- Selling to Adult Children
“Intensely frustrated” is how Carol Swanson, vice president of marketing for a continuing care retirement community, would describe her day. She had to return a deposit to a potential resident, only two days before the end of the quarter. “All because his 52-year old son can’t keep a job,” she grumbled. “Really, who moves back home when they are 52?”
Carol’s husband, Bill, was equally frustrated. As the director of a home care company, he often made visits to potential clients. “I walked in the door and there were six family members there – kids, in-laws, even a cousin. Each one had a different opinion of what should happen next.”
If you are in a business that provides services to older adults, you have likely found yourself in a situation where your prospect is interested in your service, but their adult child puts on the brakes. OR, the adult child is trying to convince Mom or Dad that your service is the right choice and the prospect does not see the value – yet. These conversations are not only frustrating; they can sink your entire sale. So how do you keep all parties happy and involved while moving through the sales process? The following tips will help:
1. Identify the influencers (e.g., adult children, in-laws, siblings) early in the process by using open, targeted discovery questions. An influencer could be a son or daughter, if you are working with the client directly (e.g., in a senior living community) or s/he could be a sibling or an in-law, if your primary contact is the adult child (e.g., in an adult day service).
2. Ascertain the role of the influencers. Are they advisors, sharing the cost (or paying for everything) or even the final decision-maker? For example, a daughter calls about Mom (or Dad), but she lives out-of-state. Her brother, in yet another state is paying for the service, but her sister, the primary caregiver who lives down the street from Mom, will make the final decision.
3. Involve the influencer in the decision-making process. Invite him/her to meetings or events and include the influencer on important calls.
4. During meetings and conversations, focus on the client (and/or decision-maker), but include the influencer. Make eye-contact both when answering questions or giving information. When appropriate, ask for input.
5. Identify objections or concerns from both the decision-maker and the influencer. Before you can move the sale to a close, you must overcome each person’s objections. “I just want Mom to be happy – this is her decision” only means that the influencer is not offering his/her opinion now. As soon as privacy permits, the influencer will state his/her opinions – often much more forcefully if they were engaged in the process from the beginning and sharing feelings with you.
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- Fiona Middleton, MSM
Fiona F. Middleton, M.S.M. is the president and founder of Fairfield Business Solutions. Fiona is an expert in training who has taught undergraduate courses on marketing, advertising, mediation, negotiation and a variety of other business and communications topics. In addition, she has authored numerous articles on marketing and home care issues and made frequent appearances as a guest speaker on local and national radio as an advocate for older adults.
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Thanks Jeffrey. I’m using the Constructor Theme.
Fiona,
All good comments. Just an additional item. “Peace of mind” products like our remote monitoring system allows the prospect and adult child to benefit from increased medical condition awareness. In this case, often selling directly to the influential adult child first may be of benefit. Then, a gentle approach with the prospect on the benefits of the product and service is effective. Benefits must be obvious for this to occur. Please see our website to see how remote monitoring is catching on – making medical outcomes “prospect – centric”. http://www.medapps.com
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