Sales training can dramatically increase the occupancy and revenue of your mid-sized operation. But sometimes operators don’t see the results they’d like because there’s a gap between training and actual execution.
Many times, this gap can be traced back to the regional director of sales. While the director of sales is responsible for your sales counselors, many times, these executives are putting out fires, dealing with turnover, and facing other challenges.
Holding sales teams accountable can be a challenge when the majority of the sales director’s time is spent reacting to problems.
At Bild & Company, we’ve found a simple solution for this challenge: involving the Senior Living director of operations. (To read our report on this subject, download Drive Occupancy in 2017: The Role of Operational Leadership and Oversight in Top Line Revenue for free.)
In this article, I’ll explain why involving your director of operations can impact revenue. Here are 3 reasons why your sales team needs oversight from your Senior Living director of operations:
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A Senior Living director of operations is trained to execute.
In general, operational directors have a massive amount of skills. Take a look at the resume of your Senior Living director of operations, and you’ll probably find he or she is skilled in…
- Finances.
- Technology.
- Analysis.
- Much more.
Notice that these skill sets are less about creating a warm, fuzzy feeling and more about taking action and getting results. When directors of operations are trained in effective sales systems, your mid-sized operation can reap the benefits of their ability to execute.
For instance, your operational director can…
- Help your sales representatives understand and achieve important metrics.
- Ensure your sales team leverages your CRM system.
- Analyze and resolve sales team processes.
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Directors of operations aren’t firefighters, but problem solvers.
Let’s face it. Fighting fires is not the same as solving problems.
Directors of operations don’t just tolerate issues at Senior Living communities. Their job security depends on fixing those problems so that revenue is increased—which is the goal of every Senior Living operator.
If your operational director can understand the process your sales team has, he or she can remove the barriers standing between your team and actually implementing your sales system.
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Your community is operations driven.
The final reason you should involve your Senior Living director of operations is this: at the end of the day, senior care is driven by its operations.
Operations represent the centerpiece of your community, and sales ultimately flow from operations—not the other way around. Solid occupancy rests upon…
- Providing excellent care for residents.
- Conforming to required regulation.
- Up-to-date apartments and community areas.
- Much more.
By including your operational director, you are bringing your sales counselors into the heartbeat of your community, which can have a profound impact on occupancy.
As you consider placing your Senior Living director of operations into a supervisory role over sales, here are some important tips:
#1 Don’t assume your director of operations can’t master Senior Living sales. This executive has the ability to take on almost any challenge; he or she just needs a reliable system and metrics.
#2 Do involve your director of operations in sales training. Because your director likely has a technical preference, be sure you provide sales training that’s systematic and creates proven results.
#3 Do continue to involve your regional director of sales. Your director of operations can’t shoulder the entire burden of holding your sales team accountable; the role of regional sales is still vital for growing revenue.
Give your operational director the tools he or she needs to guide your team with sales training. Check out our free report Drive Occupancy in 2017: The Role of Operational Leadership and Oversight in Top Line Revenue on why Bild & Company is now including operational directors in our training programs.
To see how you can involve your operational director in your sales department, email me at tbild@bildandco.com, or drop us a line on our website. Together, we’ll create a solution to grow revenue by involving all team members.
