Hotel Sales Blog

The hits on this article in Hotel Online were astonishing!   In it I indicated that we need to focus on new basics — things we were probably never trained to do.  Today, I am going to quote someone who agrees with me so you don’t hink I am the only sales trainer out there saying these things.

Geoffrey James in a BNET blog (I recommend it — I get it in my Inbox every day) entitiled what Worked Before Won’t Work Now says

“Because selling is a very human behavior, the elements that address human nature (like rapport building) remain pretty much the same.  But because selling is also a financial behavior, a massive change in the economy mandates MASSIVE change in your sales approach, pretty much from A to Z.

Failure to adapt can literally end your career.   Remember the dot-com boom?  Back then, times were so good in high tech sales, that there were plenty of reps who let themselves become mere order-takers.  When it all came tumbling down in the dot-com crash, many of those reps were unable to sell consultatively, or address the ROI issues that were suddenly crucial.”

For us hotel sales people, what this means is keep your clients close, set Google Alerts to stay on top of what’s going on with their comany, proactively contact them and if times are rough, offer to negoitate their contract.  A reduced rate for  something is better than losing the contract all together and when this turns around — they will remember what you did for them!

Excuse me, I need to go call a client that could use a ‘deal’!

Catch me in Tucson presenting a public sales seminar for the hotel sales community of the Tucson CVB on April 28.   If you think your CVB would like to partner with us shoot me an email at carol@carolverret.com.  It’s no cost to the CVB and only $99 for participants. Have you signed up for the free Shots of Hotel Sales and RM Caffeine yet? Shoot me a blank email to receive these short blurbs of sales tips and motivation at the same email address above!