While many proprietors of smaller hotels attempt to handle sales and marketing efforts themselves, few fail to quickly realize that these areas have become highly specialized fields within the hospitality sector, requiring training, skill and experience. The time commitment alone that is required to create and operate a successful sales plan and marketing campaign, even when an individual has the necessary background, is enormous. Therefore smart hotel owners are turning to Hotel Management companies who are renowned for their accomplishments with similar types of lodging.
Key Characteristics For A Successful Team
While many Hotel Management Companies claim that they have one of the top sales and marketing departments in the business, there are certain strategies that predict successful results that can help when deciding which company to choose. Some of the qualities that can help a proprietor choose the best sales and marketing team includes the following:
• They Learn Your Business from the Bottom Up – A sales and marketing team cannot be successful without knowing every aspect of your business. They must be capable of accurately and comprehensively representing your hotel to potential customers. It is also essential they are able to accomplish this in a manner that creates a sense of enthusiasm for your establishment that surpasses the impressions created by your competition.
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• They Learn Your Main Competitors Business from the Bottom Up – While they may know everything they need to know about your hotel, this alone won’t necessary allow them to establish an effective sales and marketing strategy. They have to also be able to establish a reputation which places your hotel among those considered to be the best lodgings available. In order to do this, they must ensure your hotel is perceived as unique, distinctive and more desirable than your competitors’ establishments.
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• They Listen to You and Hear What You Want – A successful sales and management team may have a number of great ideas. However, these ideas may not be aimed at generating solutions that meet your stated goals for your business. This means that they either didn’t truly listen to what you wanted to accomplish as they already had their own ideas formulated or that they didn’t understand your needs.
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• They Seek Improvement through Regular Training – A sales and marketing team maintains their status as being recognized as cutting edge professionals by keeping up with new developments especially in terms of the most recent technological advances. A team must not only maintain awareness of such developments but also gain enough training to adequately evaluate the usefulness of new products for the establishments they manage. General training in advanced strategies and techniques are also important professional development areas to help ensure the team can create positive outcomes for your hotel.
• They Keep up with Market Trends and Review Reports with Staff Regularly – A good sales and marketing team knows what types of customers make up your client base and what draws them to your hotel. Yet as the hospitality market is expanding it is also becoming more fickle such that the largest population of travelers at one point in time may not be the same as at a later point in time. With the increase in Global travel, these trends in changing traveler demographics must be recognized quickly by the sales and marketing team to target those travelers most likely to book and appreciate your hotel. What distinguishes a good team from a great team is that the great team keeps a close eye on your hotels data as well as data which indicates a shift in trend directions. They then put the two together and conduct a market analysis. Based on the results, they alter the sales and marketing plan as appropriate in order to target any new traveler segment indicated as likely to produce an increase in bookings and revenue. Most importantly the great team will keep all staff, not just management, up to date by reviewing monthly reports with them, whether or not the results show that alterations may be indicated.
Management success results from designing sales approaches based on an analysis of booking patterns, creating a fluid marketing approach that allows for real time interaction with your customers and establishing positive relationships through regular interactions with your clientele. When choosing a company specifically for marketing strategies, make sure you gather the information necessary to determine that they can help you reach and maintain positioning at the pinnacle of the industry.
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