News for the Hospitality Executive |
True
Hotel Sales
Superstars Love “Clueless” Callers!
By
Doug Kennedy
January 26, 2011 Given the prolific amount of information
available to
prospective guests and hotel meeting/function planners, it seems
logical that
today’s callers to hotel reservations, front desk, and the sales
department
should be very well informed before they dial our number. Indeed, many if
not
most of today’s sales inquiries are from those who are largely pre-sold
prior
to phoning. Well established hotels
and
resorts have the added benefit that many if not most of their callers
are
repeat guests who have visited before and who already know what they
want
before dialing. Unfortunately, dealing with all of these
repeat guests and
pre-informed sales prospects can make some hotel salespeople become
complacent. It’s easy to fall into a habit
of polite
order-taking when the majority of callers already know what they want. Having spent my career as a hotel sales
trainer I have seen this scenario play out many times over the years,
where the
salespeople fall victim to “profitable mediocrity” by becoming habitual
order-takers who seem to expect that guests and meeting planners are
out there
just waiting to call in their orders. It’s easy to imagine how this happens, when
maybe 7 out of
10 callers know what they want before they call. When
you place a test call to these hotels
and act like you know what you want, they are very polite and helpful. Yet when you ask these same salespeople
questions about the location, area, or the hotel itself, they provide
short,
curt responses and more often than not suggest that you go online to
the
hotel’s website for more information. Having listened to hours and hours of
recorded calls from
real callers captured through various monitoring systems used by our
KTN
training clients, I have to admit that there are some seemingly
“clueless”
callers these days. For example, callers
to large, city-center hotels that request a ground floor room. Or callers to condo-resorts that feature
individually owned and decorated properties who ask “So it’s not like a
hotel?” Or callers to Orlando hotels
booking near Disney, Universal, or Seaworld that request an “ocean”
view, or
who book in New York and request a view of the Statue of Liberty. Or those who meant to dial the phone number
of a competitor but who pulled your hotel’s number instead. Indeed, a certain number of callers do seem
confused. Yet the true sales superstars I’ve meet
always seem to love
these types of callers. They recognize
that while it is important to convert those easy, order-taking calls
into sales,
when we are able to secure business from
a “clueless” caller we have really done something positive for
the hotel’s
profitability. Repeat guests and others
who are pre-sold are going to stay with us anyway.
Yet when we help those who are uncertain, those
who have questions, and those who need more convincing to pick our
hotel
off their list, we can know we have truly had a positive impact. Not to mention that today’s “clueless” caller
will then become a future repeat guest, who will them be pre-sold the
next
time. Here are some training tips to help get your
sales team
excited about “clueless” callers.
|
Contact:
Doug Kennedy
|
Also See: | What
If A Hotel Brand Could Ask The Same Question Southwest Airlines Asks In
Their New Ad? / Doug Kennedy / December 2010 |
Hoteliers
Should Utilize New Tools For Measuring Hospitality and Guest Service
Efficiency / Doug Kennedy / November 2010 |
|
Training
Your Team To Master “Channel Conversion” Techniques / Doug Kennedy
/ November 2010 |
|
Upselling
Strategies For Your Front Desk and Reservation Teams / Doug Kennedy
/ September 2010 |
|
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 |