingworked asa DivisionDirector in both homecare and assisted living, a nurse inacute, post-acute,and long-term care,her blendof the clinicaland business skillhas beeninstrumental inthe growthof diverse healthcare servicelines, increased occupancy, andnewproperty development. Monicais proudto lead a team of specialists in supporting sales and marketingefforts across over 30communities andlooks forward to the future growth already inprocess.

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Unlocking solutions for elders in need

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Marketing is the promotion and education of your product or service directly to the consumer (Business to Consumer) or to a referring business (Business to Business). The goal being to generate prospects who need your service. There are countless ways to internally or externally market your community; however, nothing takes the place of excellent care and customer service. Sales in assisted living is the process of working with a lead or lead source that has been generated through your marketing efforts. In the case of a direct prospect or consumer; it’s discovering their current situation, if you’re the best solution, and closing . If not, being a health care resource to get them pointed in the right direction. Never leave someone lost in the care continuum. In the case of a referring business or relationship, it’s being a trusted resource and responsive when they have a client in need. You’ll find in both categories-Marketing and Sales-education, patience, and knowing health care is important to be an effective resource.

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We delineate between marketing and sales to help you determine what is or isn’t working in your strategy.

How people with obstacles find us.

We’ll talk more about these processes later in the presentation.

How we help them find a solution.

As an administrator, your role is varied depending on the company you work for, their structure, and expectations. At the minimum, you’ll need to manage the marketing and sales team that report to you and at most, you’ll be expected to participate or drive the marketing and sales effort with help from upper-level management. In some smaller communities, you may have much of the responsibility. No matter how it works out, it’s very important to know your community in detail. Ultimately, the prospective resident and family will want to meet you and know you can be trusted to care for them or their loved ones.

The typical structure in assisted living supports 1 to 2 either Director of Marketing, Sales Consultant, Leasing Manager, Community Liaison, or other uniquely named role responsible for occupancy.

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Managing a department where you don’t have a background can feel uncomfortable. Here are marketing and sales basics your director should be executing.

1. Collaborating with you and your team on a marketing plan. There should ALWAYS be a plan. Your organization will have a template with their minimum requirements or KPI’s (key performance indicators). You will want to take advantage of additional opportunities as they arise as well.

2. The marketing plan should be evaluated monthly and updated quarterly with a deep dive at the end of the year.

3. Because each department, especially nursing, plays a role in driving occupancy, discussion on prospects and move ins are critical in your daily stand up. This is a team initiative.

4. Weekly touch base meeting with marketing and sales will keep things running smoothly. Staying connected with each team member individually can avoid issues later.

5. Customer Relations Management software oversight and usage will help you know where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going in your business.

6. The marketing and sales position can feel thankless and defeating at times. Staff can feel taxed and not want move ins; prospects, families, and referral sources can be very difficult and rude. Being a positive force and a leader that can lend an ear can mean the difference between success and failure in your director. Notice signs of frustration early. 7. Be prepared to step in. There will be busy times where tours will need to double up and you’ll need to be prepared for after hour walk-in tours. Your leadership team should be tour trained. 8. When you have availability , attend community networking events and meetings. The community at large will want to know who’s steering the ship. Your marketing director will appreciate it as well. 9. You are not expected to be the expert, however, if an initiative is not showing tangible results, ask questions. 10. Just as in nursing, wellness, and budget, data is your best friend in evaluating occupancy trends and advertising effectiveness. Your CRM will tell the story along with many other available dashboards.

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We noted the CRM and data dashboards as being important in tracking, evaluating, and predicting your business. Every business uses some form of tracking clients and senior living has become more sophisticated in this area. It’s a valuable tool in not only business management, but also making the client feel valued by having details of their situation at your fingertips.

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Each CRM system may have different terminology but operate similarly.

Most software systems have a mobile entry feature. Be sure to ask. This can save you and your team a lot of time when not at your desk

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Here are a few CRM and Automation dashboards with KPI’s. Key Performance Indicators. A snapshot to performance Marketing-number of people who find us-for example-Inquiries.

Sales-were we able to solve that person's problem and result in a tour and move in.

Do NOT be alarmed, this will all make sense when you get to use the system in your community.

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Upbeat staff and a clean, well-organized community is the 1st step to happy residents. Where there are happy residents, a great reputations follows! Quality and timely caregiving is the backbone to our work in assisted living. If the residents are receiving good care, their families and friends will hear about it. Likewise, if the care is poor,they will also hear about it. Resident referral bonuses are helpful for both the community and the resident.If a resident refers a friend, a financial bonus or rent concession is common. Staff referral bonuses are also a great way to spread the word about your community, sometimes our staff are the best ambassadors. It may seem external but showcasing the wonderful engagement of your community on social media (following company guidelines) is invaluable. You're sharing theirexperiences with their families. Events can be internal and external

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Outreach: Visiting and educating referral sources (Senior Center, Transitional Care Units, Churches, Clinics, Hospitals) Always have a message of value. Think of how what you do could be a help to your audience.Most referral sources are truly unaware of the scope of senior living. Events: creative and engaging events on site or being a part of city events is important. Professional Expos and Fairs Community Engagement: Joining or creating boards or initiatives to support the community. Print: Local papers, magazines, direct mail, inserts Digital: Website, PPC, Online Display, Retargeting, Social Media,OTT non skippable commercials, Reputation Management, etc. Making sure your external reputation with Googleand Socialstar ratingsare high. SocialMedia deservesits own line asyou have controlover posting inmost cases. Yiu have an opportunity to encourageeveryone you encounter to follow you page and youcanpay to gettargetedaudiences to follow you at a minimalcost. Broadcast Television Radio

We get used to ambiguous advertising in the general marketplace. There are rules; however, they are difficult to enforce and often the consumer pays the price.Thankfully, the State of Minnesota is focusing on fair business practices and transparency. Let’s start with the obvious. If you are not licensed to do it, don’tdo it. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/144G Take note of rule 144G.80 If you are an Administrator of a campus promoting dementia care as a unit or specific service line, be absolutely sure the community is dual licensed. There are additional requirements that need to be fulfilled and the licensed posted must state “Assisted Living with Dementia Care License”. There is a host of fines broken out per resident and the chance of license suspension if you advertise and claim to provide dementia care without this license. This is a good lead in to the obvious. Do not advertise services you do not or cannot provide. For example, you may have printed collateral stating you have concierge services, but due to staffing you can’t fulfill that service until you hire and train a replacement. State that clearly either by email or some form of provable communication. We realize you cannot reprint collateral for every staffing change or service disruption. The point is to be transparent as possible to manage client expectations and ethical practice.

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Offers can be very helpful in your marketing efforts, especially in a competitive market.

There are ways to be competitive and use offers to trigger a phone call or web submission. It is critical to be transparent. For example: If you are going to give a free month’s rent but not give that concession until the third month, you could state it two ways. 1. Third Month Rent Free or 2. A Free Month’s Rent*restrictions applyor *call for details. You are stating there are rules that go along with that offer. I will restate this in a later slide and it’s purposeful. At the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccination distribution, there were communities promoting a vaccine if you moved there. This was a time when vaccine scarcity was prevalent. The State and Federal Government made it very clear as should our own ethics, this is wrong and will be prosecuted. This is an example of what may come in the future with any other item of scarcity. You can offer free services, or items so long as they are not medications or tied to an overall community need or emergency.

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We’ve talked a lot about marketing and now we turn to sales. That part of the customer experience that put us in contact, by phone, email, or in person. This is where we get to build relationship and help people through their health care journey. We all went into health care because we wanted to help people. Our titles may be different from one another, but we all play an integral role in the care team approach.

When you receive an inquiry, answer as soon as possible. They are in some sort of crisis, or they wouldn’t have reached out. It’s difficult for some to admit they need help, so use a delicate approach while discovering their story.Discovery is the most important part of the sales process.

Ask questions but do not interrupt.

Do not judge their situation. Come from a spirit of assistance.

Find out who the decision makers are and be sure they tour virtually or otherwise. Repeat back what they’ve stated is the issue.

Don’t waste their time on things that don’t matter to them until you’ve solved their problem.

Utilize the platform your company provides for training. Think of it as a way to help your prospects more efficiently.

Be comfortable asking for a decision and deposit, if they are not ready, we haven’t solved the real problem or haven't identified the true decision maker.

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Whether they deposit or not, stay in contact and nurture that person and family. It was a scary decision to either commit or to just reach out at all. They will need encouragement and to know you care. Think of things that are personal to them with your follow up. This is a business built on trust and relationship. We have to earn it. Make sure the nursing assessment is completed as soon as possible to be sure the move is appropriate and by a nurse who is warm and friendly. Sign contracts and move in paperwork ahead of time so the move is as peaceful and joyful as possible. Be sure the team is educated to who is moving in and things that are special about that person to give a very personalized welcome. Ensure the apartment, medications, and clinical data that is possible is gathered ahead of time. A warm welcome signon the door and treat in the apartment upon arrival can makeall the difference

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We learned a lot during the pandemic and the continued ebb and flow of it. You and your team willfind solutions to challenges pandemic or not. Hereare some of the solutions we used from a marketing and sales perspective. It is more important than ever to be prepared to serve people who need us.

-Utilized Zoom, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, whatever the client, referral agency, or networking group was comfortable using tocommunicate. -Took personalized videos and picture folders for prospects and families. -Drone tours of interior spaces to send the link to families. This gave a multi-dimensional look at the community. -Met families outside or in parking lots to sign paperwork -Provided mobile devices for move ins that didn’t have them, ensuring they could communicatewith family anytime they wanted. -Created community channel to provide “group activities” via interactive TV. -Explained, in detail, all our sanitization techniques, and creative visitation spaces. -Created centralized moving teams so we could still facilitate moves during the heat of the pandemic for those who needed a place tolive.

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It has been a temptation through the pandemic for some senior communities to try to leverage the vaccine as a sales tool. Do NOT ever do this. Leveraginglife saving medication or treatments as a hook for a move in is unethical by any standard. Boostersmay be coming the way of senior care, so be aware of this strategy, When using any images online, be sure they’ve been purchased, or you’ve been given written consent to use them. This goes for activity calendars ad newsletters thatwill be posted online. There are bots to search them out. We all believe our communities give the best care because we work hard to attain that goal. Set realistic expectationswhen working with prospects and families. If you do not have the ability tocarefor someone as you should, do not accept. It will do your reputationmoreharm than good. As you know being a part of this program, August 1st brought licensure toMinnesota. The changes related to marketing are primarily meal costs being pulled out of package pricing. This was to bring pricing transparency. This allows residents tochoose topurchase meal packages separately. This could be problematic for memorycare. Wehavenot run across anyone who has chosen less than 3 meals for a memorycare resident, but in theory, it could happen. Be prepared tospeak tothe need for socialization and nutritionacross all care levels. Be sure you’re trained to all contracts, processes per department, and emergency preparedness plans. There have been minor adjustments toeach department.

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We are so happy you’re joining us on the journey to helping elders live their best life and families feel the relief and trust our profession instills. Thank you for all you do!

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