“In the senior living industry, marketing and sales are often viewed as interchangeable. Nothing could be further from the truth.” — Scott Miller, Chief Marketing Officer, Garden Spot Communities
Written by Scott Miller
Twenty years ago, Garden Spot Village welcomed me as Director of Marketing. Before that, I spent 23 years immersed in the world of emerging technology as a worldwide sales manager and product marketing manager for a multi-billion-dollar high-tech company. The career change brought with it an eye-opening revelation: in the senior living industry, marketing and sales were often viewed as interchangeable. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Having worked in both roles, I’ve always seen marketing and sales as two distinct disciplines requiring unique mindsets and skill sets. In my experience, salespeople rarely make good marketers, and marketers rarely make good salespeople. My sales journey started with door-to-door sales, eventually leading to a commission-based position selling computers in New York City’s Financial District. From there, I moved into corporate product marketing and then returned to sales as a Worldwide Sales Manager. The tech company I worked for intentionally trained me in both fields, laying the foundation for the next phase of my career.
When I joined Garden Spot Village, my role as Director of Marketing included overseeing both sales and marketing. Over time, as we grew into Garden Spot Communities, we recognized the need for specialized leadership in each area. Today, we have a Director of Sales leading the sales team and a Director of Media Experiences and Storytelling heading up the Creative Team, which focuses exclusively on marketing. Together, these teams collaborate seamlessly to maximize occupancy across the continuum of care.
We’ve developed a couple of guiding principles to keep our efforts aligned. For sales, it’s: “When sales does their job, the lights stay on.” For marketing, it’s: “The #1 priority of marketing is sales. The second priority of marketing is to see Priority #1.” Marketing’s role is to support sales by cultivating prospects—because without prospects, there’s no pipeline for sales to close.
Over the years, I’ve noticed a common trend in nonprofits: we often hire a sales director and put them in charge of marketing, or we hire a marketing director and expect them to lead sales. It’s like assuming an accountant automatically knows how to handle mergers and acquisitions. Both may be under the umbrella of “finance,” but the skill sets are entirely different. The same holds true for sales and marketing.
High occupancy hinges on having well-oiled marketing processes that fuel equally strong sales processes. It’s like riding a bicycle: if a tire is flat, the journey comes to a halt. It’s critical that both teams understand their distinct roles and work together toward the shared goal of maximizing occupancy.
To put it simply, marketing is about generating leads—finding people and sparking interest to make the phones ring. That’s the job of marketing: keeping salespeople busy. Branding, messaging, advertising, geofencing, and drip campaigns all support lead generation when strategically executed. Sales, on the other hand, is about building relationships and guiding people toward a buying decision. Salespeople fill vacancies by earning trust, fostering connections, and helping prospective residents navigate the journey from first contact to move-in. The best salespeople are both friendly and results-driven—a winning combination.
In conclusion, understanding the distinction between marketing and sales is key to success in any organization, but especially in senior living. When each team stays focused on its strengths and collaborates effectively, the results are remarkable. By prioritizing strategic marketing to feed the sales pipeline and equipping sales to turn leads into residents, we create vibrant communities where people want to live and thrive. After two decades in this field, I’ve seen firsthand that when marketing and sales work in harmony, the possibilities are endless.