News for the Hospitality Executive |
Savvy
Hoteliers Still
Make Voice Channels A Priority
By
Doug Kennedy
February 21, 2011 It has occurred to me recently how relatively little attention most hotel marketing and operations executives pay to their voice distribution channels, at least when compared to the huge amount of time and effort they invest in managing electronic and online channels. The ironic part is that for many lodging companies, these voice channels are still holding their own against website, OTA and other online channels. Even if your online channels outpace the direct voice bookings, virtually all lodging properties today still receive a significant number of direct inquires for reservations that need to be capitalized on. If you stop to calculate the potential value of each reservations inquiry, it seems obvious that the potential ROI is worthy of the effort to train, measure, and incentive for hotel reservations sales success. Take a moment to run the numbers by starting with your transient average rate times the transient average stay. That, plus the average ancillary revenue per transient guest if you are a full service property, tells you the potential of each inquiry received. Then calculate the results if every reservations, front desk, or call center agent could capture even just one more reservation per shift. The truth is the potential increase in call conversion is significantly more than one per day but this number alone will get your management team’s attention. If you listen-in to monitored recordings of live calls these days, today’s callers are more often than not asking a specific questions regarding the overload of information available online by just a few clicks at online guest reviews and social media postings. They are also asking questions about the multitude of rates and rate options they have seen online at third party channels. What’s more significant is that many of today’s callers practically hand-deliver an opportunity to convert them from costly third party channels. For proof, just ask any agent how often they are asked a question such as “Should I book that online or book it with you?” With today’s callers asking more detailed and pointed questions, it’s vital to make sure whomever is answering your hotel’s reservations inquiries has the proper resources need to succeed. This includes training on not only how to work the reservations system, but also how to execute the rate strategy. It amazes me that there are many reservations and front desk staff even today who do not have web access to verify a rate at a third party website so that they can verify and match it. It’s also amazing how many agents still start off quoting their very lowest rate, as if to do the caller a “favor,” while others inadvertently make high demand rates sound undesirable with statements such as “Well it looks like the discounts are all closed out that night” or “The only rate I have for those dates is…” or “The only rooms we have left would be our suites.” Despite all the challenges with training agents on executing the rate and efficiently using the reservations system, I have to say those are the relatively easy parts. The most challenging mission is to help those who field voice inquiries have a caller-focused, personalized conversation and not just another transactional call. Achieving this component of reservations sales excellence is not only training, but also measuring the results and properly incentivizing the frontline staff. With all the budget cuts the last few years, many hotels and call centers have allowed training to fall by the wayside. So a good starting place is to schedule a sales training meeting for your team. Here are some good themes:
To reinforce the training, be sure to measure the results. One way to measure the results is to use a mystery shopping program. Make sure your mystery shopping provider uses an updated criteria and scoring model that encourages a conversational approach. All too many mystery shopping programs are based on outdated models where callers had little or no information before calling; these programs sometime even require agents to use heavily scripted statements that offer no appeal to most of today’s callers. Work with your provider to update your criteria and overall approach to make sure it is reinforcing a conversational, caller-focused sales process. Besides the mystery shopping, be sure to properly measure the call conversion. With the exciting new technologies that have emerged in recent years, there are more and more ways for hotels and call centers of all size operations to measure call conversion electronically. Besides the equipment-based tracking and recording tools, many 800 long distance providers also offer web-based call tracking features that require no equipment at all and at very affordable rates. Even if no technology system is available to help you track call conversion, a manual call logging system is better than using no system at all. Be sure that agents are coding all sales opportunities as “qualified calls,” so long as it is a reservation inquiry and there are rooms open. Also, do not use call coding categories such call “rate inquiry only” and then deduct these from call count in calculating conversion, as this will only artificially inflate your conversion rate. It is hard to imagine why anyone would call a hotel just to check rates if they were not at least considering a reservation. Finally, make sure you have a properly structured incentive plan that rewards voice agents for improving revenues. Avoid having a commission program that pays agents a fixed amount on every sale. Instead, a true incentive program rewards agents for achieving specific, pre-determined goals. Instead, have a few different incentives that run simultaneously and that reinforce your overall reservations sales strategy. Depending on your market segment and operations, goals that can be incentivized include:
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Contact:
Doug Kennedy
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Also See: | True
Hotel Sales Superstars Love “Clueless” Callers! / Doug Kennedy /
January 2011 |
What
If A Hotel Brand Could Ask The Same Question Southwest Airlines Asks In
Their New Ad? / Doug Kennedy / December 2010 |
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Hoteliers
Should Utilize New Tools For Measuring Hospitality and Guest Service
Efficiency / Doug Kennedy / November 2010 |
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Training
Your Team To Master “Channel Conversion” Techniques / Doug Kennedy
/ November 2010 |
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Upselling
Strategies For Your Front Desk and Reservation Teams / Doug Kennedy
/ September 2010 |
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Training Is Key To Turning “Desk Clerks” Into Front Desk Salespersons / March 2007 | |
It’s Time To Give Hotel Guests What They REALLY Need and Want Daily! Key Basics Some Hotels Still Fall Short On / Doug Kennedy / September 2006 |