Meet Ellie, an 84-year-old grandmother of five who lives in London, Kentucky, with her dog, Roxy. She loves gardening, reading and going to the symphony. Arthritis has made cooking and cleaning difficult for Ellie, who feels lonely in her three-bedroom home. Ellie wants to downsize to an apartment in a community near her children, but she’s not sure she’s ready.
Ellie’s journey into senior living won’t go exactly as expected. Luckily, she has a Sherpa-trained leasing counselor who’s up-to-date on all the new features. Follow along as Ellie’s counselor uses Sherpa to:
- Add a new prospect profile
- Input multiple inquiry sources
- Cancel a sale
- View prospects shared from other communities
Our story begins with a phone call…
*Ring, ring* Ellie calls Shady Pines of London for information. The call goes to Jane, who asks Ellie about her life, her family and her daily schedule. Ellie agrees to come for a tour. Now Jane wants to add Ellie as a prospect.
How To Add New Prospect Profiles
We’ve made it even easier to add new prospects to Sherpa. Click the “Add Prospect” button, and a new window opens so you can add a prospect in one form. If you click out of the window by accident, Sherpa saves the info you entered so you won’t lose it. You can also:
- Use the tab key to navigate easily between fields
- Use the “+” and “-” buttons on the section headers to expand or hide Prospect, Onboarding, Case Study Information and Action Plan sections.
Jane asks Ellie how she heard about Shady Pines. Ellie says she heard an advertisement on the radio but didn’t write down the phone number. When Ellie found the number later in a newspaper ad, she saved it and decided to call.
How To Input Referrals
There are many ways a prospect hears about a community: advertisements, friend/family referrals, direct mail, events, etc. Now you can add multiple inquiry sources for each prospect and keep track of what marketing efforts are most effective.
First, add your Initial Inquiry Source; then click “Add Additional Inquiry Source” to enter as many sources as you want.
After months of talking to Jane, Ellie agreed to purchase an apartment, but things change when her son is relocated across the state for his job. Ellie decides to move closer to Frankfort to be near her son. After Ellie explains the news, Jane goes back to the office to cancel the sale.
How To Cancel a Sale
Cancelling a sale is now easy in Sherpa. To do so, create a new journal entry documenting what led to the cancellation. Then, choose “Cancel Sale” as the new Outcome.
When you cancel a sale, Sherpa will prompt you to give the prospect a new status: Lost Lead, Future or Active.
Jane empathizes with Ellie’s wishes and asks how she can help. Ellie says she needs to know more about senior living in Frankfort and agrees to let Jane share her information with Shady Pines’ community there.
How To View Shared Prospects
When another community within your company shares a prospect with you, they’ll now show up in the On Deck section of your Watchlist. That way, you can view new prospects before adding them to your database.
With Jane’s help, Ellie connected with a counselor at Shady Pines of Frankfort and signed a lease on an apartment. Ellie’s new home is near her son’s, and he brings the grandkids to visit often. Jane helped Ellie celebrate by sending a letter congratulating her on her big decision.
Ellie didn’t end up living in Jane’s community, and that’s okay. Jane knows her job is to “guide change” through Prospect-Centered SellingSM, not to forcibly “close the sale.” In the end, Jane and Ellie both got what they wanted: a home for Ellie.
Jane used Sherpa’s newest product updates to enter Ellie into Sherpa, fill out her prospect profile and eventually transfer her to another community. Have questions about how you can do this for yourself? Call Sherpa at (314) 432-1234 or email our Customer Experience team at support@sherpacrm.com.
