Contributor Wednesday

In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Christy Van Der Westhuizen challenges senior living sales professionals to rethink the traditional community tour. Rather than following the same route and presenting the same features to every family, Christy explains how to use discovery to create a personalized experience that reflects each prospect’s concerns, interests, emotions, and hopes for the fut...

What keeps employees engaged after their first 90 to 100 days on the job? In this Contributor Wednesday episode of Bridge the Gap, Cara Silletto explores the cultivation stage of her Employee Retention Ecosystem model and explains why leaders need to rethink how they support their existing teams. Using the memorable analogy of bowling in the dark, Cara illustrates what happens when employees recei...

Just checking in.” “Circling back.” “I wanted to see if you had any questions.” Sound familiar? In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Christy Van Der Westhuizen puts some of the most overused sales follow-up phrases into the official Follow-Up Hall of Shame, and explains what to say instead. The problem isn't follow-up itself. It's follow-up without a reason. When prospects are already receivi...

Why do people leave, and more importantly, what are we doing to give them a reason to stay? In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Cara Silletto explores the connection between employee turnover, compensation, incentives, and retention. Cara explains why turnover is more than a line item on the budget. When experienced employees leave, the remaining staff can become overworked and burned out, m...

What happens when a senior living tour doesn't go according to plan? A strange odor, a ringing call light, unexpected construction, a loud crash, or a resident who shares an opinion you weren't expecting can quickly disrupt even the most carefully prepared tour. But these moments don't have to ruin the experience. In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Christy Van Der Westhuizen shares practica...

What happens when employees raised with completely different expectations enter the same workplace? In this episode of Bridge the Gap, Cara Silletto explores how generational dynamics influence communication, leadership, employee retention, workload expectations, and the employee experience. Drawing from her experience as an early generational expert and her work in employee retention, Cara explai...

What happens after a senior living tour may be more important than the tour itself. In this episode of Contributor Wednesday , Christy Van Der Westhuizen , SVP of Sales & Marketing at Jaybird Senior Living, introduces the concept of the "parking lot conversation"—the honest discussion families have once they leave your community. She explains how sales professionals can intentionally shape tho...

Everyone feels busy, but being busy doesn't have to mean being overwhelmed. In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Cara Silletto shares the practical routines that transformed her from someone who constantly forgot tasks into an exceptionally organized executive. You’ll learn how simple tools like recurring calendar reminders, meeting agendas, checklists, documented processes, and daily rhythms...

What happens before you ever begin your community tour may be the single biggest factor in whether a family chooses your community. In this episode, Christy Van Der Westhuizen explores the often-overlooked power of the "first 90 seconds," the critical window where families begin deciding whether they trust your community long before pricing, floor plans, or care plans enter the conversation. Chris...

What if the biggest reason new hires leave isn't pay, scheduling, or workload, but the experience they have during their first few weeks? In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Cara Silletto explores how senior living leaders can dramatically reduce costly early turnover by rethinking onboarding as an "on-ramp" rather than a one-time orientation event. Drawing from conversations with senior liv...

Sales fatigue is one of the most common, and least discussed, challenges facing senior living sales teams today. Christy Van Der Westhuizen is back to explore what sales fatigue really looks like, why even top-performing professionals experience it, and how leaders can help teams maintain momentum without sacrificing wellbeing. Drawing from her own experiences, Christy shares the emotional realiti...

In this contributor episode of Bridge the Gap , Cara Silletto explores two foundational, but often overlooked, drivers of employee retention: organizational values and strategic priorities . Drawing from her Employee Retention Ecosystem framework, Cara challenges leaders to reconsider whether their mission, vision, and values still resonate with today’s workforce. She argues that values shouldn’t...

In this episode of Bridge The Gap , contributor host Christy Van Der Westhuizen breaks down one of the most important and often misunderstood skills in senior living leadership: business and financial acumen. This conversation goes far beyond spreadsheets and dashboards. Christy explains how executive directors and sales directors can use data to tell the story behind occupancy, move-ins, move-out...

On this week’s Contributor Wednesday, Cara Silletto breaks down why leadership development is no longer optional, and how to build a program that actually drives retention and performance. She makes the business case with compelling ROI data, showing how investing in leaders reduces turnover, improves productivity, and strengthens workplace culture. Key Topics Covered Why leadership development is...

Christy Van Der Westhuizen is back to challenge a common assumption in senior living: that struggling occupancy is a strategy problem. Instead, she argues it’s an execution problem, and one that many teams are guilty of. From delayed lead response times to ineffective follow-up language, Christy breaks down the everyday habits that quietly stall growth. Key Topics The hidden cost of “busy work” in...

In this candid and thought-provoking episode, Cara Silletto tackles one of the most pressing issues in today’s workforce: unsustainable workloads. Drawing from real conversations with senior care executives and leaders across industries, Cara breaks down why “analyzing capacity” consistently scores low in organizations, and what that means for employee retention. She argues that the workaholic era...

In this heartfelt episode of Contributor Wednesday, Christy Van Der Westhuizen reframes what it truly means to work in sales, especially in the senior living industry. Drawing from her personal journey and family experience, she explains why senior living sales is not about persuasion or pressure, but about the life-changing impact of senior living. Christy Discusses: Why senior living sales is fu...

What does professionalism really mean, and who gets to define it? In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Cara Silletto explores the often unspoken expectations that shape workplace culture. Through a candid personal story about unknowingly breaking an “unwritten rule,” Kara reveals how easily judgment, generational assumptions, and unclear standards can create tension on teams. She challenges l...

What does a Regional Director of Sales really do in senior living, and why might it be one of the toughest roles in the industry? In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Christy Van Der Westhuizen, SVP of Sales & Marketing at Jaybird Senior Living, pulls back the curtain on her 18-year journey from community sales director to senior leadership. She shares the myths versus realities of region...

Employee retention isn’t broken because of one issue; it’s broken because organizations keep treating it like a single-issue problem. In this episode of Contributor Wednesday , contributor host Cara Silletto continues the discussion around the Employee Retention Ecosystem . Listeners will learn how to assess whether their organization is thriving, surviving, or wilting through an 18-point retentio...

In this episode of Contributor Wednesday, Cara Silletto, President and Chief Retention Officer of Magnet Culture, shares a timely update on how the workforce has evolved and what leaders must understand to retain employees today. Drawing from over a decade of experience in generational dynamics and retention strategy, Cara walks listeners through updated workforce demographics heading into 2026, h...

Contributor Wednesday is officially back on Bridge the Gap, and Lucas McCurdy and Josh Crisp are kicking off an exciting new chapter for the BTG Network. In this episode, we cover why the Contributor Wednesday series was so impactful in the past, why listeners asked for its return, and how it will evolve in 2026. Unlike the traditional Monday episodes that focus on high-level thought leadership, C...

In this episode from recruiting expert Chris Heinz, learn how to make next year the best year ever! Join Bridge the Gap in thanking Chris for his outstanding contributions this year as a Contributor Wednesday host. Meet the BTG  Contributors . Powered by  Peak Senior Living  by  Functional Pathways. Connect with us on social media: YouTube  Instagram Facebook Twitter Linke...

Creating “Magic” First Impressions Host Christy Van Der Westheuizen shares how first impressions play a HUGE role in the sales outcomes of senior living.   “It will be someone’s first time to Disneyland every single day.” - Walt Disney How does this inspire your commitment to creating positive first impressions in your own community?  Here’s what Disney does to create magical first...

Solving the Office Puzzle In this episode,  Julie Podewitz  takes us from The Office to Las Vegas!  During this series, Julie takes a deep dive into how to solve the occupancy puzzle by identifying the problem, determining strategy, what actions to take, and how to get there. These episodes narrow in on a key area of the occupancy puzzle, what contributes to the outcome, what a...