Tag Archives: Sales Manager

Sales Managers and keeping up with the follow up

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Follow up plays a very important role to every Sales Manager in every industry.  You follow up on inquires.  You follow up on generated leads.  You follow up on plans that your bosses are asking you to do.  You follow up on your kids school work.  Everything requires follow up. 

Many Sales People fail to provide the proper follow up thus possibly losing the sale.  Remember, a Sales Person is to build relationships.  Sales People that establish the relationship, wins the sale.  If the Sales Person does not “follow up” they will lose the sale. 

Follow up consists of client traces – potential, repeat or referred, collecting contracts and deposits, rooming list, inquiries and maintenance calls and more.  I find that I am on the phone a lot and I do miss some of my incoming calls.  They leave a message, I am to call right back.  If you make the client wait too long, they will assume that their business is not important to you and THEY WILL CALL SOMEONE ELSE.

This is why it is very important for you to keep a close eye on your incoming calls, no matter who they are, and to call the right back.  It’s bad enough that they couldn’t reach you and now they have to wait.

Most hotel sales offices consists of a sales software program to enter in client data and set the client traces.  Take advantage of this system, learn it’s features and do it.   This is a very efficient way to increase your calls and the more you get out, the more you will get back. 

Remember the old “index card trace cards”, pulling files and papercuts?  Well, if your property is not using a sales software program then get with your owners and purchase one.  It is best to purchase a sales software program that interfaces with PMS (Property Management System) however that could be costly.  Instead take a look at Goldmine, Hotel Sales Pro and other programs. 

As I make my trace calls throughout the day, handle inquires and do things, I put it all in my sales software program which currently is Hotel Sales Pro.  When I’m done with my call, I put in my notes, then I trace it.  Although the client may not have needs currently, as you qualify you may identify something that you would want to follow up on.  Any leads for 2010 I trace at least 3 other times to keep in touch with the client.  When a need arises, I want them to call me first. 

The beauty of email – these days you don’t even need to call the client.  You can email.  I will email them simply to say hello and let them know that I was thinking of them and here if they need anything.  With the super highway accessible to everyone there is simply no excuse not to follow up.  Your 30 second email can turn into revenue. 

When you get an inquiry these days be very grateful and make sure that you thank the potential client for taking the time out of THEIR busy day to call you. 

Be sure to take the time to trace your clients appropriately and be sure to make your calls and follow up!

Good Luck

Pure Energy

When And When Not To “walk” The Hotel Guest

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Everyone hates to be handed the highlighter and an arrival list and to mark off who to walk and who not to.  If your property is in a walk situation, you the Sales Person should make sure that they do not walk a regular guest, VIP or a new client reservation.

When there is demand in your market, it is smart business decision to consider “walking” some guest if you want to maximize your revenues.  At an airport location take a look at your Airline Crews who are usually booked at a lower negotiated rate.  Another place to look is your hotwire, priceline, hotels.com and other ecommerce reservations.

First the Sales Manager should identify high demand times that you maybe in a situation to walk guests. Find a hotel that is simular to yours and close in location who will work with you on a Walk Rate.  Establish Direct Billing.  It is much smoother to have a contact or two at the walk hotel so that you can communicate easily.

Lets think about it.  It is normal for any Sales Person not to want to walk.  In serious cases, especially with the Airline Crews, the Sales Person should call their contact to let them know that their crew is going to be displaced.  With advance notice, on most occasions the Airline contacts will work with you.  This is why establishing a good relationship with the contacts is important.  I have used the excuse that a large group has extended and that I am now sold out.

If the Airline Rate is $65.00 per room and your walk hotel has extended the same rate ~ you are selling rack at prime lets say for discussion sake $149.00, then you will profit $84.00 per room.   Take a look at your low rated negotiated, Corporate Lodging or even a tour bus.  I know as a Sales Person this isn’t fun and I hate doing it.  But because I was sincere, communicated with the client and placed them at a simular hotel, I have not lost any accounts.

For the ecommerce guests, the Sales Person will most likely not be able to alert the guest.

The new consumers of traveling are smarter and have been educated.  I am not recommending that you walk your guests or preferred clients.  I am recommending that the Sales Person keeps an eye on the market and is involved with maximizing revenues especially during demand times.  If your property practices Yield Management, then you should not be in a position to have to walk any guests.

Check out www.hotelsalesmanager/members for more information.

It is recommended that the Sales Manager negotiates a walk rate with the hotel prior to actually walking a guest.  Have the forms ready to provide to the hotel to ensure that they have all of the information that they need.  Find a hotel that is close to your location that will work with you on the ”walk rate”.

Don’t forget about your Front Desk Staff.  Are they properly trained to handle the guest?  Practice with them.  If they are uncomfortable and uneducated, most Agents are, then they may crumble and make the guest even angrier.  They will need to stay strong, apologize and be sincere about the situation.  I’ve seen untrained Front Desk Staff actually break down and cry right in front of the guest.  Don’t do this to the Agents, make sure that they know what to do.

Good luck!

Pure Energy

A New Dawn for The Screamin’ Sales Manager

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Today I was pretty busy. I did some soliciting over the phone this morning working on trying to get some appointments for next week. Finally all of my letters went out and are completed. And my traces are caught up. Since we don’t have any sales program in the office, I still use the old trace system writing down the group name on index cards. We even still use the big “bibles” for our function bookings. Pretty amazing and what a pain. I waited for my tour bus to arrive tonight…est 5pm…just 16 rooms and found out that they weren’t arriving until after 10pm. Everything was all ready for them so I left to go home about 6:30pm.

I have almost 16 years experience in the hotel industry and I have worked in every department with the exception of Housekeeping….can’t even keep my own home clean! My most recent hotel – full service mid class – is just under 350 rooms with 15,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.

We are located 2 miles of an airport so we draw a lot of business from the airlines and distress passengers. The hotel is newly renovated but still has area’s that could look better and there are projects that we are still working on. They renovated for over 3 years so a lot that has been done is looking worn now. There was no preventative maintenance program ever in place. Yes, I have never experienced a 3 years renovation plan either until now.

I’ve been there almost 2 years to date working mostly as Director of Sales in a 3.5 man office – p/t secretary, 2 catering sm and me the DOS…by 2008 we were down to 1 catering sm (1 had to be let go) and myself and finally I got more hours for the secretary to work with the Catering sm. I mostly booked SMERFE groups. We did increase sales but not enough although we did make budget 9x out of 12. Still many service issues and rude staff. When the new GM came aboard about 2 months ago, I simply was tired of being beat up by my guest’s and the back stabbing, gosh. I asked to be a Sales Manager and for them to bring in someone new to handle this mess.

My new boss is pretty cool and I like her. So I was asked to work in Corporate Transient Segment which I did for 2 weeks and then I was asked to take on the SMERFE Sales Manager position that they were interviewing for. Although at first I was a bit offended, but when I thought about it I realized that I really enjoyed working with the groups….so I’m settled now and plugging away. I have the gift of patience and I’m very friendly so I fit well with all types of SMERFE clients.

Most of the Management Team was let go and new people are being brought in. At first I felt like I was walking on eggs shells each day as these new people were so hard to read. They were and still are always behind closed doors and you just don’t know what is going on or if you are going to be the next one fired. I’m in my 40′s now and I simply want to settle down, book tons of business and have some fun.

I don’t have an interest in hotel hopping anymore as like I did when I was younger simply to make a few bucks more. I did think about looking for a new sales job but my positive benefits list simply out weighed the negative. I like the staff and I know the product and I want to be a part of the team that turns this hotel around. I don’t feel like that everyday though….

Good luck selling tomorrow. I’ll be back.