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The hotel sales workforce has changed significantly since the pandemic. As hotels continue to rebuild their sales teams, the selling landscape has changed, and many sales professionals are new to the industry. Sales leaders need to employ new strategies to train and coach today’s workforce to drive hotel performance.
One of the biggest changes to the hotel sales landscape is the growing reliance on remote selling. Over 80% of hotel sales are now conducted via remote channels, upending the traditional face-to-face sales model the industry traditionally relied on to build relationships. Sales leaders must train their teams to sell effectively in this new virtual landscape.
1. Develop a Broader Set of Business Skills
The required sales skill set has evolved significantly over the past 20 years. The traditional selling process that focused on product knowledge, interpersonal skills, and closing techniques is no longer enough. Today’s sellers need a broader market orientation, including researching clients and industries, understanding market trends, leveraging sales and marketing technology, honing communication, and storytelling abilities, and adopting a consultative problem-solving approach. Leaders must assess each seller’s strengths and coach them on the skills needed to make the sale in today’s business environment.
2. Focus on the Value Proposition
To succeed in the current environment, where response rates are low, sellers need to shift their mindset from just pitching products and rates to articulating the unique value their hotel enables for clients. Sales leaders should engage their teams in exercises to craft compelling value propositions for each market segment, moving beyond generic statements to highlight specific benefits that resonate with buyers.
3. Get Back to Sales Fundamentals
Achieving this level of sales sophistication starts with ensuring the team has a solid grasp of sales fundamentals:
- Understanding the mechanics of the sales process
- Successfully moving prospects through each stage
- Leveraging technology to enhance relevance
- Utilizing call planners to prepare for meaningful conversations
Each step should have clear objectives and align with where the buyer is in their journey. Consistent use of the hotel’s CRM is critical to managing the pipeline and driving the next actions to close business.
4. Prospect with Purpose
Sellers must incorporate key criteria into their prospecting outreach to compel busy buyers to respond:
- Simplicity of the request
- Unique value offered
- Relevance to the buyer’s objectives
- Alignment with their priorities
Sales leaders should regularly review their team’s emails and join sales calls to provide feedback. Developing segment-specific scripts and value propositions ensures consistency in execution.
5. Leverage Social Selling
As B2B sales increasingly shift to digital channels, social selling is becoming an essential strategy for hotel sales teams to differentiate themselves. Sales leaders must guide their teams to be active on the platforms where their target buyers engage, whether LinkedIn for corporate clients or Facebook and Instagram for Social, Military, Educational, Religious, and Fraternal (SMERF) markets.
By sharing relevant content and building their networks, sellers can establish their personal brands and thought leadership, rather than just pitching the hotel. Buyers are far more likely to trust and engage with content coming from individual salespeople vs. generic marketing materials. Social selling tools also enable sellers to turn cold calls into warm prospects by researching leads, identifying key contacts, and finding commonalities to build rapport.
6. Prepare for Each Business Conversation
While the channels may evolve, the importance of thorough call preparation remains timeless. Sales teams should use a consistent call planner template to:
- Conduct research on the prospect
- Identify key contacts and decision-makers
- Determine the most relevant hotel benefits to highlight
- Anticipate and prepare for objections
- Define clear next steps to advance the sale
By taking the time to prepare to have a business conversation, not just a generic sales pitch, sellers make the most of those valuable interactions with buyers who do engage.
Those who commit to these changes will build deeper client relationships and drive revenue growth in this dynamic and challenging environment.