Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008 - (Page 10)

10 Sales Clinic IN THE details Find prospects in ofﬁce Check sales ﬁles Collect business cards Keep updated information H&MM February 18, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Record keeping can minimize cold calling t is a shame that so many hospitality salespeople spend too much time seeking out new business by running around “knocking on doors.” It appears management and owners are telling them to “get out and sell.” Many of those involved in seeking new business get out of the property and start going into ofﬁce buildings, I By Howard Feiertag H&MM Columnist blindly calling on companies and asking if they have any business for the property. Many do not go out but instead get a hold of listings of companies and organizations and blindly make calls. Just minutes before I wrote this column, I received a phone call from a salesperson in a hotel in North Carolina (I am lo- cated in Virginia) asking me for my meeting business. I teach at a university and do not control any meetings going anywhere. The salesman, when asked, advised me that he was given a list to make some calls. This happens a couple of times a week, with calls coming from hotels asking for my business. Isn’t there a way that these salespeople can be more productive in seeking qualiﬁed prospects? Of course there is. Without even leaving the ofﬁce, any person—and they do not even have to be salespeople—can ﬁnd qualiﬁed leads right from the property’s own sales ﬁles. Certainly there are ﬁles, either paper ﬁles in ﬁle cabinets or on a computer. There will be hundreds of ﬁles on groups that have met or could have met at the property years ago. Generally, there will be a very high percentage of ﬁles that have not been followed up over long time periods, and ﬁles that have not been traced or have been overlooked by the sales staff. The whole idea would be to go through each old ﬁle and make follow-up calls. After all, these ﬁles represent groups that have been there or could have been there before, so they have been prospects and may very well still be prospects for new business. Then we have salespeople who participate in attending conventions and conferences where they are exhibiting for their properties. Usually there is the opportunity for attendees to drop off business cards because of a prize drawing or offer of some kind. When computerized name badges are used for attendees, it is just a matter of scanning the badge to get information about the booth visitor. Are all these people who get scanned or leave their business cards in a position to do business with that particular property that is exhibiting? Of course not. So when exhibiting, use some form of a prospect survey sheet to ask pertinent questions of booth visitors to determine which are prospects for business. The idea is to not burden your time, ﬁles and resources with information on people who are not in a position to do business with you. For a free copy of a prospect survey form, e-mail: howardf@ vt.edu. hmm@questex.com Howard Feiertag is on the faculty of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va. He can be reached at howardf@vt.edu. CIRCLE NO. 101 http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.a1textiles.com http://www.a1textiles.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008

Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008 Contents ALIS Attendees: Bumpy Road Ahead Denihan Expands with James Hotel Purchase AAA Updates its Diamond Rating Guidelines Perspective Letters to the Editor Legal FAQ Satisfaction Trends Sales Clinic HotelWorld Update Trends & Stats Locally Grown Food Gains Popularity Companies Cultivate International Ties Wireless Internet Access Opens Up Possibilities Ice Machine Care Improves Efficiency, Performance The Importance of F&B to Leisure Travelers Lamps/Lighting Transactions Events Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008

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