Do you Have a Strong Sales Strategy for 2020?
According to HVS, occupancy is going to be relatively flat in 2020 with less than a 1% increase in ADR. Although we cannot control the economic cycle or the labor shortage in the hospitality industry, we can instead make gains by controlling how we show up and what we do from a sales perspective.
As hospitality professionals, we need to take the front seat when it comes to our sales approach. Here are two tips on how to be successful in 2020.
1. Change Your Mindset
Hunting and farming are both critical to a hotel’s success, and in a perfect world, hotels would have the time and resources for both. With the current economic forecast, hotels need to have the mindset of a hunter in a market where there is more supply than demand. This year, hotels will need to focus on hunting and shifting business from their competitive set. If your primary focus is farming, for example: waiting for the phone to ring – it will result in price dropping and relying primarily on third party channels to build your base.
Tip number one: Shift your mindset to that of a hunter rather than a farmer to shift business from your competitors.
2. Provide Value
According to CSO Insights – only 53% of salespeople are meeting or exceeding their sales targets. This percentage has continued to decline over the last five years. Informed buyers are not waiting for salespeople to call; they are perfectly comfortable shopping and buying online. As a result, you need to be able to answer the following question every time you pick up the phone or send an email: “What additional value am I adding that they cannot get online?” If you do not know the answer, then you are probably going to be the easiest salesperson to get rid of.
Today’s informed buyer can be 60% of their way through the buying process before they ever interact with a salesperson. When this happens, the conversation becomes transactional rather than consultative. If you can show your value by being consultative and relevant, you will be able to come into the buying process sooner and rise above the noise and your competition. In fact, according to CSO Insights, 90% of prospects are willing to engage sellers earlier in the process if they can add value.
Tip number two: Provide value when you connect with your prospects by understanding what your product or service enables them to do.
Take a moment and reflect on the following:
- Does your current sales strategy have a hunting mentality?
- Are you providing value or just “smiling and dialing” hoping to stumble across a piece of business?
Successful hotels in 2020 will be those who can be proactive and jump into the driver’s seat by hunting strategically for new business and showing up in a more relevant way.
For a more in-depth look at this topic, listen to the Gillis Sales Podcast episode: Do you have the right sales strategy for 2020?
Sales are the lifeblood of all organizations. No business has ever succeeded without sales but knowing where to start can be overwhelming. The good news is, we can teach you how to do it OR we can do it for you. Interested to learn how we can help you? Contact us today for a complimentary sales consultation: https://gillissales.com/contact/
