Occupancy performance tactics for today's senior living communities.
Highlights from a presentation at Together We Care 2025
Image generated by AI with assistance from ChatGPT.
For everyone who attended Together We Care 2025 and specifically the presentation, Leading the Revenue Team to Success - thank you, greatly appreciated. And, for those who were unable to attend this newsletter brings forward some highlights of the presentation and the discussion that followed.
Designed for senior living operators struggling with occupancy either hung-up or under 85%, this article introduces a proven system to improve occupancy through revenue team alignment, performance-based coaching, and strategic sales leadership.
Leadership Must Drive Revenue
The senior living business lives and dies by the leadership skills and intentionality of General Managers and/or Executive Directors. This single position has the task of oversight, strategic direction, service culture and performance for the entire team while bridging the distance between the corporate office, ownership, and front line staff.
This is no easy task.
One thing is for certain - if the General Managers and/or Executive Directors do not understand the balance between quality service delivery and occupancy, the business will fail.
The net operating income (NOI) equation is simple; occupancy over expenses.
📈 Revenue/Occupancy = sales
📉 Service/Quality = expenses
We see a strong understanding and capacity for service delivery. Support and resources for all areas of the business where quality service is concerned is plentiful. However, when it comes to sales and occupancy, resources and support are slim.
There appears to be an imbalance with an over indulgence [if you can call it that] in quality operations and a nonchalant approach to driving revenue.
Operators are still attempting the "build it and they will come" strategy, using the GM or any other team member for tour guides, or having one sales person who has no ongoing training or systems, other than what was left behind by the last person.
This reality is not held to the single or small operators. Even the large and well organized chains fall short for occupancy and sales skills training, enriched systems, role playing and performance management.
What we know to be true - if General Managers are not leading sales within a high-end sales environment, occupancy will suffer.
- Senior living leaders must directly engage in driving occupancy.
- Traditional “build it and they will come” strategies are outdated.
- Relying on one sales counselor for all occupancy work is a critical mistake.
- Without occupancy we have no need for service.
Common Mistakes & High-Impact Fixes
The senior living industry has a sleepy habit of doing the same thing over and over again while lamenting poor results. Why? Usually the only real answer is "because we always did it this way".
There are two critical mistakes that we continually make and they are, relying on one individual to handle all Prospects as a tour guide and the second is pretending we aren't in sales.
Mistake #1: Assigning all occupancy responsibility to one individual.
✅ Fix: Reposition the existing team into a Revenue Team accountable for results.
Mistake #2: Not creating a professional sales environment.
✅ Fix: Implement weekly strategic Sales Performance Meetings led by the GM.
The Revenue Team Concept
Is there the possibility to rethink and repurpose the talent within our communities to achieve balance between occupancy and service where Prospect and Resident are equal?
This is the premise of a Revenue Team; a team of people, already employed by the community, who are 100% focused on Prospects, occupancy performance and culture.
The team members have varying levels of responsibility for the work involved, however, this group understands deeply the Prospect journey with a mindset geared to occupancy.
Definition: A cross-functional team including the GM/ED, sales counselor, concierge, reception, move-in coordinator, health & wellness lead, and support roles.
Mission: 100% responsible for the prospect experience and occupancy results.
Benefits: Shared stress and accountability, increased sales capacity, and enhanced collaboration.
Sales Performance Meeting Structure
A weekly sales performance meeting is not a new concept. We've talked about it for years - and the truly successful General Managers get it. But they are the exception.
A sales performance meeting is just that - performance management. It is not "story time", and it should never be about operations or reports.
This is the first meeting to get dropped because it is a challenge. There is no simple check list to run through to ensure success. You have to dig-in to every family who is moving through the journey into senior living and support your sales team members with inspiration, ideas, and guidance while continuously demonstrating the behaviours needed to drive occupancy from the whole team. Stay focussed on the people, guiding forward advances for each engaged Prospect and new inquiries. Stay disciplined and lead.
Who: All revenue team members
Led by: General Manager
Duration: 45 minutes
Focus: Strategic planning over active engaged prospects (not administrative tasks) and new inquiries
Tools: Top Prospect Board, CRM profiles, inquiry forms
Approach: Coach performance, track forward motion, celebrate wins
How the Revenue Team Drives Occupancy
The sales counselors hold the greatest responsibility for occupancy performance as they are the only Revenue Team members who are 100% dedicated to Prospects and occupancy. At the community level the sales counselors are the subject matter experts with the highest need for skills development and discipline.
The other members of the team are vital to the overall performance of the community and being on a team is always better than being an island of one.
Here's a good place to start:
☎️Reception: First impressions, speed to lead, and lead nurturing
🛎️Concierge: Clean, welcoming environment, and service culture
📦Move-in Coordination: Smooth transition process, and succession plan
🧑⚕️Health & Wellness: Supports assessments and prospect engagement
The leadership of the General Manager and/or Executive Director will make the difference between 85% occupancy [aka, the struggle bus] and 95% occupancy!
General Manager:
- Leads sales culture and strategy
- Protects the “selling zone”
- Coaches for performance
- Owns revenue accountability
Top Tactics for Immediate Impact
If you can take a quick power list away from this newsletter, let it be these final thoughts:
- Assign and empower the Revenue Team
- Immediately implement a weekly sales meetings for continuous improvement
- Build Speed to Lead as part of your culture. Contact new leads within 1 hour to boost conversion by 7x
- Invest in sales training and performance coaching
- Manage “operations creep” that pulls salespeople away from engaged Prospects
📌 Final Thought
Occupancy is the answer...what was the question?
If you want to loose the relentless drowning stress of financial pressure - occupancy is the answer.
If you want to finally get the upper hallway carpets replaced, new lounge furniture, improve technological supports to empower staff and residents - occupancy is the answer.
Senior living success depends on intentional sales leadership, team alignment, and mastery of the 200-day Prospect selling journey.
Interested in the full slide deck?
For more on this I encourage you to head over to the Learning Academy where you will find occupancy performance long format training, short in-service style presentations and free webinar content to be shared widely.
If you'd like to gain access to the slide deck from this presentation send me an email at [email protected].
Until next time, my warmest regards,
Jodi
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