Revenues Fresh and Sexy
Direct link to our interview:1. -- http://bit.ly/gMjonU
2. -- http://bit.ly/eLH5S3
I am the Chief Cultivator of what we hope is the most spirited and most effective little company around. Our mission is to help only cool clients, who are as passionate as we are, to increase their revenues. We speak at keynote and breakout events, we deliver 1/2 day to 3 day training workshops and we consult.
In the process of increasing revenues we show (not tell) our clients how to impact at such a high level that their competition won't be able to match their selling and service abilities EVER. We do this by producing tactical plans and scoreboards that target 6 simultaneous levels at the same time. They are: employees, clients and potential clients, vendor partners, brand people, lenders and the community. By seperating from the rest of the pack in all of these areas gives my client the ability to drive a unique sales and service culture that crushes the commodities driven cultures of their competition. Everyone involved with my client on those 6 levels wins and when that happens the competition's employees and their customers want to now associate with my client. We don't fight fair and we fight to win.....permanently.
My second book of 10 that I am writing is going to be coming out in early August and is called "The Good Book of Business." It is a collection of 32 business disciplines written by 31 contributing authors...each an expert in what they practice. It aims to be a very tactical look at how small to medium sized business owners can improve almost every facet of their businesses. With over 650 pages and an opportunity to speak with every author, this book guarantees the reader that they will learn alot.
My first book is called "Ethical Theft....how to steal business from your competition." It is a very tactical look at 50 things I have done throughout my 30 years of selling and marketing to liberate business from my competition. It is a humorous and practical book that will challenge how far you are willing to go to provide for your organization, your fellow employees, your family and for you. You can reserve any copy of my books by going to www.FreshRevenues.com or through www.Amazon.com
Direct link to our interview:1. -- http://bit.ly/gMjonU
2. -- http://bit.ly/eLH5S3
Creative Ideas for Filling the Revenue Gap
You are in the wedding gown business; the car wash business; the hotel business. B to B or B to C…….whatever business you are in, you have lulls and voids, or gaps during times of the day, week, month or year when your product or service does not sell because of various factors. What are these factors?
1. Wrong time of the day for your consumer to buy from you (they are working, they are home etc).
2. Not the right season to buy. Not thinking about winter in August just yet.
3. The weather, tar balls or the devaluation of their 401K has scared them away.
Whatever the reason, you have times when you have a void or gap where selling hasn’t been an option before because customers just didn’t have a good reason to buy. This article is dedicated to re-thinking how to sell in those time periods. We needn’t accept current conditions as cast in stone. Can we explore some ideas to sell stuff when we typically haven’t been able to in the past?
Thinking tactically, let’s pick on a service business like the car wash business. When is it slowest? I’m not in that business, but I would assume 9-noon and again 1-5 on weekdays. You and I have seen “ladies day Tuesdays” at a car wash before, but what if the car wash came up with a broader audience to sell and market to at all slow periods, not just Tuesday’s? A discount of course is the first thing to come to mind during those hours, but what if the car wash also/in lieu of said:
1. Double points on a frequency or loyalty program during lull period hours?
2. Have complementary businesses come into the car wash and do low key selling “seminars” on:
a. Tire inflation: what’s best for your type of driving?
b. Tricks for driving in the rain
c. Caught in traffic? Things you can do to make your wait productive
d. Work out of your car? Favorite car gadgets
3. So the suggestion here is: make your customers “want” to frequent your business. Give them an experience vs a chore. Think of ways to create more value for your customers and to be thought less of as a commodity.
After you gain a following for these seminars you can broaden your subject matter to include handouts/speakers who can talk about “Life Savers”….things consumers can do to add value to their day:
a. How to make a nutritious meal in 15 minutes
b. How to not “over-coach” your kid’s sports activities
c. How to get your children into college
d. Health and exercise tips
e. Best ways to use coupons
f. Stress buster activities
Let’s pick on something a little more event driven…something like shopping for a wedding dress, buying a car or a boat. I assume weekends are busiest for these places so the void is weekdays between the hours of X and XX.
Wedding dresses (or more event driven kinds of situations): champagne and snacks reception during the void periods. A montage of videos of previous weddings played to the right music to fill in slower moments of fitting the dress. While the bride is being fitted for the dress have a wedding planner present those accompanying her tips on finding:
a. Finding the right baker, photographers, and entertainers and so on
b. Have chefs visit the stores with samples of exotic foods, recipes (chefs during the day slow down too so this may fit their schedule perfectly)
c. Invite musicians to play in your store
Rules For Selling During Gap Periods
Some things to consider when planning events to drive business during slow periods:
1. Get creative. What would motivate prospective buyers to move out of the norm or habit and change for you. It has to be a compelling reason and a strong message.
2. Make your void period offers more of an experience and less of a transaction. In doing so you will be making it harder for your competition to copy you. That’s why price cutting alone won’t get it done in the long term for you.
3. Help the consumer to make it a habit. They join your club, or they receive loyalty rewards if they buy during void periods etc.
4. Partner with complementary businesses to help you fill the void and they in turn will be compelled to network leads and business to you as well.
5. Package your products and services with complementary vendor partners so that they get “package deals” if they buy from all involved in the offering.
6. Stay creative. Don’t just come up with one thing and stay there. Challenge your staff (contest) or even your customers to come up with ideas for motivating kinds of events/activities that will excite them. Do you want your customer base to use you often? Surprise them with more than what they would expect from your solid service culture. Keep them curious about what your next offer will be and they’ll keep coming back. Customers will support businesses where they feel “connected”. Build those connections by creating experiences for them that will lead to a long lasting, repetitive relationship. Then watch your sales grow.
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Having been an entrepreneur for about 24 years of my 38 years in the business world, I have run into many other entrepreneurs and worked with many small, medium and big business owners. It has been interesting to see where they come up with solutions for opportunities and challenges and it goes without saying that the smaller the company, the tougher it is to come up with the ideas in order to come up with the best solution(s). So where do I find most small and medium sized companies go for their answers? In order of progression (but not importance) they go to:
1. The internet. Doctors especially cringe at this thought. Patients are coming in all the time asking the doctor if their ailments are associated with the Guacamole epidemic that is happening in Peoria Illinois (I made this up so don’t throw away your avocados just yet). Yep, some guy who professes to have done a study will tell you that catalytic converters on your cars make left-handed, blue eyed 6 foot males sterile and the next thing you know guys are having colored contact lenses installed. The internet can be a wonderful resource….or not. Sometimes we glean enough information to be really dangerous to ourselves and the well-being of our companies.
2. They call up their buddies. We call up friends, associates and friends of friends and we ask them if they have solutions for our predicaments. Some of this is good stuff and like the internet, although intentions are honorable, some of the advice they give us is bad. Case in point, I live in a new loft that is housed in a building shell that used to be Piggly Wiggly’s world headquarters (1st grocery store chain in America) - built in 1916. As the tile guy gets ready to lay tile all throughout the building he sees these smaller 2 inch by 2 inch tiles that are to go in key locations in the tile pattern, but he is not sure which side is the right side up. So, he goes to his veteran electrician friend who has been in construction for quite some time now for his advice. Without a doubt, he tells him side B. You guessed it. Tile guy gets done with weeks of hard work in the 110 degree heat; tile company sends the bill to the General Contractor (GC) and the GC is inspecting the work, without realizing the mistake either. Designer happens upon the scene while the GC is bragging to her about how cool the tile work is and she agrees with exception to the 2 inch $8 a piece small tiles that are upside down. My guess is if the tiles only cost 80 cents apiece he would not have cared, but at $8 per…..he wants them all cut out and re-laid properly or he isn’t paying for any of the tile work.
3. They buy a book or take classes in school. Very few small business owners can or care to go back to school, but many buy books. I don’t know about you readers, but too many business books are theoretical, strategic, academic…..not enough tactical advice or as perfect of a fit for my business situation. I happen to L O V E Inc magazine for that very reason….real life, real business owners and very tactical solutions. Some books are written by ghost writers….not even the person whose name is on the cover; some books are written by folks who have gone bankrupt and that would be great if they were writing about what not to do….but they are giving us advice on what to do.
4. They call up or go online with the Small Business Administration (SBA): Maybe an A for the idea effort, but not so much in actual execution. Enough said.
Bottom line, net net….businesses of all sizes today need better intelligence so that they can make better informed decisions. Enter “The Good Book of Business.” A book that I am almost finished producing in concert with 31 other authors. I certainly don’t have all the right answers, but I went to 31 others who do. People that work in specific business disciplines every day. CPA’s, attorneys, insurance people, consultants of all shapes and disciplines….people that don’t just write for a living, they work at it just like small business owners do every day, because they in fact are small business owners too. Truth be told, the first reaction by most contributing authors was “I don’t know if I know how to write.” Initially, they would go on to say “I know how to speak it and do it….but writing about it is another thing.” Well, I went out and got a terrific editor and she melded their facts for your head and their stories for your heart. Each author shared and bared all that they could to help you understand how to make the best decisions in 32 different business disciplines.
Accounting to advertising; branding to building a culture; legal to leadership; networking to raising capital; sales to strategic…..it is all in here….over 650 pages of baring all these authors could to give you the best tool they know of to help you make better informed decisions. There is even off the beaten track stuff like: how to go green locally and globally; how to jump start a new company; how to provide a “faith” environment while at work; integrity management and even advice on how to think and act more creatively.
The best part is that every author included their bio, their jpeg and contact information so that you can contact them and ask questions specific to your particular situation. This will be a free service for the remainder of 2010. The website is under construction and the book is in final editing….all should be available to see and purchase by in early August. Stay close to www.FreshRevenues.com or Amazon for more updates very soon.
Drive the Greatest Revenue Results By Using 3 Rules in Loyalty Sales Calling
Loyalty vs any other adjective or adverb you can come up with is the best way to approach selling your potential clients for immediate and long term results. Here is the first example of loyalty in a known commodity, selling gas at a gas station. Can we use this example in all selling situations?
You own a gas station and you know that the net profit % is very slim, so you can’t afford to lower prices, or offer freebies as an incentive to picking up and retaining new customers. So how can you create a more loyal customer? Most gas station customers are probably looking at price and location as the two greatest features….if the price is comparable to the next guy and it is on your way to and from work….then you will more than likely call this your gas station …..not much of a loyalty driving kind of proposition however. What if the lighting at your gas station is weak, the window cleaning solution habitually dry, the pumps dirty, or the receipt doesn’t come out like it should? Enough reason(s) to chase customers to the next station? Probably. What if you as the owner or manager had these lighting and other operational fundamentals in place….but in addition to….you also made it a habit of walking the pump area, picking up trash and talking to your customers. What would happen if you said “Hi, my name is Eric and I own/manage this station….if you need anything….I will be out here or just inside….thanks for using us for your gas needs.” When is the last time you received this kind of a free benefit at a gas station? Never or very rarely. Customers would probably be blown away….they wouldn’t expect it. This is the first step in driving loyalty….exceeding expectations.
Let’s try another example and one that I have heard repeated hundreds of times. You are a 25 year old woman who is planning her wedding….something you’ve probably been thinking of from time to time for the past 20 years. Like all women and men…you want this day to be perfect…..one of the very best of your entire life. You are getting ready to make the most important phone calls that will determine how your special day will go and the area that more things can go wrong or right. That’s right, we are talking about the reception facility. How many places will the bride-to-be call to set up an appointment to meet with the catering staff to then determine which facility wins her trust? Three, four, five? Regardless of how many, she will more than likely have a conversation with an experienced wedding planner that focuses on 3 things….three very selfish things. Ready? Rates, dates and space. Those will be the three things the catering veteran will want to know in determining whether she even wants this bride’s business. This catering professional fields many calls a day, in a week, in a month asking the same kinds of things, so she has learned to streamline the calls to save herself time. She may be a veteran wedding planner, but has learned how not to have a customer centric approach to selling or driving loyalty with that soon to be bride. So rule # 2 in driving loyalty with your potential and existing customers/clients is to make an emotional connection.
Why should we be concerned with loyalty? If you go into your wallets and purses you will see that you have a fair amount of frequency or loyalty program cards….some from competing brands. The truth is, as consumers we are looking for more than satisfaction. We want personal perks, surprises and value add kinds of goods and services. It sometimes makes up for the bad service we get, but how much more loyalty would we be driving if the fundamentals are in place and on top of the stuff we were supposed to get…we got a surprise bonus. Emotional connections with managers who go out of their way to show care and concern. Surprises in the form of getting a delivery that exceeds my expectations as a consumer.
As business owners and operators we already know that it is expensive to find new customers and even more expensive to fix things that they are dissatisfied with. Our mission should not be to make our customers satisfied, but to go beyond satisfaction and straight to a commitment of loyalty the very second the experience begins. Let’s go back to the catering director who fielded that wedding reception request. Instead of focusing on the catering hall’s selfish rates, dates and space needs, she instead made that bride to be feel incredibly special by beginning the conversation with an incredibly passionate tone: “……well, Charlotte, let me just say congratulations to you and David on several levels. First for your upcoming wedding and secondly, for choosing to consider us for your reception needs. My staff and me are absolutely committed in every way possible to making this wedding day one of the very best days of your life…..”
Caring more, doing more and communicating that care better than any one of your competitors is what business leaders need to be doing. Making the emotional connection and keeping the customer/client focus before our own selfish gains also solidifies and earns that loyalty. So rule # 3 is putting customer needs before your own needs.
Delivering the basics creates satisfaction, but does not drive loyalty…satisfaction is what consumers are supposed to get. Loyalty comes from the added bonuses we talked about here. Delivering more than customers expect is the name of the game each and every day. You can’t just wow them once…..each and every time you touch them and they touch you we need to drive loyalty When you do, incredible things happen. People buy stuff from you and they come back for more.
Marketserve Management & Marketing Studio
Vision & View Interview conducted by Dan McDevitt - Marketserve
Vision & View Interview
Don Farrell of Fresh Revenues
We have had the opportunity to meet with some of the leaders in sales, sales training, hospitality and marketing. Our interviews are intended to be informative and useful, and like a casual conversation between two friends.
We are talking with Don Farrell. Don started as a pot scrubber for Marriott Hotels in the early 1970s. He worked his way through the ranks and found his true passion in sales. After a dozen or so years of working and learning in various sales situations, brands and markets, he founded Signature Worldwide. As chairman and visionary at Signature for twenty years, Don developed the core sales and service programs that he personally delivered to thousands of clients, in hundreds of training events and in over three hundred keynote speeches.
Today, as Founder and Chief Cultivator of Fresh Revenues, Don lasers in on a single purpose of driving maximum revenues for clients. He is a compelling keynote and breakout speaker, offering fresh revenue ideas from experience. He conducts workshops filled with tactical and practical solutions to increase your revenues, whatever your business. His teams design and develop customized programs where each business team member clearly understands and embraces their role in delivering sales and service at optimum levels.
Don Farrell openly declares that he and Fresh Revenues are not for everyone. They are for clients that share their Fresh Revenues passion for increasing revenues and want to excel in their chosen craft.
Don, I have led off previous interviews with some specific questions, and I would like to ask one of you today. We have seen many changes in sales, training, and marketing and advertising, over the years. Someone occasionally restates David Ogilvy’s position from forty years ago, that “the purpose of advertising is to sell products”. I wonder if that makes sense today, and is that how you see it?
At the end of the day, yes. Selling and marketing are supposed to sell products or services, but how we do that today is very different from in the past. Today, the seller is either trying, or should be trying, to create loyalty with their consumer(s) versus just creating satisfaction. It is expensive to cultivate new customers and clients and to maximize ROI. Sellers today are looking for longer-term client, thus the need to create brand loyalty instead of just making a sale.
Everything that is done to communicate, and educate one’s customers, needs to revolve around this premise. So, companies today are looking at everything they say and do for their customers in an effort to drive maximum loyalty. An example would be something as mundane and vanilla as invoicing. In the past, you sent the customer a bill and they paid it.
Today, the invoice needs to be simple, specific and in keeping with the brand strategy in look, feel and wording. It needs to be a little unique to set it apart from all the other invoices these payables people see. It needs to be user friendly, meaning the consumer can pay by check, online deposits or any other payment acceptable to both parties. Questions about the invoicing either need to be handled online simply or with by a personable and educated human being on the other end of the phone. The client decides which they want to use. Everything and anything we do for our clients needs to come under the microscope and ask the question “….are we driving customer loyalty by doing this?”
That is nicely stated. We are human after all, certainly as human as can be. Don, can you give an example of somebody doing this, somebody getting it right?
I will give you a great example, just happened to me. I ordered a CD from an online company called CD Baby not long ago and a very creative message came to my inbox within seconds, which was fun and funny, telling me about how they were going to ship my newly purchased CD. It was so good I laughed out loud, and still remember that company many weeks later….look how many millions of people who are reading this that I am telling about this experience as well. They took a marketing approach to the traditionally mundane tasks of order fulfillment and invoicing. They made it about me, made me important and feeling good about my purchase decision.
You and your companies have been recognized as thought leaders in the service profession of training. You are seen as a person that delivers value. Is there anything like a ‘typical client relationship’ that you and the client experience?
Every single client is unique, and we try to tap into that personalized experience for and with our clients every day. Having said this, there are formulas that we follow that work for almost all clients. One formula goes like this. First, develop rapport based on personality partnering style. Be real. Care more. Second, uncover their want and must needs. Three is create value before ever discussing price. We will almost never be the cheapest….our goal is to be the best. Fourth, customize benefits and offer the client options. Five, treat them better than they have ever been treated by our competition. Six, always be improving.
I know your work in sales training and relationship training ventures into a variety of different professions and industries. Do you see many similarities from client to client?
Absolutely, people are people. They have needs, wants and desires. They are starving for sensational service. I covered many critical points, in a fun way, in the book and webinars titled Ethical Theft. The Ethical Theft webinar series is on my Fresh Revenues website. The book is available there also. Basically, treat people like people. They hate being sold to, but they like to buy. It has to be about their decision.
Is there any kind of client relationship thread that extends beyond one or two assignments or projects?
That is the goal every company should aspire to. Create vertical and horizontal opportunities to increase loyalties by getting deeper and farther into a company. The more departments you can serve, the more engrained you are into their culture.
Word of mouth testimonials from a person in one department to a person in another department has the same power as word of mouth testimonials from happy customers. It is one person to another, reinforcing loyalty between their company and yours. That strengthens the bond between their brand and your brand. You want to cultivate that to no end.
Good point, and takes us to a big question. We seem to be coming out of this recession period. You talk about creating fresh revenues as if it is real. What do you advise your clients and us to be doing now to have success in our businesses?
Part of harvesting and creating fresh revenues is tilling in new fields. Take a broader approach might be a better way to say it. For a hotel, confining your efforts to working only five market segments will be less productive than working ten or fifteen market segments. Boutique and special are okay, but more of success today is about expanding your audience, and being more to more people. Be everything you can be and do not decide for the potential guest what your hotel means to them. Let them decide. Share information about your business offerings and attractions in the area. Make it easy to like you and your property, and make it easy to do business with you.
We have talked previously about your project “Go Birds of a Feather”; I think is what you called it. Can you tell us about it and where you are with it?
We will begin a beta test in less than 30 days. GBOF is all about creating the ultimate social network. Getting people to go from connecting via the internet to meeting face to face to talk about their common likes, hobbies and interests.
Here is the scenario. You need to travel on business to Memphis and you would go into the GBOF website. You would type in your passionate hobby; let’s say it is hot air ballooning. You would be able to see where other hot air ballooners are staying. You send them a note prior to your trip to ask if they want to meet over breakfast, or dinner, and talk balloons. Pretty cool stuff.
We are conducting the beta to “prove concept” and then cultivate relationships that enrich the experience for the GBOF members….who get this service free by the way. We think this is the next level for hotel brands and the Pricelines of the world, and numerous other competitive arenas.
Don, what are some of the benefits that hotels and inns receive from this program?
Inns and hotels get what would normally be a “loyal” Hilton customer staying at their facility. They now have a chance to try and make that consumer their loyal guest with this value added benefit. In addition, inns and hotels can market lull periods. They can fill inventory they would not otherwise do with other channels. The guest of GBOF will get great competitive rates, and the hotel pays a lower discount to the booking site.
Could a group or a chain of lodging properties, or a hotel brand, use this Birds of a Feather program as well as individual hotels and inns?
We will be exploring the best brands to partner with in the venture. We will be offering some exclusivity so that they can maintain the advantage over their competition.
Your book and webinar series last year was titled “Ethical Theft”. I enjoyed the book and the webinars. I was glad to contribute a management chapter for your new book, and hope it fits in okay. Thanks for asking. When does “The Good Book of Business” become available, what all does it cover?
The Good Book of Business will come out in May. It should be a resource and an interesting read for all small business and mid-market business owners. There will be many business disciplines addressed in this book because small business owners don’t have time to go back to school. They need answers today. They might find cryptic, sometimes incorrect or dangerous, solutions on the internet, or from well meaning friends. The readers of The Good Book of Business face the same struggles as the writers of the book have faced. This book aims to focus on the small business owner’s daily challenges. It will have many real life examples and answers to help our fellow business owners and managers. We want the book to both inform and to inspire.
I imagine with your schedule that you visit a number of restaurants. Do you have some favorites when you travel or locally when you are home? It is okay to plug them, if they are doing a good job.
I like the independents. Home grown and brewed to fit into the area they represent. I like that the owners are there and work the room. Union Oyster House in Boston is maybe my favorite of all.
Little Italy (NYC) restaurants also do it for me. Giuseppe, or someone who pretends to have the right accent, calling out to you from their doorway not to visit the restaurant across the street, but instead come visit his place. I think it is pretty cool….Ethical Theft like.
Well, that’s that. I am ready for lunch at Giuseppe’s place. Thanks, Don, for taking the time to share these ideas and thoughts with us today.
Fresh Revenues is all about a single purpose. Driving maximum revenues for clients is the work. Revenues and profits are the reasons companies are in business, and increasing revenues and profits is how they stay in business. Increased revenues for the organization generate new opportunities to grow and prosper. Don Farrell and Fresh Revenue team members look at the top line, to increase gross revenues, and look at the bottom line, to increase net revenues. There is no hidden agendas and nothing is allowed to get in the way of the mission. This is their business, to help your business excel.
Don is the founder and chief cultivator of Fresh Revenues. He is focused on his client goals, excels in training and consulting, and is a great speaker, and listener. Call him; he welcomes your call at 731-514-1589. You can email Don@Freshrevenues.com .
Don Farrell
Fresh Revenues
speaking – workshops - consulting
Memphis, Tennessee USA
Telephone: 731 – 514 – 1589
The brick and mortar mailing address is:
Fresh Revenues
435 South Front Street, Suite 208
Memphis, TN 38103 USA
Send a note directly to Don@Freshrevenues.com . Call Don at 731 – 514 – 1589.
Marketserve Management & Marketing Studio
Say the word salesperson to most anyone and what kind of a reaction do you usually get? Yeah, not good. Ask them to paint a picture of the “typical” salesperson with words and it ain’t pretty either. Lastly, ask someone who sells for a living what their title is and it is almost never “salesperson”. Instead you get “….I am the Midwest Senior in Charge of Important Programs Sales Czar….” Even salespeople are ashamed of their salesman, saleswoman, salesperson titles…..they find that they have to have more adjectives tied to their sales title to give it more credibility.
So what things have salespeople done to get this bad rap? Here are a few of my least favorite traits:
1. They don’t really care about the consumer/client….they care more about their American Express
2. They care more about their sales quotas than they care about the financial well-being of their employer. This is how bad business is booked and the people who establish these quotas need to fix this
3. They focus too much attention on the product or service they are selling and not enough on the skills needed to be the best salesperson in the market
4. They focus too much attention on the product or service they are selling and not enough on the real needs and wants of the potential and existing client
5. They take for granted their “regulars”
6. They don’t try to improve each and every day
7. They don’t follow up sooner than they said they would
8. They don’t meet with their clients right after they have just used their product or service to find out how they can be better
9. They don’t try to help others (namely every single employee) in the office to be better salespeople
10. They are not honest with themselves when they fail to make a sale and conduct an autopsy on their actions. Maybe there was something they could have said or done to make it a better outcome and therefore sell smarter the next time
As the owner of the world’s best and biggest sales and service training company we made over 20,000 shop calls each and every month to employees who were supposed to be selling at a high level. Without the right training, focus and culture here is a typical sounding shop call……and again, we have listened to hundreds of thousands of them. Let me set the stage for you:
If you are married (remember back to that day), about to be married, or see yourself getting married someday…..and you are the person trying to secure wedding reception space, then you are more than likely the bride to be. This is going to be one of the most cherished and memorable events that will ever happen in your life. It is supposed to happen only once in your life, so you want it to be perfect in every way. You have three places in mind that would be in the running for your reception, so you call them all up to get preliminary information. From here you will be looking for a face to face meeting to determine who gets to have the privilege of hosting your once in a lifetime celebration. You call up the first place, second place and finally the third place and you are greeted warmly. That is immediately followed up with tactical questions relating to Dates, Space, Rates. Dates. Space. Rates. That’s what the reception place wants to talk with you about. Why? Because they have done so many wedding receptions, meetings, banquets and so on that they become more like the robotic conveyer belt at an automobile factory than the “trustee and true beneficiary of someone’s most cherished lunch or dinner”. It may be the last time all 4 of your generations will ever be together. It is the first time Aunts and Uncles have seen each other in a dozen years. It is the first and maybe last time both families will come together as one. And the banquet facility wants to focus on dates, space and rates. When you tell them that you are calling two more places they tell you that they hope you call them back…….see ya. Because they all sound the same our bride to be thinks that this is the way this is supposed to go……until she hears someone who is heads and shoulders above the rest.
I used a wedding scenario here but the same holds true for a single hotel room reservation to a business meeting…..same goes if you are a florist or a dentist. Great salespeople love every opportunity to separate themselves from the rest of their competition by being better than their competition in the caring department, the appreciation department and the loyalty building department. Great salespeople would congratulate this bride to be on her upcoming wedding and then ask her about how she has dreamt that this day would stand out in everyone’s mind as the greatest of any and all events ever held. The great salesperson will communicate expert advice on the best practices learned by hosting over 150 wedding receptions. The great salesperson knows that the dates, space and rates are important details….but take a back seat to the emotional connection that is needed to get a caller to come in for a site visit and from a site visit to an actual confirmed reception. Great salespeople see people as people and not dollar signs. And how many more receptions, meetings and other business dealings were just opened up to the audience that attended the reception of hers and his dreams? Nothing happens until somebody sells something. The world is starving for this……even and especially in a recession.
I like to read mission, vision and value statements because I like to see how out of touch senior management is with the employees who actually have to do the heavy lifting in delivering these commitments. Take for example the dry cabernet I had in the lobby of a 4 star Memphis landmark hotel last night….did the cocktail waitress know the statements and could she at least make an attempt at telling me what they were? I lost a dollar wager in the process because the answer is that….I got what a bird leaves behind on a fence post. Not her fault….management and leadership have once again failed. This is especially frustrating for consumers because many times you see the words “world class” somewhere in the text. I’d sure like to hear what others think when they hear the words “world class”. If you are like me your first thoughts are solid gold fixtures in a hotel bathroom, 2 employees to every guest when it comes to service levels, Bentleys ready and willing to drop you off anywhere you want to go and the list can go on. I heard of a hotel in the United Arab Emirates that claims to be the world’s first 6 star hotel. When they first opened up they charged to give tours, so they must be special. If that is world class, however, that leaves little room for the rest of us. It probably doesn’t make sense for you to have solid gold faucets, because that is not what your bread and butter client wants….so can you be a world class provider of goods and services? In my thought process you can and should attempt to be.
Have you done a good job of identifying who and what you are in your particular marketplace? What you may want to be is not who you should be in some cases….so let’s make sure that you have correctly positioned yourself at the right price for the right value to the right consumers. That is step one….do not pass Go and collect $200 unless you have identified this correctly. Now that this is in order, can you begin to push your imagination to surprise the guest and drive more loyalty (not just satisfaction) by re-defining yourself in world class terms? I’m not certain we know what is going on all around the world, but in your immediate world of 7 other competing hotels, travel agencies, timeshares, dentists and whatever business you are in….you can find out what it takes to be immediate world class. How?
1. You can be a guest, customer, user of your competition’s products and services
2. You can shop them regularly over the phone, via e-mails/websites and heck, even by sending a note or letter to see, hear and smell how they handle their customers. Look at every channel a consumer would use to inquire and/or buy
3. Open your eyes and ears to other businesses outside of your immediate one to see if you can beg, borrow or steal an idea or two from them (see my last blog about the company CD Baby)
4. Focus group or focus individual your customers and pry from them any and all suggestions they have to help you get better
5. Ask every single one of your employees. As one example, in addition to your customers and your wait staff…who would you want to ask what customers like and don’t like on your menu? I did this job and nobody ever asked me. Your dishwasher. Why would they know…because he/she knows what people don’t eat because they throw the food away
6. Read. Read books, newspapers and magazines. I read Inc magazine (I read every word from cover to cover) and find at least 2-3 new ideas in every publication….I get more from this one resource than almost any book I read.
7. Talk to your sister and cousin hotels, or whatever business you are in. Put your ego in your back pocket for a little while and be humble and open up to suggestions and ideas from folks who would like to share their successes with you
8. Never ever stop improving. World class is a moving target and you are the one that needs to be raising the bar
Now when you are loaded for bear with new and fresh ideas and suggestions, pull together management and line staff and brain storm the newest definition of world class for your business. Pilot or trial the new ideas on a smaller scale to see how they are received and work out the bugs. I used to think I was hot stuff when I was a Sales Manager selling in downtown Chicago for the 4 best Holiday Inns in the world at the time (several were Hyatt and better quality). I learned better when I moved to a “fixerupper” hotel in the Chicago suburbs in my first Director of Sales assignment, I really learned how to sell. Right after my arrival (I remember it was summer) I went to the GM around mid-month to get an order of office supplies fulfilled. He told me that we did not have any money in the budget and would have to wait until the first of the next month to buy anything. Wait a minute….I have proposals and mailings to get out. Tough, I have to wait was the response. I went from a $5M operating budget to a $5 operation just like that. So, I went into every storeroom I could find and all we had in excess was several year’s worth of holiday placemats…paper ones. You got it, I typed our proposals on these placemats in a poem fashion highlighting the fact that the holiday season will be here sooner than we think and they had better reserve space while the going was hot. The customers thought we did this on purpose, but we did it out of desperation. On it’s own I would not say this was world class, but in concert with other unique initiatives we separated ourselves from our competition. In that neighborhood we were world class. I guess it could be said, and more importantly demonstrated, that world class can be physical and it can be mental. Your drive, desire and need to make your employees and guests and customers as happy and loyal as they can be may be all you need to catapult you into world class. You don’t have to have the greatest physical plants, or the biggest budgets, but you certainly need to be world class when it comes to your attitude and focus on delivering what it takes.
Send me your thoughts on world class and what it takes please.
Generally speaking, we all know how bad service in America, and in fact the entire world, has gotten. A simple question about your healthcare insurance takes how many computer generated transfers, greetings and menu driven options before you finally get to talk with someone and then…..you hope they understand English and will be receptive to your needs? What about a phone call to the phone company of all places (phone = phone company) to ask a question about your billing or to change your service? Is it just me, or are you also bothered by the automatic attendant asking you to type in your complete phone number, including area code, and when you finally reach someone they ask you what your number is? Well, I have a surprise for you today readers…..I have a good story for once. Yes, something so refreshing that I decided to write a blog about this simple, yet totally effective approach to customer service.
Here goes. I am going to be speaking for almost a full day at an annual conference for a pretty cool hotel management company in about a month. Doing my best to walk my talk I find out that the assistant to the Sr VP of Operations has recorded her own CD’s. Now I normally bring a memory stick with about 100 songs on them that I will have playing as the meeting room fills up, during coffee breaks and certainly at the end when they are filling out an evaluation on the experience they just had in participating in one of my workshops. Side note here….when I play “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and thank each attendee by individually shaking each and everyone’s hand while they fill out the evaluation, I know I get goose bumps and the vibe I get back from them tells me that they think it is pretty cool too. Does playing Louis’ song help to get higher evaluations, I can’t say that I have empirical evidence to prove that I do…..but I do believe that their last impression of their time spent with me is a reinforced positive one. So back to my music selection for this training/speaking event…..I think how sweet would it be to surprise this assistant to the SR VP of Ops by playing one or more of her songs during one of the breaks. How many of her fellow employees know that she sings…..I will soon find out because they all will hear it from me. So I Google her name and sure enough there she is with a couple of CD options. The name of the order fulfillment company is called CD Baby…an independent music distributor. I buy the CD online and within minutes I get the following e-mail addressed from “CD Baby Loves You”:
Don-
Thanks for your order with CD Baby!
Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, October 7, 2009.
We hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. In commemoration, we have placed your picture on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sigh...
We miss you already. We'll be right here at http://cdbaby.com/, patiently awaiting your return.
-- CD Baby The little store with the best new independent music.
http://cdbaby.com cdbaby@cdbaby.com (503)595-3000
Now tell me that this isn’t the coolest little note that you ever saw…especially when all you are expecting is a standard (hate that word) confirmation note of some sort with a legal disclaimer attached to it that is longer than the message.
This brings to mind an exercise that we undertook at my training company where I was bent on making every customer contact we had as memorable as this note from CD Baby. We looked at our agreements and made them more user friendly, positive and fun to read. With our billing statements we included balloons (not filled up), crayons and confetti when they opened the invoice statement. Everything that touched our exterior and interior customers was looked at with a critical marketing and service eye. How can we….that means you…..do a better job of separating ourselves by elevating even the most mundane of processes to make it special for our customers? When you tackle this one, with your complete staff, you will have a lot of fun and come up with unique ideas that will make you stand out like CD Baby did for me.
Improving Sales In A Recession
Top 10 things a hotel management company can do to grow their sales
1. Focus on low lying fruit first and foremost. That is the business that is trying to come into your hotels and you are not making it as easy or as enjoyable for consumers as you should. Phone calls into your inns should be answered in 3 rings or less using a unique greeting that is upbeat.like "thank you for calling our award winning ABC Hotel, this is Mark, how may I help you?" If the caller wants information on making a reservation ask them what dates they had in mind and number of persons. While checking on availability, ask them what brings them to the area, so that you can customize their benefits in a value proposition. Quote 4 BIG benefits (based on their needs and why they are coming), 2 rate/room options and then ask to confirm. If they do not make a reservation ask a resistance question like: "I'm sorry, is there something I failed to mention..something else you may be looking for?" When they tell you use fallback options and ask to confirm again. A small hotel will generate $100K more in highly profitable incremental revenue; medium sized hotel $200K and larger resorts 500K-$1M more a year.
The same holds true of the e-mail requests that you get and even your website needs to follow this formula when promoting your inns.
2. Website SEO (search engine optimization): Speaking of websites and low lying fruit, make certain that not only is the part readers see is engaging and compelling, but also make sure that meta tags (the keywords that drive lookers to your site) are done correctly. Blogs and fresh content added on a regular basis will help keep you current and your organic placement higher when people are searching for hotels that can accommodate their needs. 50% of the people who hit your website will also call your inn direct so make certain that #1 here (low lying fruit) is cranking out conversions in the 70-80% range.
3. Branded hotels should work all of the programs within those brands to their maximum advantage. RFP's (request for proposals) is just one example..make certain your brand national and regional sales teams are promoting your hotels. Loyalty and frequency programs; special promotions and many other revenue generating initiatives are being pushed out by the brands but not enough franchisees and member inns are taking full advantage of them.
4. Sales Blitzes. A sales blitz is a concentrated amount of sales calls made in a short period and can uncover business you did not even know was in your own backyard. Use line staff, sales staff and department heads and make 20 calls for each team of two persons X 7 teams X 2 days and you will have made 280 personal calls which will generate hot and medium leads. Everyone sells in your hotels…..everyone starting from the CEO and all throughout the ranks. If sales blitzes fail they usually fail in the follow up, so make certain you organize hot, medium and low priority follow sales based on revenue potential. Trace them and follow through.
5. Feeder Market Sales Calls: Contact non-competing hotels in markets that feed business into your market. Share leads from your files and ask them to do the same. So if you are located in Columbus Ohio, you will contact hotels in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo for organizations that they feel would travel to other cities within Ohio.
6. Expand the number of market segments you are pursuing. SMERFES (Social, Military, Ethnic, Religious, Education, Sports) have the potential to use your hotels during lull periods. Funeral homes; churches; AAU sports groups; rental car counters at the airport and overflow from your competition..this list can be incredibly powerful. Expand your reach. Federal government; state government; Travel Agents; Convention and Visitors Bureaus; Chambers of Commerce; Business Development offices; Courts System (juries); National and State Associations; hospitals and medical; colleges (parents weekends, visiting speakers, sports teams, continuing education programs) and the list goes on. Get creative and you can and should be more things to more people.
7. Your Competition. Your competition may be filling up a few times and you are not..get the night auditors and B shift employees promoting your hotels before any others. Bring them a sub sandwich, pizzas etc to keep you top of mind. Take their sales people to lunch and get them to refer business they cannot or do not want to book.
8. Owners and General Managers Make Sales Calls. Clients and potential clients are impressed when the top dog comes to visit them. You need to make certain that existing clients remain loyal so go see these clients regularly. Ask them if there was one thing you can do, no matter how small, what could you do to improve service and loyalty.
9. Make sales calls on the Market Managers from the various OTA's. Priceline, Expedia and so forth have field based managers who can tell you what it takes to get their business on specific days of the week. The rate may be lower than you would like it to be, but it will be when you need business the most.
10. Marketing initiatives promoting lull periods should be implemented. Weekend packages; wedding and honeymoon packages; family attraction packages are the sort of thing that need to be explored using all of the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, www.MeetUp.com) and all of the conventional channels as well (radio, newspaper and other print media).
