The “Rule of Three Percent” states that at any time 3% of your audience is ready to buy from you. So, when they are discovered your sales team must be ready to go, because that desire to buy from you can quickly dissipate in the fast-paced world of B2B sales.
When a hotel sales team is in transition and dealing with turnover, there is a gigantic risk of losing out on the 3%, but also with creating proximity or relevancy to the remaining 97%.
This is the case with many of our Sales4Hire™ partners, and specifically with one in particular. To protect the innocent, we’ll call this HOTEL X. HOTEL X is in a depressed market, one that has been hit by the energy market downturn, yet has had an increase in hotel supply. High competition and low market demand clearly can create pressure and anxiety for any sales team. Inexperience leads to panic and even unintentional chaotic reactions to the market. Sales teams can get focused on the wrong things at the wrong time, with all the best of intentions.
The Situation
Sales4Hire™ was engaged by HOTEL X a few months ago to support their sales efforts through proactive lead generation, providing the hotel with new leads for local transient opportunities.
In addition, the Sales4Hire™ Account Manager was tasked with uncovering & nurturing group opportunities, as well as responding with proposals and contracts to all group opportunities for the hotel. It was a divide and conquer approach to quickly gain some traction.
On the group side, Sales4Hire™ has closed $116,000 in business through both the inbound lead response efforts as well as proactive outreach and account qualification.
Local transient business was uncovered as well, and turned over to the hotel to nurture. At last count 10 new transient opportunities were uncovered.
All seemed well until the property sales manager left the hotel for another opportunity. Our Sales4Hire™ Account Manager was on top of it, and connected with the busy VP who has several hotels under management, and shared concerns that proper lead nurturing was not happening. It was actually discovered that none of the 10 leads that had been uncovered by our team had received a follow-up contact from the property sales manager. Our Sales4Hire™ Account Manager quickly picked up the pieces to contact these accounts who had been discovered months prior!
The Results
Within just two hours, two contracts had been sent for a conservative estimated revenue of $5,000 for the remainder of 2016, and the rest of the list is still being pursued appropriately with more wins to come!
The Reality
Far too often, I see this same story played out with not-so-stellar results because the prospects moved on from the time they were discovered, during the inaction and transition of the sales team. HOTEL X was one of the lucky ones, to have an experienced Sales4Hire™ professional there to pick up the ball and turn a risky situation into a reward. The reality is that more than 60% of the originally discovered transient opportunities will have a more costly price-tag to acquire because of the lack of original follow-through.
Prior to engaging with Sales4Hire™, our hotel partners spend tens of thousands of dollars to reacquire lost opportunities just like this! They are risking, and often times facing the reality of, letting 97% of sales opportunities slip through their fingers. With Sales4Hire™ the hotel is was and is now protected.
Moral of the Story
Inspect what you expect from your sales team regarding follow-up and lead nurturing. Have a system and an expectation. At Sales4Hire™ we are happy to share our system, and to always be consistent & accountable… Which has led to a 30% greater close rate for our customers! Ensuring >> (See Photo At Right) >> doesn’t happen!
We know that transition is often unexpected, and hard to plan for… But anyone that has followed us knows that at Plan B Consultants, Inc. and Sales4Hire™ we fully believe the power of effective lead nurturing, and the importance of not only having the right resources, tools, or people, but a strong marriage of all three. That’s why we offer a variety of done-for-you hotel sales solutions, from lead generation and nurturing, to sales blitz management, RFP Response and full-service remote sales. Our services are designed to help hotels gain traction & consistency regardless of their current situation or market challenges.
We have proven the results in nearly every market, hotel size & dynamic. Let’s explore the possibilities together! Click Here to schedule a FREE “virtual brainstorm session” to see how we can create a plan together for your hotel’s biggest sales challenges!
Or Contact: amy.infante@planbconsultants.com (312) 636-7384
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