Most senior living communities host events so professional referral sources will visit. This allows your

community to be top of mind if that nurse, case manager, social worker, physical therapist, attorney, or

financial planner ever needs to refer a client or patient.

Successful senior living sales professionals know what it takes to make the professional marketing

event a success. Choose a great speaker. Select an interesting topic. Provide continuing education

credits. Many sales and marketing professionals even go the extra mile by providing a fabulous meal

to accompany the presentation. But where do many senior living sales professionals fall short? They

leave the room once the speaker is introduced.

Senior living sales professionals spend their marketing budget, time, and energy building up this event

to better connect with referral sources. Why on earth would they leave once the real return on investment

is about to begin?

Maybe the senior living salesperson has a tour with a family scheduled during the event time. Maybe the salesperson wants to catch up on paperwork in his or her office. Or perhaps the operations staff has

once again pulled them into dealing with non-sales-related tasks.

Do yourself a favor. Commit to staying for the entire professional educational event. When the

professional referral sources comment and ask questions during the educational event, that is when

you learn about their problems. And how you might be able to help solve them.

Every sales training instructs salespeople to ask about “challenges”, “problems”, and “what keeps you

up at night?” But since everyone is so busy these days, are you always able to go deep with case

managers, attorneys, social workers, and financial planners who may send clients and patients your

way? Sitting in on a professional education event is the most efficient way to hear what keeps them up

at night.

For example, during a recent continuing education presentation at a senior living community, a physical

therapist lamented about how taxing it was when families just don’t understand their loved one’s Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. This was a great opportunity for the salesperson to provide information to that therapist

about the community’s upcoming family educational events or the support groups offered in their building.

Sadly, the salesperson was not in the room to hear these concerns. Sure, these flyers were sitting out

on a table. But it’s not the same as the salesperson approaching that physical therapist, acknowledging her concerns, and offering possible solutions personally.

Stay for the professional educational events in your community. It’s time well spent.