Maverick Operational and Sales Leadership w/Lisa Anderson

New ED's Playbook to Creating and IMpactful Community Cultrue

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Transcript

Erin: 1:05

Most people think that success in senior living comes from following the corporate playbook warning. Enter and continue listening at your own risk. But today's guest proves the opposite. She walked into her first building, her first community with no experience, no roadmap, and filled it to a hundred percent by breaking the rules, trusting her gut, and creating community in ways no policy manual could ever teach. From Facebook groups before Facebook was cool to photo walls, yearbooks, and marketing plans called whatever it takes. Lisa has spent her career showing what happens when you lead with heart and think like a maverick. In this episode, we are going to talk about rebellious sales strategies, leadership lessons from the trenches, and why home. Is not an amenity. It is a feeling, one of my favorite lines. If you're ready to rethink what's possible inside your community, this conversation will inspire you to just do that. Now again, we are going to talk about ways that we, both Lisa Anderson and I have kind of done things unconventionally against the corporate rule book, and if you are entrenched in an organization that wants you to do exactly what they say. listen cautiously and see how maybe you can make minor changes. But if you are in an independently owned community or a company that allows you some creativity freedom, this episode is for you because we are going to talk about what we did that was outside the box that caused our communities to go to 100%. So Lisa Anderson, welcome. Thank you for being here. Yay. Thank you for having me. I am excited to have this conversation. Tell us a little bit about your experience, all the different roles that you've had within senior living so we can understand where you are coming.

Lisa: 3:07

Sure. started as a volunteer at a senior living. My grandmother lived there and when she passed away, she had left me her yarn, 25 bins of it. And so I called the activities director and I said, Hey, I got this yarn. I'd like to donate it so that you guys can crochet your hearts away. And she said, you should teach a crochet class. And so I said, well, okay. And I did, and I taught. Several days a week, and it turned into more days and more days and more days. And, as my class started to pass away, which is kind of a, you know, reality in senior living, I realized that we weren't getting new people to fill it. And I just said, Hey, I think you should let me run your Facebook group because you're page, I'm really good at Facebook. And I love it here. And I could help bring in more people. More people need to know how amazing this place is. And they said, that's our marketing director's job and we don't have one, and you should do that. And I really thought twice about it. I owned my own company at the time. I had eight kids, well I still have eight kids, thank goodness. but I had eight little kids and I just didn't know if I wanted to turn something that I loved so much into a job, but I took the job. And we made some agreements when I wrote my contract because I'm a maverick and we're gonna do it a little different. And I just said, I'll take less pay, I'll take all of it. Let me prove to you who I am because I've never done this. I dunno if I can do it. and so they paid me very little money like I asked them to so that I could give it a shot. And we filled the building and we filled it quickly. We filled it within six months and it was amazing. We went from low census to full in six months and I have never looked back. I just. Then I became the regional and then I moved up and had 16 buildings in five states and filled all those buildings and we just kept filling buildings.

Erin: 5:00

Oh, that's quite, that's quite the track record. Okay, let's, diving into this story is gonna be fun. So let's start off with like the fun and rebellious stuff, right? So what makes you a bit of a rebel in this industry? What was one time that you broke the mold and it. Paid off for you? Paid. Although saying, pay me very little, it's a little bit breaking

Lisa: 5:26

the mold there

Erin: 5:28

for sure. Right.

Lisa: 5:29

I think, I think true sales, if you hire a true sales person, they'll always bet on the low base high commission structure. Right? Because they know that their skillset is, they're betting on themselves. I would rather. Do it that way, knowing that the potential is there, that if I succeed, they succeed. The bill, everybody succeeds. When you do good at sales, everybody wins. It's just a win-win. And so in any job that I've had, I've always negotiated it that way. which is different, right? Most people are gonna walk in and want the security and the safety. But I find I hustle really well when I motivated. I don't know. There's, I think there is a huge difference between being unique and being oppositional. And when you are unique, you are using your talents and your skillset to empower and inspire everybody else around you, right? So it isn't. Always a case of I'm gonna come in and break all the rules and I'm gonna do it my way and I'm gonna fight the oligarchy or whatever it is. I'm gonna fight corporate. I'm gonna fight everybody. I'm not fighting anybody. But I do think that when you're a maverick or an entrepreneur or just, I think we all have our skill sets that make us really, really special. I think we all have things that. are unique to us. And I've actually gone to work for a corporation in senior living and we had this huge discussion about it before I accepted the job. They recruited me, they wooed me, they took me to lunch. They were oh my gosh, look it, you're gonna come to Disneyland every day and it's gonna be fantastic. And we got a salt water pool on the inside and I was, oh, my heart was Twitter padded. I was just oh my gosh, I can't wait to go to work here. I asked are you sure you're ready for someone like me because you are gonna give me what you want done and I'm gonna go get it done. that's what it's, so you say you want this kind of census, you say you want this many staff, we're gonna go recruit staff. We're gonna do whatever it takes. the one time that I broke the rules, and I think that you can break the rules in the best possible way. Okay, so I was thinking a lot about this because you asked me this before and one time that I broke the rules, I took a nurse to an assessment and it was, in my opinion, a perfect admit, not in her opinion. So she says, we get back and she says, gosh, if only, he could be on hospice, I'd let him come in because, we'd have the hospice support and it'd be good, but it's a no. It's a no. Here's your red stop sign. You're done. Take it or leave it. Well, he was married. The wife was a perfect fit. He was on dialysis three days a week, and so he wasn't on hospice. And so I went back to my office and I got on LinkedIn actually, and I messaged the president of a hospice company that I knew and I messaged him and I said, could I have your cell phone number? And he said, excuse, excuse me, who are you? And I said, you dunno me. I just, I would like to talk to you. Could I please talk to you? So he sent me a cell phone number and I texted and I said, Hey, is there ever a time when you can do dialysis? Because this gentleman wants to stay on dialysis, and my nurse said if he could be on hospice, he could move here. So how do we do this? And they said, yes, as long as the diagnosis is not. Terminal as long as the dialysis is comfort measures. So as long as he has a different terminal diagnosis, he can be on hos, on hospice and on dialysis, right? So I'm thinking, oh, I'm like the pearly gates have opened and we are, red carpet is rolled out and we are ready and my team is gonna be so excited that we get to do this two person admit. It's be perfect. So I call hospice and hospice comes out and does the intake, and he on dialysis and he on hospice, and I get it all worked out and I take it to the nurse, I'm here you go. And she's like, oh, I told you no. And I was like, wait, what? No, that's not what you said. You said if he could be on hospice and dialysis, he could move here. And Tadda he's, and so I think it was, and he did move in. Now, I didn't make a ton of friends that day. Right. I did not make a ton of friends that day because in that building, it was not a very sales friendly building. It was very much, they wanted low acuity and they wanted. All those things. And if you fast forward the story, he died three days after he moved in and his wife lives there. To this day, eight years later, his wife lives in that building. I'm still friends with the kids. And it was the right move. It was the right move. And I think he was just waiting until she could be taken care of. until he knew that she had somewhere to go and. So anyways, being unique and being a maverick is not always about breaking all the rules, but it is about looking at the nos and finding out what nos have a soft boundary that you can kind of push. And I think too many people in the sales world, I sit in these sales meetings and they're like, oh, we couldn't move in this one because of this, or we couldn't move in that. I'm like, what? Wait, no, there's so many options. Yeah, there's so many options And I think you just gotta be willing to look outside the box.

10:42

Mm-hmm.

Lisa: 10:43

And it would've been very easy to take that. Oh, he has. He can't be on dialysis and hospice at the same time. No one in my building knew that it was possible. No one in my world knew that it was possible. But the guy in California that owns a hospice company knew that it was possible, and he helped me and we're still friends. And I said, you ever come to Spokane? I'll work for you and I'll get you tons of hospice, because I love hospice. But, So, I don't know. I think it just is about finding those soft boundaries. Yeah. I, I

Erin: 11:09

think, you

Lisa: 11:11

know.

Erin: 11:13

I, I never considered myself an entrepreneur. It was never a thing in my life. My life was, I'm gonna be an executive director. I'm gonna work in senior living. that was my, my thing. And, and as I've gone through different programs to, to change my mindset and become the entrepreneur mindset, there was this one time where it was like, If you're a question asker and if you look at everything and you wanna know why and you wanna dive deep with curiosity, you've probably always been on the track to be an entrepreneur. And I was like, well, that's what people really didn't like about me, was the fact that I really wanted to know why I needed to know how things worked. In order to really understand how to solve a problem, I really wanted to go to the root. And a lot of people don't wanna go to the root, and a lot of people do take no for an answer or face value, and I have just never been one of those people. I wanna know why, what does that no mean or why? Because it looks like to me, we can just go down these different channels, which is exactly what you did. There's many, many examples I could give about that, but it's just that isn't being a maverick, that is being entrepreneurial spirit. Not necessarily a a, a doer, but it's a spirit that drives you. And for people who want people to fall in line. That entrepreneurial spirit kind of will put a wrench in their plants. So I think the moral of the story is it's what drives success. If you can find the balance in it, or in a prior conversation, you made this amazing phrase, and I use it all the time now, I'm a phrase Steeler, but it's the freedom and the frameworks.

Lisa: 13:02

I had a boss that I went through an interview after that horrific experience, I was clearly looking for another job because I was. Definitely not appreciated at that place, and I do think that it's a little soul crushing for someone that, just wants to move the ball forward every single day and really is just hungry, right? I wake up every morning hungry to go out and learn something new, and find something new and and be better. Anyways, I was in an interview and I specifically asked them. What is your management style? And the most brilliant, beautiful woman that I've ever met said, I believe in freedom within framework. And I said, oh, I've never heard of such a thing. What is this? Tell me this magical thing. And she said, I'm gonna give you the framework and you're gonna work within, you're gonna make it happen, and I'm gonna give you the freedom to do it your way as long as you don't break these hard rules that are around the edge. I was oh my gosh, we are gonna work. We're gonna make magic. it was the best job I've ever had, best boss I've ever had. And she truly believed it. She truly lived it. If there was something that she'd say to me, does this make sense? And I'd say, well, no, not exactly. Yeah. I mean, it makes sense when you're sitting in the boardroom, but it doesn't make sense in the community. Right? And then she would actually listen to you and she'd say, why doesn't it make sense? And then I'd tell her, and then we would agree or disagree to, to

14:21

follow

Lisa: 14:22

a policy or whatever. Yeah, I think it was brilliant freedom within framework. I use it every day now with my kids. I use it all the, I use it with every day forever. Yeah. And back to what you said a minute ago about asking all the questions and digging deep. I saw this quote the other day of actually a whole story, and I loved it so much. It said, if you have a problem, fix the, well, not the faucet, because most people will fix the faucet, right? And they'll go in and. Bandage it up and they'll make it look pret or whatever, but they'll never dive deep and try to figure out where all of the problems are actually flowing from and to fix the well. And I'm a, well, I'm a well digger. I go deep into everything and try and find the solution and not just bandage it up.

Erin: 15:05

Well, when you value your time as a leader inside of a community, you're going to want to fix the well. So the problem doesn't keep coming back. I mean, it's, it was, I think a lot of it was motivated by, for me, Hey, I gotta manage, I gotta manage my time. I don't say that anymore. I have to prioritize my, my to-do list. So I, I can't keep having the same problem happen to me over and over again because. My time and my energy is important. And if you have that mindset then, then you're gonna get to that root and you're gonna get to the root fast because you don't have the time to waste. But if you don't value your time and you don't value things and you're gonna constantly stay in a cycle that it's gonna keep happening to you, then you're gonna then, then you'll fix and put a bandaid on something that will then leak out. And you'll have to keep solving it.

15:58

And I think it's uncomfortable sometimes

Lisa: 16:00

to dig deep. Yes. Right. You gotta, because sometimes what appears to be the problem is really not the problem. And then when you dig deeper into those layers, you're gonna, you're gonna have to make some decisions on, on stuff. And that That is hard. That is hard.

Erin: 16:15

Yeah. Something you and I agree on are resident first approaches, especially when it comes to marketing events and I'll preface this by saying I, my, as a sales and marketing director, and even as an executive director, marketing events weren't some big to-do that we had inside of our community and maybe the corporate office wanted those things, but we kind of morphed it into something that benefited both the residents and prospects that came. And I found that that was much more effective from a customer service standpoint than just, having these big events and, and, and making them separate, which I find to be distasteful, disrespectful. lots of, lots of negative words.

17:04

It's just nasty. Yeah, I don't like

Erin: 17:06

it. So you have a similar. story and perspective as I do. So let's talk about as, as a successful event person that you are. Now you own an entire company dedicated to events. What is your perspective on, those marketing events? And this is where it gets a bit rebellious, so. okay, listen. Listen at your own risk.

17:32

Mm-hmm.

Lisa: 17:33

You, I'll preface it with, you always have to get your work done right. Everything that we talk about outside of that or what we're about to talk about now, doesn't mean I didn't make my phone calls, doesn't mean I didn't do my follow-ups, doesn't mean I was doing all of that stuff. Plus what we're about to talk about, so. In our town, I'm sure in every town they've got marketing opportunities. Every week you can go to r and r, which was like relationships and referrals. You can go to Wind down Wednesday, you can go to all these things, and truly salespeople have the best job ever because it doesn't matter if the building is literally on fire. You get to walk out and go to wind down Wednesday because that's your job, right? Doesn't matter. You don't have to worry about it. Oh, you're short staffed today. Oh, honey, that's too bad. I'm gonna wind Wednesday. No, that never happened in my building. If we were short staffed, if there was no cook, if there was no dishwasher, if we were short anywhere in the building, and my option was help my team. Help my residents serve in especially serving in the dining room. If I had the option, I would do that over going and I, I will tell you, more business was done in that dining room than I did anywhere else, because families came to eat with their loved ones, and they saw me serving food, clearing dishes, doing all these things night after night. And it would be, oh, my neighbor's mom needs somebody. Or, oh, do you care if I bring so and so from church to have lunch with what, whatever. And it was always business done there. And I think the families trusted me so much because they knew. They knew that I followed up with what I sold. I couldn't sell something I didn't believe in. I couldn't sell something we couldn't deliver, and I couldn't expect them to be the total solution to what I was selling. So I was very accountable to making sure. I was always part of the building first. So with our marketing stuff, they would want me to do so many per quarter and, you know, do these progressive dinners where everybody comes around and they eat or, or have other people come in. Do whatever, that's fine. But I always had to involve our residents or I wouldn't do it. I was like, let's just open it up to the whole community because nobody can speak on this community better than the people that live there. And if you can't shut the back door, right, you gotta shut the back door. You can't bring in enough people. If your people are pouring out the other side, like you can move them in. That's, that's the easy part. Keeping'em is the hard part. Right. And part of your, part of my marketing strategy, part of my sales strategy was how do we keep'em happy and get them referring to us because, and it was in reach, right? They always talk about, oh, you gotta do outreach. You gotta do outreach, you gotta do outreach. I believe in reaching in first, because you already have'em. You've got'em, I mean, and you owe it to them. They've given you a deposit, they've given you their money, they've sold their house, they've gone through this whole process, and you owe them a good, a good experience, right? So start there. Now, I own an entertainment company. I do events all over a big entertainment company, but my heart is senior living. So recently I offered to do a photo booth for a senior living event. And I went in and I set it up and I was so excited to be there. And I couldn't wait to take pictures because I think pictures are the most amazing thing for seniors. And the marketing director of the building said, oh, that's not for the residents, that's for my meeting. She would not let the residents take a picture in the photo booth. And I literally almost cried first. I almost fodder second. That was my second thought. But, it made me sad and it made me realize in my heart of hearts like. You either have a heart for this or you don't. And it's all about them. That's their house. That's where they live. That's their place. we should, everything we should do should be centered from them first. Mm-hmm. And your marketing dollars, you have way more marketing dollars than they have activity dollars. Mm-hmm. Way more. if you can label it whatever, I promise you, corporate's not coming to your little photo booth, label it, whatever you wanna label it. Outreach, whatever. Oh, we had this big thing where everybody came in. No, we partied with our residents and everybody had so much fun and a couple of people from the community came. Let's get real. Three or four people are coming. The whole community's not coming. The whole world outside of your community is not coming to your photo booth. They don't care. All those marketing directors are checking the same box. That's the problem. That's what we're gonna get at. The marketing directors in every single community are checking their little boxes. Oh, it's Cinco de May. Let's go pass out our baskets of chips. that they know that we're marketers and we're out marketing. you're gonna host a little something, a little shindig of some sort, and they're gonna obligatory come to that because they have to check their box. But your residents, oh, they get to come and they get to experience and they live there, right? you, I think you should turn all of it into it, all of it.

Erin: 22:38

I do believe in the, in reach and, and in from a leadership standpoint. Creating a culture that sells. if you create a culture that sells, then sales are going to come in, period. And what creating a, a culture that sells means it's including the people that you have inside your community and using them to attract people that need and want what you have to offer. And to me, that's what marketing events were. It was a combination of the sales and operations, because I believe. I believe leadership is sales, and sales is service. And both of them require influence. And it's all the same thing. And yes, I've often wondered all these big events, how many, how many people do you get at these big events that, that you market for? and ours were small, effective to a certain degree, effective. When we're looking at creating a culture that sells. Yep. To me, that's what the marketing events are when you use them both for residents and the families and prospects of people coming in. It is creating a culture that sells and using sales to your advantage. Everybody in life is trying to create an advantage, but you have an advantage already inside your sales and marketing budget, and if you use it appropriately, it's important.

Lisa: 24:03

again, placement companies, everybody hates them. I mean, let's just get real. No one wants to pay a placement company 30 days, right, right. to get a lead when it's your job to go get the lead. But when I go to these networking things, it's all, oh, what are they hobnobbing with? They're all hobnobbing with just each other. Like, I already know what you do. And you do and you do, and we all know the same people and we're all gonna still do the same tired thing. I would go to. The real estate companies and I would do an open house at my community and I would, hold it as an open house, A broker's open, and I'd have them all come there and I would say, do you have a senior that you're working with that you can't get out of their house? Invite me, I'll go with you. They're gonna love me. They're gonna love everything I have to offer, and I'm gonna help you get that listing and get that house. So we would do brokers open and my boss said it was the dumbest idea he'd ever heard, did not think it was gonna work. Why would you be doing it to real estate people? You don't even know if they help seniors. You don't even know if they have senior. You're, this is ridiculous. Go to the hospital, find the discharge planner. Go do it the way you've always done it. Do you know how many people that first real estate company brought me? They brought me nine people in four months. Wow. Nine people from one real estate company. And then I became their guest speaker once a month at their. They had a brunch once a month and I would always go and they would say, okay, so if you have any se, this is our senior specialist and she's here to talk about moving your seniors out of their houses. And I did seminars all over town on it, but my boss didn't like it. The first time he poo-pooed it, he told me no, I bought the muffins and all the stuff out of my own money.'cause he was like, we're not gonna approve it. So sometimes you gotta take a risk if you believe in it, you gotta see if it pans out. Sometimes you just wanna do things and you gotta take that risk. And I think when you believe in it, being a maverick is a gamble. Being unique is a gamble. Thinking outside of the box is a gamble, and it's really hard when the pressure from the company is like, that won't work and you're, you are held bent to do it anyways, You feel an obligation to make it work. I, as I've gotten older, realize not everything is gonna work. And people are so afraid they wanna go 10 out of 10 or nine out of 10. They want about a thousand. They wanna, they wanna make sure everything that they do works. It's not always going to work. You're gonna take risks that don't work, but how fast do you come back out of it? How brave are you to try something else again? And you're gonna try 20 things and two of'em are gonna work. You tried 20, And you're gonna keep going and it's, it doesn't have to be very expensive to do it. You can do it very inexpensive. All of it. All of it can be done inexpensive. You gotta listen. Listen to everybody that's around you, what they're talking about, sitting at a bar. When I was about 10 years into my senior living journey, I decided to buy a restaurant. And my ED at the time, I went in and I said, Hey, I wanna talk to you. And she says, oh you, that's always, oh gosh, what am. Because it's, it's always a lot. There's always a lot. So I said, I have some news for you. And she said, you're quitting. I said, no. And she's like, okay, whatever. It's, then it's totally fine. I said, good, because I'm gonna buy a restaurant. And she's like, whatcha doing? And I said, I'm gonna buy this restaurant and I'm gonna flip it and I'm gonna make it amazing. And she says, well, okay. What do you know about running a restaurant? And I said, about as much as I knew about senior living, which was absolutely nothing, but. Now we have 16 full buildings, so I'm guessing we're doing okay. I'm gonna go buy this thing. Anyways, long story short, 10 people, the first year I moved in, came from regulars at that restaurant. Oh. Every time I, and I'll tell you the reason that I had decided to buy it was because I was bartending. One night. I was getting divorced. I was bartending at night, and so I was working all day as a regional sales director, a million hours a week and bartending at night. My kids were still at home. this guy sitting at the bar, he said, you're here every night. Why are you here? What's going on? and he says, my mom has dementia and it is miserable at my house. I don't know what to do. I said, well, funny that you're at my bar, funny, you're sitting at my bar stool. Let me tell you about my day job. And then we started talking and then he is like, oh my gosh. Well my neighbor's mom, and then this other, and then, and then all of a sudden people were coming to my bar specifically to see me. To talk about their aging parents that need. I don't suggest you go out and buy a restaurant. It was really hard and it was, aw, I'm not saying that at all, but it was miraculous. It literally felt like a God thing. it was like, oh my gosh, here's this vessel. And I believe that there's those little pockets of stuff everywhere we go, every single day. You just gotta look for them, listen to them, and not be afraid.

Erin: 28:54

And it proves a point about how authenticity matters. I think that too many of us try to fit into some kind of. Square hole where the square peg, or we don't, we don't feel comfortable in, in showing a side of us when I think that authenticity is what's going to attract the right people to your community. And for you to know your story, know the community, know why the residents choose your community, and to be able to incorporate that in tours is really, really important. I was at a conference this past week, and one of the speakers, her name was Christy Patterson, made a comment and was like, make the tour One of one. One of one because you're catering that tour to the family's needs and wants, which is what you were doing in the bar, which is a crazy story, by the way, and it just proves about the entrepreneurial spirit. And sometimes the big corporate machines wanna take away. The authenticity of a community, because authenticity is hard to scale. Yes, but what's unique inside of a community is that if you're aware of it, whether you're in a big box co company or if you're an independent ownership, is you are authentic to that community. So how do you tell your story, your executive director story, your nurse's story, your activity director story, your maintenance director story, the food story. Inside that community. That's what will attract the right people. Again, it's the entrepreneurial spirit. It's the authenticity of you and it's blending in your requirements and your unique magic, that framework, and finding the freedom within that framework and to be able to communicate up appropriately, which is key there.

Lisa: 30:41

That is key. Yes. I think more eds, if they're brave enough to hire. Someone that is you or me, you know, there is a magic to it, but it is a different type of management style that, that people like that need to thrive. We can work anywhere. I can work for anybody and I can be successful for anybody. I can sell anything, do anything, fill anything, and I can do it with anybody's rules and anybody's regulations. What is missing is the joy. If you put me into this little thing, eventually there will be no joy. I'll do it your way and it'll happen. But if communities wonder why are they chewing through people, why can't we keep people? Why is there such high turnover? Why, what goes from that first day when you're so happy and you walk through that door at that new position and that new community and you're on fire for it? What kills that fire before you even get a chance to really make it happen? Right. And it, it's a, it's a variety of things, I think, but it's when we stop looking at each other as one of one. You're one of one. I'm one of one. I'm not just a sales director. I'm not just a marketing director. I am me. And that is it. And I think I have a, a gift, and I think most people like me have a gift of seeing people for who they are, what they are, and for seeing their special talents and their unique, you know, potential. And then you nurture that and you inspire it and you, you make them feel so excited. Two kids right now that work for me. They both just graduated from high school rock stars. They did a tech job, a vocational training thing and they were ready to go be electricians and I was so sad'cause they were gonna leave and I've had'em for two years here and, and then the parents came to me and they said, Hey, our kids wanna put off college to work for you for two more years. They wanna work for you, and we're willing to approve that because we see so much growth in them as humans. And I was bawling, of course, because that's what I do. But I was bawling because I thought, oh my gosh, we're not just doing little things here. We're doing, we're making big changes. And it's a big culture and I tried it in senior living and it worked. You know, we had one year where we had a 98% retention rate on our employees for a year, 98% was unheard of. And it was just because, I think as a team, my ED and my nurse and I, we were so in tune with everybody in our community. Yeah. Every tour they were selling for me, the nurses were giving me hugs, the CNAs were giving me hugs. The dishwashers were coming out to greet people and be happy about it. And they weren't rolling their eyes. Oh, it's another move. Oh, we gotta paint that. No. Yeah. It was amazing.

Erin: 33:34

Yeah. It's the nurturing component. when operations is running as one unit, sales will follow suit, sales will follow because that's the magic sauce and the sales program. Okay. Final two points. You've made Two statements in the past that, well, three, and we've already talked about one of them, freedom in the frameworks, but another one that says that home is not an amenity, that it's a feeling. And I,

Lisa: 34:02

that was my secret. That should be trademarked. I'm just saying that made me a lot of, lot of move-ins off that one statement. Yes,

Erin: 34:13

and I, I mean like, you have those moments where like, that's how I lived out my career, but I don't think I ever said it so succinctly as that. So it's like, let's unpack that for a minute because that is a line that should be out there everywhere.

Lisa: 34:30

It's, so I was in a building that was. Aesthetically challenged, amenity challenged. It was horrible. We didn't even have internet. Literally had no wifi in the whole building, had no, just had no amenities whatsoever. a daughter said, oh, there's not very many amenities in here. And I said, well, home isn't an amenity. It's a feeling. And she was like. Oh, well, yeah, this does feel like home. It does feel like home. And I said, well, that's what we're going for, And, and then I started using that every time and then I started believing it, and I truly believe it. I worked in buildings that were like cruise ships on land. They had everything. And they didn't have the feeling of home. Yeah, they didn't have it. It felt sterile. It felt not like home. And you can fix that, but that's a bigger subject. yeah, Home is not an amenity, it's a feeling.

Erin: 35:23

Yes. I love that. oh, the other, the other line, the third and final line that has really stuck with me is that sales is, an exchange of energy, and you're right. You're right. It's, it's an exchange of energy. So like when people walk into a community, I mean, you hear this all the time, you can feel it, you can feel a good community when you walk in. Like that is energy, just like home is a feeling, which is an energy to some degree. Sales is not a transfer of dollars promises and hopes. It's literally. A transfer of energy. And so what can a new sales director or an executive director, what can they, how, what is that advice that you give them when they're out here trying to, to figure it all out, to make it so simple as sales, it's just a transfer of energy.

Lisa: 36:23

you gotta get excited. Everything I literally wake up in the morning. and the team will tell you she's excited about linens today. She's like on fire for em, and I'm like, they're beautiful. They smell good. They came back clean. Look at how pretty it. You get excited about life in general and these seniors have so little of life left. They have less life left than we do mostly, probably, and it is our obligation. To get excited about it, get And as an ed, whenever I took over a new building, I did five things. I thought about what do people see, know, hear, feel, taste, touch before they ever meet a real person in our building? What does the parking lot look like? What does the entryway smell like? What does, what is the energy about it? Do you pull in and there's garbage in the, like what do you. See, hear Phil smell. What does it say online? What do your reviews say? That's an energy. Facebook is a portal. Energy. LinkedIn is a portal. Energy. You're gonna put something out and something's gonna come back, and the energy that you put into it, it isn't just a statement, it is a living, breathing thing. Everything is a living, breathing thing. Everything. So what do the people know? What is the first interaction like? the very first interaction that you have with a community, whether it's a phone call, whether it, what is it and what does that seem like? What does it feel like? What does it sound like? What does it look like? Did you walk in and there's six people in their wheelchairs sitting at the front desk dirty from lunch and, and it smells like. urine, what does that look like when they have that first interaction with your community? Was the the receptionist having a bad day and was she snotty? Was she short or was she happy and exchanging energy on the phone, A lot of energy can be exchanged on the phone. And then do you deliver what you sell? Once you have that person, do you deliver what you sell? And if you do, that's amazing. That is. Perfect. That's what you should be doing. If you're not, then you gotta look at that. Are you talking to your families? What are they saying? What are your employees saying? Does your brand match your culture? Your culture is what your residents think of you. Your brand is what your employees think of you. And if those two things aren't the same. It won't work. Your, your employees and your people have to have the same experience. If you treat your employees bad, they're not treating your residents right? If you treat your employees good, they're going to treat, it's a thing. Does your brand match your culture and what does that look like? So do you deliver what you sell? Then number four, how does it end? When it's over and it's done, what does that exit energy look like? Do you put as much energy into the exit? Yes, you should. You absolutely should. I just did a wedding three weeks ago for the grandchild of a woman that I took care of in senior living. Her son texted me and said, I heard you might be doing events. I said, I'm doing events. He goes, my son's getting married and blah, blah, blah. And do you remember my mom and I instantly sent him a picture of her and me, I was like, I still have a picture. Here we go. Here it is. It's right here. And he's like, God, she loved you. And I said, I loved her, and that was fantastic. He goes, we want you to do this wedding. So do you stay in touch when you see something that reminds you of somebody? Do you stay in touch? What do you do? Because they're, they are gone. And I think a lot of corporations think the ROI has ended on that right there. And it has not, it has not, they still know a lot of people, so stay in touch and that's what I would do. I would break down every single one of those different pillars. What do people know before they meet you? What's their first meeting like? Do you deliver what you sell and how does it end? And I go through that with every single job I've ever had. Whether it's senior living or this, or even anything. And that is where I begin to dig deep. And you can always tell if the brand doesn't match the culture. If you're, if you have miserable employees, you go on Glassdoor and it's nothing but negative things coming from the employees. There is zero chance that those residents are having a good experience. Zero. And, but if the, if everybody's having a good thing, then, then it's matching up, then that's good. That's amazing. And you can't, you can't treat your people bad eds or nurses or anybody and expect them to treat your clients good.

Erin: 40:43

It's true. I agree with everything that you just said. That was a great framework, those four points, like Woo. Yeah. You know, and I. I do wanna reiterate the last time someone walks out of your community is one of the most important moments that they'll remember, and I think they'll remember that more than the first time that they walked in as a tour because it's much more impactful the last time they walk out the door. I preach this a lot and I'm so thankful to have somebody who can. Who can share that and double down on that, that aspect. you have given us a lot of information. we appreciate that. thank you for reminding us that leadership doesn't come from a manual. It doesn't, and I think that sometimes leaders are thrown into a community and they just. Lose their bearings because so much is coming at them and then they just become very automatic. And you don't wanna be automatic. You wanna be authentic. And I think that that's very important and authentic authenticity is going to come from courage, heart, and energy, like she says. if you take anything from today, remember this, which I think is important, own your story. That's the authenticity that Lisa is talking about. And. Tell it, tell your story and find freedom in the frameworks. And if asked the question, if I stay in these harsh boundaries like Lisa has described, is there freedom inside this? And I think that any good leader is going to be like, wow, what a great question. Anything you wanna add is the big takeaway from today, Lisa?

42:19

No, I think, you got it all. You got all the good stuff. Good.

Erin: 42:24

Our lines are freedom in the frameworks home. It's not amenity, it's a feeling. And that sales is a transfer of energy and that the last time they walk out of your community is the time that they will remember the most. That is where your referrals will come from, and we have plenty of stories to prove that. So just remember that, Lisa, your wisdom is so appreciated. Thank you so much. And to my listeners, always remember, own your story so you can create your future and know that you can ask and reach for more. Knowing that you are enough, have a great rest of your day or evening.