For senior dwelling communities, the purpose of thriller purchasing is easy: capturing first-hand details about a competitor’s customer support and gross sales processes to find out how our purchasers may have the ability to enhance their very own.
Our purchasers ask us to pose as a curious potential buyer in order that we are able to reveal the useful and emotional components of the gross sales expertise. Sure, we find out about competitor pricing, occupancy and incentives, however these aren’t the actual wins. The true wins come from the customer support expertise insights that assist our purchasers create distinctive and efficient gross sales experiences for their very own prospects.
However not all thriller purchasing experiences go properly. Having performed numerous undercover gross sales visits over a few years, we’ve uncovered just a few widespread errors made by gross sales workforce members and a few very actual quotes to go together with them.
Mistake No. 1: Speaking an excessive amount of about your self
We get it. Sharing a bit of bit about your self — particularly if it’s one thing that you’ve got in widespread with a buyer — may also help forge a bond, however oversharing private info can backfire. The next are only a few issues gross sales workforce members shared with us with out immediate or associated to something we shared about ourselves.
- “I’m considered one of 11 kids. My mom wasn’t anticipated to have the ability to conceive after which she had two units of triplets, two units of twins and my brother. I’m a triplet. I’m used to sharing and cooking.”
- “In response to the state, I solely have 4 canines, however in actuality I’ve seven canines and too many cats to rely. Our home is in a dumping space for animals, and I can’t flip them away. I’ve such a coronary heart for animals.”
- “I stay in an condominium right here locally. I’ve two cups of espresso in my condominium, then come right down to my workplace and have one other two cups. That’s it for the day until I begin to go to sleep at my desk.”
Mistake No. 2: Answering unasked questions
Gross sales workforce members are human. We get it. Sadly meaning they really feel the necessity to fill useless air with particulars concerning the neighborhood which can be most likely higher left unshared. Listed here are just a few revelations we realized with out even asking:
- “The residents in reminiscence care are primarily vagrants who had been dumped off right here by the sheriff.”
- “We had a horrible mould drawback final yr, nevertheless it has since been corrected.”
- “Only a heads up: It smells like uncooked sewage within the mannequin cottage, and we haven’t recognized the trigger but.” (We toured the foul-smelling mannequin cottage as an alternative of seeing one other cottage.)
Mistake No. 3: Not closing on the following step
On the finish of an preliminary go to, it’s completely regular to be led to a closing space to speak about costs, property availability and reply questions. That’s what ought to occur, a minimum of.
That’s not at all times the case, although. In far too many visits, we left the mannequin property and had been despatched on our method with a packet of knowledge and a few temporary parting phrases.
- “I hope you come stay with us.”
- “Have a pleasant remainder of your day.”
- “We attempt for nice critiques. Would you please go on Google and provides me a optimistic overview, mentioning me by identify?”
The teachings? Decelerate, take a breath, don’t overshare, and a minimum of attempt to shut on the following step to maneuver the method ahead. When you’re at it, deal with all prospects as if they’re a very powerful prospects on the earth — as a result of they’re. Or, on the very least, deal with them as in the event that they’re thriller customers who’re taking in every thing you’re saying — as a result of they may be.
Jackie Stone is gross sales and advertising strategist at senior dwelling advertising and gross sales consulting company Varsity.
The opinions expressed in every McKnight’s Senior Residing visitor and market columns are these of the creator and are usually not essentially these of McKnight’s Senior Residing.
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