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Sales vs. Marketing Isn't the
Problem in Senior Housing
By G. Richard Ambrosius |
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For over 20 years, I have heard arguments over who should be in charge of these functions. Sales and marketing functions should be elements of a totally integrated approach to marketing communications — not separate departments. While sales is an element of the marketing mix not the reverse, arguing over who should be in charge is like arguing over who should sing tenor in a barbershop quartet. Generally, you'll never go wrong with a tenor.
In a senior living sales and marketing team, the tenor should be the best strategist — a seasoned professional who truly understands and can relate to the values of older adults. Sales are the eyes and ears of the lead generation team; and the Executive Director provides the legs. Separating the functions under two leaders (a Sales VP/Director and a Marketing VP/Director) is a formula for disaster. It is guaranteed to lead brand confusion, misdirected positioning and growing negative perceptions.
Marketing is the art of identifying what people want and delivering it; and what they don't want eliminating it from the offering, which of course involves operations as the critical element of a successful strategy. If occupancy is declining due to members leaving, the solution is not bringing people in the front door faster — the solution is fixing the culture. If you have a quality product that mirrors consumer values; package it in a story that connects with consumer worldviews and share the story using industry terms, you won't have to "sell" quite so hard.
I recently read the results of a national mystery shop of hundreds of senior living communities and their sales "counselors". The number of sales representative that demonstrated any reciprocal empathy by trying to get to know and understand the needs of prospective members was not even statistically significant. Rather than honing "sales and closing" techniques, the industry needs to focus on empathic listening skills and relate to the values of prospects rather than pitching community features and benefits using outdated fear and urgency approaches and outdated closing techniques.
As former CEO of Southwest Airlines is fond of saying, "The difficulty for other 'low fare' airlines trying to copy SW is the cultural aspects of it. Don't ever doubt the importance of people and their attitudes." For the senior living industry, the major competitor is not another community; but what a majority of older adults perceive "retirement communities" to be. As every marketer knows, perception is reality.
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