The Incredible Importance Of Outreach

Create a Circle of Influence? That Refers Weekly and Drives Traffic, Move Ins & Revenue!

These are historic economic times, nobody denies that. The seniors housing industry, like most other industries today, face big challenges. The one I would like to focus on is traffic. In working with clients nationally, we have found traffic to be at an all time low. Obviously, low traffic equals low sales - and, after years of boom growth, it's hard for marketing professionals to suddenly deal with having to sharpen their strategies and work at generating new sales as well as driving the traffic that once came easily.

The most effective method to drive traffic and in turn sales, is also the one that's most disliked and mishandled by marketing directors - Referral Outreach.

When you build a network of professionals within a 20 mile radius of your community, that you can rely on for a consistent stream of solid referrals, much of the work is done for you. We have found referred leads close at DOUBLE the conversion of non-referred leads! So why wouldn't your organization make it a priority to master Outreach and learn how to do it effectively and efficiently? Let's face it - quality referrals are critical to your marketing efforts and your bottom line.

And please note the word "quality." Many sales people cater to referral sources that just don't refer on a regular basis. They don't have the volume or the influence to provide you what's needed to grow traffic or their relationship with the referral source isn't strong enough to make it worth the referrer's effort to aggressively refer.

We built our "Circle of Influence" Referral training program around the old 80/20 Sales Principal. You'll get 80% of your referrals from 20% of your sources. So put your time and energy into building relationships with the 20% who will generate the most leads for you - at least one referral a week.

Start the process by creating what I call a "Circle of Influence."

Identify 10 key people, at places like hospitals and Rehab centers, within a twenty mile radius of your community who can give you the quantity and quality of referrals you're looking for. Make your community the "Magnet" of that circle - the place they turn to when they release a patient who can't go home.

Again, most marketing directors don't like to do professional outreach and more importantly, they don't know how to do it. In Sales, there are two distinct types of Selling - Inside Sales (where you're dealing with a warm lead or quality referral) and Outside Sales, which is basically Cold Calling. Scientific studies show that no one person is good at both skill sets (Derek Gatehouse has more on that in his book, "The Perfect SalesForce"). Yet our industry typically uses one person to do both jobs and hence the challenges with making this a strength .

Finding a way to effectively implement Outreach means you and your staff will "Work Smart, Not Hard" - always a lot better than the other way around! Again, professional Referrals do your work for you - they generate leads and in turn drive revenue. In this tough economic climate, that's just what you want for your communities.

The process of how you go about creating and maintaining these crucial relationships is one we'll go into next month - but it's about more than showing up with food and coffee or merchandise with your logo. I'll give you some proven ways to make Outreach work for you and your organization - so you can start to "Working Smart, Not Hard," and driving on-site traffic to all time highs!

In the meantime, here are a couple of challenges for you. Identify five key people in your community's "Circle of Influence" that could do the most for you in terms of Referrals. Do not pick the low hanging fruit. Create a dream list of people you know can heavily refer and think about how you can build those relationships in a way that brings value to the referral source.

It's all about getting those referrals to make the all-important on-site visit. As an expert in the senior housing industry, I'm used to hearing sales people say, "Get them in the door and my people can close them!" Well okay, then. But who's actually getting them in the door?

In other words, don't ignore this vital piece of the sales puzzle. How sales people first interact with a referral can all but guarantee an on-site visit - or completely torpedo any further interest from them.

That's why a consistent system must be in place for all the sales staff - and a lot of bad habits have to be modified. I like to advise my clients to hire an independent company to Mystery Shop their communities and cold call as if they were real referrals. The results are an incredibly valuable measurement of how effective your sales staff is at engaging potential buyers and getting them to commit to an on-site visit.

What you'll find from the Mystery Shop process, in most cases, is that the sales staff ask the prospect one or two random questions about their situation, and then plunge into a laundry list of amenities that the community provides.

Impersonal - mostly about the community - and NOT so much about the person calling. Worse yet, the close of the conversation is usually an offer to send a brochure or information pack - not an invitation to visit the community in question. No personal connection unfortunately means a lost opportunity.

The ironic thing is handling these kinds of calls properly actually makes it easier on salespeople, not harder. It's a matter of not focusing too much on making the sale during the initial conversation - instead, it's about getting that all-important on-site visit scheduled. No one's going to buy a housing unit blind over the phone - so don't try!

Instead, work on locking down on-site appointments by concentrating on getting your caller over the VALUE THRESHOLD. They need to know that their main question - "What's in it for me?" - is being answered, and that the value of what you have to offer to them is worth more than the inconvenience of them getting in the car and coming down to check out your community.

STEP ONE to starting that process is to immediately take control when a prospect calls. The salesperson should begin their side of the conversation by saying "I would be more than happy to give you that information, Mrs. Smith. Do you mind if I ask you a few quick questions so I know what kind of pricing to give you?"

This LOOKS like it contradicts what I just said - but it really doesn't! By giving you permission to "interview" them, you can determine and acknowledge their needs and wants - which means you don't have to focus on the pricing at all, but instead on what they're after in a community. And getting that permission is all-important - because if you begin to ask personal questions without it - well, you know how creepy that can make YOU feel.

People buy when their needs are being met. By identifying their needs and demonstrating specifically how your community meets those needs in a one-on-one manner, you establish a rapport that makes them comfortable with you, and feel like they are being listened to.

I suggest creating an Inquiry Connection Sheet of a series of really great open-ended questions that can create a real conversation, instead of a standard sales pitch, and sticking to the sequence on that sheet. It's hard for a salesperson - or anyone - to think on their feet and ask the right questions in the right order. You tend to panic and try to book the onsite visit too soon, before you've really identified needs fully and addressed them. Trial these Connection Sheets until you're happy with one.

Don't think it's worth the effort? Well, studies have shown that a correctly-constructed Connection Sheet boosts your Mystery Shop service score from a sad 32% (no Connection Sheet) to an incredible 87% (fully-used Connection Sheet).

For the close of your call, remember to repeat those needs and how your community can meet them ? and then begin to schedule an on-site visit. Don't ask if they want to come in for the visit - talk about it as the next logical step. If you give them a "Yes" or "No" option, guess what? 50% of the time you're probably going to get a no!

Mismanaged sales calls can cost your business dearly - and there's really no reason for it. If you and your sales staff are prepared and confident enough to climb over the Value Threshold, you can successfully convert those contacts into on-site visits.


Copyright (c) 2009 Traci Bild