RickStephan and Associates is pleased to announce that Freddi Flax will  be presenting “Smart Marketing in Tough Times…Super Strategies for Sinking Sales!” at the APCA/PALA annual conference in Lancaster, PA on Wednesday, April 21. 

Does you marketing staff make the best use of holiday "down" time?

We all know that sales may start to slow down this time of year. So, how does your marketing staff use this extra time? They could be addressing envelopes for holiday cards, or they could be productively planning, strategizing and preparing for the new year. November and December could be spent this way:   

RSA is Expanding to Meet a Broader Range of Senior Living Needs

RSA is pleased to announce that we have entered into a collaborative business relationship with Living Communities, LLC, an active adult and senior housing developer. Together, our combined services will provide comprehensive solutions for our current and future senior living clients.

Does your sales staff have the skills to succeed in tough times?

In difficult economic times, the volume of inquiries diminishes, wait lists dry up, and depositors are skittish about moving forward. These times require special skills and a sales staff that can confidently address concerns and objections by providing creative solutions to wary customers.

It’s not business as usual…

Now is the time to retrain and re-focus your sales staff; outdated techniques and past practices will not work in today’s economic environment. The sales experts at RickStephan & Associates design customized training to help your sales staff lead prospects from inquiry to move-in.

Until the tide turns…

RickStephan & Associates helps your staff navigate the complicated and challenging economic waters with recession-proof, solution based selling techniques and ongoing, hands-on coaching.

Your community can thrive…

RickStephan and Associates can improve sales competencies and transform your staff into a highly trained, results-oriented selling team. For more information contact Freddi Flax,fflax@rickstephan.com.

Expertise…Solutions…Success…RickStephan & Associates

Successful Strategies for Providers In Uncertain Times

RickStephan & Associates understands the current economic climate and is helping clients grow and maintain healthy occupancy with creative strategies that focus on proactive, professional sales skills. 

Solution Based Selling is the key: 
1. Assist prospective residents with entrance fee arrangements, such as deferred payments and extended move-in time frames.
2. Use relocation specialists, realtors and stagers to assist in the selling of residents’ homes and moving to your community. Make the transition as easy as possible.
3. Make sure your sales staff is well trained to manage every inquiry to its maximum and to work with prospects’ concerns, objections and obstacles. This is not the time for order-takers! Creative follow-up is critical to success.
4. Make sure your community meets or beats the competitor in services and hospitality. 

RSA’s customized sales training, Embrace The Customer, provides solution-based selling; your sales staff will learn specific tactics and approaches to get and keep the business.

Building Census and Occupancy in Uncertain Economic Times

Following is an excerpt from an interview with Rick Stephan, founder of RICKSTEPHAN & Associates.

Ask the Expert: An Interview with Rick Stephan 
Rick Stephan has been in the development, marketing and management side of the continuing care, assisted living and healthcare profession for over 30 years.  Prior to founding RICKSTEPHAN & Associates in 1999, he was founder, president and CEO of NewSeasons Assisted Living Communities.  He is known nationally as an authority on the sales and marketing of assisted living and independent living facilities. We sat down with Rick to discuss his recommendations for growing census. 
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Interviewer: Rick, what steps need to be taken by a senior living facility’s executives in order to effectively grow census? 

Rick: To be successful, there are six precise steps that must be implemented: 

1. Know your marketplace’s interests and desire for choice.  
Determine the demographic characteristics of your market, including population, age distribution, education and household income data.  You should define your geographic target market and analyze the market potential for your facility. 

2. Know your competition. 
Competing facilities must be visited and evaluated in terms of their particular marketing strategy to attract and retain residents.  Ascertain the socio-economic segment that your competitor targets as residents.  Develop a checklist profile of how the competitor’s facility compares to yours and what sets you apart from theirs.  Analyze their occupancy trends over the years they’ve been in business.
 
3. Be certain your product has real value for residents.  
A great location and an attractive physical plant are not enough to assure your success.  While these factors are critical in attracting residents in the first place, achieving optimum occupancy demands sustained and highly-focused attention on the wants and needs of your residents and prospects. Continually monitor your residents’ opinions and perceptions about all aspects of your community.  The goal is satisfied residents and happy employees. 

4. Develop and maintain a comprehensive inquiry handling system.  
Regardless of how you obtain inquiries- direct mail responses, advertisements, referrals, websites, or unsolicited phone calls- give them priority treatment.  They are the sources of many new residents.  Make sure that your inquiry gathering system and marketing software are in place via a program such as REPS software, to accurately track your inquiries and progress.
 
5. Make certain your sales staff is highly skilled.  
A well-trained sales staff is a must.  Selling the assisted living or independent living concept requires great skill.  Prospective residents must be sold on the lifestyle qualities of your community rather than the physical aspects.  Every member of the sales team must know how to develop relationships, ask the right questions and move the sale along.  They also need to be skilled in taking an inquiry from point of contact to the closing of the sale.  An untrained sales force is a recipe for disaster. 

6. Have a well-developed marketing plan.  
A viable marketing plan should be an integral component of your overall business plan.  This marketing plan, while subject to periodic changes and adjustments, needs to be highly targeted, intense and urgent.  It should rely strongly on external marketing strategies, like direct mail programs for invitations to special events, as well as informational announcements.  In addition, your community should have a well-designed web site that is easy to update and navigate.  It must also be Search Engine Optimized (SEO).
 
If you implement all of these steps, you should easily be on the path to sustaining and growing your community, even in these tough economic times. 

For more information about growing and maintaining occupancy levels, contact RICKSTEPHAN & Associates at  610-940-1633.

Industry News: Silver Surfers are Catching the Wave

Seniors age 65 and better are the fastest growing group of internet users. According to a 2007 study, 32% of seniors use the internet and 65% of baby boomers aged 50 to 64 use the internet regularly.¹ For senior living providers this is a remarkable opportunity: 21% of seniors and 53% of baby boomers -often the decision makers for their aging parents - go online to research health care options.²

Senior living providers can benefit from the rapidly growing number of seniors and decision makers online by ensuring that the their websites are up-to-date, easy to navigate, and contain information about their communities' amenities, services, floor plans, and rates. Providers should also consider maintaining a regular e-newsletter, and making their websites an interactive tool for sales staff to use with prospective residents. 

For more information about creating a dynamic, senior friendly website, contact RICKSTEPHAN & Associates at 610-940-1633.

(1) Source:  Demographics of Internet Users, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2007 
(2) Source: e-Health and the Elderly,  The Henry J Kaiser Foundation, 2004.