Seminars for Hotel Sales, Managers, and Employees

How to increase your inquiry call closing ratio . . .

Last year we were trying to book a meeting for one of our clients, and we called several properties. In most of our calls, it was surprising that the sales manager or booking agent missed opportunities to book the business profitably. To validate our findings, we made one hundred test calls to properties across the nation, and had similar results. The same problem happened in over ninety percent of our test shopping calls.

We used a fictitious situation about a three day distributor sales meeting with 18 people. The session was a product training workshop. The prospect would be open to suggestions and had a liberal budget. We had three needs in our script that were important to the prospect to make a decision: (1) the meeting must motivate the sales team, (2) we would re-book our meeting semi-annually (3) the prospect wanted an elegant awards banquet to wrap up the meeting.

The prospect was routed to the right person efficiently and effectively most of the time. However, in some situations, he was on hold for over three minutes. In a few calls, he was disconnected. The prospect was usually greeted by a by a warm and friendly receptionist who asked a few qualifying questions to determine who should get the call. After getting the right salesperson, 84% identified themselves and 27% helped us to understand their role with the hotel.

Almost every salesperson started by asking questions, however most of questions were hotel oriented, not customer oriented. The first questions typically asked were: "How many rooms will you need? Will it have sleeping rooms? Are there food and beverage requirements? What type of meeting set-up will you need? What are the dates?" These are hotel-oriented questions designed to qualify the prospect, and they certainly must be asked.

However, these questions are not customer-oriented that focus on the customer's situation, get the big picture, and uncover needs. In only 8% of the calls, did salespeople ask a simple question similar to: "What's important to you in this meeting?" Only six salespeople completely understood the three needs or asked questions to uncover them. Few asked about the training or meeting; usually we were only asked what type of seating was needed or what type of A/V was required. Most of the questions were shallow and closed, and never uncovered the real needs or the prospect's goals for this meeting. Only 12% asked if we were the decision maker, or anything about the decision making process. Only 38% asked when we would be making a decision, assuming that the prospect was the decision maker.

Only 5% asked about the competition. Most had no idea about whom they were competing against. Without competitive information, it's impossible to differentiate your property from others. In 29% of the calls we received a "feature dump". Salespeople told the prospect about all the amenities that they determined were important. Very few salespeople helped the prospect understand benefits. Since most of the salespeople didn't understand the needs, it is understandably difficult to talk benefits.

Rate was quoted early in the calls. Only 28% asked about our budget before quoting rate. Most never sold the value of the property before quoting. After the rate was quoted, we asked if the rate was the best available. In 52% of our calls, a more attractive rate was offered, or the salesperson suggested that their manager may approve a better rate if they asked. Most assumed we were budget conscious, and had a possible price objection. Few handled this well; most did not sell value to justify their rates to the prospect.

Fifty eight percent of all salespeople never closed the sale, or asked for the prospect's level of interest. If you don't ask for a commitment, it reduces the probability to book the business, or uncover the prospect's attitude or objections. In 78% of our calls, the salesperson asked for the name, phone number, and address. Only 27% asked for a follow-up date to call back. Most closed the conversation by saying: "Please give a call if we can help you."

Many sent beautiful and costly brochures, and never followed up. Why are the numbers so disappointing? We asked that question in another survey and we found several reasons for the dismal statistics. First, inquiry calls may not be getting the right priority and the salesperson may not have the time to optimize their call-ins.

Second, salespeople may not be sensitive to the importance of inquiry calls. They may handle the call as a request for information instead of an opportunity to sell their property. Even though they may not book the inquiry, with good skills they may uncover other potential or get referrals. Most importantly good call skills give an impression to the prospect for future bookings.

Third, adequate training is crucial. Sales & Marketing Management Magazine reported that companies with top performing salesforces spend an annual average of $5361 per sales rep on training, while firms in the lowest performance group spend $279 per sales rep on training. Top performers simply have more training than low performers.

Finally, most hotels have some sales training in place, but many do not adequately reinforce the principles. We discovered the same selling problems even in the major chains with sophisticated sales training programs. Skills taught in the classroom are lost quickly because of a lack of a follow-up system. One study by Xerox showed that in the absence of follow-up coaching and reinforcement, 87% of the skills change brought about by the program was lost within 60 days. Properly reinforced training should include shopping calls, coaching by the manager, testing, tracking and periodic refreshers to help increase the comfort level and skill of the salesperson.

We suspect that many hotel executives are unaware they are losing substantial revenues and profits from inquiry calls, and that's why we're writing you. Even if salespeople meet occupancy goals, they may not be optimizing the potential revenue from inquiry calls. Optimizing means negotiating the best package, up-selling additional services, and closing desirable and profitable opportunities for the property. Hotels spend significant advertising monies to attract prospects to call their properties. Unfortunately, we have found that when prospects do call there's more order taking than selling. Properties may be missing opportunities as well as profitable bookings.

Professional Learning Systems is a consulting and training company specializing in salesforce productivity issues. For the past six years we have been on contract for a major hotel management company. We've trained Sales & Catering Managers through General Managers helping them improve revenues and profits. We've trained salespeople and managers with many of the large brands including Raddison, Holiday Inn, Sheraton, and several others.

S.C.O.P.E.

We've created a program called SCOPE, an acronym for Sales & Catering: Optimizing Personal Effectiveness. A two-year-in-the-making training program that guarantees increased bookings from corporate inquiry calls. We focus on doubling your capture rate. We asked our hotel management client to try it as a test to see if SCOPE could improve revenues and profits.

One person reported an immediate success with a very large client one day after the program. She said, "If I had not used the SCOPE principles, I would have never had a chance. It was a very competitive situation, and now it's going to happen."

Another participant commented:

"Thank you so much for the learning experience. It's always good training when you come back motivated, and ready to book endless business."

SCOPE concentrates on six key optimizers that will get you more bookings, increase your average daily rate, and make your hotel more profitable. One optimizer is up-selling. According to marketing experts if you offer every customer or prospect a better or added deal like a package of items or services in addition to the one the customer is buying, 30-40% of the prospects will say yes. This one simple technique could increase revenues significantly. These concepts are applied across the board to telephone selling, face-to-face selling, site inspections, and proposals. As a result your staff will understand when to use the optimizers and how to use them effectively.

SCOPE is designed as either a two or three day program. For salespeople who have had basic selling skill training, we may recommend the two day version. The three day workshop is designed for salespeople who haven't had basic selling skills training. If the length of time is a problem, we could also work out a split schedule so you don't have to pull all of your people off the phones. We designed SCOPE with follow-up in mind. After the workshop, we set up a follow-up system to insure the training works, and customize it for the client's situation. As a result you will be assured that the training will be used to generate additional sales.

The cost is $4900 plus travel and hotel expenses for up to eight participants. We are also open to trade-outs. You will get a seminar that should pay for itself with a few profitable bookings. What's in this for us? We gain more experience with the program, and feedback from the participants.

To help convince you that you may have a need for SCOPE training, we're offering a free "shopping" analysis. We'll call your property to book a meeting, and provide you a free report of our findings. We'll give you feedback on how well your salesperson understood the needs and optimized the revenue potential from the call. There is no cost to you and valuable information gained from a third party perspective. For more information call us at 513-772-5115.

p.s. We make the commitment to our clients that if they are not satisfied with any program at the conclusion of the training, the client simply does not pay our invoice for the seminar. You have little to lose and a lot of business to gain.