FINDING THE SALES HIDING IN YOUR LEADBASELSN 2010 Annual Convention151G Find the Sales Hiding in Your Lead BaseThursday March 25, 2010, 3:45 – 5:15

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Lead Base Management

A new lead costs $150 to over $1,000 Sales people often don’t work older

leads with the same enthusiasm as new leads

Typically we see leadbases with over 40% of active leads without a follow up date assigned

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Leads Without Follow Up

Every active lead in the leadbase should have a follow up date and strategy scheduled

If you use REPS, you can set up a report to show these by going to Marketing Reports, Contact Listing

Communities should run this report monthly to ensure no leads “fall between the cracks”

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Leads Without Follow Up Report

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Priority

Goals for call outs Getting behind How to get caught up Use the “priority” category in REPS

Anything date driven classified as High Normal scheduled follow up that won’t suffer if

delayed by a week or two classified as Medium Cold and Future leads that haven’t been

spoken to in many months and won’t suffer if delayed by up to a month classified as Low

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Timeframe of Inquiry to Close Do you know the average gestation

period for your leads? 80% of Independent Living sales come

from the existing lead base, many are over a year old

How do you handle “I’m not Ready Yet” and cold leads?

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Six Areas of Qualifying

Current Situation Time Frame/Urgency Alternatives Decision Makers and Decision Making

Style (Logical or Emotional) Hot Buttons/Specific Wants or Needs Financial Status

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Discovery

Thorough discovery is needed to build the foundation for follow up. Without it, the salesperson will not know how to build the level of rapport and trust necessary to close the sale.

If many IL sales take over a year, how will you continue and further the relationship through multiple contacts?

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Interests

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Determine the Obstacle

Whether Is the prospect still deciding whether they will

move at all? He/She has not decided if they will really ever

move to a retirement community – they are still considering options

When Is the prospect deciding when to move? He/She is planning for the future and are “not

ready yet” Where

The prospect has decided to transition to a retirement community, but is trying to decide where to move.

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Stages of Change

Pre-contemplation – don’t even consider change Haven’t thought about moving – child or

spouse is driving the search

Contemplation – ambivalence – giving up something enjoyed causes prospects to feel a sense of loss despite the perceived gain. People assess barriers as well as the benefits of change. Future and Cold leads I’m Not Ready Yet

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Stages of Change

Preparation – experimenting with small changes Warm leads

Action – desire for change Hot leads

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Follow Up Strategy

Strategy should fit the stage of change Should be documented as next follow up

activity is scheduled to prevent the salesperson from having to review all prior notes and decide how best to approach the follow up ---this saves 15 to 20 minutes per call out!

Is dependent on thorough discovery to include the 6 areas of qualifying

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Creative Follow Up

Creative and personal ways to help move the prospect from one stage to the next

Follow up with prospects in different ways, showing them you understand their unique interests and needs

If you are following up with prospects the same way and getting the same results, why not try something different?

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25 Most Popular Follow Up Techniques

1. Invite the prospect back for a meal with a resident who has similar interests (save the meal for a 2nd visit!)

2. When mailing your thank you note after the initial visit to your community (you always send a thank you note, right?), include a picture of residents participating in a program or activity in which the prospect has indicated an interest.

3. Mail a fact sheet about finding the right retirement community while highlighting key selling points of your particular community (this is great to have a reason to get in touch with colder leads)

4. Mail a testimonial from a resident that had a similar objection or situation before moving about why they are happy with their decision and their move (these are great for “I’m not ready yet”, but you need 3 or 4 different testimonials to deal with the different objections/situations)

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Examples

Testimonial Choosing Fact Sheet

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25 Most Popular Follow Up Techniques

5. Mail a picture of a resident dog or cat to include with a note “from the pet” inviting the prospect’s pet to come live at the community with them (pet lovers get a real kick out of this!)

6. Mail a formal invitation or certificate for dinner or lunch as a follow up to phone call where the prospect couldn’t commit to a day to come (it’s amazing how some people respond differently to a written invitation…people appreciate the effort!)

7. Mail or email (always use the preferred method of communication) a “personal proposal” that outlines the key features and benefits shown during the visit, outline the next steps and any incentives if any.

8. Mail a program or activity schedule with specific programs highlighted based on the prospect’s individual interests identified during discovery along with a personal note inviting them to join your residents (familiarity with the community and residents is one of the best ways to decrease the gestation period)

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Examples

Personal Proposal

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25 Most Popular Follow Up Techniques Cont.

9. Send a goody bag with the prospect’s favorite dessert baked in your community’s kitchen with a sticker or card indicating “From the kitchen of…” (especially effective if your community driver can take it to them!)

10.As a follow up after an initial visit, send a mini-survey requesting “Please share 3 words that best describe your visit to our community on ____”

11.Mail a newspaper or magazine article relating to their particular interests with a sticky note from you – “I thought you might find this interesting”

12.Mail a book or an article on downsizing if that is their main objection (Rightsizing Your Life by Ciji Ware is great)

13.Send a picture frame with “Picture Yourself Here” inside the frame

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25 Most Popular Follow Up Techniques, Cont.

14.Send tickets to a local cultural event that the prospect is very interested in (better yet, invite them to have dinner at your community before the event and send him/her with another resident with the same interest)

15.Send an excerpt or the entire book “How to Say it to Seniors” by David Solie to an adult child who is struggling with convincing their parent to move

16.Mail a brain fitness puzzle and invite the prospect to a brain fitness activity at your community

17.Send a Compare the Value worksheet to help prospects see the hidden costs of living in their own home (don’t forget to include the statistic that typically 1% of a home’s value is used annually for maintenance and upkeep!)

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Examples

Downsizing Fact Sheet Brain Fitness CFU

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25 Most Popular Follow Up Techniques, Cont.

18.Send an inspirational or motivational article on aging successfully

19.Send a key with a tag tied to it that states “ABC Community provides the key to a stress-free retirement” with a note from you (you can often get free keys from any home improvement store – those that didn’t quite work and are to be discarded)

20.Send an incentive coupon that resembles a dollar bill with the incentive noted on the back (most successful if putting a deadline with it)

21.Send a “transportation ticket” to the prospect with an offer to provide transportation for their visit when they state they don’t drive and are waiting for a family member or friend to bring them

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Examples

7 Keys to Successful Aging

Incentive mailing

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25 Most Popular Follow Up Techniques, Cont.

22.Do a home visit and take freshly made soup from your community’s kitchen when the prospect balks at scheduling or cancels a scheduled visit due to being sick or cold/inclement weather

23.Send a fact sheet on one of the six dimensions of wellness, highlighting the things your community offers in this area

24.Send a copy of “Healthy Cooking Magazine” with interesting recipes marked for the prospect interested in healthy cooking (better yet, also include a recipe from your community kitchen to go along with it!)

25.Send the book “For People Who Do Too Much” by Bradley Taylor Grieve with a letter referring to excerpts of the book in relation to the “I’m not ready yet” argument (this is great for emotional decision makers combined with pet lovers…gets a great reaction)

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Examples

Letter & Book follow up

Physical Wellness Fact Sheet

Kristin Kutac Ward

Lauren Messmer

By Design Solutions

www.bydesignsolutions.net

LSN 2010 Annual Convention

Thursday, March 25

THANK YOU!