🔎 Operator Search [lead generation]
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      3. 🔎 Operator Search [lead generation]

      🏠 Engaging Established Operators

      Established operators currently operate one or multiple homes not associated with VSL. They may want to lease new sites, sell the sites that they own, or want to become VSL Chartered.

       

       

      Article Table of Contents

      1. Background on Established Operators
      2. Updating the HubSpot Deal Database
      3. How to Engage Established Operators

       

       

      Background on Established Operators

      Why it makes sense to engage and maintain relationships with established operators

      Engaging established operators is important for a number of reasons. They may want to lease new sites that we acquire, they may want to sell the sites that they own, they may just want to become chartered or connect with us for advice or connections. Establishing and maintaining these relationships is very important for the health of VSL, and can be very useful when conducting operator search.

      What do we mean by "engaging established operators"?

      This means connecting with operators of recovery housing that are not affiliated with VSL. It means calling and emailing and updating HubSpot with information on other individuals and organizations who operate recovery housing in areas of Interest

      What are our goals from engaging established operators?

      What do we want from engagement with them? What is a "good" engagement and result from a conversation or other engagement?

      Goals for established operator engagement

      1. Have the operator lease a VSL-affiliate owned site
      2. Have the operator work with VSL to sell us a site they own
      3. Hire the operator as a contractor to manage a nearby home
      4. Hire them as staff or a consultant to help us grow, manage homes, etc.
      5. Have the Operator become VSL Chartered [not a priority right now - they will consume resources and be a long-term and less-solid investment of time and resources that we do not need right now - if we focus on their growth interest, we can back into this Charter concept, focusing on growth as the priority in terms of communication]
      6. Just connect with them for advice or connections [hold - this will distract from something tangible for the time being]

       

         

        Background on engaging established operators

          Calling established operators is a great idea because:

          • We know who they are, where they are, and what they are already doing, especially if they are certified and we can get information from the certification websites
          • If they don't want to lease, perhaps they will want to sell - but either way, it is an opportunity to engage with somebody in the field that we could do business with some help
          • If they end up leasing a home, they will probably end up bringing on other Chartered Homes into VSL's network
          Standard approach: Propose that they lease a home from us. Say that we have a grant available or whatever. This is already in the playbook.
          Alternate approach: Propose the idea of them becoming a Chartered Operator, offering them the benefits of the Charter along with the opportunity to lease the site in question. This way, we achieve dual goals - expanding our roster of Chartered Operators and finding a tenant for the targeted site.
          Note: The actual tactics for the new Operator search would be detailed in the subsequent section. The strategy is about the 'why' and 'what', and tactics will delve into the 'how'.
           

           

          All established operators are tracked in HubSpot as deals

           Established operators represent any operator who is currently operating one or multiple homes. They can be certified or not, they can be in any entity form including for profit or nonprofit, they are just anybody who has demonstrated that they are currently running some type of sober living home.

          They are organized as deal records in HubSpot. Before engaging with anybody who might we should add them to HubSpot and engage with them and log the notes on the deal record.

           

           

           

          Updating the HubSpot Deal Database

          Start by updating the deal records in HubSpot to make sure our data is accurate

          Step 1: Identify the area(s)

          The first step is to identify the areas in which you will want to be working. It makes sense to identify specific areas, either in relation to sites that need to be leased or areas in which we want to grow. This doesn't have to be formal, but it should be an important step in the process.

           

          Step 2: Research the area(s)

          Researching established operators should happen in two ways. The first is by getting all of the certified operators from the list available on the certification agency website. Next, it's just doing research on Google to figure out who is running sober homes in the area. Pick a desired area and proceed as follows:

          Connect with the certification agency (optional)

          First, contact the certification agency to see if they know anyone who would be a good candidate for what we are looking for. Maybe we are looking to find operators or looking to connect with operators who may want to sell. Connecting with the certification agency might be a great place to start.

          Certified operators and homes

          Make sure the list of certified operators in HubSpot is correct by checking it against the list of operators from the certification agency. Just find the certification agencies page and check that against HubSpot. You can filter the view in HubSpot by state.

          Certification agencies that have regions specified, like Massachusetts, have a region property that can be filled in with that information to allow for easier sorting based on the region that the operator is located in.

          1. Check the certification agency list
          2. Update any information that is incorrect in HubSpot
          3. Add any operator who is missing from the list
          4. On the HubSpot list, "preview" records and make sure that all homes and contacts are associated with them (optional, can be done later)

          Uncertified operators and homes

          After you have a good grasp on certified operators, move on to uncertified operators. You can skip this step if we are just focusing on certified operators for the moment.

          1. Google search to find operators who are not certified
          2. Update any information that is incorrect in HubSpot
          3. Add any operator who is missing from the list

          Step 3: Add or update the deal records (in HubSpot)

          It is highly likely the list of operators in HubSpot will be correct, as this list is maintained for the Sober House directory as well. However it makes sense to go through and attempt to update any deals that might be incorrect, and add any deals that might be missing.

          Once you have made a list of the established operators in the area, go to the established deal pipeline and hit the "Add record" button. Fill in the form as follows:

          First - search the name:

          1. Search the name of the deal that you would like to add in the established deals pipeline. Please make sure we do not add duplicate deals and be careful to search for all relevant names to make sure that we are minimizing the chances of creating a duplicate.

          Second - add the deal: 

          1. The deal name should be the name that appears on the certification site, and if it is true generic, maybe add the contact name or location to differentiate
          2. the pipeline should always be established
          3. status can be left blank or just write new
          4. deal description should be a quick description of who they are, how many homes they run, if they are for profit or nonprofit, or any other information about their actual recovery homes
          5. sales notes should include information about what we want to do with them, if there is any context from previous conversations and other information
          6. the priority is how important it is to get in touch with them
          7. add the contact name, title, phone number, website, and e-mail address. Get this from the certification website. The contact title or role should describe who this person probably is, if they are likely an owner or just some intake person
          8. indicate certification status, state, and city.
          9. The deal stage is almost always "Lead" unless we have been in touch with them before
          10. See if we can associate them with any existing homes, but don't bother adding any new homes just yet if you can't find them on the list
          11. See if we already have a contact for the operator contact person which is unlikely for most new operators, but give it a try just to see who we have (we will end up having to create contacts for these people when we are cold calling them probably)

           

           

          How to Engage Established Operators

          Step-by-step instructions on engaging established operators

          After you have identified the areas and make sure the HubSpot database is correct, we will need to engage the established operators that we have identified in these areas. Make sure you know what the goals are before calling the operators!

          Figure out what we want to accomplish

          Remember, you need to set goals for these calls and stay on track with what we want them to do. Typically, we will want one or more of the following results from our negotiations.

          Have them lease a VSL-affiliate owned site

          This is done if the operator is growing and should be the goal if we are conducting an operator search close to the area in which they are located

          • An appropriate direction to lead a conversation if the operator is looking to grow
          • Offer them sites that we own or we could Charter them and search for new sites
          • This doesn't require they become Chartered but it would be nice if they are

          Have them sell us a site they own

          This is more of a longer term goal, they aren't often looking to sell on the first telephone call we have with them. However, given that really no one buys sober houses, planting the seed up front is an excellent idea.

          • Make sure everyone knows that we can coordinate the sale of established recovery housing
          • Make sure they know that they won't get significantly more than fair market value for the home as a traditional residence
          • If someone sounds like they might be looking to sell at some point, set recurring tasks to follow up with them every month or something

          Hire them as a contractor to manage a nearby home

          If we are engaged in an active operator search or have a home that we need some help managing, it would make sense to approach qualified established operators with a concept of them managing the home for us on a contract basis. This would be highly beneficial for us to leverage the experience of people who already run homes and potentially have them lease the home or work with us in a more holistic capacity.

          Hire them as staff or a consultant to help us grow, manage homes, etc.

          If they sound qualified and interested, consider approaching them with the concept of hiring them as staff or a consultant to help us establish new homes, grow our reach in the community build out our network in the community, manage one or multiple homes as a staff person, or join as full-time staff or some other form of arrangement.

          Have them become VSL Chartered [not pushing for this right now]

          If they aren't looking to take any actions indicated above, consider having them just become Chartered. This will have them in our network and we will be able to engage with them more formally down the road when they are looking to sell or grow.

           [not a priority right now - they will consume resources and be a long-term and less-solid investment of time and resources that we do not need right now - if we focus on their growth interest, we can back into this Charter concept, focusing on growth as the priority in terms of communication]

          Lean on them for advice and guidance

          If they aren't looking to become chartered or do any of the other items above, at least we can have them in our Network for advice and guidance and whatnot. Make sure to take notes when you are speaking with them so we know the context and if we can reach out to them for what we need.

          Cold calling new established operators ("Lead" stage deals)

          First, access the deal record you are calling. Make sure the data is correct, follow steps above in order to correct data. If you are working on an operator search, it might make sense to associate the deal record with the operator search project, but that could be done later.

          How to place a cold call

          After you have access the deal record, you will need to place a cold call. You should use the playbook linked below. If they are interested, you will move them to "Prospect" stage and follow the instructions in the Operator Candidate KB article.

          Playbook: 🏠 Cold Call: Established Operator