Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” Well, first impressions are lasting impressions.
Whether your initial meeting is face-to-face, over the phone or via the internet, you do not have time to waste.
You can control the opinions people have about your business.
Start by trying to understand the difficulties people face during this transition process of mom and dad needing assistance.
When prospective residents tour your residential assisted living home they will ask tough questions.
Even though the overall occupancy of RAL homes is high, many businesses are struggling to keep beds filled.
The industry should never get complacent about the current occupancy levels of assisted living homes.
Failing to answer calls, return voicemails, or provide follow up information about unanswered questions threatens the outlook on the overall industry.
Assisted living sales representatives have a huge responsibility, even when your RAL home is packed to capacity.
Failing to treat every prospect with the same level of respect, regardless of the number of beds available in your home, can create a problem.
HOW TO FIX SALES PROBLEMS
Making sure your entire team has the same shared values of treating prospective residents with respect is a key component.
Hiring the right salespeople is a step in the right direction.
Residential assisted living staff must recognize that the goal is to handle every inquiry with the same high magnitude of efficiency and care.
The sales team creates a long-standing reputation for your RAL home.
If this is an issue in your RAL home, the sooner you address it, the sooner your business will benefit from the sales gain. One small example of quality and efficiency, try to establish a standard where the staff is required to answer the phone between two to three rings. Even something this small can send a huge message to prospective clients.
It is a problem that plagues both small residential assisted living homes and the big box facilities.
HOW DO PROSPECTS FORM THEIR FIRST IMPRESSION?
During face-to-face tours, the staff is frequently judged based on non-verbal communication. Prospective residents and their adult children will examine your appearance and body language prior to hearing what you have to offer.
Studies show that only 7 percent of people are influenced by the words that you speak.
It is a common reality that people judge books by their cover. What else is a cover for, if it’s not intended to appeal to the viewer.
In addition, even during telephone calls, first impressions are judged based on tones and clarity. It’s not always what you say, it’s how you say it that determines how the listener will respond.
YOUR FIRST TWELVE WORDS
You should always choose your first twelve words carefully.
While most people are concerned more about how you treat them, words are also important, so don’t leave them to chance.
Gratitude goes a long way – show prospects that you are grateful that they’ve shown interest in your assisted living home.
Prospective residents and their loved ones appreciate when you show them gratitude and kindness. While this should be a given, it is definitely worth mentioning here.
OUTSOURCING IS USEFUL
Your staff will never be the best at everything, sometimes it pays to outsource. You’ll be better off outsourcing activities that are outside of your staff’s core competencies.
Do what is best for your business.
For your residential assisted living home, every inbound call makes a difference. So, if your marketing calls will be more efficient going through a call center, do it.
These call centers provide a virtual front desk that is wide awake and sharp 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
As a result, this effort has the potential to boost your leads.
Outsourcing your calls to an integrated lead-generation platform can help you keep beds filled in your home as well as generate a waiting list for seniors.
You will occupy more beds, reduce overall marketing expenses, and free on-site sales staff to focus on occupancy.
When it comes to finding potential residents and making a great first impression, there are nine components all residential assisted living homes should consider.
Nine Business Components To Consider Outsourcing
- Care Management
Access real-time medication information and alerts through an interface with an eMAR. Eliminate the cost and access automated reporting. - Community Management
Know your financial numbers with accounting and budgeting solutions. Stay organized with document management featuring electronic signatures. - Dedicated Contact Center
Compassionate professionals who build relationships with your prospects and increase the chance you’ll never miss an opportunity to close a new client. - Accurate Census Management
Automate move-in and move-out processes and know resident locations. Provide real-time information synchronized with your property management system. More useful for those with numerous RAL homes. - Incident Management
Document and report all incidents, and better manage the risk of events like falls, altercations, and accidents. - Assessment Tool
Senior care assessment tools help develop a better care plan for your residents. - Financial Tools
Property management accounting and budgeting integration with software tools to keep your operation running smoothly. - Interface To e-MAR
An interface to an eMAR provides real-time medication alerts. Choose the eMAR best suited to your business to reduce training time and risk of error. - Lead Tracking
Maximize your marketing budget with comprehensive lead tracking and reporting.
RAL ACADEMY TEACHES EVERYTHING FROM A-Z
There is a lot of information and innovative research needed in order to run and operate a residential assisted living home.
Owning and operating your RAL business will become easier if you educate yourself on every step of the process.
Reading our blogs is a great start to put you well on your way, but there’s so much more to learn.
During our RAL Academy 3-day course, instructors use an interactive live training approach to teach students how to gain the most success.
Participants learn everything from A to Z about owning and operating a residential assisted living business.
Contact the academy today to learn more about our making your dream business a success.
We will teach you how to do well and do good.
Visit www.RALAcademy.com to learn more about every component you need brand a successful residential assisted living home.
Learn how to make the best first impression by registering for an upcoming course while seats are available.
