Bring hotel sales teams together and quickly uncover new revenue!
After 10 years of developing, organizing and executing well-over 250+ hotel sales blitzes, we have seen it all. Ranging from downright scary to horribly disorganized, teams are at their wits end on how to run a productive sales blitz.
The one thing is for certain… it’s a challenging task and it’s not for the faint of heart. It takes hotel sales individuals out of their comfort zones and thrusts them into some stressful situations. We’ve seen huge success stories and major disappointments all in the same hour! Sales blitzes are a great way to bring hotel sales teams together for a common goal and quickly uncover new business potential.
On average, it takes 7 consecutive times to make an action become a habit. Imagine how versed we are, after doing this 250+ times!
We have found there are four key factors to keep in mind if you want to run a success blitz:
- Set common expectations & be relentless about it
There are a variety of stages people could be a part of… The planning stage, the execution stage and the follow-up stage. All three ‘stage’ stakeholders MUST be in alignment and on the same page. Whether this is a large-scale hotel sales blitz with multiple teams or just a one-hotel with a few people participating… Chances are, not everyone will be involved in all aspects of the sales blitz. At some point, the group needs to come together and discuss the expectations. It is important to keep coming back to those expectations and goals. The larger the sales blitz event, the easier it will be to have some veer off course.
2. Plan ahead
This goes hand-in-hand with setting expectations. Key pieces of the puzzle that make a successful sales blitz are planning the following aspects:
- Target market – Who are you going to call for appointments & why?
- The customer call-to-action – Present a compelling reason to meet & during the appointment extend an enticing offer for next-step.
- The customer message – Make it clear, concise and consistent
- The quantitative goal – How many appointments do you want to strive for, how many cold calls in between appointments and how much revenue do you hope to uncover. Keep it realistic based on size of market, timing of the sales blitz and number of teams.
- The qualitative goal – How do you want participants to walk away feeling? (This also comes back to setting proper expectations.)
- The follow-up plan – Who is taking control of the follow-up? How and what is the appropriate timeline. We believe sales follow-up makes up 90% of the success of a sales blitz. If you don’t set proper follow-up actions you will certainly not see a return.
- Logistics – Use maps and divide territories so sales blitz teams do not duplicate efforts. Communicate frequently between teams and a central point of contact to alert of any changes throughout the day. Ensure notes and information from appointment calls are clearly communicated to the teams, to minimize surprises by and to the customers.
- Be flexible
Understand clients’ schedules will change, there will be logistical challenges in any blitz regardless of the pre-planning. It’s important in a sales blitz to not let one disappointment cloud the entire event. Always come back to the main goals of the event to determine if it was a success.
Also important to remember – it is okay if their timing isn’t where you need it to be in the buying process. You’ve started to build a connection and relationship. Allow yourself to truly listen and offer how you can be of service to them.
- Keep it light and entertaining
Incorporate friendly competition, allow teams to use social media throughout the day to share funny stories and successes, post videos on YouTube of teams between appointments discussing their day, give away prizes, celebrate successes throughout the event. These ideas are just scratching the surface.
Are you planning your next blitz and feeling a bit overwhelmed? GitGo can handled the back-of-the-house set-up and organizing. Allowing the sales teams to show up and do what they do best… SELL!
To learn more about GitGo’s Sales Blitz Missions, Click HERE!