Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - (Page 12) 12 Sales Clinic IN THE details Seek business from within Check guest profiles On-property incentives Get employees involved H&MM October 20, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Finding leads can be easier than imagined n these current times, where we see an overbuilding of properties in some areas of the country, operators are getting nervous about the potential drop in occupancy as well as competitors reducing rates to bring in business. Many queries come from managers and owners of non-branded properties asking how to seek business I By Howard Feiertag H&MM Columnist leads when there is no sales person on staff. What we need to understand is that in the hospitality industry, there are, and always will be, customers to fill our rooms. However, we must seek ways to locate prospects for our properties and turn them into customers. Success in hospitality sales is mostly a result of develop- ing good business leads, and it is not a question of flying all over the country to find these leads. There are more leads right on your hotel premises than most managers realize. Think of current guests. People who stay at your property are prime prospects for future room business as well as other types of activities, such as small meetings or social activities. A quick check of your guests’ reservation profiles gives a large amount of information on each guest. From this you could easily determine if a guest’s company could be a prospect for future rooms, conferences or social activities. Some properties are using the simple on-property promotional activity of collecting business cards in a bowl or briefcase. The incentive, of course, is for visitors to leave their cards for a monthly gift drawing. This is just another way for a property manager to gather information for a database of leads for future business. In setting this up, look for information that would identify corporate officers, association representatives, sales managers, personnel managers, etc. These are the people, for the most part, that decide on housing for their traveling staffs or who set up meetings and social events for their organizations. Employees also are in a position to provide leads. Many of your staff associates belong to a variety of organizations that would be helpful in locating leads, such as church groups, garden clubs, school groups, sporting activities, etc. Through these organizations there could be a wide variety of people who come into town and need rooms for overnight stays, as well as small groups seeking meeting space. Further, sports teams coming to town for tournaments need rooms. Ask your staff for help in providing these lead opportunities to you. Meet with all your employees and explain to them how they could be in a position to help fill rooms through connections they may have with their organizations. This could develop into a great motivational movement for your staff. Almost immediately you will see employees become more involved in working together. The message here is “everyone sells,” which could be a good motto for you. 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. 129 http://www.HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.uniqueamenities.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 Contents Event Empowers Property-Level Leaders Boutique Bonanza Perspective Legal FAQ Consultant's Corner AAHOA Update Sales Clinic HotelWorld Update On Finance Trends & Stats Surprise Guests by Predicting Their Needs Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted Electronic Safes Housekeeping Services Marketplace Events Ad/Edit Index Classifieds Checking Out Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 (Page Cover1) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 (Page Cover2) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 (Page 1) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 (Page 2) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Boutique Bonanza (Page 4) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Boutique Bonanza (Page 5) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Perspective (Page 6) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Perspective (Page 7) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Consultant's Corner (Page 8) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Consultant's Corner (Page 9) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - AAHOA Update (Page 10) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - AAHOA Update (Page 11) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Sales Clinic (Page 12) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Sales Clinic (Page 13) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - HotelWorld Update (Page 14) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - HotelWorld Update (Page 15) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - On Finance (Page 16) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - On Finance (Page 17) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Trends & Stats (Page 18) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Trends & Stats (Page 19) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Surprise Guests by Predicting Their Needs (Page 20) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Surprise Guests by Predicting Their Needs (Page 21) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted (Page 22) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted (Page 23) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted (Page 24) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted (Page 25) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Electronic Safes (Page 26) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Electronic Safes (Page 27) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Electronic Safes (Page 28) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Electronic Safes (Page 29) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 30) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 31) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 32) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 33) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 34) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 35) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 36) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 37) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Marketplace (Page 38) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Events (Page 39) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Ad/Edit Index (Page 40) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 41) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 42) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 43) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 44) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 45) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Checking Out (Page 46) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Checking Out (Page Cover3) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Checking Out (Page Cover4)
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