Do you ever hear yourself telling someone something that you needed to hear yourself? That has happened to me a lot lately. It’s like the universe is bringing up situations for me to coach, that it knows are also internal issues for me. Thank goodness for some really amazing business coaches and a strong support system. With their advice in mind, I’m able to “helicopter up” during those conversations, and recognize things that are coming up for myself. One of those major issues being patience.
I was just having a conversation with our CFO about patience. It went a little bit like this: “We just made this decision on Thursday. It’s Monday and you’re already reaching back into the past and distrusting the process and the team because there are no results from that decision? You haven’t even given the team an honest chance to make a difference and impact.”
Do you see where this is headed? The issue here isn’t just patience… it’s trust. OMG… we’re getting a little deep, huh? But seriously… it’s so easy as business owners & leaders to look back and worry about repeated patterns of mistakes, lack of follow-through, or failure. We get into a pattern of distrust. We’ve been burned in the past, and we have to protect ourselves from the frustration, embarrassment, fear of failure, etc. Sometimes it’s easier to save face by putting up unreachable expectations, having negativity and expecting the worst. Clearly this is unhealthy. I’ve lived this in my own organization, as well as in working with our hotel partners. It creates chaos, and roadblock after roadblock to getting anything great accomplished. At some point, a leader needs to trust the process… hold the team accountable, but trust them and give a plan a chance. I mean a real chance.
I repeatedly see this happening with lead generation programs. Hotels burn through expense after expense to try to solve revenue issues. We place those nickel bets, give things an ultimatum & a short time to show proof that it works. We almost immediately deem anything that doesn’t produce revenue as a failure, and then we start the process over again. In the meantime, sales team members have been let go or quit out of frustration, third parties are dropped like flies and new “strategies” are implemented and halted like a serial dater. Yet, dissecting the root causes would bring us right back to impatience and distrust. Oftentimes the strategy that could work doesn’t because there is just too much resistance to the process taking shape. Sometimes we even distrust in our own decision-making!
A great example of impatience & distrust at work is an all too familiar conversation. After about 4 weeks on a lead generation project, I get a call from the sales leader.
Hotel Owner/Leader: “Amy, your leads are great. We love the quality, but we’re just not closing anything. Not even close! Most of these leads are probably months away from making a decision. I don’t know if this is going to work out.”
Me: “I understand your need for revenue, but just like we discussed before we started working together… a solid & consistent lead generation strategy is not for the weak at heart. This takes stamina & consistency. You likely won’t see revenue from these leads in 30 days. This is normal. Remember 5-12 touch-points with a new contact from the time we uncover them until they convert to revenue. Remember lead generation is not the same as responding to inbound RFPs. We call things coming from the CVB and third party meeting planners “leads” but those are RFPs. If we’re doing our job in the uncovering and nurture/follow-up process, then we should be catching opportunities BEFORE they are actually going to bid. We can then guide the prospect through their research/education phase and in the process eliminate competition by the time they do have specific business that they need to take to bid.” (My quote is abbreviated to encompass most of the conversations, and not bore you with the details… but you get the picture, right?)
This is typically a repeat of what we discuss before engaging in our lead generation campaigns, but it is very rare to not have to have this level-set conversation somewhere in the 30-60 day time-frame. I don’t hold the leaders at fault… I’m the same way with my own business! Let’s face it… we are passionate and we need to see ROI. It is not shameful to set incredibly high expectations. We just all need a loving reminder that patience is a key factor in business.
I admit I have historically been incredibly impatient with business results. When I imagine where we’re headed and what I need to see… I expect to see action and results pretty quickly, sometimes even faster than the process can catch up. Isn’t that a “thing” these days for many of us in leadership roles? Those of us who are trying to make a dent and a difference in our world have this burning desire for change. The challenge is that we want that change to happen NOW… or yesterday.
My suggestion? What have I learned through this coaching session? I need to take a breath, ensure my team is committed to sticking with this strategy (I need them to see my blind spots), make sure we’re all on the same page with the process & follow-through, and then TRUST in that process and TRUST in the team I’ve hired to get it done. And most of all… give the process the time to appropriately and realistically flourish.
Do you see yourself in this post? Have you had these thoughts and feeling? Do you find it hard to be patient with the lead generation & sales process? I’d love to hear your comments! And if it makes sense to chat privately about your hotel’s particularly situation, I invite you to connect with me!
Click Here to schedule a no obligations call, to see how together we can create a plan for your hotel’s biggest sales challenges! Or Contact: amy.infante@planbconsultants.com 312-636-7384