{ 0 comments }
Sales Blitz Follow-Up – It’s Like Doing the Laundry After a Great Vacation.
So many hotel sales teams are spending a large amount of time and putting major resources towards sales blitzes or major call campaigns. It’s encouraging to see that leadership is supportive of these backyard and feeder market sales efforts. It’s not easy. We know. We live and breathe this stuff. That’s why you’ll see us chatting about hotel sales blitzes A LOT!
If only there was as much time, energy, and resources devoted to the follow-up after these major events. We could all walk away from these still exhausted, yet knowing that our efforts are worth it by showing a true ROI. Afterall, isn’t that why we put in all of the resources and effort? It’s similar to planning and executing a great vacation. There is so much excitement and planning leading up to it and during, but then who wants to come home to the boat loads of laundry, piled up bills and things that were put off prior to the vacation? I don’t know many hotel sales managers who would compare a sales blitz to a vacation, but planning and preparation are still key for both.
Just a few simple tips that can ensure the follow-up happens and you’re not sitting on top of a pile of unfinished business/dirty laundry.
1. Pre-plan. I like to have a clean laundry hamper before the vacation, so I only have to do the laundry from my suitcase when I get home. You can do the same thing by cleaning up your current pipeline, make those calls you need to make, finish those reports, etc.
OK, so I’m not creative enough to come up with analogies to laundry on all of the these, but here’s a check-list with some good tips none-the-less:
2. Be specific on the follow-up assignments. A form for keeping notes from each sales appointment is critical. Although, if they aren’t filled out completely and properly it’s just a worthless piece of paper. We often see those sales blitz forms come back with very vague info on “who should follow-up” and “how does client want to be contacted” and “when does client want to be contacted”. Get specific, and hold people accountable.
3. Create a tracking and follow-up contest. Reward the real results not just the potential.
4. Assign a Follow-Up Champion. This person should be a cheerleader that can hold everyone accountable. They should share in the rewards somehow for the business that is booked, report on that booked business and encourage teammates to keep on keepin’ on.
5. Carry on the theme of the sales blitz into the follow-up. I once led a sales blitz that had a “renewal” theme. Teams handed out small gift bags with spa amenities during their visits, they shared renovation information about the hotel and then during the follow-up calls they offered discounted spa services to anyone that booked a meeting in-the-year-for-the-year. It resulted in about $30,000 worth of incremental business. The key was giving something additional for the sales managers to use in their follow-up calls. They didn’t offer the spa discount during the actual blitz event…they offered to the accounts that they followed up with that they knew had business potential. It kept things fresh, relevant and timely.
6. Lastly, be vigilant about protecting sales time for follow-up and set strict deadlines to make it happen. My husband and I both travel a lot, and we have a rule in our household that the suitcase has to be cleaned out and put away within 24 hours of returning home. If not, we are the type of people who would get sidetracked and we’d live out of our suitcases even at home!
Do you have a success story with how your sales team has organized the follow-up from a sales blitz? If so, please share!
{ 0 comments }
Our Core Values
How does one grow a business and pass along their vision for success to the newest members of the team?
Plan B Consultants, Inc. is just 5 years old. For the past 3 years it was just me, myself, and I running all of the projects, soliciting new business, creating processes and implementing them. It may have been easier to just remain a one-woman show, but I have had a bigger vision for Plan B since the beginning. It took me a little while to believe that it was possible to grow and find employees and partners that can carry the vision, but now that I have 11 employees and several other sub-contractors the challenge is to ensure that the quality Plan B has been known for remains…even improves. Hence, a reflection of my core values…pillars so to speak…which have been rolled out to all members of the Plan B Consultants Team.
- Always Add Value: As a consulting firm for hotels and resorts, it is imperative that everything we do adds value both for our hotel customers as well as internally. Why would anyone hire us if we didn’t always keep this as our core focus? What does this mean to the team?
- We don’t suggest solutions unless we can show the value of that solution
- We don’t waste time. Time management is crucial.
- We are relentless about continuous improvement both to our own internal processes and in meeting our customer’s challenges.
- Always Collaborate: Teamwork is critical in a small business. We hire employees that can work autonomously, but desire to contribute to the bigger picture and vision. We don’t seek credit…we seek solutions that work. Our team is filled with people who enjoy what they do, desire to contribute, and have an even stronger drive to improve and overcome challenges.
- Always Be Resourceful: We look for inexpensive tools and solutions, and they are not always directly in front of us with a nice pretty bow on top. Oftentimes we have to create things from scratch. We dig in, get our hands dirty, and come up with things quickly that could otherwise take a lot of time away from our customers. I come from a Midwestern background where I had to work hard for everything I received. Nothing was handed to me, and it is with that same tenacity that I move forward as a growing business. I don’t ever want to lose that “scrappiness”, which is why resourcefulness is a pillar of our business.
- Always Reject Apathy: This is a deal breaker for me, and anyone that belongs to my team. There is absolutely no room for apathy in our business. We are a small business with a lot of work. We work long and hard hours and we are always working to prove a return. We are a boot strap company with absolutely no tolerance for apathy.
These are the 4 pillars that sit at the base of everything we do at Plan B Consultants. I believe it’s important for all organizations to set core values and ensure that the entire team carries those through.
Question: Do you have a set of core values for your organization or as an individual? If so, please share!
{ 0 comments }
Business Intelligence = Data + Knowledge
Fact based hotel selling is a very simple idea when it’s laid out on paper, but it takes special skill to pull it off
I use the term fact based selling a lot when discussing Plan B Consultants hotel sales strategy methods. Fact based hotel selling is a very simple idea when it’s laid out on paper, but it takes special skill to pull it off and make it work as a hotel sales manager. Exactly what is fact-based hotel sales?
Data + Knowledge = Business Intelligence
Data is factual information. It could be the numbers you draw from hotelligence or other industry reports, production numbers, survey information, or average daily rates for a segment. The list goes on, as there are a number of places a hotel sales manager can go to pull data.
Knowledge is defined as: Information and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. For a hotel sales manager, this means it is the practical understanding they have gained through their experience in the market. What have they observed and learned through conversations with their account decision-makers, influencers or gatekeepers? What have they learned from their sales efforts within the 5 audience groups for business travel sales?
This knowledge coupled with the facts is what all hotel sales managers need to be using to create compelling stories to win new business and/or shift share of existing business. Business Intelligence is power!
{ 0 comments }
Hotel Sales Blitz Success Tips
Bring hotel sales teams together and quickly uncover new room nights
After 2 ½ years of organizing and executing over 150 hotel sales blitzes, I feel like we can say we’ve seen it all from comical to downright scary and everything in between. The one thing that is for certain… it’s a challenging task. It takes hotel sales managers out of their comfort zones and thrusts them into sometimes stressful situations. We’ve seen huge success stories and major disappointments all in the same hour! Sales blitzes are a great way to bring hotel sales teams together for a common goal and quickly uncover new business potential. When conducting a hotel sales blitz it’s important to keep the following key factors in mind:
1. Set common expectations & be relentless about it – Ensure that everyone involved in the planning stage, the execution stage and the follow-up stage is on the same page. Whether this is a large scale hotel sales blitz with multiple teams or just a one-hotel sales blitz with a few people participating, chances are not everyone will be involved in all aspects of the sales blitz. At some point, the group needs to come together and discuss the expectations. It is important to keep coming back to those expectations and goals, as the larger the sales blitz event the easier it will be to have some veer off course.
2. Plan ahead – This goes hand-in-hand with setting expectations. Key pieces of the puzzle that make a successful sales blitz are planning the following aspects:
• Target Market – Who are you going to call for appointments & why?
• The customer call-to-action – Present a compelling reason to meet & during the appointment extend an enticing offer for next-step
• The customer message – Make it clear, concise and consistent
• The quantitative goal – How many appointments do you want to strive for, how many cold calls in between appointments and how much revenue do you hope to uncover. Keep it realistic based on size of market, timing of the sales blitz and number of teams
• The qualitative goal – How do you want participants to walk away feeling? (this also comes back to setting proper expectations)
• The follow-up plan – Who is taking control of the follow-up, how, and what is the appropriate timeline. We believe sales follow-up makes up 90% of the success of a sales blitz. If you don’t set proper follow-up actions you will certainly not see a return.
• Logistics – Use maps and divide territories so sales blitz teams do not duplicate efforts. Communicate frequently between teams and a central point of contact to alert of any changes throughout the day. Ensure notes and information from appointment calls are clearly communicated to the teams, to minimize surprises by and to the customers
3. Be flexible – Understand that clients’ schedules will change, there will be logistical challenges in any blitz regardless of the pre-planning, and it’s important in a sales blitz to not let one disappointment cloud the entire event. Always come back to the main goals of the event to determine if it was a success.
4. Keep it light and entertaining – Incorporate friendly competition, allow teams to use social media throughout the day to share funny stories and successes, post videos on youtube of teams between appointments discussing their day, give away prizes, celebrate successes throughout the event. These ideas are just scratching the surface.
Plan B Consultants, Inc. would love to hear your ideas on what makes your sales blitzes successful and less stressful for all involved!
{ 2 comments }
Business Travel Sales
Are you losing room nights?
At Plan B Consultants, Inc. we view business travel sales as having five key audience groups:
1. The Travel Manager (or key decision-maker)
2. The Travel Agency
3. The Traveler/ Hotel Guest (or end-user)
4. The local office liaison (or feeder market contact)
5. The global or national sales rep
Sure, there are variations of the above depending on the customer and even the type of hotel you are pitching, but after over 5 years in hotel sales consulting focusing on ways to specifically grow hotel’s corporate transient or business travel segments …this way of dissecting the customer set has proven successful in gaining room nights.
The key is realizing that each audience group is important in its own right, and that it is just as important to pay attention to the local office contact as it is to spend time with the key decision-makers. Business Travel Sales Managers who do not plan and create specific action plans for each audience segment of their target and top accounts are missing out on room nights.
So, here’s the gist of each audience group (not in order of importance, as they are all equally important):
1. The Travel Manager/Key Decision-Maker – Fact based selling goes a long way. This audience segment is tasked with saving money, choosing partners that fit the profiles of their travelers, creating compliance programs that will work within their company culture, etc. Create compelling sales stories for them by using data combined with knowledge and research about the account’s specifics.
2. The Travel Agency – Go beyond the typical trade-show style office visit. Provide memorable pieces that educate the agents about the hotel and its relation to their client. Utilize technology, but first understand the agency and the audience within. Just like any customer, not all approaches work for all types of agencies.
3. The Traveler/Hotel Guest – Once accepted into the account’s travel program, make sure to review arrivals reports and pay close attention. Thank those hotel guests and offer recognition. The goal is to facilitate loyalty and gain referrals. Utilize social marketing, in-house referral programs, amenity programs, hotel guest feedback info, etc. Share findings with key decision-makers and your global or national sales reps, as vendors can often-times shed light on questions that those key decision-makers have about their company’s travel habits.
4. The local office/feeder office liaison – This audience group is ignored most frequently, because often-times they don’t even realize that they are an audience. Basically, it takes education on the part of the sales manager to show how the audience member can be of assistance to the sales manager and how the hotel sales manager can be of assistance to the audience member. It takes time, but these relationships can oftentimes be the most rewarding. This would be the audience group deemed the “influencer”, which is a key component of the hospitality sales process. Building a relationship with this audience member/group is critical.
5. Global/National Sales Representative – At Plan B Consultants, Inc. we approach global and national hospitality sales teams as an internal client. It is important to set out the facts and data similarly to how it is shared with the key decision-makers. Persistence and presentation are important. Oftentimes they have several accounts worth millions of dollars to their organization, they represent hundreds even thousands of hotels and several brands. The reality is that a single hotel still needs to cut through the clutter, and capture their attention.
{ 0 comments }
Release: On receipt, June 16, 2011
Contact: Amy Infante, Plan B Consultants
312-636-7384
amy.infante@planbconsultants.com
The Hospitality Industry’s Business Development Solution
Wisner Native Gives Back to Hometown by Creating Jobs
Amy Infante of Plan B Consultants expands business with new location in rural Nebraska
(Bentonville, Ark.) – In a time of high unemployment and sluggish job growth, Plan B Consultants Founder and Managing Principal Amy Infante-Still is creating jobs and has chosen her hometown of Wisner, Neb., in which to expand.
“We are excited to fulfill our dream to return to our Nebraska roots and give back to Wisner through job creation and involvement in the community,” Infante said.
The downtown Wisner location will house an outbound, business-to-business lead generation center for Plan B Consultants. Seven employees have started work at the operations center and Infante-Still plans to hire additional staff as the business continues to expand.
Infante-Still and her husband Giovanni, also a native of rural Nebraska, founded Plan B Consultants in 2006. The sales and marketing consulting firm, which is focused on the hospitality industry, works with hotels and resorts across the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean to uncover new business opportunities, train staff and streamline their sales and marketing processes and systems.
Infante-Still said she had been subcontracting with a call center for two years before deciding to bring that function under her own company. “We have been flooded with resumes from very talented applicants. We’re pleased at the response from the community and surrounding area,” she said.
“We are thrilled to have job growth that adds a diverse industry segment to this rural market, and it’s exciting to see Wisner reversing the loss of Nebraska’s intelligent young professional population” said Garry Clark, executive director of Cuming County Economic Development.
{ 0 comments }
RFP = Research, Fact-find, Prepare
Preparation is key to a successful RFP season.
RFP season for corporate transient business is right around the corner. I’m not so sure we can call it a “season” anymore, as the process lengthens each year. However, we typically see preparation with the major hotel chains begin in June or July. It’s not as simple as increasing rate over 2010 or just shopping your competitors’ rates. Regardless of the reports for a stronger 2011, clients will still be looking for value in their rates in 2011 and the negotiations will be competitive.
Here are some key items to ensure you’re prepared:
- Update all RFP sites with hotel profile information:
- Ensure your property is listed on ALL key sites used by your chain and customers
- Ensure information is consistent on all sites. Don’t ignore questions about green initiatives and safety.
- Complete “shop calls” of all competitors for specific accounts.
- Don’t just shop for rates; in 2010, value adds were big! Hotels were adding parking, breakfast, internet, transportation, upgrades and even cocktail hour to help show value in the rate and entice buyers.
- It is important to note that in many markets seasonal rates are popular, so shop calls should be done throughout the year, and not just right before rate negotiations begin.
- Try to make shop calls consistent by asking for specific rates and length of stay at all competitors. Have a strategy going in and know what you will be asking before the calls are made.
- Be aware of changes in your competitive set.
- Has a new hotel moved into the market?
- Has anyone completed a major renovation?
- Have they changed pricing of parking, internet or upgrades, etc?
- Have they changed their strategy with a specific key account or corporate travel in general?
- When was the last time you toured your competitive set?
- Review the year-to-date Hotelligence Report and complete a thorough analysis of the accounts.
- Prioritze the information from the report, as the information is vast and can become overwhelming to some managers. Do not get caught up in “analysis paralysis”. It’s important to DO SOMETHING with the information. Take Action!
- Review any new accounts from the report. Shop the competitive set for those accounts, research their local offices and why they travel to the market, uncover their feeder market office locations and touch base with any influencers locally or in those feeder markets.
- Review accounts you currently work with that you are not receiving fair share. Connect with travelers and influencers to understand where they are staying and why.
- Put a plan in place for your top target and key accounts, and stay focused on that plan. Too many sales professionals get caught up in the data and research and never get to the point of the sale or actions necessary to close the business on these accounts.
- Write a business case for any key global or national accounts that educates your company’s account manager on your hotel’s specific needs and strategy for the client. Remember that your key account manager probably has several hotels approaching them for help. Keep the business case concise and factual, and clearly state what you need from them.
Additional questions you must answer:
Is production up or down vs. last year? Do you know why? What are the peak seasons for your key accounts? Knowing this information will assist with setting a rate strategy for the new year.
Have a conversation with your clients to understand their expectations for 2011. RFP season should not be the only time of year you speak with your clients.
Preparation is key to a successful RFP season. Regardless of how much corporate transient business your hotel does in a year, you must have your homework complete before you receive your first RFP. This saves time, and ensures a smooth process. It will ultimately give you an edge versus the competition. <
{ 0 comments }
Back To Basics
How to keep bad habits at bay
“Let’s get back to the basics.”
How many times have you heard that phrase in your career? It seems as though many talk the talk when it comes to the basics, but very few companies invest in the practice. We tend to ignore the obvious or assume our teams are using basic strategies…especially when we have seasoned vets on the team.
Plan B had the pleasure of working with a company this year that walked the walk, and took their sales force back to the basics by conducting local market sales blitzes and conducting training prior to those sales calls. We were fortunate to be chosen as the company to assist them with this grand task of organizing the logistics of these “basic” blitzes in over 30 markets across the country in just a few short months. It was a daunting task, but one I look back on with pride, as we did what some said couldn’t be done.
In any case, this true devotion to going “back to the basics” is paying off for the company. By canvassing these markets in a short amount of time, and delivering key messages to potential clients in those markets, they were able to uncover opportunities, steal business from competitors and forge new and lasting relationships.
It wasn’t easy for this company to devote time, energy and resources to this task. They certainly went after it on a grand scale, but it doesn’t have to be done that way. Your individual hotels can certainly devote a short amount of time each week to focusing on the basics and it will pay off.
- Review “basic” sales practices in each weekly sales meeting
- Have a “back to the basics” email reminder with key tips sent to your sales team each morning
- Assign a “back to the basics ambassador” on your sales team to conduct a 5-10 minute presentation once a week for the sales team. Keep it fun, light and upbeat
- Organize a ½ day or full day refresher course for your team
- In your daily or weekly business review, ask the sales team to explain how they used the basics in their approach to winning the business, or discuss basic sales approaches that can be used for business the team is trying to obtain
- Schedule quarterly sales blitzes in your local market. Implement creative messages and commit to a schedule. Review key sales tactics with the team prior to their sales calls, and join them to provide on-the-spot training
These are just a few tips, but the more creative and fresh you keep it, the more it will sink in with the sales team and be used on a daily basis to win business. Remember, even seasoned sales professionals need reminders.
Make sure to keep bad habits at bay by making “the basics” a daily ritual for your team.
{ 0 comments }
Fearless Prospecting
How do we work up the courage, and make the best of a “cold” call?
It may sound strange, but I count myself as fortunate to have started in the industry in a very difficult market where I had to fight for every piece of business and prospect daily to meet some lofty goals.
From that small, tertiary market, I moved to San Francisco just after 9/11. Business was slow, and I didn’t know any better. While some colleagues were looking back and longing for the days of high ADRs and big bonus checks…I was doing what I always had to do…prospect prospect prospect. I wasn’t a master at prospecting and cold calling. I was just fearless, and maybe a little naïve…but mostly driven to not let the economy hold me back. I often look back on those days, and use it as an example when working with hotel sales managers who are struggling with the idea of prospecting and cold calling.
It can be difficult to work up the courage to place a phone call to a prospective client, or walk into an office for a cold call. Sometimes hotel sales professionals become timid (yes, even ones with many years experience). It is OK. We all have insecurities. Even the clients we are calling on have their insecurities. However, as sales people it is our job to uncover new business opportunities, and in this economy we can’t wait for those opportunities to knock on our door. We have to knock on a lot of doors, and invite ourselves in.
How do we work up the courage, and make the best of a “cold” call?
- Have a purpose to your call and a compelling reason for the client to listen. Make a list of a few things you want to uncover from the call. Don’t expect to close the business on the first call. If you capture a little more knowledge about the customer needs, you have had a successful call. Even if it is finding out that they don’t have needs!
- Practice your opening line. Many sales professionals think it will just come to them when they are in front of the customer. Practice in front of a mirror, in your car on the way to work, or in front of someone with whom you feel comfortable.
- Research the company prior to the call. This gains credibility, and allows you to understand what possible objections or challenges you can assist to overcome. I’ve always found that doing research helps me to gain confidence before the call.
- Believe in your purpose. If you don’t believe that you can assist the client with a need…it will reflect in your tone and in the outcome of the call. Clients do pick up on a lack of confidence (even over the phone).
- Hold yourself accountable. Don’t wait for leadership to give prospecting goals, or ask for weekly call reports. If you wait for someone else to hold you accountable…you’ve waited too long, and chances are your replacement is waiting in the wings.
Many markets have seen dramatic downturns this year, and those sales managers that have been order-takers have had to change their mind-set and become more actively involved in the sales process. Prospecting is a skill that can be taught, but it’s the attitude that cannot. Managers that embrace the new environment and see it as an opportunity to improve their prospecting skills will be the ones that out-last this downturn. My advice: be fearless in your prospecting, don’t dwell on the past, and turn adversity into an opportunity to grow as a sales professional.
{ 0 comments }
