For senior living communities, the goal of mystery shopping is simple: capturing first-hand information about a competitor’s customer service and sales processes to determine how our clients might be able to improve their own.
Our clients ask us to pose as a curious potential customer so that we can reveal the functional and emotional elements of the sales experience. Yes, we learn about competitor pricing, occupancy and incentives, but those aren’t the real wins. The real wins come from the customer service experience insights that help our clients create unique and effective sales experiences for their own customers.
But not all mystery shopping experiences go well. Having conducted countless undercover sales visits over many years, we’ve uncovered a few common mistakes made by sales team members and some very real quotes to go with them.
Mistake No. 1: Talking too much about yourself
We get it. Sharing a little bit about yourself — especially if it’s something that you have in common with a customer — can help forge a bond, but oversharing personal information can backfire. The following are just a few things sales team members shared with us without prompt or related to anything we shared about ourselves.
- “I’m one of 11 children. My mother wasn’t expected to be able to conceive and then she had two sets of triplets, two sets of twins and my brother. I’m a triplet. I’m used to sharing and cooking.”
- “According to the state, I only have four dogs, but in reality I have seven dogs and too many cats to count. Our house is in a dumping area for animals, and I can’t turn them away. I have such a heart for animals.”
- “I live in an apartment here in the community. I have two cups of coffee in my apartment, then come down to my office and have another two cups. That’s it for the day unless I start to doze off at my desk.”
Mistake No. 2: Answering unasked questions
Sales team members are human. We get it. Unfortunately that means they feel the need to fill dead air with details about the community that are probably better left unshared. Here are a few revelations we learned without even asking:
- “The residents in memory care are primarily vagrants who were dumped off here by the sheriff.”
- “We had a terrible mold problem last year, but it has since been corrected.”
- “Just a heads up: It smells like raw sewage in the model cottage, and we haven’t identified the cause yet.” (We toured the foul-smelling model cottage instead of seeing another cottage.)
Mistake No. 3: Not closing on the next step
At the end of an initial visit, it’s perfectly normal to be led to a closing area to talk about prices, property availability and answer questions. That’s what should happen, at least.
That’s not always the case, though. In far too many visits, we left the model property and were sent on our way with a packet of information and some brief parting words.
- “I hope you come live with us.”
- “Have a nice rest of your day.”
- “We strive for great reviews. Would you please go on Google and give me a positive review, mentioning me by name?”
The lessons? Slow down, take a breath, don’t overshare, and at least try to close on the next step to move the process forward. While you’re at it, treat all prospects as if they are the most important customers in the world — because they are. Or, at the very least, treat them as if they’re mystery shoppers who are taking in everything you’re saying — because they might be.
Jackie Stone is sales and marketing strategist at senior living marketing and sales consulting agency Varsity.
The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living guest and marketplace columns are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.
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