Grow Your Occupancy
    All answers

    How do you keep sales moving when a senior living sales director leaves?

    Short answer

    Add interim sales capacity right away so inquiries, follow-up, and tours don't stall while you recruit. A remote sales specialist can keep the prospect database moving by phone, text, and email, and an onsite sales specialist can run tours and the daily sales operation on campus. In one Grow Your Occupancy case study, a remote specialist working 3 hours a day during a sales director vacancy supported 19 tours and 7 move-ins in the first 45 days.

    What to protect first

    • Speed of response to new inquiries
    • Follow-up on active prospects who already toured
    • Tours already on the calendar and new tours being scheduled
    • A clean CRM, so the next sales director inherits a usable pipeline

    Steps for the first two weeks

    • Decide who owns new inquiries and tours starting today
    • Pull a list of active prospects and past-due follow-up tasks
    • Bring in remote or onsite sales support to work that list
    • Keep leadership updated on tours, deposits, and move-ins each week

    Remote or onsite coverage

    If the executive director or another team member can run tours, remote support usually covers the follow-up and scheduling. If no one can run the daily sales work, an onsite specialist fills the seat until the new director starts, and can help that person get established.

    Results from client case studies

    Trail Ridge Senior Living, Sioux Falls, SD · 2-month engagement · 2 hours per day

    29 tours. 5 deposits

    2 move-ins and a 24× reported return in two months. With the sales director position open, a remote specialist working 2 hours a day kept outreach and follow-up moving at this independent living, assisted living and memory care community, and helped the team engage more with the sales process, including prompt post-tour notes from the executive director.

    ROI is based on average rent over a 12-month stay. Move-ins are those the remote sales specialist assisted.

    Read the full case study

    Life plan community in Kansas · Initial 45 days · 3 hours per day

    7 move-ins. 19 tours

    Occupancy increased from 61% to 67.2%. With a vacant sales director position and a limited flow of new inquiries, a remote specialist reconnected with the existing prospect database while the community hired a new director.

    ROI is based on the monthly fee over a 12-month period. Three of the move-ins came from the four deposits reported in the study.

    Read the full case study

    Assisted living and memory care in New Jersey · 3-month family-leave assignment · 15 hours per week

    13 tours. 13 deposits

    Consistent sales coverage during a team member’s family leave. A remote sales specialist maintained outreach, follow-up, and prospect communication so the community could keep its sales activity moving during a planned absence.

    ROI is based on average assisted living and memory care rent over 12 months; care and ancillary fees are excluded. Tours and deposits are reported activity totals, not a conversion-rate claim.

    Read the full case study

    Common questions

    How quickly can interim sales coverage start?

    Timing depends on the community, the type of support, and specialist availability. Reach out to talk through your timeline and what coverage would fit.

    Will the interim specialist help onboard our new sales director?

    Onsite specialists can coach the existing team and mentor a new director as part of the assignment, and transition planning is part of the work.

    Talk it through with Julie

    In a free 30-minute strategy call, Julie Podewitz reviews your current sales process and maps out what support could look like for your community.

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    Written by the Grow Your Occupancy team · Last reviewed October 2026