April 7, 2009 - It has never been more urgent or more imperative that
the effectiveness of hotel sales and revenue management activity has objective
metrics for effectiveness - not only on the part of management but especially
on the part of hotel sales and revenue managers.
Up until this economic reset the standard was production over the previous
year in revenue, room nights, etc.It is obvious to anyone that looks at
reports and reads industry trends that demand and subsequent revenue are
way down from 2008.If everything goes well, 2010 numbers will make heroes
out of the same sales and revenue management managers as increases over
2009 should materialize.
Does this mean that the same sales and revenue managers suddenly got
better at their jobs?If there are new people in these jobs in 2010 that
were not there in 2009, does this mean that the new team is more accomplished
than the old team?The answer is No, not necessarily', to both questions.
Yes, there are sales and revenue managers that managed to ride the wave
of a good economy without fundamental skills and well thought out and executed
sales strategies.The current economic climate is the perfect opportunity
for management to lay them off.However, the honest approach is to let them
know that their skill sets and strategies are insufficient to generate
positive activity in this economy, give them an opportunity to acquire
these skills and measure the results.
The benchmarking of hotel sales and revenue management activity is arbitrary
at best.It is interesting how few managers set objective standards and
strategies with success metrics in mind. The individuals on the sales and
revenue management teams as well as executive level managers are responsible
for this. It didn't matter much when revenue was constantly increasing
year over year.It matters now!
Revenue and/or the number of sales calls is irrelevant -- what is relevant
is that we have an opportunity to develop metrics that many sales organizations
in most other industries have adopted.The HotelSalesBlog has had a survey
running for three months in which it asks the top issues of concern to
hotel sales people --the big winner is Am I going to keep my job?'
Sales and Revenue Managers -- develop metrics for your activity - don't
wait for management to impose it on you.
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Develop a Personal Sales Plan. What are the routes to achieving
your goals? How many prospects are in the pipeline? Identify the business
you can steal and develop a strategy to do it! What is the DNA of your
ideal prospects by market segment? How are you going to find them? How
are you going to approach them and what can you use to close them? Engage
your manager in the development of the plan - they will be impressed that
you are doing this.
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Prioritize vs. Organize - Discipline yourself Trust me, no one will
care if your desk has clutter if you are producing. Prioritize your activity
to focus on those activities that have the highest likelihood of generating
revenue. First things first- chunk out the day. Prioritize traces - those
with the potential to produce revenue the fastest come first. Decide how
many new prospects you will contact in a day. What will be the tailored
appeal for each - remember it's not about you -- it's what your hotel can
do for them. Make time for new prospect contacts - prioritize from hot
to cold'. Do admin work, social networking, etc. during lunch periods,
before 8am or after 5pm. Schedule meetings for non sales time - ask the
GM to do the same. How many referrals from existing clients are you going
to ask for in a day, week, and month? Be prepared to make two to three
times the number of contacts that you did last year to achieve the same
results.
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You can't manage what you don't measure! If you can't measure it, you
can't improve it! RMs, set metrics for the production on new promotions
with the OTAs, set metrics for the success of hot dates' on the web site.
Set metrics for each new strategy -- for example, how many prospects do
you want to close from an online lead site in the next 3 months? If the
metric isn't achieved change the strategy! What is the contact to closing
ratio for the department and individual sales team members? Get proactive
-- measure your own results, don't rely on management to do it for you!
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Make the plan and share the metrics and results with your manager. Your
Manager should be impressed with your initiative and your plan to measure
the effectiveness of what you are doing. If you are the only one in the
department who is doing this, your manager might be inclined to fight for
you if the subject of layoffs arises. Having a personal plan allows sales
people to reduce their anxiety know that they are working their plan and
measuring the results rather than continuing the same activities that worked
in the past but are insufficient in this economy.
Hotel management and DOSs should give up the idea of measuring year over
year numbers as the sole success metric for sales and RM activities and
initiatives. Try these metrics:
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Smith Travel Indices. The three indices on the STR report are the
only ways to evaluate whether the hotel is successful in this economy.
If you are increasing your share of a smaller pie, that is a true accomplishment
for your sales and RM team. As this year's revenue over last year is bound
to be discouraging and next year's revenue over this year will give distorted
success metrics over this year, the STR results are the only reliable metrics
of progress.
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If you are measuring the number of sales calls - give it up! Sale
activity is about sales contacts' not quantity of calls. It is also about
the quality of the prospects they are contacting - how many are new qualified
prospects, how many are servicing' contacts, how many are database mining
contacts? Calls are not the only measure of sales activity - email contacts,
social networking activities also need to be included in the new metrics
and accounted for.
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Social Networking Sites. Log into their LinkedIn and Face book pages
to evaluate how effectively they are using these new channels. If you are
a group meeting hotel, be present on iMeet, a social networking site for
meeting planners and suppliers. While it is difficult to dollarize' social
media activity, it is important to be present where contacts are.
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Evaluate the ROI on each sales and revenue management strategy.
Set a time limit on each strategy with interim benchmarks - don't be afraid
to abandon or switch strategies. Better to abandon one strategy and try
another than stick with a failed strategy!
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Evaluate the lead responses from online RFPS sites. Is there a process
for handling each of these leads in a timely manner, within hours instead
of days? Does the department respond even when they are declining to bid
on a lead? Those planners may have other meetings that you would like to
have and will be impressed. The lead to closing ratio in this economy will
be lower than in the past but any leads closed puts the department ahead
of where it would have been. Measure the effectiveness of social group
sites - social groups this year are a bright spot in the group mix.
The effort spent by individual sales people and revenue managers that put
together a personal strategy and measure the results will make them the
rock stars' of the recovery. Management will be more effective in managing
sales and RM activity if they adopt new metrics for measuring sales and
RM activity and strategies.
Remember, you can't manage what you don't measure! If you can't measure
it, you can't improve it! How important is this - it could save your job!
Catch me in Tucson presenting a public sales seminar for the hotel
sales community of the Tucson CVB on April 28th.
Do you know of a CVB in your community that might be interested in co-sponsoring
a sales seminar for your hotel community? We are partnering with CVBs this
year to bring affordable sales training to their hospitality communities.
Have them contact [email protected]
for more information.
 Carol
Verret And Associates
Consulting and Training offers training services and consulting in
the areas of sales, revenue management and customer service primarily but
not exclusively to the hospitality industry. To find out more about the
company click on www.carolverret.net
To contact Carol send her an email at [email protected]
or she can be reached by cell phone (303) 618-4065. Visit www.hotelsalesblog.com
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