September 18, 2025 • 44 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin (00:00):
Most people think that success in senior living comes
from following the corporateplaybook warning.
Enter and continue listening atyour own risk.
But today's guest proves theopposite.
She walked into her firstbuilding, her first community
with no experience, no roadmap,and filled it to a hundred
(00:21):
percent by breaking the rules,trusting her gut, and creating
community in ways no policymanual could ever teach.
From Facebook groups beforeFacebook was cool to photo
walls, yearbooks, and marketingplans called whatever it takes.
Lisa has spent her careershowing what happens when you
lead with heart and think like amaverick.
(00:44):
In this episode, we are going totalk about rebellious sales
strategies, leadership lessonsfrom the trenches, and why home.
Is not an amenity.
It is a feeling, one of myfavorite lines.
If you're ready to rethinkwhat's possible inside your
community, this conversationwill inspire you to just do
that.
Now again, we are going to talkabout ways that we, both Lisa
(01:09):
Anderson and I have kind of donethings unconventionally against
the corporate rule book, and ifyou are entrenched in an
organization that wants you todo exactly what they say.
listen cautiously and see howmaybe you can make minor
changes.
But if you are in anindependently owned community or
a company that allows you somecreativity freedom, this episode
(01:32):
is for you because we are goingto talk about what we did that
was outside the box that causedour 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 thisconversation.
Tell us a little bit about yourexperience, all the different
(01:55):
roles that you've had withinsenior living so we can
understand where you are coming.
Lisa (02:01):
Sure.
started as a volunteer at asenior living.
My grandmother lived there andwhen she passed away, she had
left me her yarn, 25 bins of it.
And so I called the activitiesdirector and I said, Hey, I got
this yarn.
I'd like to donate it so thatyou guys can crochet your hearts
away.
And she said, you should teach acrochet class.
(02:23):
And so I said, well, okay.
And I did, and I taught.
Several days a week, and itturned into more days and more
days and more days.
And, as my class started to passaway, 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 thinkyou should let me run your
(02:45):
Facebook group because you'repage, I'm really good at
Facebook.
And I love it here.
And I could help bring in morepeople.
More people need to know howamazing this place is.
And they said, that's ourmarketing director's job and we
don't have one, and you shoulddo that.
And I really thought twice aboutit.
I owned my own company at thetime.
I had eight kids, well I stillhave eight kids, thank goodness.
(03:06):
but I had eight little kids andI just didn't know if I wanted
to turn something that I lovedso much into a job, but I took
the job.
And we made some agreements whenI wrote my contract because I'm
a maverick and we're gonna do ita little different.
And I just said, I'll take lesspay, I'll take all of it.
Let me prove to you who I ambecause I've never done this.
(03:27):
I dunno if I can do it.
and so they paid me very littlemoney like I asked them to so
that I could give it a shot.
And we filled the building andwe filled it quickly.
We filled it within six monthsand it was amazing.
We went from low census to fullin six months and I have never
looked back.
I just.
Then I became the regional andthen I moved up and had 16
(03:49):
buildings in five states andfilled all those buildings and
we just kept filling buildings.
Erin (03:55):
Oh, that's quite, that's quite the track record.
Okay, let's, diving into thisstory is gonna be fun.
So let's start off with like thefun and rebellious stuff, right?
So what makes you a bit of arebel in this industry?
What was one time that you brokethe mold and it.
Paid off for you?
(04:15):
Paid.
Although saying, pay me verylittle, it's a little bit
breaking
Lisa (04:21):
the mold there
Erin (04:22):
for sure.
Right.
Lisa (04:23):
I think, I think true sales, if you hire a true sales
person, they'll always bet onthe low base high commission
structure.
Right?
Because they know that theirskillset is, they're betting on
themselves.
I would rather.
Do it that way, knowing that thepotential is there, that if I
succeed, they succeed.
The bill, everybody succeeds.
(04:44):
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 inand want the security and the
safety.
But I find I hustle really wellwhen I motivated.
I don't know.
There's, I think there is a hugedifference between being unique
(05:07):
and being oppositional.
And when you are unique, you areusing your talents and your
skillset to empower and inspireeverybody else around you,
right?
So it isn't.
Always a case of I'm gonna comein and break all the rules and
I'm gonna do it my way and I'mgonna fight the oligarchy or
whatever it is.
I'm gonna fight corporate.
I'm gonna fight everybody.
(05:28):
I'm not fighting anybody.
But I do think that when you'rea maverick or an entrepreneur or
just, I think we all have ourskill sets that make us really,
really special.
I think we all have things that.
are unique to us.
And I've actually gone to workfor a corporation in senior
living and we had this hugediscussion about it before I
(05:49):
accepted the job.
They recruited me, they wooedme, they took me to lunch.
They were oh my gosh, look it,you're gonna come to Disneyland
every day and it's gonna befantastic.
And we got a salt water pool onthe inside and I was, oh, my
heart was Twitter padded.
I was just oh my gosh, I can'twait to go to work here.
I asked are you sure you'reready for someone like me
(06:09):
because you are gonna give mewhat you want done and I'm gonna
go get it done.
that's what it's, so you say youwant this kind of census, you
say you want this many staff,we're gonna go recruit staff.
We're gonna do whatever ittakes.
the one time that I broke therules, and I think that you can
break the rules in the bestpossible way.
(06:29):
Okay, so I was thinking a lotabout this because you asked me
this before and one time that Ibroke the rules, I took a nurse
to an assessment and it was, inmy opinion, a perfect admit, not
in her opinion.
So she says, we get back and shesays, gosh, if only, he could be
on hospice, I'd let him come inbecause, we'd have the hospice
(06:53):
support and it'd be good, butit'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 aweek, and so he wasn't on
hospice.
And so I went back to my officeand I got on LinkedIn actually,
and I messaged the president ofa hospice company that I knew
(07:16):
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 toyou.
Could I please talk to you?
So he sent me a cell phonenumber and I texted and I said,
Hey, is there ever a time whenyou can do dialysis?
Because this gentleman wants tostay on dialysis, and my nurse
(07:37):
said if he could be on hospice,he could move here.
So how do we do this?
And they said, yes, as long asthe diagnosis is not.
Terminal as long as the dialysisis comfort measures.
So as long as he has a differentterminal diagnosis, he can be on
hos, on hospice and on dialysis,right?
So I'm thinking, oh, I'm likethe pearly gates have opened and
(07:58):
we are, red carpet is rolled outand we are ready and my team is
gonna be so excited that we getto do this two person admit.
It's be perfect.
So I call hospice and hospicecomes out and does the intake,
and he on dialysis and he onhospice, 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 youno.
And I was like, wait, what?
No, that's not what you said.
(08:19):
You said if he could be onhospice and dialysis, he could
move here.
And Tadda he's, and so I thinkit was, and he did move in.
Now, I didn't make a ton offriends that day.
Right.
I did not make a ton of friendsthat day because in that
building, it was not a verysales friendly building.
It was very much, they wantedlow acuity and they wanted.
(08:43):
All those things.
And if you fast forward thestory, he died three days after
he moved in and his wife livesthere.
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 waitinguntil she could be taken care
(09:03):
of.
until he knew that she hadsomewhere to go and.
So anyways, being unique andbeing a maverick is not always
about breaking all the rules,but it is about looking at the
nos and finding out what noshave a soft boundary that you
can kind of push.
And I think too many people inthe sales world, I sit in these
(09:24):
sales meetings and they're like,oh, we couldn't move in this one
because of this, or we couldn'tmove in that.
I'm like, what?
Wait, no, there's so manyoptions.
Yeah, there's so many optionsAnd I think you just gotta be
willing to look outside the box.
Mm-hmm.
And it would've been very easy to take that.
Oh, he has.
He can't be on dialysis andhospice at the same time.
No one in my building knew thatit was possible.
(09:45):
No one in my world knew that itwas possible.
But the guy in California thatowns a hospice company knew that
it was possible, and he helpedme and we're still friends.
And I said, you ever come toSpokane?
I'll work for you and I'll getyou tons of hospice, because I
love hospice.
But, So, I don't know.
I think it just is about findingthose soft boundaries.
Yeah.
I, I
Erin (10:04):
think, you
Lisa (10:05):
know.
Erin (10:07):
I, I never considered myself an entrepreneur.
It was never a thing in my life.
My life was, I'm gonna be anexecutive director.
I'm gonna work in senior living.
that was my, my thing.
And, and as I've gone throughdifferent programs to, to change
my mindset and become theentrepreneur mindset, there was
this one time where it was like,If you're a question asker and
if you look at everything andyou wanna know why and you wanna
(10:30):
dive deep with curiosity, you'veprobably always been on the
track to be an entrepreneur.
And I was like, well, that'swhat people really didn't like
about me, was the fact that Ireally wanted to know why I
needed to know how thingsworked.
In order to really understandhow to solve a problem, I really
(10:51):
wanted to go to the root.
And a lot of people don't wannago to the root, and a lot of
people do take no for an answeror face value, and I have just
never been one of those people.
I wanna know why, what does thatno mean or why?
Because it looks like to me, wecan just go down these different
channels, which is exactly whatyou did.
There's many, many examples Icould give about that, but it's
(11:12):
just that isn't being amaverick, that is being
entrepreneurial spirit.
Not necessarily a a, a doer, butit's a spirit that drives you.
And for people who want peopleto fall in line.
That entrepreneurial spirit kindof will put a wrench in their
(11:34):
plants.
So I think the moral of thestory is it's what drives
success.
If you can find the balance init, 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'sthe freedom and the frameworks.
Lisa (11:56):
I had a boss that I went through an interview after that
horrific experience, I wasclearly looking for another job
because I was.
Definitely not appreciated atthat place, and I do think that
it's a little soul crushing forsomeone that, just wants to move
the ball forward every singleday and really is just hungry,
right?
I wake up every morning hungryto go out and learn something
(12:19):
new, and find something new andand be better.
Anyways, I was in an interviewand I specifically asked them.
What is your management style?
And the most brilliant,beautiful woman that I've ever
met said, I believe in freedomwithin framework.
And I said, oh, I've never heardof such a thing.
What is this?
Tell me this magical thing.
And she said, I'm gonna give youthe framework and you're gonna
(12:39):
work within, you're gonna makeit happen, and I'm gonna give
you the freedom to do it yourway as long as you don't break
these hard rules that are aroundthe edge.
I was oh my gosh, we are gonnawork.
We're gonna make magic.
it was the best job I've everhad, best boss I've ever had.
And she truly believed it.
She truly lived it.
If there was something thatshe'd say to me, does this make
(13:01):
sense?
And I'd say, well, no, notexactly.
Yeah.
I mean, it makes sense whenyou're sitting in the boardroom,
but it doesn't make sense in thecommunity.
Right?
And then she would actuallylisten to you and she'd say, why
doesn't it make sense?
And then I'd tell her, and thenwe would agree or disagree to,
to
follow
a policy or whatever.
Yeah, I think it was brilliantfreedom within framework.
I use it every day now with mykids.
(13:22):
I use it all the, I use it withevery day forever.
Yeah.
And back to what you said aminute ago about asking all the
questions and digging deep.
I saw this quote the other dayof 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 thefaucet, right?
And they'll go in and.
Bandage it up and they'll makeit look pret or whatever, but
(13:44):
they'll never dive deep and tryto figure out where all of the
problems are actually flowingfrom and to fix the well.
And I'm a, well, I'm a welldigger.
I go deep into everything andtry and find the solution and
not just bandage it up.
Erin (13:59):
Well, when you value your time as a leader inside of a
community, you're going to wantto fix the well.
So the problem doesn't keepcoming back.
I mean, it's, it was, I think alot of it was motivated by, for
me, Hey, I gotta manage, I gottamanage my time.
I don't say that anymore.
I have to prioritize my, myto-do list.
(14:22):
So I, I can't keep having thesame problem happen to me over
and over again because.
My time and my energy isimportant.
And if you have that mindsetthen, then you're gonna get to
that root and you're gonna getto the root fast because you
don't have the time to waste.
But if you don't value your timeand you don't value things and
you're gonna constantly stay ina cycle that it's gonna keep
(14:44):
happening to you, then you'regonna then, then you'll fix and
put a bandaid on something thatwill then leak out.
And you'll have to keep solvingit.
And I think it's uncomfortablesometimes
Lisa (14:55):
to dig deep.
Yes.
Right.
You gotta, because sometimeswhat appears to be the problem
is really not the problem.
And then when you dig deeperinto those layers, you're gonna,
you're gonna have to make somedecisions on, on stuff.
And that That is hard.
That is hard.
Erin (15:09):
Yeah.
Something you and I agree on areresident first approaches,
especially when it comes tomarketing events and I'll
preface this by saying I, my, asa sales and marketing director,
and even as an executivedirector, marketing events
weren't some big to-do that wehad inside of our community and
(15:29):
maybe the corporate officewanted those things, but we kind
of morphed it into somethingthat benefited both the
residents and prospects thatcame.
And I found that that was muchmore effective from a customer
service standpoint than just,having these big events and,
and, and making them separate,which I find to be distasteful,
(15:53):
disrespectful.
lots of, lots of negative words.
It's just nasty.
Yeah, I don't like
it.
So you have a similar.
story and perspective as I do.
So let's talk about as, as asuccessful event person that you
are.
Now you own an entire companydedicated to events.
(16:15):
What is your perspective on,those marketing events?
And this is where it gets a bitrebellious, so.
okay, listen.
Listen at your own risk.
Mm-hmm.
Lisa (16:27):
You, I'll preface it with, you always have to get your work
done right.
Everything that we talk aboutoutside of that or what we're
about to talk about now, doesn'tmean I didn't make my phone
calls, doesn't mean I didn't domy follow-ups, doesn't mean I
was doing all of that stuff.
Plus what we're about to talkabout, so.
In our town, I'm sure in everytown they've got marketing
(16:49):
opportunities.
Every week you can go to r andr, which was like relationships
and referrals.
You can go to Wind downWednesday, you can go to all
these things, and trulysalespeople have the best job
ever because it doesn't matterif the building is literally on
fire.
You get to walk out and go towind down Wednesday because
that's your job, right?
Doesn't matter.
(17:10):
You don't have to worry aboutit.
Oh, you're short staffed today.
Oh, honey, that's too bad.
I'm gonna wind Wednesday.
No, that never happened in mybuilding.
If we were short staffed, ifthere was no cook, if there was
no dishwasher, if we were shortanywhere in the building, and my
option was help my team.
Help my residents serve inespecially serving in the dining
(17:33):
room.
If I had the option, I would dothat over going and I, I will
tell you, more business was donein that dining room than I did
anywhere else, because familiescame to eat with their loved
ones, and they saw me servingfood, clearing dishes, doing all
these things night after night.
And it would be, oh, myneighbor's mom needs somebody.
(17:53):
Or, oh, do you care if I bringso and so from church to have
lunch with what, whatever.
And it was always business donethere.
And I think the families trustedme so much because they knew.
They knew that I followed upwith what I sold.
I couldn't sell something Ididn't believe in.
I couldn't sell something wecouldn't deliver, and I couldn't
expect them to be the totalsolution to what I was selling.
(18:17):
So I was very accountable tomaking sure.
I was always part of thebuilding first.
So with our marketing stuff,they would want me to do so many
per quarter and, you know, dothese progressive dinners where
everybody comes around and theyeat or, or have other people
come in.
Do whatever, that's fine.
But I always had to involve ourresidents or I wouldn't do it.
(18:39):
I was like, let's just open itup to the whole community
because nobody can speak on thiscommunity better than the people
that live there.
And if you can't shut the backdoor, right, you gotta shut the
back door.
You can't bring in enoughpeople.
If your people are pouring outthe 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 mymarketing strategy, part of my
(19:01):
sales strategy was how do wekeep'em happy and get them
referring to us because, and itwas in reach, right?
They always talk about, oh, yougotta do outreach.
You gotta do outreach, you gottado outreach.
I believe in reaching in first,because you already have'em.
You've got'em, I mean, and youowe it to them.
They've given you a deposit,they've given you their money,
(19:23):
they've sold their house,they've gone through this whole
process, and you owe them agood, a good experience, right?
So start there.
Now, I own an entertainmentcompany.
I do events all over a bigentertainment company, but my
heart is senior living.
So recently I offered to do aphoto booth for a senior living
(19:43):
event.
And I went in and I set it upand I was so excited to be
there.
And I couldn't wait to takepictures because I think
pictures are the most amazingthing for seniors.
And the marketing director ofthe building said, oh, that's
not for the residents, that'sfor my meeting.
She would not let the residentstake a picture in the photo
booth.
And I literally almost criedfirst.
(20:04):
I almost fodder second.
That was my second thought.
But, it made me sad and it mademe realize in my heart of hearts
like.
You either have a heart for thisor 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 shoulddo should be centered from them
(20:25):
first.
Mm-hmm.
And your marketing dollars, youhave way more marketing dollars
than they have activity dollars.
Mm-hmm.
Way more.
if you can label it whatever, Ipromise you, corporate's not
coming to your little photobooth, label it, whatever you
wanna label it.
Outreach, whatever.
Oh, we had this big thing whereeverybody came in.
No, we partied with ourresidents and everybody had so
(20:46):
much fun and a couple of peoplefrom the community came.
Let's get real.
Three or four people are coming.
The whole community's notcoming.
The whole world outside of yourcommunity is not coming to your
photo booth.
They don't care.
All those marketing directorsare checking the same box.
That's the problem.
That's what we're gonna get at.
The marketing directors in everysingle community are checking
their little boxes.
Oh, it's Cinco de May.
(21:07):
Let's go pass out our baskets ofchips.
that they know that we'remarketers and we're out
marketing.
you're gonna host a littlesomething, a little shindig of
some sort, and they're gonnaobligatory come to that because
they have to check their box.
But your residents, oh, they getto come and they get to
experience and they live there,right?
(21:28):
you, I think you should turn allof it into it, all of it.
Erin (21:32):
I do believe in the, in reach and, and in from a
leadership standpoint.
Creating a culture that sells.
if you create a culture thatsells, then sales are going to
come in, period.
And what creating a, a culturethat sells means it's including
the people that you have insideyour community and using them to
(21:55):
attract people that need andwant what you have to offer.
And to me, that's what marketingevents were.
It was a combination of thesales and operations, because I
believe.
I believe leadership is sales,and sales is service.
And both of them requireinfluence.
And it's all the same thing.
And yes, I've often wondered allthese big events, how many, how
(22:17):
many people do you get at thesebig events that, that you market
for?
and ours were small, effectiveto a certain degree, effective.
When we're looking at creating aculture that sells.
Yep.
To me, that's what the marketingevents are when you use them
both for residents and thefamilies and prospects of people
(22:38):
coming in.
It is creating a culture thatsells and using sales to your
advantage.
Everybody in life is trying tocreate an advantage, but you
have an advantage already insideyour sales and marketing budget,
and if you use it appropriately,it's important.
Lisa (22:58):
again, placement companies, everybody hates them.
I mean, let's just get real.
No one wants to pay a placementcompany 30 days, right, right.
to get a lead when it's your jobto go get the lead.
But when I go to thesenetworking things, it's all, oh,
what are they hobnobbing with?
They're all hobnobbing with justeach other.
Like, I already know what youdo.
And you do and you do, and weall know the same people and
(23:19):
we're all gonna still do thesame tired thing.
I would go to.
The real estate companies and Iwould do an open house at my
community and I would, hold itas an open house, A broker's
open, and I'd have them all comethere and I would say, do you
have a senior that you'reworking with that you can't get
out of their house?
Invite me, I'll go with you.
They're gonna love me.
(23:40):
They're gonna love everything Ihave to offer, and I'm gonna
help you get that listing andget that house.
So we would do brokers open andmy boss said it was the dumbest
idea he'd ever heard, did notthink it was gonna work.
Why would you be doing it toreal estate people?
You don't even know if they helpseniors.
You don't even know if they havesenior.
You're, this is ridiculous.
Go to the hospital, find thedischarge planner.
(24:00):
Go do it the way you've alwaysdone it.
Do you know how many people thatfirst real estate company
brought me?
They brought me nine people infour months.
Wow.
Nine people from one real estatecompany.
And then I became their guestspeaker once a month at their.
They had a brunch once a monthand I would always go and they
would say, okay, so if you haveany se, this is our senior
specialist and she's here totalk about moving your seniors
(24:23):
out of their houses.
And I did seminars all over townon 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 ofmy own money.
'cause he was like, we're notgonna approve it.
So sometimes you gotta take arisk if you believe in it, you
gotta see if it pans out.
Sometimes you just wanna dothings and you gotta take that
(24:44):
risk.
And I think when you believe init, being a maverick is a
gamble.
Being unique is a gamble.
Thinking outside of the box is agamble, and it's really hard
when the pressure from thecompany is like, that won't work
and you're, you are held bent todo it anyways, You feel an
obligation to make it work.
(25:05):
I, as I've gotten older, realizenot everything is gonna work.
And people are so afraid theywanna go 10 out of 10 or nine
out of 10.
They want about a thousand.
They wanna, they wanna make sureeverything that they do works.
It's not always going to work.
You're gonna take risks thatdon't work, but how fast do you
come back out of it?
How brave are you to trysomething else again?
And you're gonna try 20 thingsand two of'em are gonna work.
(25:27):
You tried 20, And you're gonnakeep going and it's, it doesn't
have to be very expensive to doit.
You can do it very inexpensive.
All of it.
All of it can be doneinexpensive.
You gotta listen.
Listen to everybody that'saround you, what they're talking
about, sitting at a bar.
When I was about 10 years intomy senior living journey, I
(25:49):
decided to buy a restaurant.
And my ED at the time, I went inand I said, Hey, I wanna talk to
you.
And she says, oh you, that'salways, oh gosh, what am.
Because it's, it's always a lot.
There's always a lot.
So I said, I have some news foryou.
And she said, you're quitting.
I said, no.
And she's like, okay, whatever.
It's, then it's totally fine.
(26:09):
I said, good, because I'm gonnabuy a restaurant.
And she's like, whatcha doing?
And I said, I'm gonna buy thisrestaurant and I'm gonna flip it
and I'm gonna make it amazing.
And she says, well, okay.
What do you know about running arestaurant?
And I said, about as much as Iknew about senior living, which
was absolutely nothing, but.
Now we have 16 full buildings,so I'm guessing we're doing
okay.
(26:30):
I'm gonna go buy this thing.
Anyways, long story short, 10people, the first year I moved
in, came from regulars at thatrestaurant.
Oh.
Every time I, and I'll tell youthe reason that I had decided to
buy it was because I wasbartending.
One night.
I was getting divorced.
I was bartending at night, andso I was working all day as a
regional sales director, amillion hours a week and
(26:52):
bartending at night.
My kids were still at home.
this guy sitting at the bar, hesaid, you're here every night.
Why are you here?
What's going on?
and he says, my mom has dementiaand it is miserable at my house.
I don't know what to do.
I said, well, funny that you'reat my bar, funny, you're sitting
at my bar stool.
Let me tell you about my dayjob.
(27:13):
And then we started talking andthen he is like, oh my gosh.
Well my neighbor's mom, and thenthis other, and then, and then
all of a sudden people werecoming to my bar specifically to
see me.
To talk about their agingparents that need.
I don't suggest you go out andbuy a restaurant.
It was really hard and it was,aw, I'm not saying that at all,
but it was miraculous.
(27:33):
It literally felt like a Godthing.
it was like, oh my gosh, here'sthis vessel.
And I believe that there's thoselittle pockets of stuff
everywhere we go, every singleday.
You just gotta look for them,listen to them, and not be
afraid.
Erin (27:48):
And it proves a point about how authenticity matters.
I think that too many of us tryto fit into some kind of.
Square hole where the squarepeg, or we don't, we don't feel
comfortable in, in showing aside of us when I think that
authenticity is what's going toattract the right people to your
community.
And for you to know your story,know the community, know why the
(28:12):
residents choose your community,and to be able to incorporate
that in tours is really, reallyimportant.
I was at a conference this pastweek, 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'recatering that tour to the
family's needs and wants, whichis what you were doing in the
bar, which is a crazy story, bythe way, and it just proves
(28:35):
about the entrepreneurialspirit.
And sometimes the big corporatemachines wanna take away.
The authenticity of a community,because authenticity is hard to
scale.
Yes, but what's unique inside ofa community is that if you're
aware of it, whether you're in abig box co company or if you're
(28:57):
an independent ownership, is youare authentic to that community.
So how do you tell your story,your executive director story,
your nurse's story, youractivity director story, your
maintenance director story, thefood story.
Inside that community.
That's what will attract theright people.
Again, it's the entrepreneurialspirit.
(29:18):
It's the authenticity of you andit's blending in your
requirements and your uniquemagic, that framework, and
finding the freedom within thatframework and to be able to
communicate up appropriately,which is key there.
Lisa (29:35):
That is key.
Yes.
I think more eds, if they'rebrave enough to hire.
Someone that is you or me, youknow, there is a magic to it,
but it is a different type ofmanagement style that, that
people like that need to thrive.
We can work anywhere.
I can work for anybody and I canbe successful for anybody.
I can sell anything, doanything, fill anything, and I
(29:57):
can do it with anybody's rulesand anybody's regulations.
What is missing is the joy.
If you put me into this littlething, eventually there will be
no joy.
I'll do it your way and it'llhappen.
But if communities wonder whyare they chewing through people,
why can't we keep people?
(30:18):
Why is there such high turnover?
Why, what goes from that firstday when you're so happy and you
walk through that door at thatnew position and that new
community and you're on fire forit?
What kills that fire before youeven get a chance to really make
it happen?
Right.
And it, it's a, it's a varietyof things, I think, but it's
(30:40):
when we stop looking at eachother 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 marketingdirector.
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 forwho they are, what they are, and
for seeing their special talentsand their unique, you know,
(31:02):
potential.
And then you nurture that andyou inspire it and you, you make
them feel so excited.
Two kids right now that work forme.
They both just graduated fromhigh school rock stars.
They did a tech job, avocational training thing and
they were ready to go beelectricians and I was so sad
'cause they were gonna leave andI've had'em for two years here
(31:23):
and, and then the parents cameto me and they said, Hey, our
kids wanna put off college towork for you for two more years.
They wanna work for you, andwe're willing to approve that
because we see so much growth inthem as humans.
And I was bawling, of course,because that's what I do.
But I was bawling because Ithought, oh my gosh, we're not
(31:44):
just doing little things here.
We're doing, we're making bigchanges.
And it's a big culture and Itried it in senior living and it
worked.
You know, we had one year wherewe had a 98% retention rate on
our employees for a year, 98%was unheard of.
And it was just because, I thinkas a team, my ED and my nurse
(32:06):
and I, we were so in tune witheverybody in our community.
Yeah.
Every tour they were selling forme, the nurses were giving me
hugs, the CNAs were giving mehugs.
The dishwashers were coming outto greet people and be happy
about it.
And they weren't rolling theireyes.
Oh, it's another move.
Oh, we gotta paint that.
No.
Yeah.
(32:27):
It was amazing.
Erin (32:28):
Yeah.
It's the nurturing component.
when operations is running asone unit, sales will follow
suit, sales will follow becausethat's the magic sauce and the
sales program.
Okay.
Final two points.
You've made Two statements inthe past that, well, three, and
we've already talked about oneof them, freedom in the
frameworks, but another one thatsays that home is not an
(32:52):
amenity, that it's a feeling.
And I,
Lisa (32:56):
that was my secret.
That should be trademarked.
I'm just saying that made me alot of, lot of move-ins off that
one statement.
Yes,
Erin (33:07):
and I, I mean like, you have those moments where like,
that's how I lived out mycareer, but I don't think I ever
said it so succinctly as that.
So it's like, let's unpack thatfor a minute because that is a
line that should be out thereeverywhere.
Lisa (33:24):
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 thewhole building, had no, just had
no amenities whatsoever.
a daughter said, oh, there's notvery many amenities in here.
And I said, well, home isn't anamenity.
(33:45):
It's a feeling.
And she was like.
Oh, well, yeah, this does feellike home.
It does feel like home.
And I said, well, that's whatwe're going for, And, and then I
started using that every timeand then I started believing it,
and I truly believe it.
I worked in buildings that werelike cruise ships on land.
They had everything.
And they didn't have the feelingof home.
Yeah, they didn't have it.
(34:06):
It felt sterile.
It felt not like home.
And you can fix that, but that'sa bigger subject.
yeah, Home is not an amenity,it's a feeling.
Erin (34:17):
Yes.
I love that.
oh, the other, the other line,the third and final line that
has really stuck with me is thatsales is, an exchange of energy,
and you're right.
You're right.
It's, it's an exchange ofenergy.
So like when people walk into acommunity, I mean, you hear this
(34:38):
all the time, you can feel it,you can feel a good community
when you walk in.
Like that is energy, just likehome is a feeling, which is an
energy to some degree.
Sales is not a transfer ofdollars promises and hopes.
It's literally.
A transfer of energy.
(35:00):
And so what can a new salesdirector or an executive
director, what can they, how,what is that advice that you
give them when they're out heretrying to, to figure it all out,
to make it so simple as sales,it's just a transfer of energy.
Lisa (35:17):
you gotta get excited.
Everything I literally wake upin the morning.
and the team will tell you she'sexcited about linens today.
She's like on fire for em, andI'm like, they're beautiful.
They smell good.
They came back clean.
Look at how pretty it.
You get excited about life ingeneral and these seniors have
so little of life left.
They have less life left than wedo mostly, probably, and it is
(35:40):
our obligation.
To get excited about it, get Andas an ed, whenever I took over a
new building, I did five things.
I thought about what do peoplesee, know, hear, feel, taste,
touch before they ever meet areal person in our building?
What does the parking lot looklike?
What does the entryway smelllike?
What does, what is the energyabout it?
Do you pull in and there'sgarbage in the, like what do
(36:02):
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 outand something's gonna come back,
and the energy that you put intoit, 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?
(36:23):
What is the first interactionlike?
the very first interaction thatyou 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 sixpeople in their wheelchairs
sitting at the front desk dirtyfrom lunch and, and it smells
like.
urine, what does that look likewhen they have that first
(36:44):
interaction with your community?
Was the the receptionist havinga bad day and was she snotty?
Was she short or was she happyand exchanging energy on the
phone, A lot of energy can beexchanged on the phone.
And then do you deliver what yousell?
Once you have that person, doyou deliver what you sell?
And if you do, that's amazing.
(37:05):
That is.
Perfect.
That's what you should be doing.
If you're not, then you gottalook at that.
Are you talking to yourfamilies?
What are they saying?
What are your employees saying?
Does your brand match yourculture?
Your culture is what yourresidents think of you.
Your brand is what youremployees think of you.
And if those two things aren'tthe same.
(37:26):
It won't work.
Your, your employees and yourpeople have to have the same
experience.
If you treat your employees bad,they're not treating your
residents right?
If you treat your employeesgood, they're going to treat,
it's a thing.
Does your brand match yourculture and what does that look
like?
So do you deliver what you sell?
Then number four, how does itend?
(37:47):
When it's over and it's done,what does that exit energy look
like?
Do you put as much energy intothe exit?
Yes, you should.
You absolutely should.
I just did a wedding three weeksago for the grandchild of a
woman that I took care of insenior living.
(38:07):
Her son texted me and said, Iheard you might be doing events.
I said, I'm doing events.
He goes, my son's gettingmarried and blah, blah, blah.
And do you remember my mom and Iinstantly sent him a picture of
her and me, I was like, I stillhave a picture.
Here we go.
Here it is.
It's right here.
And he's like, God, she lovedyou.
And I said, I loved her, andthat was fantastic.
He goes, we want you to do thiswedding.
So do you stay in touch when yousee something that reminds you
(38:30):
of somebody?
Do you stay in touch?
What do you do?
Because they're, they are gone.
And I think a lot ofcorporations think the ROI has
ended on that right there.
And it has not, it has not, theystill know a lot of people, so
stay in touch and that's what Iwould do.
I would break down every singleone of those different pillars.
What do people know before theymeet you?
(38:51):
What's their first meeting like?
Do you deliver what you sell andhow does it end?
And I go through that with everysingle job I've ever had.
Whether it's senior living orthis, or even anything.
And that is where I begin to digdeep.
And you can always tell if thebrand doesn't match the culture.
If you're, if you have miserableemployees, you go on Glassdoor
(39:11):
and it's nothing but negativethings coming from the
employees.
There is zero chance that thoseresidents are having a good
experience.
Zero.
And, but if the, if everybody'shaving a good thing, then, then
it's matching up, then that'sgood.
That's amazing.
And you can't, you can't treatyour people bad eds or nurses or
(39:33):
anybody and expect them to treatyour clients good.
Erin (39:37):
It's true.
I agree with everything that youjust said.
That was a great framework,those four points, like Woo.
Yeah.
You know, and I.
I do wanna reiterate the lasttime someone walks out of your
community is one of the mostimportant moments that they'll
remember, and I think they'llremember that more than the
first time that they walked inas a tour because it's much more
impactful the last time theywalk out the door.
(39:59):
I preach this a lot and I'm sothankful to have somebody who
can.
Who can share that and doubledown on that, that aspect.
you have given us a lot ofinformation.
we appreciate that.
thank you for reminding us thatleadership doesn't come from a
manual.
It doesn't, and I think thatsometimes leaders are thrown
(40:19):
into a community and they just.
Lose their bearings because somuch is coming at them and then
they just become very automatic.
And you don't wanna beautomatic.
You wanna be authentic.
And I think that that's veryimportant and authentic
authenticity is going to comefrom courage, heart, and energy,
like she says.
(40:39):
if you take anything from today,remember this, which I think is
important, own your story.
That's the authenticity thatLisa is talking about.
And.
Tell it, tell your story andfind freedom in the frameworks.
And if asked the question, if Istay in these harsh boundaries
(41:00):
like Lisa has described, isthere freedom inside this?
And I think that any good leaderis going to be like, wow, what a
great question.
Anything you wanna add is thebig takeaway from today, Lisa?
No, I think, you got it all.
You got all the good stuff.
Good.
Our lines are freedom in the frameworks home.
(41:22):
It's not amenity, it's afeeling.
And that sales is a transfer ofenergy and that the last time
they walk out of your communityis the time that they will
remember the most.
That is where your referralswill come from, and we have
plenty of stories to prove that.
So just remember that, Lisa,your wisdom is so appreciated.
(41:45):
Thank you so much.
And to my listeners, alwaysremember, own your story so you
can create your future and knowthat you can ask and reach for
more.
Knowing that you are enough,have a great rest of your day or
evening.
Most people think that success in senior living comes
from following the corporateplaybook warning.
Enter and continue listening atyour own risk.
But today's guest proves theopposite.
She walked into her firstbuilding, her first community
with no experience, no roadmap,and filled it to a hundred
(00:21):
percent by breaking the rules,trusting her gut, and creating
community in ways no policymanual could ever teach.
From Facebook groups beforeFacebook was cool to photo
walls, yearbooks, and marketingplans called whatever it takes.
Lisa has spent her careershowing what happens when you
lead with heart and think like amaverick.
(00:44):
In this episode, we are going totalk about rebellious sales
strategies, leadership lessonsfrom the trenches, and why home.
Is not an amenity.
It is a feeling, one of myfavorite lines.
If you're ready to rethinkwhat's possible inside your
community, this conversationwill inspire you to just do
that.
Now again, we are going to talkabout ways that we, both Lisa
(01:09):
Anderson and I have kind of donethings unconventionally against
the corporate rule book, and ifyou are entrenched in an
organization that wants you todo exactly what they say.
listen cautiously and see howmaybe you can make minor
changes.
But if you are in anindependently owned community or
a company that allows you somecreativity freedom, this episode
(01:32):
is for you because we are goingto talk about what we did that
was outside the box that causedour 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 thisconversation.
Tell us a little bit about yourexperience, all the different
(01:55):
roles that you've had withinsenior living so we can
understand where you are coming.
Lisa (02:01):
Sure.
started as a volunteer at asenior living.
My grandmother lived there andwhen she passed away, she had
left me her yarn, 25 bins of it.
And so I called the activitiesdirector and I said, Hey, I got
this yarn.
I'd like to donate it so thatyou guys can crochet your hearts
away.
And she said, you should teach acrochet class.
(02:23):
And so I said, well, okay.
And I did, and I taught.
Several days a week, and itturned into more days and more
days and more days.
And, as my class started to passaway, 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 thinkyou should let me run your
(02:45):
Facebook group because you'repage, I'm really good at
Facebook.
And I love it here.
And I could help bring in morepeople.
More people need to know howamazing this place is.
And they said, that's ourmarketing director's job and we
don't have one, and you shoulddo that.
And I really thought twice aboutit.
I owned my own company at thetime.
I had eight kids, well I stillhave eight kids, thank goodness.
(03:06):
but I had eight little kids andI just didn't know if I wanted
to turn something that I lovedso much into a job, but I took
the job.
And we made some agreements whenI wrote my contract because I'm
a maverick and we're gonna do ita little different.
And I just said, I'll take lesspay, I'll take all of it.
Let me prove to you who I ambecause I've never done this.
(03:27):
I dunno if I can do it.
and so they paid me very littlemoney like I asked them to so
that I could give it a shot.
And we filled the building andwe filled it quickly.
We filled it within six monthsand it was amazing.
We went from low census to fullin six months and I have never
looked back.
I just.
Then I became the regional andthen I moved up and had 16
(03:49):
buildings in five states andfilled all those buildings and
we just kept filling buildings.
Erin (03:55):
Oh, that's quite, that's quite the track record.
Okay, let's, diving into thisstory is gonna be fun.
So let's start off with like thefun and rebellious stuff, right?
So what makes you a bit of arebel in this industry?
What was one time that you brokethe mold and it.
Paid off for you?
(04:15):
Paid.
Although saying, pay me verylittle, it's a little bit
breaking
Lisa (04:21):
the mold there
Erin (04:22):
for sure.
Right.
Lisa (04:23):
I think, I think true sales, if you hire a true sales
person, they'll always bet onthe low base high commission
structure.
Right?
Because they know that theirskillset is, they're betting on
themselves.
I would rather.
Do it that way, knowing that thepotential is there, that if I
succeed, they succeed.
The bill, everybody succeeds.
(04:44):
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 inand want the security and the
safety.
But I find I hustle really wellwhen I motivated.
I don't know.
There's, I think there is a hugedifference between being unique
(05:07):
and being oppositional.
And when you are unique, you areusing your talents and your
skillset to empower and inspireeverybody else around you,
right?
So it isn't.
Always a case of I'm gonna comein and break all the rules and
I'm gonna do it my way and I'mgonna fight the oligarchy or
whatever it is.
I'm gonna fight corporate.
I'm gonna fight everybody.
(05:28):
I'm not fighting anybody.
But I do think that when you'rea maverick or an entrepreneur or
just, I think we all have ourskill sets that make us really,
really special.
I think we all have things that.
are unique to us.
And I've actually gone to workfor a corporation in senior
living and we had this hugediscussion about it before I
(05:49):
accepted the job.
They recruited me, they wooedme, they took me to lunch.
They were oh my gosh, look it,you're gonna come to Disneyland
every day and it's gonna befantastic.
And we got a salt water pool onthe inside and I was, oh, my
heart was Twitter padded.
I was just oh my gosh, I can'twait to go to work here.
I asked are you sure you'reready for someone like me
(06:09):
because you are gonna give mewhat you want done and I'm gonna
go get it done.
that's what it's, so you say youwant this kind of census, you
say you want this many staff,we're gonna go recruit staff.
We're gonna do whatever ittakes.
the one time that I broke therules, and I think that you can
break the rules in the bestpossible way.
(06:29):
Okay, so I was thinking a lotabout this because you asked me
this before and one time that Ibroke the rules, I took a nurse
to an assessment and it was, inmy opinion, a perfect admit, not
in her opinion.
So she says, we get back and shesays, gosh, if only, he could be
on hospice, I'd let him come inbecause, we'd have the hospice
(06:53):
support and it'd be good, butit'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 aweek, and so he wasn't on
hospice.
And so I went back to my officeand I got on LinkedIn actually,
and I messaged the president ofa hospice company that I knew
(07:16):
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 toyou.
Could I please talk to you?
So he sent me a cell phonenumber and I texted and I said,
Hey, is there ever a time whenyou can do dialysis?
Because this gentleman wants tostay on dialysis, and my nurse
(07:37):
said if he could be on hospice,he could move here.
So how do we do this?
And they said, yes, as long asthe diagnosis is not.
Terminal as long as the dialysisis comfort measures.
So as long as he has a differentterminal diagnosis, he can be on
hos, on hospice and on dialysis,right?
So I'm thinking, oh, I'm likethe pearly gates have opened and
(07:58):
we are, red carpet is rolled outand we are ready and my team is
gonna be so excited that we getto do this two person admit.
It's be perfect.
So I call hospice and hospicecomes out and does the intake,
and he on dialysis and he onhospice, 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 youno.
And I was like, wait, what?
No, that's not what you said.
(08:19):
You said if he could be onhospice and dialysis, he could
move here.
And Tadda he's, and so I thinkit was, and he did move in.
Now, I didn't make a ton offriends that day.
Right.
I did not make a ton of friendsthat day because in that
building, it was not a verysales friendly building.
It was very much, they wantedlow acuity and they wanted.
(08:43):
All those things.
And if you fast forward thestory, he died three days after
he moved in and his wife livesthere.
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 waitinguntil she could be taken care
(09:03):
of.
until he knew that she hadsomewhere to go and.
So anyways, being unique andbeing a maverick is not always
about breaking all the rules,but it is about looking at the
nos and finding out what noshave a soft boundary that you
can kind of push.
And I think too many people inthe sales world, I sit in these
(09:24):
sales meetings and they're like,oh, we couldn't move in this one
because of this, or we couldn'tmove in that.
I'm like, what?
Wait, no, there's so manyoptions.
Yeah, there's so many optionsAnd I think you just gotta be
willing to look outside the box.
Mm-hmm.
And it would've been very easy to take that.
Oh, he has.
He can't be on dialysis andhospice at the same time.
No one in my building knew thatit was possible.
(09:45):
No one in my world knew that itwas possible.
But the guy in California thatowns a hospice company knew that
it was possible, and he helpedme and we're still friends.
And I said, you ever come toSpokane?
I'll work for you and I'll getyou tons of hospice, because I
love hospice.
But, So, I don't know.
I think it just is about findingthose soft boundaries.
Yeah.
I, I
Erin (10:04):
think, you
Lisa (10:05):
know.
Erin (10:07):
I, I never considered myself an entrepreneur.
It was never a thing in my life.
My life was, I'm gonna be anexecutive director.
I'm gonna work in senior living.
that was my, my thing.
And, and as I've gone throughdifferent programs to, to change
my mindset and become theentrepreneur mindset, there was
this one time where it was like,If you're a question asker and
if you look at everything andyou wanna know why and you wanna
(10:30):
dive deep with curiosity, you'veprobably always been on the
track to be an entrepreneur.
And I was like, well, that'swhat people really didn't like
about me, was the fact that Ireally wanted to know why I
needed to know how thingsworked.
In order to really understandhow to solve a problem, I really
(10:51):
wanted to go to the root.
And a lot of people don't wannago to the root, and a lot of
people do take no for an answeror face value, and I have just
never been one of those people.
I wanna know why, what does thatno mean or why?
Because it looks like to me, wecan just go down these different
channels, which is exactly whatyou did.
There's many, many examples Icould give about that, but it's
(11:12):
just that isn't being amaverick, that is being
entrepreneurial spirit.
Not necessarily a a, a doer, butit's a spirit that drives you.
And for people who want peopleto fall in line.
That entrepreneurial spirit kindof will put a wrench in their
(11:34):
plants.
So I think the moral of thestory is it's what drives
success.
If you can find the balance init, 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'sthe freedom and the frameworks.
Lisa (11:56):
I had a boss that I went through an interview after that
horrific experience, I wasclearly looking for another job
because I was.
Definitely not appreciated atthat place, and I do think that
it's a little soul crushing forsomeone that, just wants to move
the ball forward every singleday and really is just hungry,
right?
I wake up every morning hungryto go out and learn something
(12:19):
new, and find something new andand be better.
Anyways, I was in an interviewand I specifically asked them.
What is your management style?
And the most brilliant,beautiful woman that I've ever
met said, I believe in freedomwithin framework.
And I said, oh, I've never heardof such a thing.
What is this?
Tell me this magical thing.
And she said, I'm gonna give youthe framework and you're gonna
(12:39):
work within, you're gonna makeit happen, and I'm gonna give
you the freedom to do it yourway as long as you don't break
these hard rules that are aroundthe edge.
I was oh my gosh, we are gonnawork.
We're gonna make magic.
it was the best job I've everhad, best boss I've ever had.
And she truly believed it.
She truly lived it.
If there was something thatshe'd say to me, does this make
(13:01):
sense?
And I'd say, well, no, notexactly.
Yeah.
I mean, it makes sense whenyou're sitting in the boardroom,
but it doesn't make sense in thecommunity.
Right?
And then she would actuallylisten to you and she'd say, why
doesn't it make sense?
And then I'd tell her, and thenwe would agree or disagree to,
to
follow
a policy or whatever.
Yeah, I think it was brilliantfreedom within framework.
I use it every day now with mykids.
(13:22):
I use it all the, I use it withevery day forever.
Yeah.
And back to what you said aminute ago about asking all the
questions and digging deep.
I saw this quote the other dayof 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 thefaucet, right?
And they'll go in and.
Bandage it up and they'll makeit look pret or whatever, but
(13:44):
they'll never dive deep and tryto figure out where all of the
problems are actually flowingfrom and to fix the well.
And I'm a, well, I'm a welldigger.
I go deep into everything andtry and find the solution and
not just bandage it up.
Erin (13:59):
Well, when you value your time as a leader inside of a
community, you're going to wantto fix the well.
So the problem doesn't keepcoming back.
I mean, it's, it was, I think alot of it was motivated by, for
me, Hey, I gotta manage, I gottamanage my time.
I don't say that anymore.
I have to prioritize my, myto-do list.
(14:22):
So I, I can't keep having thesame problem happen to me over
and over again because.
My time and my energy isimportant.
And if you have that mindsetthen, then you're gonna get to
that root and you're gonna getto the root fast because you
don't have the time to waste.
But if you don't value your timeand you don't value things and
you're gonna constantly stay ina cycle that it's gonna keep
(14:44):
happening to you, then you'regonna then, then you'll fix and
put a bandaid on something thatwill then leak out.
And you'll have to keep solvingit.
And I think it's uncomfortablesometimes
Lisa (14:55):
to dig deep.
Yes.
Right.
You gotta, because sometimeswhat appears to be the problem
is really not the problem.
And then when you dig deeperinto those layers, you're gonna,
you're gonna have to make somedecisions on, on stuff.
And that That is hard.
That is hard.
Erin (15:09):
Yeah.
Something you and I agree on areresident first approaches,
especially when it comes tomarketing events and I'll
preface this by saying I, my, asa sales and marketing director,
and even as an executivedirector, marketing events
weren't some big to-do that wehad inside of our community and
(15:29):
maybe the corporate officewanted those things, but we kind
of morphed it into somethingthat benefited both the
residents and prospects thatcame.
And I found that that was muchmore effective from a customer
service standpoint than just,having these big events and,
and, and making them separate,which I find to be distasteful,
(15:53):
disrespectful.
lots of, lots of negative words.
It's just nasty.
Yeah, I don't like
it.
So you have a similar.
story and perspective as I do.
So let's talk about as, as asuccessful event person that you
are.
Now you own an entire companydedicated to events.
(16:15):
What is your perspective on,those marketing events?
And this is where it gets a bitrebellious, so.
okay, listen.
Listen at your own risk.
Mm-hmm.
Lisa (16:27):
You, I'll preface it with, you always have to get your work
done right.
Everything that we talk aboutoutside of that or what we're
about to talk about now, doesn'tmean I didn't make my phone
calls, doesn't mean I didn't domy follow-ups, doesn't mean I
was doing all of that stuff.
Plus what we're about to talkabout, so.
In our town, I'm sure in everytown they've got marketing
(16:49):
opportunities.
Every week you can go to r andr, which was like relationships
and referrals.
You can go to Wind downWednesday, you can go to all
these things, and trulysalespeople have the best job
ever because it doesn't matterif the building is literally on
fire.
You get to walk out and go towind down Wednesday because
that's your job, right?
Doesn't matter.
(17:10):
You don't have to worry aboutit.
Oh, you're short staffed today.
Oh, honey, that's too bad.
I'm gonna wind Wednesday.
No, that never happened in mybuilding.
If we were short staffed, ifthere was no cook, if there was
no dishwasher, if we were shortanywhere in the building, and my
option was help my team.
Help my residents serve inespecially serving in the dining
(17:33):
room.
If I had the option, I would dothat over going and I, I will
tell you, more business was donein that dining room than I did
anywhere else, because familiescame to eat with their loved
ones, and they saw me servingfood, clearing dishes, doing all
these things night after night.
And it would be, oh, myneighbor's mom needs somebody.
(17:53):
Or, oh, do you care if I bringso and so from church to have
lunch with what, whatever.
And it was always business donethere.
And I think the families trustedme so much because they knew.
They knew that I followed upwith what I sold.
I couldn't sell something Ididn't believe in.
I couldn't sell something wecouldn't deliver, and I couldn't
expect them to be the totalsolution to what I was selling.
(18:17):
So I was very accountable tomaking sure.
I was always part of thebuilding first.
So with our marketing stuff,they would want me to do so many
per quarter and, you know, dothese progressive dinners where
everybody comes around and theyeat or, or have other people
come in.
Do whatever, that's fine.
But I always had to involve ourresidents or I wouldn't do it.
(18:39):
I was like, let's just open itup to the whole community
because nobody can speak on thiscommunity better than the people
that live there.
And if you can't shut the backdoor, right, you gotta shut the
back door.
You can't bring in enoughpeople.
If your people are pouring outthe 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 mymarketing strategy, part of my
(19:01):
sales strategy was how do wekeep'em happy and get them
referring to us because, and itwas in reach, right?
They always talk about, oh, yougotta do outreach.
You gotta do outreach, you gottado outreach.
I believe in reaching in first,because you already have'em.
You've got'em, I mean, and youowe it to them.
They've given you a deposit,they've given you their money,
(19:23):
they've sold their house,they've gone through this whole
process, and you owe them agood, a good experience, right?
So start there.
Now, I own an entertainmentcompany.
I do events all over a bigentertainment company, but my
heart is senior living.
So recently I offered to do aphoto booth for a senior living
(19:43):
event.
And I went in and I set it upand I was so excited to be
there.
And I couldn't wait to takepictures because I think
pictures are the most amazingthing for seniors.
And the marketing director ofthe building said, oh, that's
not for the residents, that'sfor my meeting.
She would not let the residentstake a picture in the photo
booth.
And I literally almost criedfirst.
(20:04):
I almost fodder second.
That was my second thought.
But, it made me sad and it mademe realize in my heart of hearts
like.
You either have a heart for thisor 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 shoulddo should be centered from them
(20:25):
first.
Mm-hmm.
And your marketing dollars, youhave way more marketing dollars
than they have activity dollars.
Mm-hmm.
Way more.
if you can label it whatever, Ipromise you, corporate's not
coming to your little photobooth, label it, whatever you
wanna label it.
Outreach, whatever.
Oh, we had this big thing whereeverybody came in.
No, we partied with ourresidents and everybody had so
(20:46):
much fun and a couple of peoplefrom the community came.
Let's get real.
Three or four people are coming.
The whole community's notcoming.
The whole world outside of yourcommunity is not coming to your
photo booth.
They don't care.
All those marketing directorsare checking the same box.
That's the problem.
That's what we're gonna get at.
The marketing directors in everysingle community are checking
their little boxes.
Oh, it's Cinco de May.
(21:07):
Let's go pass out our baskets ofchips.
that they know that we'remarketers and we're out
marketing.
you're gonna host a littlesomething, a little shindig of
some sort, and they're gonnaobligatory come to that because
they have to check their box.
But your residents, oh, they getto come and they get to
experience and they live there,right?
(21:28):
you, I think you should turn allof it into it, all of it.
Erin (21:32):
I do believe in the, in reach and, and in from a
leadership standpoint.
Creating a culture that sells.
if you create a culture thatsells, then sales are going to
come in, period.
And what creating a, a culturethat sells means it's including
the people that you have insideyour community and using them to
(21:55):
attract people that need andwant what you have to offer.
And to me, that's what marketingevents were.
It was a combination of thesales and operations, because I
believe.
I believe leadership is sales,and sales is service.
And both of them requireinfluence.
And it's all the same thing.
And yes, I've often wondered allthese big events, how many, how
(22:17):
many people do you get at thesebig events that, that you market
for?
and ours were small, effectiveto a certain degree, effective.
When we're looking at creating aculture that sells.
Yep.
To me, that's what the marketingevents are when you use them
both for residents and thefamilies and prospects of people
(22:38):
coming in.
It is creating a culture thatsells and using sales to your
advantage.
Everybody in life is trying tocreate an advantage, but you
have an advantage already insideyour sales and marketing budget,
and if you use it appropriately,it's important.
Lisa (22:58):
again, placement companies, everybody hates them.
I mean, let's just get real.
No one wants to pay a placementcompany 30 days, right, right.
to get a lead when it's your jobto go get the lead.
But when I go to thesenetworking things, it's all, oh,
what are they hobnobbing with?
They're all hobnobbing with justeach other.
Like, I already know what youdo.
And you do and you do, and weall know the same people and
(23:19):
we're all gonna still do thesame tired thing.
I would go to.
The real estate companies and Iwould do an open house at my
community and I would, hold itas an open house, A broker's
open, and I'd have them all comethere and I would say, do you
have a senior that you'reworking with that you can't get
out of their house?
Invite me, I'll go with you.
They're gonna love me.
(23:40):
They're gonna love everything Ihave to offer, and I'm gonna
help you get that listing andget that house.
So we would do brokers open andmy boss said it was the dumbest
idea he'd ever heard, did notthink it was gonna work.
Why would you be doing it toreal estate people?
You don't even know if they helpseniors.
You don't even know if they havesenior.
You're, this is ridiculous.
Go to the hospital, find thedischarge planner.
(24:00):
Go do it the way you've alwaysdone it.
Do you know how many people thatfirst real estate company
brought me?
They brought me nine people infour months.
Wow.
Nine people from one real estatecompany.
And then I became their guestspeaker once a month at their.
They had a brunch once a monthand I would always go and they
would say, okay, so if you haveany se, this is our senior
specialist and she's here totalk about moving your seniors
(24:23):
out of their houses.
And I did seminars all over townon 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 ofmy own money.
'cause he was like, we're notgonna approve it.
So sometimes you gotta take arisk if you believe in it, you
gotta see if it pans out.
Sometimes you just wanna dothings and you gotta take that
(24:44):
risk.
And I think when you believe init, being a maverick is a
gamble.
Being unique is a gamble.
Thinking outside of the box is agamble, and it's really hard
when the pressure from thecompany is like, that won't work
and you're, you are held bent todo it anyways, You feel an
obligation to make it work.
(25:05):
I, as I've gotten older, realizenot everything is gonna work.
And people are so afraid theywanna go 10 out of 10 or nine
out of 10.
They want about a thousand.
They wanna, they wanna make sureeverything that they do works.
It's not always going to work.
You're gonna take risks thatdon't work, but how fast do you
come back out of it?
How brave are you to trysomething else again?
And you're gonna try 20 thingsand two of'em are gonna work.
(25:27):
You tried 20, And you're gonnakeep going and it's, it doesn't
have to be very expensive to doit.
You can do it very inexpensive.
All of it.
All of it can be doneinexpensive.
You gotta listen.
Listen to everybody that'saround you, what they're talking
about, sitting at a bar.
When I was about 10 years intomy senior living journey, I
(25:49):
decided to buy a restaurant.
And my ED at the time, I went inand I said, Hey, I wanna talk to
you.
And she says, oh you, that'salways, oh gosh, what am.
Because it's, it's always a lot.
There's always a lot.
So I said, I have some news foryou.
And she said, you're quitting.
I said, no.
And she's like, okay, whatever.
It's, then it's totally fine.
(26:09):
I said, good, because I'm gonnabuy a restaurant.
And she's like, whatcha doing?
And I said, I'm gonna buy thisrestaurant and I'm gonna flip it
and I'm gonna make it amazing.
And she says, well, okay.
What do you know about running arestaurant?
And I said, about as much as Iknew about senior living, which
was absolutely nothing, but.
Now we have 16 full buildings,so I'm guessing we're doing
okay.
(26:30):
I'm gonna go buy this thing.
Anyways, long story short, 10people, the first year I moved
in, came from regulars at thatrestaurant.
Oh.
Every time I, and I'll tell youthe reason that I had decided to
buy it was because I wasbartending.
One night.
I was getting divorced.
I was bartending at night, andso I was working all day as a
regional sales director, amillion hours a week and
(26:52):
bartending at night.
My kids were still at home.
this guy sitting at the bar, hesaid, you're here every night.
Why are you here?
What's going on?
and he says, my mom has dementiaand it is miserable at my house.
I don't know what to do.
I said, well, funny that you'reat my bar, funny, you're sitting
at my bar stool.
Let me tell you about my dayjob.
(27:13):
And then we started talking andthen he is like, oh my gosh.
Well my neighbor's mom, and thenthis other, and then, and then
all of a sudden people werecoming to my bar specifically to
see me.
To talk about their agingparents that need.
I don't suggest you go out andbuy a restaurant.
It was really hard and it was,aw, I'm not saying that at all,
but it was miraculous.
(27:33):
It literally felt like a Godthing.
it was like, oh my gosh, here'sthis vessel.
And I believe that there's thoselittle pockets of stuff
everywhere we go, every singleday.
You just gotta look for them,listen to them, and not be
afraid.
Erin (27:48):
And it proves a point about how authenticity matters.
I think that too many of us tryto fit into some kind of.
Square hole where the squarepeg, or we don't, we don't feel
comfortable in, in showing aside of us when I think that
authenticity is what's going toattract the right people to your
community.
And for you to know your story,know the community, know why the
(28:12):
residents choose your community,and to be able to incorporate
that in tours is really, reallyimportant.
I was at a conference this pastweek, 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'recatering that tour to the
family's needs and wants, whichis what you were doing in the
bar, which is a crazy story, bythe way, and it just proves
(28:35):
about the entrepreneurialspirit.
And sometimes the big corporatemachines wanna take away.
The authenticity of a community,because authenticity is hard to
scale.
Yes, but what's unique inside ofa community is that if you're
aware of it, whether you're in abig box co company or if you're
(28:57):
an independent ownership, is youare authentic to that community.
So how do you tell your story,your executive director story,
your nurse's story, youractivity director story, your
maintenance director story, thefood story.
Inside that community.
That's what will attract theright people.
Again, it's the entrepreneurialspirit.
(29:18):
It's the authenticity of you andit's blending in your
requirements and your uniquemagic, that framework, and
finding the freedom within thatframework and to be able to
communicate up appropriately,which is key there.
Lisa (29:35):
That is key.
Yes.
I think more eds, if they'rebrave enough to hire.
Someone that is you or me, youknow, there is a magic to it,
but it is a different type ofmanagement style that, that
people like that need to thrive.
We can work anywhere.
I can work for anybody and I canbe successful for anybody.
I can sell anything, doanything, fill anything, and I
(29:57):
can do it with anybody's rulesand anybody's regulations.
What is missing is the joy.
If you put me into this littlething, eventually there will be
no joy.
I'll do it your way and it'llhappen.
But if communities wonder whyare they chewing through people,
why can't we keep people?
(30:18):
Why is there such high turnover?
Why, what goes from that firstday when you're so happy and you
walk through that door at thatnew position and that new
community and you're on fire forit?
What kills that fire before youeven get a chance to really make
it happen?
Right.
And it, it's a, it's a varietyof things, I think, but it's
(30:40):
when we stop looking at eachother 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 marketingdirector.
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 forwho they are, what they are, and
for seeing their special talentsand their unique, you know,
(31:02):
potential.
And then you nurture that andyou inspire it and you, you make
them feel so excited.
Two kids right now that work forme.
They both just graduated fromhigh school rock stars.
They did a tech job, avocational training thing and
they were ready to go beelectricians and I was so sad
'cause they were gonna leave andI've had'em for two years here
(31:23):
and, and then the parents cameto me and they said, Hey, our
kids wanna put off college towork for you for two more years.
They wanna work for you, andwe're willing to approve that
because we see so much growth inthem as humans.
And I was bawling, of course,because that's what I do.
But I was bawling because Ithought, oh my gosh, we're not
(31:44):
just doing little things here.
We're doing, we're making bigchanges.
And it's a big culture and Itried it in senior living and it
worked.
You know, we had one year wherewe had a 98% retention rate on
our employees for a year, 98%was unheard of.
And it was just because, I thinkas a team, my ED and my nurse
(32:06):
and I, we were so in tune witheverybody in our community.
Yeah.
Every tour they were selling forme, the nurses were giving me
hugs, the CNAs were giving mehugs.
The dishwashers were coming outto greet people and be happy
about it.
And they weren't rolling theireyes.
Oh, it's another move.
Oh, we gotta paint that.
No.
Yeah.
(32:27):
It was amazing.
Erin (32:28):
Yeah.
It's the nurturing component.
when operations is running asone unit, sales will follow
suit, sales will follow becausethat's the magic sauce and the
sales program.
Okay.
Final two points.
You've made Two statements inthe past that, well, three, and
we've already talked about oneof them, freedom in the
frameworks, but another one thatsays that home is not an
(32:52):
amenity, that it's a feeling.
And I,
Lisa (32:56):
that was my secret.
That should be trademarked.
I'm just saying that made me alot of, lot of move-ins off that
one statement.
Yes,
Erin (33:07):
and I, I mean like, you have those moments where like,
that's how I lived out mycareer, but I don't think I ever
said it so succinctly as that.
So it's like, let's unpack thatfor a minute because that is a
line that should be out thereeverywhere.
Lisa (33:24):
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 thewhole building, had no, just had
no amenities whatsoever.
a daughter said, oh, there's notvery many amenities in here.
And I said, well, home isn't anamenity.
(33:45):
It's a feeling.
And she was like.
Oh, well, yeah, this does feellike home.
It does feel like home.
And I said, well, that's whatwe're going for, And, and then I
started using that every timeand then I started believing it,
and I truly believe it.
I worked in buildings that werelike cruise ships on land.
They had everything.
And they didn't have the feelingof home.
Yeah, they didn't have it.
(34:06):
It felt sterile.
It felt not like home.
And you can fix that, but that'sa bigger subject.
yeah, Home is not an amenity,it's a feeling.
Erin (34:17):
Yes.
I love that.
oh, the other, the other line,the third and final line that
has really stuck with me is thatsales is, an exchange of energy,
and you're right.
You're right.
It's, it's an exchange ofenergy.
So like when people walk into acommunity, I mean, you hear this
(34:38):
all the time, you can feel it,you can feel a good community
when you walk in.
Like that is energy, just likehome is a feeling, which is an
energy to some degree.
Sales is not a transfer ofdollars promises and hopes.
It's literally.
A transfer of energy.
(35:00):
And so what can a new salesdirector or an executive
director, what can they, how,what is that advice that you
give them when they're out heretrying to, to figure it all out,
to make it so simple as sales,it's just a transfer of energy.
Lisa (35:17):
you gotta get excited.
Everything I literally wake upin the morning.
and the team will tell you she'sexcited about linens today.
She's like on fire for em, andI'm like, they're beautiful.
They smell good.
They came back clean.
Look at how pretty it.
You get excited about life ingeneral and these seniors have
so little of life left.
They have less life left than wedo mostly, probably, and it is
(35:40):
our obligation.
To get excited about it, get Andas an ed, whenever I took over a
new building, I did five things.
I thought about what do peoplesee, know, hear, feel, taste,
touch before they ever meet areal person in our building?
What does the parking lot looklike?
What does the entryway smelllike?
What does, what is the energyabout it?
Do you pull in and there'sgarbage in the, like what do
(36:02):
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 outand something's gonna come back,
and the energy that you put intoit, 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?
(36:23):
What is the first interactionlike?
the very first interaction thatyou 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 sixpeople in their wheelchairs
sitting at the front desk dirtyfrom lunch and, and it smells
like.
urine, what does that look likewhen they have that first
(36:44):
interaction with your community?
Was the the receptionist havinga bad day and was she snotty?
Was she short or was she happyand exchanging energy on the
phone, A lot of energy can beexchanged on the phone.
And then do you deliver what yousell?
Once you have that person, doyou deliver what you sell?
And if you do, that's amazing.
(37:05):
That is.
Perfect.
That's what you should be doing.
If you're not, then you gottalook at that.
Are you talking to yourfamilies?
What are they saying?
What are your employees saying?
Does your brand match yourculture?
Your culture is what yourresidents think of you.
Your brand is what youremployees think of you.
And if those two things aren'tthe same.
(37:26):
It won't work.
Your, your employees and yourpeople have to have the same
experience.
If you treat your employees bad,they're not treating your
residents right?
If you treat your employeesgood, they're going to treat,
it's a thing.
Does your brand match yourculture and what does that look
like?
So do you deliver what you sell?
Then number four, how does itend?
(37:47):
When it's over and it's done,what does that exit energy look
like?
Do you put as much energy intothe exit?
Yes, you should.
You absolutely should.
I just did a wedding three weeksago for the grandchild of a
woman that I took care of insenior living.
(38:07):
Her son texted me and said, Iheard you might be doing events.
I said, I'm doing events.
He goes, my son's gettingmarried and blah, blah, blah.
And do you remember my mom and Iinstantly sent him a picture of
her and me, I was like, I stillhave a picture.
Here we go.
Here it is.
It's right here.
And he's like, God, she lovedyou.
And I said, I loved her, andthat was fantastic.
He goes, we want you to do thiswedding.
So do you stay in touch when yousee something that reminds you
(38:30):
of somebody?
Do you stay in touch?
What do you do?
Because they're, they are gone.
And I think a lot ofcorporations think the ROI has
ended on that right there.
And it has not, it has not, theystill know a lot of people, so
stay in touch and that's what Iwould do.
I would break down every singleone of those different pillars.
What do people know before theymeet you?
(38:51):
What's their first meeting like?
Do you deliver what you sell andhow does it end?
And I go through that with everysingle job I've ever had.
Whether it's senior living orthis, or even anything.
And that is where I begin to digdeep.
And you can always tell if thebrand doesn't match the culture.
If you're, if you have miserableemployees, you go on Glassdoor
(39:11):
and it's nothing but negativethings coming from the
employees.
There is zero chance that thoseresidents are having a good
experience.
Zero.
And, but if the, if everybody'shaving a good thing, then, then
it's matching up, then that'sgood.
That's amazing.
And you can't, you can't treatyour people bad eds or nurses or
(39:33):
anybody and expect them to treatyour clients good.
Erin (39:37):
It's true.
I agree with everything that youjust said.
That was a great framework,those four points, like Woo.
Yeah.
You know, and I.
I do wanna reiterate the lasttime someone walks out of your
community is one of the mostimportant moments that they'll
remember, and I think they'llremember that more than the
first time that they walked inas a tour because it's much more
impactful the last time theywalk out the door.
(39:59):
I preach this a lot and I'm sothankful to have somebody who
can.
Who can share that and doubledown on that, that aspect.
you have given us a lot ofinformation.
we appreciate that.
thank you for reminding us thatleadership doesn't come from a
manual.
It doesn't, and I think thatsometimes leaders are thrown
(40:19):
into a community and they just.
Lose their bearings because somuch is coming at them and then
they just become very automatic.
And you don't wanna beautomatic.
You wanna be authentic.
And I think that that's veryimportant and authentic
authenticity is going to comefrom courage, heart, and energy,
like she says.
(40:39):
if you take anything from today,remember this, which I think is
important, own your story.
That's the authenticity thatLisa is talking about.
And.
Tell it, tell your story andfind freedom in the frameworks.
And if asked the question, if Istay in these harsh boundaries
(41:00):
like Lisa has described, isthere freedom inside this?
And I think that any good leaderis going to be like, wow, what a
great question.
Anything you wanna add is thebig takeaway from today, Lisa?
No, I think, you got it all.
You got all the good stuff.
Good.
Our lines are freedom in the frameworks home.
(41:22):
It's not amenity, it's afeeling.
And that sales is a transfer ofenergy and that the last time
they walk out of your communityis the time that they will
remember the most.
That is where your referralswill come from, and we have
plenty of stories to prove that.
So just remember that, Lisa,your wisdom is so appreciated.
(41:45):
Thank you so much.
And to my listeners, alwaysremember, own your story so you
can create your future and knowthat you can ask and reach for
more.
Knowing that you are enough,have a great rest of your day or
evening.
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