Grow Your Occupancy

What happens when a senior living operator decides to stop relying on paid aggregators and instead invests in its own sales team, referral relationships, and outreach strategy? In this episode of the Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, sits down with Tiffany Cooey, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at QSL Management, to discuss how...

What separates high-performing senior living sales teams from everyone else? According to Cole Boysen, Director of Sales at Senior Services of America, it's not luck, it's process. In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, sits down with Cole to discuss how implementing consistent, measurable sales processes creates better coachin...

What if one of the most powerful ways to improve senior living isn't a new technology or sales strategy—but simply changing the words we use? In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, is joined by Jessi Weldon, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Primrose Retirement Communities, for an insightful discussion on why...

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, chats with Larry Williams, Senior Director of Market Strategy & Growth at Unlock Health, for a candid and highly practical conversation about what’s actually working in senior living marketing today. From the very first search a prospect makes to the final move-in decision, Larry break...

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talks with Bradley Scoggins, Senior Director of Sales and Owner Relations at Charter Senior Living, about what really drives occupancy in today's senior living landscape. Bradley shares how Charter has grown from fewer than 20 communities to more than 70 in just a few years, and why that g...

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz talks with Katharine Ross, President of Seniors Guide, to explore how today’s senior living consumers research communities, what information matters most to them, and how operators can better connect with both prospects and adult children. Katharine shares what Seniors Guide is seeing firsthand: more self-led research from older ad...

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talks with Tom Bahrman, Principal of Tenfold Senior Living, to explore what it really takes to achieve and sustain exceptional communities and high occupancy in senior living. Tom shares how Tenfold has built a strong culture centered on community, resident experience, team engagement, and...

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, host Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talks with Patrick Leonard, Chief Revenue Officer at The Gatesworth Communities, to explore what it really takes to build and sustain exceptional occupancy in senior living. Patrick shares the story behind The Gatesworth’s journey from post-COVID occupancy challenges to operating at o...

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder, is joined by Austin Blilie, COO, and Tommy Tyler, Director of Sales, Marketing & Development at American Baptist Homes of the Midwest—an organization with nearly a century of service in senior living. Austin and Tommy unpack how a mission-driven, nonprofit provider is successfully navigating today’s rapidly...

Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, and Lori Vernier, Senior Sales Strategist, continue their conversation about the real-world sales behaviors that drive occupancy growth in senior living communities. Building on insights from the previous episode, Julie and Lori explore the common gaps they see when analyzing sales data across communities—from follow-up timelines that stret...

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, host Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, sits down with Lori Vernier, Senior Sales Strategist at Grow Your Occupancy, for an in-depth conversation about what the data inside your CRM is really telling you about your senior living sales process. Lori is a master of strategy based on data analytics. She spends time in all area...

Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talks with Tiffany Cooey, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at QSL Management, about the strong focus on the customer experience at their senior living communities. From the moment a prospect walks into one of their communities, the emphasis is on not only a luxury senior living experience, but also on creating a feeling of ho...

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, welcomes Tiffany Cobern, President of Paragon Senior Living, for an insightful conversation about launching a senior living management company rooted in authenticity, relationships, and operational excellence. Tiffany shares the story behind Paragon Senior Living, crediting building trust...

Grow Your Occupancy is privy to a lot of data focused on senior living sales. After close analysis, we have some insights and conclusions that you'll find enlightening and helpful. Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, shares her conclusions about the senior living sales stats and data collected throughout the course of 2025.

In a special "sales intervention" episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, shares 4 senior living sales DON'Ts! These simple best practices and practical tips from the sales specialists at Grow Your Occupancycan lead to much better outcomes. Thanks Lori Vernier, Senior Sales Strategist, for compiling this helpful list.

In the latest in our popular Senior Living Sales Speak! series, Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talks with some of the top performing sales directors from Primrose Retirement Communities. Robert Brown, Megan Frazer, Samantha Marshall, and Stephanie Walton share their secrets to achieving and exceeding sales and occupancy goals, best practices, what they're doing that gets...

Grow Your Occupancy is pleased to welcome Nick Begane to our team as Director of Business Development! Julie Podewitz, CEO and Founder, talks with Nick about his senior living industry journey from sales director up through regional sales director, what he's learned in his career, and what led him to join the Grow team.

In this episode of The Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, Julie Podewitz, CEO and Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, dives more deeply into the topic of closing from her book "(Re)Solving the Occupancy Puzzle: A Senior Living Regional, Sales & Executive Director Playbook." Closing is a skill set that requires frequent review and practice. Whether you're working on your own closing skills or coaching ot...

Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, recently talked with Jesse Tillman Pitts. Jesse is not only a Regional Director at Angels Senior Living, but is also Founder of Aravine Consulting, author of "Living With Purpose: The TILLMAN Framework for Activities in Senior Living", and a two-time Latin Grammy nominated drummer and producer. Jesse talks about the impact of resident engag...

Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talks with Russ Papia, President of Prosper Life Care. Russ shares his passion for making a positive impact on the lives of his residents and team members and what he did to support a new sales director and leadership team to grow occupancy more than 20 basis points in a year! Thank you Yardi for sponsoring this episode of The Grow Your Occ...

Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talked with Justin Harden, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Phoenix Senior Living, and Kristine Schrudder, Senior Consultant at Yardi, about using a tech stack in senior living sales and marketing. Justin and Kristine explain what a tech stack is, the efficiencies of using one system for all platforms from a tech perspective, and...

Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talks with Heather Dampier, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Advena Living. Heather started her position at the beginning of this summer and since then has traveled 800 miles on the road visiting all of her communities. She shares her first impressions, what she learned from her time on the road, and gives some great advice about ou...

Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, talks with Paula Rathgaber-Gomez, Chief Experience Officer of Sequoia Living, about not only the resident experience, but the prospect experience too. Sequoia Living continuously seeks to learn what their residents and prospects want to craft and enhance their experience at Sequoia's communities. The result? At any given time, the portfolio...

(Re)Solving the Occupancy Puzzle - A Senior Living Regional, Sales, & Executive Director Playbook is the fully revised and updated 3rd edition of the industry favorite. In this special edition of the Grow Your Occupancy Podcast, author Julie Podewitz takes a deep dive into chapter 7: what to do when you have enough leads, but your conversions are low. Order your copy today on Amazon!

Julie Podewitz, CEO & Founder of Grow Your Occupancy, recently talked with Kevin Yax, Sales & Marketing Director at Brookdale Garden Grove, an assisted living and memory care community in Orange County, California. Kevin is relatively new to senior living, but he has achieved remarkable success in a short amount of time. In just a little over a year in his position he netted 47 units to re...