IT'S ABOUT TIME!

A manual offers advice on selling senior living arrangements.

In this business book, Smith advises people who sell leases in assisted and independent living communities. He urges them to abandon some traditional sales tactics and metrics in favor of a customized and psychology-driven approach that does a better job of winning over people who are reluctant to move into senior housing. The guide uses a combination of anecdotes, theory, and statistics to demonstrate the effectiveness of the strategy the author calls “prospect-centered selling.” Smith counsels readers to stop building large databases of leads and focus on services the community offers. They should instead spend more time with fewer prospects, understanding the emotional aspects of the choice to move into senior living and addressing people’s fears and concerns. Because of its niche topic and narrow target audience—those who work in the industry and are convinced of its benefits—the book operates from a perspective that a more general readership may find unpersuasive: “Why aren’t more qualified prospects following logic and leasing senior living apartments, even when it’s in their best interest, and what can we do about it?” But for the target audience, Smith makes a persuasive case for redefining sales metrics and adopting a new and more individualized approach to closing a sale. The detailed examples of how salespeople are able to win customers by discussing the underlying emotional aspects are well done, providing plenty of tactics for readers to emulate and making clear that prospect-centered selling only works with enough time and effort. Readers interested in sales strategies outside the senior housing context are likely to find that many aspects of this approach can be applied to their own industries. Unfortunately, the manual can come across as an advertisement for Smith’s customer relationship management software, which is mentioned 57 times in the text. But the overall information is solid enough to offset the occasional sense of self-promotion.

A practical, well-organized guide to selling senior housing by focusing on individuals and emotions.