Voices: Richard Nix, Senior Director of Senior Living Sales, Yardi

This article is sponsored by Yardi^®. In this
Voices interview, Senior Housing News sits down with Richard Nix, senior
director of senior living sales for Yardi, to learn how sales teams have
adjusted during the pandemic to fewer face-to-face visits and how prior to the
pandemic, sales teams used Yardi creatively with “Yardi parties,” which helped
ensure connections with leads. He also offers a sneak peek into new areas Yardi
will enter in 2021.

Senior Housing News: You’ve spent your career in
technology, with a lot of time in the senior space, and you’ve been with Yardi
since 2014. What lessons do you draw from most frequently in your current role?

Richard Nix: Definitely, the
main lesson is to always talk to people. Previously I’ve worked with the New
York Stock Exchange in technology, the United Nations, and for AgingCare.com,
which was a website for family caregivers. A lot of folks like to communicate
using technology, such as emails and text, but there’s nothing like getting on
the phone with people and really learning their issues— especially now that
we’re not seeing them at client meetings and at conferences — and spending a
little bit of time getting a quick call with them to see what is really driving
them and what issues are pertaining to them right now.

The other key point
is teamwork. The Yardi culture is all about teamwork. We have a great team, and
we work to solve problems together for our clients.

One of the early outcomes of the pandemic was the
increase in technology adoption, including among sales and marketing teams. The
adjustment was not easy, but sales teams have come through. What did you see
early in terms of their adjustment, and what are the most important ways that
you’re seeing technology augment the diminished in-person sales calls in 2020?

Salespeople are
road warriors. We’re on the road a lot. We depend on technology for handling
many client requests. Since face-to-face meetings have been hard to arrange
during the pandemic, continual contact with clients by other means became
critical.

In terms of specific
technologies, the use of the video meetings has been a shift. This is a
personal thing, but I like to put the camera on myself at the beginning of a
video call. I think a familiar face for contacts to see can be comforting, but
I never pressure them to put their cameras on. A lot of times they do it anyway
and say, “Hey, it’s good to see you.” Some people don’t like to turn
on the camera and I completely respect that. I like to just keep the camera on
for a couple of minutes, to start the conversation, then shut it off, make them
feel comfortable and talk through the situation.

Previously, a lot
of people might have said, “Do you want to have a face-to-face for the
first meeting?” Now you can probably have these video meetings first and
see if there is a good business fit. You can avoid unnecessary travel by making
that video call first. This is respecting their time and your time. If there is
a fit, then you can schedule visits.

How is Yardi helping families communicate with residents
right now?

Several years ago,
we came out with a family and resident portal called RENTCafé Senior Living, and it’s been vital for our clients. Residents
and families have access to make payments with credit card and ACH, or schedule
a maintenance request. Families also can opt in to receive text alerts, which
is really important now, especially if there’s a COVID-related notice or other
issue at the community.

Using RENTCafé Senior Living, families can check
on wellness participation, communicate with the care staff directly and even
book activities. They can see if there is a community trip coming up and go
online and pay for it with a credit card. Then they can call their family
member and say, “Hey, Mom, guess what? You’re going on this trip today. I
know you want to stay in, but it’s already paid for.” This is not
something people are doing today with COVID-19, of course, but once things
improve, this will really help the communities and families. It’s just a nice
way to communicate with the community all in one stop, and even sign paperwork
electronically through that portal.

What is the connection between those technological
innovations and an operator’s ability to manage client needs?

I think the most
important consideration is giving family members visibility into how their
loved ones are doing. Are they active? Are they being taken care of? Yes, you
can call the community and ask to speak to someone, but that can be very
difficult. With the portal you actually can have this view into the day-to-day
life if that’s authorized by the community, which is becoming more and more
common based on resident and family desires.

In my case, my
sister was my mom’s health care proxy, so she could see all her health
information. My brother was more on the payment side, so he could check on her
bill and financials.

What is your favorite success story of how a sales team
recently used Yardi technology in a winning creative way?

Prior to COVID-19,
some of our clients were making the use of our platform fun by having “Yardi
parties” that help their team use the platform to work with families who were
interested in moving in. Once a resident moves in, our clients use our platform
to keep the family engaged.

Instead of just
writing, “I left a message for Richard Nix to talk about his mom moving
in,” the next step was two days later: “Follow up with Rich.” There was
always something to follow up so that lead doesn’t get lost. I think that’s one
of the biggest fears: losing track of the lead. Our system can actually drive
sales teams to make the next step, and that’s what clients leveraged.

How has the pandemic affected technology adoption in
senior living?

I think operators
realized in the past that yes, technology can help, but the pandemic has caused
them to really look at using technology to help them become more efficient.
Efficiency is especially important now because they have increased costs with
PPE and testing and more labor.

How do we use technology
to free up more time for our staff to focus on meeting the needs of the
residents and their well-being? That’s the name of the game at the end of the
day. Community operators work 7/24/365 taking care of families’ loved ones, and
it’s tough to carve out time to look at technology and evaluate it. I think
maybe some of their team members may have made a little more time to look at it
during this time.

What’s next for Yardi in 2021?

We released Yardi
Senior IQ, a business intelligence tool that allows community operators to see
all of their KPIs. Operators and investors want more and more insight into
their data, and Yardi is a data-driven company delivering on that need.

We continue to
innovate and make our products stronger and more helpful to our clients. We
want to help sales teams be efficient with their time and spend more time
actually speaking with prospective residents and their families, helping
families in all the steps involved in moving their loved ones in. I know there
is no better place than a senior living community for your family member that
may need some help, and we want to help our clients get that word out….RENTCafé is a way to do that..

We are also
expanding into the home health market. We have a new platform for that, Yardi
At Home Care, which was announced earlier this year, and we anticipate growing
our presence in that space in 2021.

Another big
initiative for next year is strengthening interoperability, particularly in
terms of our connections to hospitals and other systems to exchange resident
health information.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length
and clarity.

Yardi® develops and supports industry-leading investment
and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate
companies, including senior living operators. To find out how our technology
can help you, visit
yardi.com.

The Voices Series is a sponsored content program
featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their
industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices,
please contact sales@agingmedia.com.

The post Voices: Richard Nix, Senior Director of Senior Living Sales, Yardi appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Source: For the full article please visit Senior Housing News