When the resident journey meets data, operators gain insights from prospects during the sales cycle. Erin Hayes, President of Aline and Evan Friedkin, Head of Business Development at Roobrik, share about the merger announcement and what customers can expect from the combined powerhouse.

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This podcast was recorded at the 2025 ASHA Annual Meeting. 

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Produced by Solinity Marketing.

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Intro

Welcome to season eight of Bridge the Gap, a podcast dedicated to informing, educating, and influencing the future of housing and services for seniors. The BTG network is powered by sponsors, Aline, NIC MAP, Procare HR, Sage, Hamilton Capital, ServiceMaster, The Bridge Group Construction, and Solinty and produced by Solinity Marketing. Bridge the Gap in three, two.

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00:48 - 01:02

Lucas McCurdy

Welcome to Bridge the Gap the senior Living podcast with Josh and Lucas here in Arizona at the ASHA Members Meeting. We’ve got friends and guests on today. Very excited to bring on Evan and Erin of Aline and Roobrik. Welcome to the show.

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01:02: - 01:03

Evan Friedkin

Oh, thanks for having us.

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01:03 - 01:04

Erin Hayes

Thank you for having us.

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01:04 - 01:14

Lucas McCurdy

So excited. There is big news of this brand new merger between Aline and Roobrik. It makes sense to me, but can you kind of walk us through how this came together.

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01:14 - 02:20

Evan Friedkin

So back in November, when I had heard that these conversations were starting up, and Nate had shot me a text at one 9:00 at night on a Saturday and said, hey, can we grab lunch tomorrow? I kind of knew what was going on.

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And I'm like, oh, I'm excited. And then when he said, “Take a guess.” I said “Aline.” And, it made total sense – didn't require a whole lot of explaining. For those of the folks in the industry that know who Roobrik is, we really prioritize streamline efficiency on the sales and marketing side to make sure consumers can get the information they need, self educate, and then enable the sales teams to have really good conversations with leads.

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Because what you'll hear over the next few months to years is lead volume is not decreasing, it's only increasing. And the staff that are available to handle those leads are not keeping pace. And so we have to really enable those sales teams. And so knowing what Aline is doing and trying to optimize the customer journey from first touch all the way to move out, it just made total sense. And so from your perspective, I'm curious to hear kind of how you guys think about it.

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02:20 - 03:30

Erin Hayes

Yeah, I think we're very excited. And, I think this really just goes to the thesis of why Aline was formed, to keep pace with, first of all, innovation in the industry and also watching all of the trends in the industry. And one of the things we're really focused on is, to Evan’s point, is lead scoring and quality of leads.

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And with what Roobrik has created, in their proprietary way to qualify a lead, and the data that's coming into the CRM, especially for salespeople, allows us to create a better mousetrap to get the right leads to the salespeople quicker. And I think, for senior living, back when we started, it was all about getting the leads, getting the leads, and now with digital and web becoming more prevalent and getting smarter, and of course, more residents coming in, more families looking, I think that it's important to be able to really look at those leads and give the salespeople quality, information to qualify them better. And so it just goes to our overall thesis of maintaining that through the whole entire journey.

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03:30 - 04:41

Josh Crisp

Really exciting. So Aline has been a long time partner to Bridge the Gap. We've heard so many updates of all the things that, Erin, you've been doing through the years. I mean, you guys have been moving and shaking, doing some incredible things. Even with Roobrik, I'm amazed that it's been fun to see you guys emerge quickly on the senior living scene and get so much market share.

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And I think you guys have done that just because of its results. Like any new technology or new thing, it has to be proven. But you guys just do that over and over again. But for existing customers, which I know you've been kind of paving the way and telling people what to expect. But maybe for those that aren't, it’d be hard to think of somebody in the industry that does not know exactly who both of you companies are, what is it going to look like?

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Are there any changes that are or is it these platforms are both very freestanding products that just win and they're going to keep doing the same, or are there going to be innovative new changes that you can tease to us now that is on the front now that you're together and stronger together.

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04:41 - 05:45

Evan Friedkin

I can step in for the Roobrik clients since they're going to be the ones that feel it the most. For any clients that are on Aline, it's going to be fun. Because the integration is already there and it's strong. But it is going to significantly increase the amount of data that we'll be able to push into those systems and then use the AI model and the align side to be able to do predictive analytics and predictive lead scoring. We're going to be able to turn those sales teams into hyper efficient machines. They're going to be able to know exactly what leads are the best leads to call, spend the time with the right folks. For the clients that we have that are with other CRMs, none of those integrations are going to change.

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They're going to stay exactly as they were. So the service is going to maintain the efficiency that they've been used to. And so it's going to feel basically the same for them. They are going to have benefits because we are going to see downstream data from the tight integration with Aline, which means we're going to take that information back into our systems and continue to improve our products.

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So because we're getting the downstream data, we're going to use it to continue to advance it, continue to make sure that it's more efficient and get the consumer really the information they need, which ultimately leads to better branding for communities and get more leads over to the sales teams that they can use there too.

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05:54 - 07:45

Josh Crisp

Well that's exciting. And you know, I can give a little bit of a testimonial here. I shared with you guys before, you know, even when I met you, I've known Erin for years and been a great partner. But when I met you, I thought that you gave me your pitch, and I was like, that sounds a little too good to be true, right?

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But I turn that over to the ops teams and the marketing team in our agency. And I can just tell you, like the marketing agency that we have, that that works with the community leaders, the operational teams, the sales teams. It's been really interesting. And I think this probably illustrates what you were saying in a practical way. I have to dumb it down for me, not for you. But my sales teams literally will tell me, like, gosh, you know what? We know that if we get a lead that has come through the rubric system, it's going to be a move in. And they tell us so we don't have to have a lot of hits.

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And the fact that you guys can do that affordably. So the price of acquisition of that move in has been so lowered. And we've had some other experiences with whatever the referral source was or the lead generation source to where we may produce a ton of leads. Right. And that goes to what you said earlier. It's not about the quantity of leads. That has definitely not been our problem in our communities. But it's like, where do you spend your time and you want to spend a lot of time with everybody, but a lot of times they're just not ready and you don't know what cycle they are in the journey. But one thing we've learned is that they're very qualified leads ready to take that next step.

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And so kudos to you guys. I can't wait to see what customers and clients in our industry do. And I think if you can make our industry more efficient, that ultimately results in a better experience for the consumer, for the resident, for their family. 

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07:45 - 09:06

Erin Hayes

Yeah. And I do think I mean, obviously going through this process, I did a lot of research. We have a lot of overlapping clients. So looking at conversions. Looking at how much better the conversions are than other sources. And even from marketing teams and digital out there to be able to direct your pay per click or your digital organic traffic to one of their surveys or to a page that actually gains more information.

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I think the real takeaway is the conversions are great to get them in the building. And then what we really rely on is the sales team to really nurture and push that lead forward. And sometimes resources are slim, as Evan pointed out before, and so giving them the workflows and the information to better close those leads. And also, I think the information we get from this will allow us to push out personalized content, which will create a better customer experience, give us more insights, do the lead scoring, and be able to tell the salesperson.

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00:08:42:22 - 00:09:06:26

Erin Hayes

Especially with our Aline intelligence AI bot that's coming out. We’re able to have more information right off the bat so that when that data is queried, it's much better to be able to gain insight into what three prospects should I call today? Or, what should I do next on this prospect? So I think that it just gives you more data  earlier on in the process then after the tour and through the cycle.

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09:06 - 09:29

Josh Crisp

The big story that we wanted to be able to help tell about having you guys on today, which I know we're here at ASHA and everybody is wanting to know what you guys are up to. And everybody heard the announcement and everything. So thanks for taking time. But the complexity of senior living operations, marketing, sales, lead conversion, all that has just grown and grown and grown as our industry has grown.

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09:29 - 10:06

Josh Crisp

So we've got so much more demographic that we're attracting now and so many different product service types. I mean, now we have NIC MAP that has whole data centers around active adult, which just a few years ago we didn't even have any data on that sector. So the combination of these two companies coming together, how does that uniquely position you guys to segment and qualify different sectors of leads? Because I know it looks a lot different for a memory care prospect versus an independent living prospect. And do you think this positioned you guys to better tackle that challenge for operators?

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10:06 - 10:35

Evan Friedkin

From my perspective we have the largest dataset in the industry across all care levels. So active adult all the way down through SNF.

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And then when you track that down and compare it to the second largest dataset for move ins is going to be aligned, you marry the two together. And the story that the two can tell together is something that the industry has not seen. And I'm really excited to see what those benchmark reports start to look like. I think there's one coming out in the next two days or so.

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10:35 - 11:25

Erin Hayes

Yeah, there's one coming out soon. And and I think what we've been able to do is not look at your normal. We look at all the conversions and the inquiries and the tours and I think what's going to help is the data, of course, because this year we can say, okay, speed to lead. What does that look like to tour conversions?

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Well now let's start to boil that down to market source. And what's actually driving that. And then having the extra data and how that will look. So I think it just adds more to the dataset and actually enriches the data a little bit more knowing more about that prospect. So we're very excited and we get a ton of data from Roobrik. And I don't know if you've ever clicked through what they have, but it's impressive. And it really does tell the story of the potential resident and gives a lot of insight. So we'll just be continuing to make that better and more integrated into their whole sales process.

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11:25 - 12:02

Josh Crisp

Well, I've always appreciated both of your approaches to the educational and information share component. Going back to all the years you've been so gracious, Erin, to share the benchmark report with us and appear on our podcast so many times, the feedback we get from folks that are already customers of yours. But even being able to receive that information in a different way has been really exciting. That makes us all better. And of course, working with you also over the last several years, Evan, same thing. So I can only imagine, Lucas, to see these two great partners come together is nothing but great for the industry.

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12:02 - 12:28

Lucas McCurdy

It's exciting to see and, looking forward to seeing, even the future of what all this means. And we'd love to have you all back on when that benchmark report comes out. And maybe we can make that more of a consistent thing. We'd love to see that. So, final words from either of you. What this merger is, is exciting. What are you most excited about for your customers in 2025?

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12:28 - 13:01

Erin Hayes

I'm really excited, first of all, because of the team, we've obviously worked together for a long time, not joined. So it's really exciting. I mean, Roobrik has a great team. We had an all hands and I was able to meet everyone virtually and hoping to meet them in person soon. So excited about that. And I also am really excited because Aline is an innovative company. We want to attract and merge with companies that have the same kind of outlook and roadmap. And I'm excited about all the things we can do together. So, yes, more to come.

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13:01 - 13:44

Evan Friedkin

On our end, obviously the teams, like Erin had said, Aline is a highly innovative company. And anything that we can do and continue to do for the industry around supporting the consumer, because we all know that consumers are confused, they're disoriented around what are the next steps. And so when we say efficiency, oftentimes efficiency can be misconstrued around, well, you're prioritizing the consumer experience.

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But if you do the consumer experience right all of a sudden it plays the whole way through the customer journey, and you see efficiencies everywhere. So even though we're optimizing the top of the funnel, you're going to see the downstream data play out in the favor of the operator. And I can't wait to see how all that continues to work together as we continue to align our two products.

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13:44 - 14:00

Josh Crisp

Great information from great partners, industry experts, Lucas, we've heard here ASHA, so much growth around our industry, new operators coming in. Some of them I don't know where they've been hiding, but they may not know Erin and Evan yet, but we're going to connect with them.

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14:00 - 14:21

Lucas McCurdy

That's right. And you can look at our show notes. You're going to see Aline down there on every single podcast. They've been great supporters bringing you this educational content every single week. So support them. Go to btgvoice.com, access this content and so much more. We want to connect with you on LinkedIn. We'd like to hear your thoughts and opinions as well. And thanks for listening to another great episode, Bridge the Gap.

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Outro

Thanks for listening to Bridge the Gap podcast with Josh and Lucas. Connect with the BTG network team and use your voice to influence the industry by connecting with us at  btgvoice.com.

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