News for the Hospitality Executive |
It's Time For Today's Technology-Focused
By
Doug Kennedy
July 27, 2011 Although most of my career focuses on the
training of hotel
industry sales staff on the supply side of the meetings and conventions
business, I sometimes change roles to the demand side when it is time
for KTN
to conduct our own conferences and meetings.
I recently had such an experience as our KTN team was
planning a two-day
conference in three locations. Now
granted, this was not a huge piece of business by anyone’s measure, as
we were
planning for a two-day meeting for 35 people and only a block of 10
rooms. However the dates were completely
flexible,
and our date range was right in the middle of hurricane season and our
locations were small cities right on the Gulf or Atlantic Ocean. So it would seem that all the hotels would
need some extra business then. After doing a quick Internet search, our
meeting planner and
I identified four properties in each location and I asked her to place
a call
to each. Interestingly, out of a total
of 12 calls placed during the middle of business hours, only twice were
we able
to reach a hotel salesperson on the first call!
During the other inquiries we reached voicemail, so we
left a detailed
message including a mention that our dates were flexible.
Of the 10 voice messages left, only 5 were
returned; two on the same day and two on the next day, and one three
days
later. We never heard from the other
five hotels. On the positive side, both of the hotel
salespeople we did
reach on the first try did a great job all the way through the sales
process. They each had their own
engaging and conversational sales style, and both followed-up promptly
by sending
their information, as did the four other
hotel sales managers who returned our calls in time for us
to request a
proposal. From there the pack was
separated though, as only two of the six salespeople did any follow-up
whatsoever. The two who did follow-up
did so only by sending short emails; only one of the two personalized
those
email messages. Although I have in past years
sometimes experienced sub-par service as a
meeting planner, I was surprised with the lack of follow-up, especially
for a
small but flexible meeting during the slowest season for group events. So I decided to call up my friend Bob
Schuster, who I’ve known since the mid 1980’s when he was Director of
Sales for
a local hotel and became one of my first hotel training clients. For years now Bob has been on the demand side
of the meetings and conventions business, and is currently the National
Director of Sales for CMP Meeting Services, one of the most prestigious
meeting
and event companies. Of course I reached Bob on the first call,
as I almost
always do, and I asked if he has noticed a similar lack of follow-up. “Absolutely,” Bob concurred, “Most hotel
salespeople these days are more focused on their email in-box than
their
telephone,” he said, adding that there was a definite and notable
difference in
the corporate culture of the hotel sales teams according to their brand
affiliation. Bob shared the story
about
how he had been working with one hotel salesperson in particular that
he was
impressed with, as she seemed know about “old school sales” tactics
such as picking
up the telephone when appropriate. “When
she called I said to her ‘You’re new to (hotel brand name), right?’ and
she
said she was,” Bob said, “Then I told her straight up
‘Do yourself a favor and don’t listen
to any of the stuff they are going to train you on okay? Just keep
doin’ what
you’re doin’ and talk to people the old fashioned way, okay?’” Bob when on to add how that the hotel sales
technology of
today can be very useful, and if it is deployed correctly,
can be a great tool for fostering what some
of still call “relationship” selling. I
think Bob was spot-on with his insight, as tools like sales lead
tracking, Internet
searches, and PDA’s can in fact help us better-connect with group sales
prospects when deployed correctly. Yet
when salespeople relay only on these technology tools and
mediums, they are missing an opportunity
to build
relationships. Here are some sales
training
tips for using new technology with an “old school” hotel sales style:
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Contact:
Doug Kennedy
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