Just want to wish every Hotel Sales Manager and all the staff in the Hotel Industry a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
For those who are off today, enjoy your family and friends! To those who are working, spread the Holiday Cheer to everyone!
Pure Energy
Local Catering Halls that that free stand are constantly asked “where they should house their guests”. As a Hotel Sales Person you will need to identify who they are referring and find out how they can refer you.
Most Catering Halls will want more than one hotel to refer. It only makes sense since each hotel is a bit different and has a variance in room rates and property features. The bottom line depends on what the clients needs are. And the key is to be sure that your property and name is mentioned as an option.
The Catering Halls are busy and most of them doesn’t really care where their client stays. Of course if they get complaints well you might as well forget about being referred. They don’t have the time to deal with that.
As a Hotel Sales Person you will need to figure out how to be the “go to” Sales Rep. Stay in their face by cold calling, dropping off treats and keeping in touch with them. If you start the ball rolling and do not keep at them, then they will not consider you as the “go to” person. You will need to develop a relationship and they will need to learn to trust you. Make sure that the groups that they refer are “Wowed” and this will increase your chance in being the first referred and recommended hotel.
For the out-of-town wedding guests, take some time to develop a relationship with local transportation companies. You will be asked about transportation to and from the catering hall. The client will appreciate your referral.
Find out who the owners are and meet with them. They will have the authority to insist that your property is referred if you are not getting the support from their team.
Make a flyer that they can hand out to their clients with your information on it. Make it as easy for them as you can. Don’t put rates on your flyer since your rates may increase based upon demand.
I’m taking the time to review this subject because I have won over a local catering hall and I can barely keep up with the inquiries. Now I am working on the others to establish the same relationship.
So Good Luck in your venture! Don’t forget to stay consistent and don’t give up. It takes time for the partnership to become true. Be patient and persistent.
Pure Energy
The Hotel Sales Person doesn’t just book the group and hand it over. For the larger convention hotels, yes, they have to hand it over to their Convention Services Manager. But for the smaller properties it is the Sales Person responsibility to make sure that the client’s information and needs are communicated amongst the Management Team and Manager on Duty’s. It doesn’t hurt to follow up with the Front Desk Staff too since they will be the first to greet your client.
It’s easy for the Sales Person to blame issues and failures on the Operational Staff. I always thought, do I really understand what the other Manager’s go through? It is important for the Sales Person to make sure that the Manager that they are communicating with is paying attention and get eye contact.
Most Manager’s these days are responsible for so much more than years ago. The industry was professional and now it’s seems like a rate race to capture market share and simply keep your sales job.
For the larger groups with a lot of rooms and catering events it is helpful to arrange a pre-convention meeting or a conference call. This will a – develop a relationship from Manager to Client, cover important details or needs, set the staff schedule properly and there are many other benefits. The Manager’s also will take responsibility of what is needed.
To the client, WOW, they really feel important and they will respect the Sales Person for taking the time to connect everyone together.
Get the staff excited. Let them know about the group and anything special about them. It creates a different atmosphere in every department when the line level staff are aware of what’s going on in their work place.
At the end, send the thank you and not just from the Hotel Sales Person….that’s expected. Maybe send one separate from the Head of Housekeeping or a Front Desk Agent.
If you have a group come through that had problems then invite the Management Team to a post-convention to identify the weak links and make them stronger for the next group. The Manager is to then get with their team for a mini discussion on what they could of done better.
Make the Staff strong, thank them for their hard work, make decisions on what could be done better and do it!
Good Luck!
Pure Energy