Future Ready Leadership in Senior Living with Jenna Lacharity

In this episode, we explore the essential elements of leadership in senior living, focusing on service and empathy. 

Erin sits down with Jenna La Charity, Director of Sales and Marketing at Levante Senior Living and a professor at Algonquin College, to discuss ways to balance business goals with heart-centered leadership. 

Jenna shares her journey from social work to senior living, emphasizing the importance of personal connections, resilience, and problem-solving in sales and operations. 

They discuss the significance of understanding cultural perspectives, the emotional aspects of sales, and the power of relationships in creating thriving communities. 

Jenna also highlights the educational initiatives preparing future leaders in senior living, reinforcing hope and potential in the next generation. 

This conversation is a valuable resource for new and seasoned sales directors alike, offering mindset shifts and practical strategies for success.

00:00 Introduction to Heart-Centered Leadership
00:37 Meet Jenna La Charity
02:08 Jenna's Journey from Social Work to Senior Living
05:53 The Importance of Relationships in Senior Living
07:25 Training the Next Generation of Leaders
18:02 Cultural Perspectives and Aging
20:54 Navigating Sales Relationships
21:09 Overcoming Money Talk Challenges
21:54 Building Trust Through Questions
24:11 The Art of Small Closes
25:11 Adapting Sales Styles
26:13 Human-Centered Sales Approach
26:57 Competitive Analysis and Trust
29:34 Real-Life Learning in Sales
31:02 Mindset, Boundaries, and Energy
34:03 Achieve, Connect, and Thrive
36:33 The Importance of Teamwork
37:56 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

Erin: 0:35

Leadership in senior living is more than sales, more than operations. It's about service, empathy and creating communities that truly feel like home. But the big question is how do we prepare the next generation of leaders to balance business goals with heart-centered with heart-centered leadership? Today we are gonna sit down with Jenna La Charity, a seasoned leader in senior living, education and operations and sales and marketing to talk about what it takes to shape the future of this industry. I'm so excited about this conversation. Let's dive in. Welcome, Jenna. Welcome from Cold Canada. Cold Cold Canada. But I'm so honored to have you here. just so you know, general Charity is the Director of Sales and marketing at Levante Senior Living, and also a professor at Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology. What an honor. What an honor to have you to know that you reached out to me and to have been able to kind of work with you a little bit and talk to your team and your, and your students. And now to get this opportunity is. Is truly a pleasure. So thank you. Thank you for being here.

Jenna: 1:51

Well, thank you Erin. I have to say, this is a bit of a fan girl moment for me because I've been listening to your podcast and when I started following following you on LinkedIn, I was just really excited to connect with you. So I'm really happy to be here.

Erin: 2:06

We have to, I, I love to listen to you talk because of the way that you say certain words and then, you know, I'm sure it's the same way. For me, although I am not as country as some people that I know, but I'm still amazed that someone in Alabama is talking to someone in Canada on a podcast and I just get a kick out of it every time. So always know that there are no boundaries in where you can go when you just try. And I love that this conversation is, is a such a real life example of that. So. I love it. Okay, so you started out as a social worker, right? That was kind of your background. You know, I, I wanted to do something totally different than senior living, but you started out as a social worker and then you found senior living, you know, with gerontology, senior living, and it was like the angels saying to you, the way that the angels sang to me when I found senior living. So. Tell us how you started and then how you got to being where you are now, which is really impressive.

Jenna: 3:17

Yes. So I did, start my post-secondary education with the goals of becoming a social worker. That was really what I strive to do. I saw a lot of turbulence that my grandparents were experiencing as my grandfather was becoming elderly, had the diagnosis of dementia, was. Exploring long-term care facilities in Ontario, and I really saw the struggle and the lack of supports for the spouse that is still trying to manage the household and figure out their loved one's care. You know, it's definitely a story that if you have Parkinson Senior living, you know it very well, right? That's why we see so many people coming into our communities. For that support, but that was really lacking in the healthcare space I found. So I did want to pursue social work, and my very first placement was in a retirement residence. I. And I had no real concept at that point of what a retirement residence had to offer. I was more familiar with like the higher level of care, more of the long-term care, aspects of senior living. And when I started that placement and I saw somebody doing a tour and connecting with the family and asking these conversations, and I thought to myself, wow, like they're getting like pretty intimate, like they're building a relationship here. And I started to see. See a different future for myself. I started to become more interested in doing that because I saw a direct correlation to helping. I could, you know, I could just see the help that this person was providing and the opportunities available at that community. So I wrapped up my education and again. Still wasn't really sure what I was going to do at that point. I was even joined with the idea of going into geriatric, like hands-on care nursing. All I knew is I wanted to serve older adults. And then I saw a sales and marketing position open up with Chartwell, one of the larger, operators here in Canada. And I got, you know, my first job right on post-secondary in sales marketing, and. Just as soon as I hit the ground running with that, I realized how much I loved connecting with new people every day. Picking up that phone, calling someone new, finding out their story, welcoming someone new into the community, getting to know them, having not a lot of background information on especially. As we know, a walkin tour, but being able to sit down and just get to know someone and figure out what is their story, how can I be a part of it, and how can I help them transition into their next stage of life? I really saw this as such a beautiful way to carry out, you know, the, the remaining elder years versus being in this situation where you are forced to make a decision, you don't have the supports in place, and really realizing just how many opportunities there are out there for seniors. And that's when I never looked back on sales and marketing and senior living.

Erin: 6:29

I have a similar story. You know, it was my grandfather and the sales piece was never about sales. I didn't have the words for that at the beginning, but it was about service. It was about literally solving people's problems. And if you're the better problem solver, you're gonna have the better occupancy. You know, like that's just true. And a good salesperson understands. That it is helping people. It is seeing your grandmother needing support. Needing the reassurance. Needing the perspective. Yeah. Needing that type of, of care. And when you can see that and, and realize you're serving the person in front of you and your community is serving the person that that person's caring for, that's a huge, huge perspective shift. Huge. Mm-hmm. So you were able to like literally live that out inside of a community? Yes.

Jenna: 7:29

Did

Erin: 7:29

you

Jenna: 7:29

see the

Erin: 7:29

advantage of that too?

Jenna: 7:31

Yes, absolutely. Just having that, those experiences, I mean, the older generation has so much to offer and if you're somebody that is younger and you take the time to lean in with patience and open ears, it's just incredible. I found, you know, what it did for me personally, professionally, just to be able to spend that much time with older adults.

Erin: 7:57

Yeah. Do you find that it's. I mean, when you train, because you have the ability to really impact, I mean, you have a region or you have a co, a company full of sales directors. You, you're teaching new leaders, you know, before they enter a community. Do you find that people are willing to see the service side of it? Do, are they open to that? Do they see the benefit of that? Versus hardcore numbers and, and metrics and all those things. What do you see?

Jenna: 8:31

I find if I look at it from two different lenses, so more from teaching, students, so who are interested in working in senior living, they may have held different positions with more hands-on care. So if it's somebody that's coming in with a background of nursing or personal support work, I find that I'm able to pick up at a different pace with them versus. Somebody that has no prior experience working in a senior community or with older adults. the biggest thing that I want the students to really just resonate with is that you are working in someone's home. And I say that to new hires in, you know, at Lavante or with previous operators that I've worked with, that that is the biggest shift. And not many people in different industries can say that, you know, that they truly work in someone's home 24 7, that is someone's home. And that is sometimes the biggest mindset shift is, you know, positioning yourself in a different way to show up for someone in their home.

Erin: 9:41

You know, I, I have, I, I didn't, I never really thought about that from a perspective, from a, a leadership standpoint. Like until you said that, from a caregiving standpoint, I would say that because we are in someone's home, we have to be careful of, you know, the tone of our voice, the, the volume of our voice and what we're saying and those types of things. But from a sales perspective. I never really married the two. Mm-hmm. You know, I, I didn't. And so I can see where that's really, really powerful, especially for someone new who was overwhelmed by the business side of things

Jenna: 10:25

to really

Erin: 10:26

simplify it to like, this is someone's home.

Jenna: 10:30

Yeah.

Erin: 10:31

Well, and I, it's not a cold, stale place. It is literally someone's

Jenna: 10:34

home. Exactly, and I think coming back to just that mindset of relationships on one of your podcast episodes that I listened to, you say that relationships are the reward. Relationships is what's going to get the NOI. It's what's going to get the occupancy, which will happen if you lead yourself, lead your team like you are working in someone's home and you're putting those relationships. First, not only the relationships from, you know, the general manager, executive director, or the rest of the management team, or the frontline staff, but also between the team members themselves, right? Because it's a very interpersonal. Business and residents can pick up. If a management team is not running, you know, efficiently, cohesively, they can pick up on that, those emotions. And I think that if we can just keep relationships at the forefront of everything we do, we are going to see that success that does give us that quantitative information of the metrics and the revenue and the NOI and all those pieces of the business.

Erin: 11:47

Yeah. I mean, think about the, think about the inside of a community. How many levels of relationships do we have? If you had like a, a circle up here where it said relationships. You would go and you would be like sales prospects. You know, how many kids do they have? Who's the fact? Who's the deciding factor? Then you would have operations and then you would divide them out into each department. The executive director has to have relationships with all of the team, but the sales director has to have relationships with all of the teams too.

Jenna: 12:19

Yeah,

Erin: 12:20

yeah. You know, you have got to sell the relationships. That intertwined inside the community, the, the caregivers with the residents, the residents with the caregivers, the residents with, with the leader. Mm-hmm. It's very powerful. I actually went to lunch with a few of my former residents yesterday actually, and I asked a them a question. Now selfishly, it's just for content reasons and, and, and to teach, you know, new leaders and things like that. And I asked the question. Now that you have lived, some of them in multiple communities, they've had multiple executive directors. What was more important, or what is important to you in a value of an administrator? And this could go into a sales director as well, and the overwhelming response from all three of them was relationship and presence. Mm-hmm. But you know, there's no relationship without presence. But it was, do I see them? Do they see me? Do they know what my problems are? Are they gonna solve them? It's all relationship based.

Jenna: 13:27

Yeah, and it's how we, you know, show up for each other, right? How we show up for our day. I remember getting off of, you know, meetings where perhaps it was really talking about occupancy and revenue, and it was a little bit stressful and I was heading into a tour, and I would actually physically give myself a bit of a shake to just snap out of that mindset. So that I can go into this tour and be present. I even find myself doing that between calls with my sales team so that I can really give them what they need from a supportive perspective. And I think it's what the students in my program, the retirement communities management is, they often think, wow, like this is so much psychology and it's so much about, they're like, I feel like, you know, sales is just psychology. And I'm like, yeah, there's definitely, majority would be psychology going into this. It's an, you know, we're not selling a product necessarily that people are always excited about, so we have to really tap into the emotions. We have to untangle the emotions for the prospect, their family, sometimes multiple family, sometimes virtually. And this is the piece where I find my. Students right now are thinking, you know, wow. Like everything we do really just comes back to the person that we're speaking with. And I think I can see a little bit of the stress sometimes, you know, if interpersonal skills don't come as naturally to someone or they're a bit more shy, but I always try to respond with, it's the basics of building a relationship. How you would do that with anyone, right? You start off by building rapport. Finding that common ground, breaking the ice. And I try to just to get their nerves down a little bit that way. But yeah, that's, that's the biggest feedback I've had is wow, like there's just so much psychology in working in senior living.

Erin: 15:25

There really is, and thank God you're warning them. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, thank God somebody talking to these young folks, although they're not all young, but that, that, you know, like. Yes. Be prepared. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like it really is, can be a minefield of emotions if we're not. Mm-hmm.

Jenna: 15:46

Yeah. Build up your resiliency now.

Erin: 15:49

Make sure you have strong coping skills. I love the fact that there is this. Horse in inside of a college that teaches people how to do that. And I have to say, man, I'm a, I'm a little jealous that you get the opportunity to do that. I can only imagine, what it's like. And how long have you been doing this? A couple years.

Jenna: 16:10

Yes.

Erin: 16:10

This is year three now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what, like, what is a pattern that you see or, well, maybe we'll just say. Do you believe that the future is bright? For us with, okay. Okay. You heard it from her first. The future is bright.

Jenna: 16:28

I do. I do really believe that. Yes. I mean, if we have anything to hang on to, is the fact that, you know, we are all getting older, we're not getting younger. Yeah. And more, more businesses are realizing the services they can offer and we're realizing more of the positions that we can have in the workforce. And I'm seeing. Real, true, genuine interest in people. And I'm really, yeah, so I, I can say that I think the future's bright.

Erin: 16:57

That's good because people talk about these younger generations and it makes you feel like it's nuts. But she's in it, she knows. so beside the fact that they think, they realize that we need more psychology, what are other patterns that you see? In these classes from year over year, you know, or any feedback that has been given to you? Have you had any feedback? I'm asking you a bunch of questions here, but patterns year over year, I mean, yeah.

Jenna: 17:30

I would say, so the very first courts I taught for the program was actually recreation and hospitality. So a little bit outta my wheelhouse. It was, you know, divided into recreation and hospitality. That was much more static information, right? It was, you know, the amount of programs that we have. To provide the different, focusing on the dimensions of wellness or how many carbs and protein for the diet. It was very right restrictive in the the curriculum. There wasn't a lot of room for that creative thinking and. To really kind of get outside of the bubbles of rec and culinary. So when I started teaching for the sales and marketing class, what I found was that it just provided the students with an opportunity to really think about their experiences with older adults, with their family. Also cultural perspectives. What does aging look like in different cultures? How do they care for. Their elderly family members. So there was an ability just to really get very vulnerable and have some really good, authentic conversations with the students. a lot of conversations that I've had with students, coming from India is this mindset and the cultural perspective of taking care of. They're older adults in their own homes, family taking care of family. So this concept of moving into a retirement community is very new or even working in one. But now having, chosen to come and have education in Canada, it's expanding, you know, how we're aging across. The country really across like internationally. And I think that's been, the biggest piece of feedback that I've had the most takeaways from is just the, this cultural change, the shift that we're seeing in aging. And then also the ability just to apply what they're learning in sales and marketing to all areas of their life. Like even how to show up for a job, interview the follow up, right? How to, when you do that initial discovery and you're, you know, bringing your resume in and you're following up with that employer, thanking them for their time or writing a cover letter, all these different pieces, I. You know, use senior living as an example. You're doing your initial contact. You're pre-qualifying that prospect. You're asking those questions, you're thanking them for their time. You're setting that next step. It can translate into every relationship, and I think make it better. So that's been the biggest takeaway is that I've had some students reach out to me after they've graduated and said, you know, I've really taken your approach to, finding a job as if I'm working as a sales consultant and senior living, and they've been successful with it because again, it's that relationship piece, that connection that's been the. The biggest learning, I think, for them is that relationship building. The connection, just the human aspect of this business. Mm-hmm.

Erin: 20:35

Do you ever, you know, I was talking to someone recently and they were just casually mentioning about how salespeople are scared to talk about money sometimes. Mm-hmm. You know, and I remember me as a new sales director, and you know, this was. In 2004. And then to be able to tell somebody, and again, this was at a smaller community, you know, the rent was at that point in my life as a 24-year-old, you know, paying$2,900 a month was something that was so astronomical for me. Now clearly rent is much higher now, but I was like, it's$2,900 a month. You know what I mean? Do you go into. That much detail in your classes and, you know, do you see new sales directors struggling with the money conversations and closing, you know? Mm-hmm. the way that other people see it. I mean, some pe some people go into sales all about relationships and not about the business, you know what I mean? Yes. And so a, a close, a close can be very challenging. Mm-hmm. Makes you wanna mm-hmm. Sweat and get uncomfortable, but you know, like do you see where people struggle to talk about money?

Jenna: 21:52

I do see that. I think from an actual sales consultant, the struggle can sometimes feeling like they don't have the permission to ask these intimate questions, right? Because I feel like we grow up with, you know, don't talk to somebody about how much money you make, or what your salary is, or how much their house costs, and those kinds of financial questions. So it's a bit of a generational thing. I feel that I had to kind of get over that initial hump as well and feeling like it was okay. But I think part of the process that we have to do, as you know, sales professionals and senior living, is laying it out for the prospect, right? To say, I'm going to ask you some intimate questions about your health and overall budget. What's comfortable for you? Just to really, you know, get to know you and make this about you. It's not about anyone else, it's about you and your individual situation. So sometimes just getting that head nod or that. Yeah, that's okay. We can talk about that. Is that icebreaker or asking in the class? I use different segues like, you know, do you own your own home? Or do you have any investment properties? asking different questions to try and get that information, which I feel like is a bit of a, a soft plug until you finally get a bit more comfortable. in class. They seem to, you know, be okay with that. They're like, oh yeah, that makes sense, because they need to know what it's gonna cost them. They need to budget. But then when you're in the situation, you're on that tour, I find there is a bit of that uncomfortable feeling, to really. Just give yourself permission to ask those questions. And I think it comes down to the mindset. You are that trusted senior living advisor. You are the expert of your community. You're there to help. I. And you know, what you said is absolutely true. Sometimes we see salespeople who build the best relationships, but don't have the greatest closing ratios because they feel like asking for the close, almost deters, you know, derails their relationship. But really it's that ultimate piece of the puzzle that's going to provide them with the solution. Because if you've identified the solution that you have to meet their needs and then they don't move in, you're not really helping them, they're just going back to the situation in which they have problems in. So I like to coach sales professionals that. Fear the clothes as a way to, you're sealing the deal, like this is the last piece of your relationship puzzle. To have them move into your community, to change their lives, to make them better, and really just be able to continue that relationship that you've built.

Erin: 24:37

Yeah, I heard once when in, when I was in the community, I don't remember who this was. When we talk about closing and we've never really, I've never really talked about closing. On a podcast before, but it's about the small closes. And I really like this because it's a very human approach. but when you're like on the tour and you're showing the apartment, what size bed do they have? Okay. Mm-hmm. So that's a twin or a full or a queen. Okay. So that's gonna go right here. Does it fit? Okay. The couch, you know, is it a loveseat? Is it a couch? Those small, those are all small closes because you're asking them to make a decision. Yes. To think about life inside the room. And I, I liked that because it gave me confidence over time to ask for the big close. Like, okay. Mm-hmm.

Jenna: 25:27

Yes. It's those small pieces of just fact finding along the way. Okay, now I'm trying to chase the, chase, the sunlight. it's, it's really those pieces that you're using to build rapport along the way, right? It, and it sometimes takes a couple of tours. You also have to be adapt or you have to adapt your selling style depending on the person too. And that's something I talk about a lot in the. Course as well as, you know, with my sales team is that you're not always selling the same way to everyone. You might have an adult child that is very much only wants facts, financial information, doesn't really wanna get into the emotional aspect, doesn't really want to talk about, you know, family legacy and hobbies and what their loved ones did in the past. They really just are there to say they need the care. This is their budget. They need to move in. And that particular individual, you're not going to sell the same way to someone who wants to spend three hours with you and wants to tell you what their mom did, you know, for their career and how she raised their family, and really get into those, those emotional pieces. So you really have to be very adaptable in how you're managing your relationships.

Erin: 26:46

Yeah. And you say. And your classes that, that, relationship, that that senior living is a human, it's human centered. It's mm-hmm. You know, we're, we're selling our, their home. Like yes, we're literally selling them a new home, which does make it somewhat of a real estate business. It is a real estate business, but it is a human centered business and humans have to talk about money. Right. Humans have to decide whether or not they want to be vulnerable with you, or they want to keep the facts to themselves. They have to trust you. Mm-hmm. More than anything. And fact finding is part of building trust.

Jenna: 27:32

Yeah. And knowing your product too, and what you have to offer, that's, part of the course we do, like a competitive analysis assignment where the students have to reach out to three retirement living operators in Ottawa and they need to connect with the sales and marketing team. They need to learn about the product as if they're a prospect. And then part of the. Assignment is how did that salesperson build trust with you? How did they build the credibility? How did they make you feel that, like how much they knew about the community, right? It's that knowing that you're the expert of your residents and that's the piece that I really feel is just empowering yourself with as much knowledge. About senior living as possible. Like you're knowing your competition and what they're offering and really just being like that one stop shop where they, that family, that prospect can come and get all the information that they need.

Erin: 28:32

Yeah. That's a great exercise.

Jenna: 28:34

Yeah, it's fun. I really love, I love the assignments and reviewing. It's very subjective. To get good, mark, I have to say, because it's so subjective, it really is your opinion. There's no right or wrong answer, really. Mm-hmm. It's, it's all my assignments are very much based on. The emotions that they feel as when they're looking at the websites or when they are reviewing an operator's Facebook or social media presence, how do they feel as a customer and with the lens of, I'm looking for a loved one, what are the emotions that those advertisements, those marketing campaigns bring up for'em? so it's really, it is just such a subjective. Which I think is why I switch it up so often is because I'm always learning something. So that means that there's always something for them to be learning as well.

Erin: 29:30

Okay. Vulnerable question. Have they called one of your communities and has it always been good or did they, did you have like. Moments of like, oh, I guess I need to follow up with this person.

Jenna: 29:44

Fortunately, it has been good. Yes, fortunately it has been good. We did get some really good feedback though, about one of our Facebook pages, you know, and the consistency of posting, and I said like, this is a really great takeaway. I mean, yes. Yeah, absolutely. Our post should be more

Erin: 30:01

consistent. I mean, that's a great. Opportunity for you to actually do two things Time. I know.

Jenna: 30:09

Yeah. And it, it's just, it's real life learning, which is also part of, you know, the piece too that it, it's not, you're not just reading a textbook and submitting, you know, a midterm or a final exam, and then you never have to revisit those concepts again. This is a postgraduate. Program that is preparing you specifically to work in a retirement community. And that I think is for me, the most refreshing because I went to two different universities, received two different degrees. It was very much being talked to, not a lot of two-way interaction with the professor handing in assignments. Passing midterms and then, you know, I couldn't tell you what some of the takeaways that I remember learning are because it wasn't very collaborative or this program. Every professor has worked in senior living for a number of years. We really each have the real life experience to be able to share with these students, and I think that's what makes it such a great program.

Erin: 31:17

That's amazing. And so I got to do. a video, you know? Mm-hmm. Just a 30 minute video, and I actually turned that into a, an episode. So a lot of. People listened to what I did, and I did have one student of yours, just send me a message on LinkedIn. That was really, really nice. Like, I was like, oh, thank you, thank you. And it was all about mindset, boundaries, and energy, which is certainly something that you are, you are trying to instill in them in those perspective shifts. Mm-hmm. What did, what was the feedback on that? Did they like it? Did they think I was off base?

Jenna: 31:51

No, they loved it. And because we had been talking so much about the relationships before they were able to, to listen to your video, they really were able to put the two pieces together to see why they need boundaries. Because you are dealing with some heavy conversations, with some sad situations, a lot of emotions. So unless you're able to take care of yourself mentally and your own mindset, you are not going to be successful. Or you may be successful for a period of time, but then you'll likely burn out and be of no real use to anyone. So that was the piece that they found was, again, the most tangible to take into other aspects of their life as well.

Erin: 32:36

Yeah, that boundary piece is really, really, mm-hmm. Really, really important. Yeah. You know, for all of us really, but especially for the new ones, the new leaders to come in and understand, and especially if you work, if you're a new person, you took your course, you have all these amazing perspectives, you can come into a community that may have people who are career inside of a community who are a little bit more hardened and you can be an influence. For good. Mm-hmm. And saying like, Hey, we all don't have to light ourselves on fire to make everybody else warm. Like we can create boundaries, we can create collaboration to where we all are helping and serving each other, which is really, really important. Yeah. So I, I think that's a, a great gift that you, you give to your, to your students. Okay, so to wrap it up. Because this is a pretty great conversation about sales and education and closing, your, your selling a someone a home is a really important mindset perspective that we all need to have. That certainly puts things into a different perspective, because I never thought about that from a sales perspective, but also that leaders in this industry need to practice connection. Problem solving and resilience beyond just the policies and procedures. and I know that's what your students are getting and clearly your, your, your entire region or sales leaders that you're, that you're leading are getting that as well. So I'll let you finish it off with what that means to you. Connection, problem solving, and resilience. We know that these people that are wanting to come in. And move their loved one in are resilient and they're saying I need help.

Jenna: 34:36

Mm-hmm. Yes. I think the best way to answer this for me is, recently at organizationally we've been focusing a lot on three core pillars, achieve, connect, and thrive. And that's what I have been really trying to frame everything that I'm doing in the sales and marketing department through those. Different lenses. How are we going to achieve together? We all know, you know, the business aspect of senior living. We know we need occupancy. We, need sales and operations. You can't have sales without operations and operations without sales. You really do need both. And so we know the metrics to hit and the KPIs required to get there, but then it's how are we connecting with each other to actually. Be able to hit those targets. So what are the relationships that we're building? how are we supporting our teams in the field? And I don't just mean, you know, hopping on a sales call and running through accountability. I. And what's in the CRM, but really getting down to, you know, you've been on outbreak for three, four weeks. Like how is that really affecting you? Like you've been trying to get over a bad cold for a couple of weeks, what do you need? Like really just trying to connect with them as people. And sometimes when you're managing the business side of things, that can get a little bit lost. In the, the hustle. But that's something that I really feel as an organization we do really well, is trying to connect with our teams. And because we are spread out across the province, it is mostly done in a virtual space. But then that also allows us to connect more frequently. So connection is a really big piece for me because it's those relationships and then ultimately how we come to thrive together. So if we have the occupancy and we have the metrics and we're succeeding as a company, with our bottom line and our revenue, and then our teams are feeling engaged and connected, then we are going to thrive as an organization. And that's really what I want the students to also take away as. Much as the teams that I'm supporting is that you really do need that connection piece. That's why it's in the middle. Achieve, connect and thrive. If you don't have the connection, you don't have the relationships, you're not going to achieve and you're certainly not going to be thriving. So that's really, you know, my 2025 mantra, if I will thrive in 2025 and what does that look like? And I think just. For the students especially, is seeing how the different departments of senior living really have to come together and have that synergy and that relational energy that comes together and comes out of having a really great team. So I think that just needs to be what we all remember is that it, it's, it's the team, it's the residents that we serve, how we serve each other. And if we can remember that at the end of the day. We're at least starting off on the right foot.

Erin: 37:39

Yes. Sales cannot do it without operations. Operations cannot do it without sales. And if a sales director has their, their mindset, their boundaries, and their energy, they gotta have their team and they can, I, I believe that sales, a sales director, can create teamwork through tours. Mm-hmm. If you literally. Call people out for, for the good that they do. You build trust with the prospect connection. You build trust with the care team, with the culinary team, with whoever it is you're introducing, and you're just doing literally two things at one time. Mm-hmm. You know, and it, that just compounds good energy, synergy, everything you could possibly, ever want inside of a community. Yeah. Yes. That is an excellent point to end on. Thank you so much. You have really, well, I think more than anything, you have given us hope in the future, right? There's the young ones. The young ones are not as scary as everybody's trying to make them out to be.

Jenna: 38:50

That's true. Yeah. Perhaps even they're going to be better with setting boundaries. I think that's

Erin: 38:57

actually, that's probably pretty true.

Jenna: 38:59

Yeah, that's

Erin: 38:59

true. So follow Jenna. she's doing great work. I'm so super excited to, to see where you go and to, to, you know, pour into your. Your, your students and your team, with that video and, to support you along the way. So thank you for bringing, closing up and talking about finances and giving us hope and, and you're right. Connection. You know, you have to have connection in order to connect, achieving and thriving together. It's amazing. Thank you for your time. It's very valuable. Thank you. I appreciate it. And if you have a new sales director in your community, you're probably gonna wanna share this. or even someone who's been in there for a while, new perspective. Shifts are important, and when you're selling a home to somebody, you're selling someone's home to them. It's really important to think about it from that way. So share this mindset shift and as always, aspire for more for you.