Carol Verret Consulting and Training Consulting Training Seminars |
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Sales Organization . Alignment with the New Realities of Sales . Carol Verret / August 2004  |
| August 2004
The increases in demand in the first half of 2004 appear to have flattened in July and August. While demand grew at approximately 4% in quarters 1 and 2 according to Smith Travel, the gains in REVPAR in July and August to date have come from increases in ADR. This is in alignment with a slowing of economic growth in the country in the third quarter. Will demand increase through the rest of the year? That is anyone's guess as the consumer-spending engine may be running out of steam. Will corporate travel demand increase sufficiently to continue the lodging industry recovery in the last half of the year? All of this adds up to a continuing challenge for the sales departments of most hotels. It will continue to be necessary to cultivate demand rather than depend on normal increasing demand to make the phones ring. A recent report also indicated that hotels are again spending money on new technology. Most of this increased spending is in the areas of revenue management and front office. How much has been invested in providing the sales department with state of the art technology in order to increase sales? The processes and procedures of most hotel sales operations have lagged behind in the availability and use of technology to efficiently penetrate their markets. This affects the entire process of hotel sales from locating new business, to qualifying and closing, fulfillment collateral and modes of efficient, effective communication with prospects and clients. It is not a matter of simply providing new software for contact management. It goes far beyond that to a paradigm or mindset that embraces these changes in the sales process, both on the part of the corporate office and management who evaluate the sales staff and make the spending decisions and at the implementation level within the department itself. What the heck am I talking about? I am referring to how the sales staff
sorts through the vast universe of prospects, qualifies them as to their
potential for the property right down to how they present the hotel, send
proposals and follow-up communication. Let me cite a few examples:
This only scratches the surface of the potential. An owner recently said to me that his revenue from online sources, including the distribution channels, had increased by over 30% but revenue booked by his sales department was flat. Guess where he was putting his budget resources (hint: it wasn't the sales department). The above are just a few examples of the ideas that come with a change in attitude about the ways we think about doing not just hotel sales, but "sales," period. The processes can be implemented by any size organization, from a small independent hotel to a hotel management company that wants to give its hotel a competitive edge. CVBs or Chambers of Commerce, in even the smallest destinations, can implement this transformational change quickly and cost effectively. The most precious resource is sales time and the competitive environment coupled with the plethora of prospective clients makes it imperative that we implement efficiencies in the way we do business -- the number of hours in a day hasn't changed. As Jennings and Naughton said in the title of their book "It's not the BIG that eat the SMALL - it's the FAST that eat the SLOW!" Log on to the Carol Verret & Associates Consulting and Training new web site to see more about The New Realities of Sales seminars and Transforming the Sales Organization consultation. copyright Carol Verret, 2002-2003 -2004
If you would like Carol or one of her associates to conduct a marketing plan seminar for your company like the one mentioned above or a facilitation, as mentioned in this article, contact her at [email protected]. Don't delay -- September is filling up fast!
Our Training Bytes Series for 2004 has begun! Give your team the advantage - get help from a Pro! Verret is a twenty-year veteran of the hotel industry. She arrived in Denver in the midst of an economic downturn and quickly established herself as an expert in sales and marketing in hotel turn-around situations, applying her formula for REVPAR improvement. To learn more about Carol Verret, Consulting and Training, visit her web site at http://www.carolverret.com Send email to [email protected] |
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3140 S. Peoria St, PMB 436 Aurora, CO 80014 (303) 618-4065 Web Site: http://www.carolverret.biz Email: [email protected] |
Carol
Verret is President of Carol Verret Consulting and Training, a company
offering consulting and training seminars to the hospitality industry in
the areas of sales and marketing and customer service. If you missed
attending our live webcasts in the Training Byte Series in 2003, you will
be glad to know that we offer each "Training Byte" in PDF format on our
web site. We will not be repeating these webcasts in 2004. To order your
copy, please visit