Cypress Cove Puts the Buyer Journey at the Center of Sales Success

Leveraging Aline’s CRM tools and sales enablement training, Cypress Cove achieved over 95% occupancy in independent living for the first time in six years. A Prospect-Centered Selling strategy helped them raise the bar.

About Cypress Cove 

Founded in 1999 in Fort Myers, FL, Cypress Cove Life Plan Community is a nonprofit organization that serves more than 650 residents with independent and assisted living, skilled nursing, memory care, and rehabilitative care.

Starting a Sales Enablement Journey

When Michael Moss joined Cypress Living as vice president of sales and marketing in 2020, he brought with him a positive attitude to change and experience leading sales teams. Moss’ background was in hospital and pharmaceutical sales; senior living was new ground. But he knew the importance of a cohesive sales strategy and recognized the untapped potential within his team and their prospective residents.

Moss and his team identified the three main challenges to growth:

• There was no defined approach to sales.
• Sales teams were siloed with limited collaboration between them.
• More than 1,500 “cold” leads sat in the CRM unworked.

After comparing options, Moss’s team at Cypress Cove began using Aline’s sales enablement services. They sought support not just from the software but also in training team members to successfully adopt and develop their skills in Prospect-Centered Selling, a methodology designed specifically for senior living sales.

“Cypress Cove shifting to Prospect-Centered Selling (PCS) propelled our sales culture and approach with our prospective residents,” Moss said. “Professionally and personally, it changed my way of thinking about the sales cycle, sales funnel and conversion.”

Onboarding with Aline

The hands-on support that Cypress Cove received when bringing on a new CRM surpassed the team’s expectations. To address the existing challenges for sales, Moss and his team focused on:

• Helping everyone become proficient in using Aline’s CRM and PCS approach.
• Establishing a routine for pre-call planning and daily stand-ups with members of the sales team.
• Cleaning the existing database and turning a backlog of leads into actionable next steps for conversions.

Moss and his team worked closely with Anna Little, customer training and success specialist for Aline, and others to establish goals and pacing. Regular check-ins helped keep things on track not only for launch but also for optimizing processes once the CRM was up and running.

“We sincerely felt that all of Aline’s stakeholders were attentive, invested, and involved in not only the initial onboarding but the ongoing use of the CRM,” Moss said.

Industry knowledge was a key factor that gave Aline’s team a leg up in identifying opportunities and understanding the challenges faced by Cypress Cove – more than 91% of Aline’s team members have direct experience in senior living. Moss saw this as a big advantage in the partnership.

“It is refreshing to have representatives on the other end who have been in your shoes and understand exactly what you’re dealing with,” he said.

Aligned and Achieving Results

Getting everyone on the same page – whether using the CRM or applying the PCS methodology – had a visible impact on move-in numbers. It also helped the team lower their marketing costs as they were seeing a higher number of conversions with the same number of leads. PCS training played a big role in this success.

“Aline fills a wide gap in CRM market sector: sales training,” Moss said. “It is a big step to have a robust CRM; however, it is mission critical to have standard work and a proven sales system at the forefront of the CRM.”

Within six months of onboarding with Aline, Cypress Cove’s independent living occupancy grew from an average of 87-90% to 91-93% on average. In March of 2023, the community reached 95% occupancy with 97% units sold.

“We worked our new leads with heightened awareness, intentionality, and focus on the PCS process,” Moss said. “We stressed the importance of not focusing on the result but rather the process. When there’s discipline and consistency in performance with adherence to the process, the results will come!”