By Jack Cumming

If you’re in senior housing sales, you know the challenge of getting folks to decide. When I was in training to sell life insurance many years ago, we were told to get noncommittal prospects to take just the first baby step. That first, no commitment step was to fill out the application to see if they qualified.

Then, we were told to accidentally drop the pen so that the prospect would catch it and have it in hand ready to sign. Our training consisted of practicing how best to drop that pen as nonchalantly as possible.

Don’t Be a Trickster

That was manipulative, and I thought it was cleverly unethical at the time. As it turned out, I didn’t have what it takes to make it in sales, so I took the exams to qualify as an actuary instead. Nevertheless, ethical or unethical, that manipulation of the interview process helped prospects get past the barrier of indecision. The justification was that they had young children so they needed the protection.

Senior housing sales face a similar wall of indecision. It’s a big life choice to decide to give up ownership and independence to move into the attractive camaraderie of senior housing. The response may differ between a nearly full building and one with occupancy lagging near 80%, as is common among Brookdale properties and many others.

Overcoming Vacancies

With those vacant units, there’s little downside in committing them for a prospect knowing that the prospect is in reality still deciding. The “trick” is to have the prospect sign a contract for a specific apartment knowing that there is free look period and the “sale” may not stick. Having a contractual commitment for a specific unit helps the prospect to make a choice that is otherwise daunting.

With that commitment in hand, the prospect can begin to imagine actually living in the community. From there, it’s simply to bring them into activities and to transition them over the course of a month or two into actually taking occupancy and deciding to keep the contract.

This seems so simple; one wonders why it isn’t common. Of course, salespeople want prospects to like them, but the truth is that by helping them over the decision hump, you are helping them in a way for which they will be forever grateful. If the prospect has shown enough interest to come by for an interview, then there’s enough interest for them to be given a contract cancelable in the first 90 days. What does the prospect have to lose by accepting a deal like that? Nothing other than the use of the money that seals the deal.

If the truth is that you don’t have vacancies, and there are some communities that are that popular, then a contractual commitment to the waiting list can play the same role. The contract then simply becomes cancelable 90 days after a unit becomes available.

Humanize the Tour

What of a tour? If the prospect wants a tour, let a resident volunteer to give it to them unless your facility is so into high acuity that no resident could do that. In that case, you’re likely dealing with a family member or social worker and they’re just in a hurry to get things settled. Show them their unit. Get the contract signed. Then all they have to do is to decide whether to move in and stay or to back out. It’s that simple.

Some communities only give tours led by sales staff. That leaves the impression that it’s more a sales-driven community than a resident-centered happy home. Moreover, nothing can become more repetitive than leading folks around and explaining the menu to them. Bring together a coterie of residents who will be delighted to share their home with a prospect. And, if the prospect moves in, they are more likely to stay if they already have a friend in the resident who gave them the tour.

Let the Place Sell Itself

What’s wonderful about this is that, unlike that manipulative approach, that reveals a salesperson unsure of the value offered, getting a first-visit commitment to a particular unit and letting residents enthuse about their life in your community is fully ethical. It’s more than just ethical. It’s open and transparent, and something to be proud of.

Let’s change the conventional approach to fill the industry’s vacancies and to make senior housing all that it should be.