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Katie Davin, Associate Professor, Johnson & Wales University, Sales Advisory Board Member
Scott Muety, VP, Revenue & Distribution, Viceroy Hotels, Revenue Optimization Advisory Board Member
General managers and operations leaders are stepping deeper into commercial conversations, but often still don’t speak the language. That gap slows decisions, softens confidence, and keeps too many leaders quiet in rooms where they should be active.
These recommendations come from discussions during the Sales and Revenue Advisory Boards. In both we looked at how a shared glossary could help GMs better navigate conversations with revenue, sales, marketing, distribution, and even owners.
The discussions surfaced what actually helps, including:
- Definitions tied to actions
- Persona‑specific subsets so ops leaders don’t wade through what they won’t use
- Confidence to participate in revenue conversations instead of deferring
- Onboarding that includes commercial orientation
The revised version is broader and more actionable, making it much easier to link to, reference, and use.
Some teams are already moving this way offering short commercial primers for new GMs and re‑emphasizing terms in revenue meetings. This glossary is meant to be an aide in these conversations, and a practical tool to support everyday decision-making and cross-team collaboration. By using the glossary, we hope it ensures everyone on your team is speaking the same language and can confidently participate in commercial conversations.
Team Discussion Questions
- Which terms in the glossary matter most for our property’s daytoday decisions?
- Where do communication breakdowns happen between ops and commercial teams?
- How do we make the glossary easy to use, not another PDF lost in someone’s downloads folder?
- What personaspecific terms should our team understand to collaborate better?