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Thinking Partner Selling™ Sales Tip
Don’t rest on your laurels just because you have a waiting list.
A wait list can be a powerful tool when used correctly. It can also be a false sense of security that contributes to a crisis when attrition hits hard.
Utilizing a wait list effectively requires work and knowledge on the part of your sales team members. If they don’t know everyone on the list, talk with them frequently and understand their timetable for residency, your list can make you a legend in your own mind. The panic-stricken look in a sales counselor’s eyes when he or she has gone through three-quarters of the list and no one’s stepped up to fill a vacancy is not a pretty thing to see.
So: if you have a wait list make sure that it is a true wait list. Look at ways to make your wait list more than just a list.
Check in with your prospects frequently and invite them to special events in the community. Have a password-protected section of your website just for them. Create a Future Residents’ Club. Give them privileges at the pool and fitness center and quarterly guest meals. Publish a monthly list of programs in which they can participate.
Getting future residents involved in resident life can result in an earlier move-in.
What’s the “perfect” wait list? One that consists of people you know and with whom you communicate. One that has a membership equal to at least five times your annual attrition. One that has a “ready list” – people who will move in the next year if you offer them the opportunity – equal to one and a half times your annual attrition.
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