Five
Star Senior Living’s “Step Up to the Plate” Manager on Duty program presents an
innovative way to educate back up sales staff and improve communication between
the community’s sales team and weekend staff members. The Best of the Best
winning program has demonstrated impressive occupancy increases for communities
implementing the program.
ALFA 2012 Best of the Best Winner
A
large percentage of sales inquiries at Five Star Senior Living tends to occur
on nights, weekends, and holidays, when family caregivers are off from work.
The problem is that these are hours when many communities rely on back-up
“manager on duty”—or MOD—staffing rather than on the dedicated sales teams.
Last year, a holiday weekend mystery shop revealed many inconsistencies in the
inquiry management process. “There were three areas we needed to improve in
order for the managers on duty to be better equipped to effectively handle inquiries,”
says Debbie Howard, vice president of sales and marketing. These included:
consistency in understanding the expectations of the MOD’s role; better
awareness and communication regarding coverage; and better preparation for the
MOD to do full discovery and provide a comprehensive overview to the community.
In
response, Five Star came up with a creative solution. They developed a
MOD-in-a-box kit called “Step Up to the Plate.” All 200 communities were sent a
“Step Up to the Plate” box containing everything that the MOD would need to
know about handling inquiries in the absence of the sales staff. To make it
memorable, each box was outfitted according to a baseball theme.
The
community sales team is in charge of updating the box each Friday with a weekend
“play by play,” including up-to-date information about events, tours, and
move-ins; contact information for “backup team members;” a desk sign
identifying the Manager on Duty; quick tips for effective tours; telephone
callout scripts; inquiry sheets with a step-by-step guide; and a MOD checklist.
“Step
Up to the Plate” was rolled out with a series of interactive webinars to help
MODs feel more confident and view their role in managing inquiries as an
integral part of their job, rather than a distraction. During the next mystery
shop, overall scores increased by more than 26 percent and six communities
received iMac computers for top scores. Occupancy increased by 153 units during
the first four months following the roll-out.
The above best practice was recognized as an ALFA 2012 Best
of the Best Winner. Do you have a best practice, product, service or solution
at your community or company that is advancing excellence in senior living? ALFA
is now accepting nominations for the ALFA 2013 Best of the Best Awards. Visit alfa.org/bestofthebest to
read more best practices and to nominate a program.
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