Senior Living Business--October 2011 Issue

Best Practices Q&A:
Joseph L. Roche, President & CEO, The Roche Associates

 As president and CEO of The Roche Associates, Inc., a full-service marketing company located in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, Joseph L. Roche has organized, structured, managed, and implemented planning, marketing, and sales campaigns for a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit senior living communities. Given the stress the economy has caused many senior living providers, we asked him for some tips on how to improve their marketing results.

• What are your basic rules of thumb for improving marketing results? We’ve been involved in this field for about 30 years, during which time I’ve come up with five key concepts for improving marketing results in occupancy:

  1. Implement overall management control of the sales process, which means follow up on inquiries, monitor phone calls, and, probably most importantly, spell out expectations for handling prospects that come through the door. The biggest mistake that salespeople make is simply becoming tour guides. Whether the prospect is a senior, an adult child, or a responsible party, the salesperson needs to sit down for an in-depth “discovery interview” to learn about the senior’s particular situation, any problems the person is having, and the possible consequences of those problems with regard to moving in. Then they can all take a tour…but, afterwards, return to the office for further discussion. Basically, it’s sit/tour/sit. The salesperson who can’t wait to take the person on a tour is making a real mistake by not gathering information first, as the discovery interview is crucial. It’s different, of course, for skilled nursing, which is basically needs-driven. If the ambulance is arriving, you’ve got an admission at your doorstep. Even so, many nursing patients come back for a short-term stay, so you want to build a relationship. Get to know that patient. Visit with them, talk to them, find out about them, and keep in contact with them. 

  2. Teach the sales staff to use emotional logic in their one-on-one sales presentations. For example, let’s say the discovery interview reveals that the prospect is most likely to judge a skilled nursing facility on its quality of nursing care. Using the emotional logic technique, a salesperson for a facility with good survey scores for nursing might say: “Skilled nursing care is one of the most highly regulated industries in the country. Each year, four inspectors (the public is more in tune with the term “inspector” than with “surveyor”) come in unannounced and spend 160 hours looking at our records, patient care, customer satisfaction, state reports…everything. Last year, we delivered more than a million hours of nursing care and got a perfect report card—no deficiencies. Now isn’t that the type of skilled nursing facility that your mother deserves to be in?” You simply combine emotion and logic.

  3. Understand the mindshare principle and its connection to marketing and sales. It’s analogous to political campaigns, where the politicians try to capture mindshare before the voters go to the voting booth. They accomplish that through a lot of advertising and promotion. Similarly, the senior living community should hold events and programs on an ongoing basis to get prospects into the facility, so they get to know the staff and begin to develop a relationship before they may need or want to move to a senior living community or need nursing care.

  4. Teach the marketing and sales staff how to sell the difference, not the sameness. When selling a big-ticket item, you’ve got to pay attention to the differences between your product and that of your competitors. When we’ve mystery shopped, we’ve more often than not heard salespeople say, “We have three meals a day, we have activities, our employees will love your mother,” and so forth. That tells the prospect nothing to differentiate your community from any other. Focus on why the prospect should spend thousands of dollars to move to your community vs. another one? Figuring out those differences will require an in-depth competitive analysis. Use a professional shopper to check the competitor’s unit size, pricing, programs, and the way the staff interacts with residents. Try to determine five-to-10 major selling points that separate your community or facility from your competitors. It could be a more inclusive basic service package that offers more direct care and, therefore, better value. Your units may be larger, or your nursing staff includes RNs and not just LPNs. Or perhaps you offer better programs. The sales staff needs to point out those differences to prospects.

 5. Generate new leads. Reach people through advertising, direct mail, telemarketing, hosted onsite events—any and all of those touch points. You want to generate a constant stream of sales traffic and grow your lead base. We suggest a minimum of two onsite programs a month—at least one educational program on a “hot” or informative consumer topic (for 25-50 prospects) and one social event with entertainment (for 50-100 people, including invited guests of existing residents) or perhaps a themed dinner or small group luncheon (for 5, 10, or more people)—month in and month out, without fail.

• How do you handle objections to the product? The better job that the salespeople do in defining any problems people may have and then coming up with solutions, the fewer objections you’ll have. The salespeople should focus on what brought that person through the door...what’s driving them...what’s compelling them...which, of course, goes right back to the crucial in-depth discovery interview. Having said that, some things you can deal with, and some things, you just can’t. If someone wants a two-bedroom unit and the only ones available are one-bedroom, you can try to convince them to move into the one-bedroom and put them at the top of the list for a two-bedroom. Sometimes they’re just overwhelmed, and you can help with that. But if they smoke or have a pet and the property is nonsmoking or doesn’t allow pets, there’s not much you can do about that.

• How can reluctant prospects be convinced to move out of their homes and into a senior living community? The sales staff must make a compelling and convincing financial case to prospects whose mortgages are paid off or who have appreciable built-up equity in their homes by demonstrating how much maintaining their existing homes is actually costing them and how much money they’re losing by not moving into the community. Of course, this will not work in markets where housing values are depressed 50-60% and people are underwater.

 Today, there’s also a much heavier reliance on sales incentives, ranging from waiving all or part of the monthly fee to reducing the entrance fee or offering rent or mortgage concessions. All incentives must be tied to deadlines in order to create a sense of urgency for moving.  Also, refer prospects to local community banks to set up home equity loans or bridge loans at favorable interest rates. In order to be successful, particularly in independent living sales, a provider must have a support network in place that includes a good realtor(s), an organizer that can help the new resident with downsizing, an estate sale person to help sell unneeded household items, and a moving company. 
 
 A big mistake that many salespeople make, too, is disclosing too much detailed information over the phone. With few exceptions, a person who gets the price over the phone will not move. Until you establish value, price has no meaning. Simply say, “We have a range of prices and will be happy to go through the different service packages with you. When’s a good time for you to come in?” Again, it’s all a matter of controlling the sales process.

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