Sales Tip of the Month: Don’t Let a Hot Lead Cool Off – Follow Up!
The article emphasizes the importance of consistently following up with senior living sales leads to prevent them from cooling off, explaining the sales cycle stages (Lead -> Prospect -> Tour -> Sale), defining hot/warm/cold lead scoring based on urgency, financial qualification, and care needs, and warning that neglecting proactive engagement can cause promising leads to stall or be lost.
It’s easy to talk yourself out of following up with a prospect. Listening to excuses in your head—such as thinking a prospect is not going to move further along the sales cycle—can sabotage your own success. Common thoughts among sales professionals in the senior living industry include: “they’re probably going to stay in their home and use home health care,” “we’re probably too expensive for them,” or “they didn’t seem that interested during the tour.” These are counterproductive to moving a prospect along in the sales cycle.
In senior living sales, the cycle is often segmented into these big-picture stages:
Lead -> Prospect -> Tour -> Sale
Each stage involves specific actions and activities by the sales professional to move the individual to the next stage. For example, a lead becomes a prospect only when the sales professional reaches out, makes actual contact, and learns details about the person and their inquiry. The results of these actions determine the lead’s hot/warm/cold score in your sales system or CRM.
About Hot/Warm/Cold Scoring
- Hot: Prospect shows urgency about moving to senior living (usually within 3 months), appears financially qualified, and does not require a level of care higher than your community can provide.
- Warm: Prospect appears financially qualified but may not be ready to move for more than 3 months, or may be facing a health issue requiring additional care you don’t provide.
- Cold (Future Lead): Prospect lacks urgency but is still considering senior living for the future, wants to stay in touch but isn’t ready to decide now, or is difficult to reach.
Note: If a lead is not financially qualified, permanently requires a higher level of care than your community offers, is no longer in the area, or is deceased, they should be closed out of the database.
A lead remains hot or warm as long as the sales professional is moving the prospect toward the sale. If you’re not performing the necessary activities, leads will cool off and may look elsewhere. Before downgrading or writing off a lead that isn’t progressing but is still a prime candidate, consider these steps:
- Reassess if you’re talking to the right person. On your next follow-up call, ask, “Who else is involved in making this decision about you moving to senior living?”
- Ask about their current health. Care needs increase over time. If it’s been a while since you last spoke, check in to see how they are doing.
- Appeal to their interests and hobbies. If they mentioned an interest in a card game or antique cars, and you have a related event at your community, invite them to visit. Offer lunch and seat them with a resident who could be a potential acquaintance. This builds familiarity with the community, staff, and residents.
Don’t let excuses and assumptions prevent you from moving a prospect along the sales cycle. It takes effort to perform the necessary actions in your sales system and prevent a hot lead from cooling off. Staying in contact and following up with your prospects will keep your community in consideration when the time is right for them to move to senior living.