As I find myself further along with my new role running Everest Academy (www.everestacademies.com), it’s no surprise to find myself in more and more of a sales role — in the Admissions department to be more precise. As we’re about to book $1M in annual sales for the first time (tuitions), I’m having to draw on the most amount of inter-personal skills I have ever had to.
My day is a mix of meeting parents (in person or on phone), tracking down early leads, spending time with a teacher or coach, helping out a student, mentoring my sales team (Director of Admissions) — anything that will move the yard stick forward. Of course there is also the usual things someone in my role would do — wipe the tables after the school lunch, sort the unused uniforms in the office storage area, install Windows on a school PC, make sure a bill gets paid.
I have to regularly step back and remember the primary lessons of Sales — including staying focused on the goals, tracking the metrics, honing the message/elevator pitch, being creative to overcome obstacles. We must be doing something right — we’re getting lots of new family interest even late in June, while the other schools of our ilk seem to be very quiet from a recruiting point of view.
Now, had we started our campaigns in Sept/Oct instead of March I would probably feel better about where we are, but the desired growth curve is starting to emerge and the path to success is becoming more visible.
I also find myself, once again, surrounded by an excellent team — this would be the fifth company I have been involved in where team excellence will no doubt play a big role in long term success. Everest will join the list of Fulcrum, Flonetwork, PlateSpin and OfficeSmiths. It makes coming to work lots of fun — it makes it easier for me to do what I do best, whatever that is.
I’m a sales guy and enjoying what I do — i’m a sales guy charting new territory in the private school world, i’m a sales guy bringing a vastly different background to a business that is not often run like a business. I’m a sales guy who may end up helping make a difference in ways I did not in previous companies where I was a sales guy.