I started working in camps back in 1999. I worked my way up to be a seasonal director over seeing the councilors and running day to day operations.

My question is why most camps do not have sales staff or event coordinators/sales.

It feels like many camps treat making money as a taboo topic. Even though money is needed to run the great summer programs many camp owners put low priority on making money.

When I ask about sales staff or event coordinators I hear that money is to tight to hire someone. I do not understand that point for two reasons.

1st If money is that tight you need a sales staff more than you need anything.

2nd You can put them on commission or a split commission and salary.

I think camps could take a lesson from the resort and hotel field. They have large sales staff that work on commission. Even small hotels will have a event coordinator/sales person. They sell the event and run the event. They get paid on commission from the event they sold and ran.

What dose everyone think about camps hiring a small staff of at least one persons who job is to sell events and get campers? Paying them on commission for both selling a event and each camper they sign up.

I would love to hear everyone's feed back.

A little background on who I am.

I have a college degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management with a focus on special events.
I am a award winning Realtor.
I started a a counselor after being a camper and worked my way up to being a director.

I think a big thing is that many people want to get into camp because you're sort of allowed to do your own thing. Most people who get into camp, especially for the long haul and work up to being a director, aren't really interested in money. There's the trade off of working in beautiful landscapes and having free access to "fun" activities vs. making a lot of cash.

But going back to my original point, I don't think many camp directors want the extra help. Most camp directors are very "I can handle this all on my own". And that makes sense because at camp you do have to tackle a lot of problems on your own.

Most directors would probably see hiring a sales person as a giant waste of money. It probably isn't, though.

[quote=apalm]Most directors would probably see hiring a sales person as a giant waste of money. It probably isn't, though. [/quote]

I agree with you especially since most event planners/sales people work on commission. If they bring in campers/events they get paid.