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Example of what can be done with prospecting: Using these tools Panetiere was able to secure – in a three week period of time - $372,000 in contracted revenue and uncovered $1,403,300 in potential revenue this fall for one client - in three weeks of prospecting the local markets. It can be done. :: read Crib Sheet # 1 >

New Business Development Crib sheet #2

Example of what can be done with prospecting:

1. How is the sales team developing NEW relationships?
2. Call Goals – are they hard to reach?
3. Does everyone know how to use the resources?
4. Are the resources there?

Not all sales managers are comfortable while prospecting for new business.
During the “good times”, many did not need to be.

But now?

We find that guidance and coaching as to how to prospect is needed in almost every department that we task force into.

We all need help crossing into PROSPECTING land.

No one said that it was easy.

Here is the Crib Sheet #2 that we use – keeping it really simple.

Crib Sheet #1 dealt with where to look for new business.

The key materials for New Business Development
Lost Turn Down, Reader Boards, Inactive Clients and Web Research.

We discussed them last month; we suggest that they are brought to the top of mind in the morning stand up. We like to ask one manager to detail an experience with one of the tools.
Engagement breeds a team.

A.
The Schtick – preparation to get to work

What’s the “shtick”?
What approach does your team have other than “my name is, my hotel is – do you have meetings?” Is the team using attractors or are they feature dumping?

Stand-out Schtick
What is it that makes the team’s approach stand out bigger and brighter than the other ten hotels that have called on that client today?

If the team does not have a unique “schtick”, it needs to develop one.

Suggestion
How about spending a couple of afternoons with the whole team working on this? It makes a perfect team building exercise. We promise that it is time well spent.

Figure out how to make the conversation memorable. Try it out on co-workers and be open for feedback.

Remember, sales is still about relationships; they may have started via email but in order to maximize the relationship and not be just another email address, your client needs a face with the name and, moreover, a personality that they can engage.

People buy from people with whom they relate, with whom they can bond and give trust.

B
Now Engage

Develop the sequence of questions to ask a new contact or to revive one.

What is the hook for that business, that person? Research what’s happening to the person that is being contacted, research the business using all the tools that we have now – Search Engines (Yahoo comes up with different references), Linkedin, Facebook, Manta, Hoovers, Dow Jones, Financial News sources.

The research is applied back to the needs of the contact; the conversation itself shows that the hotel knows the client needs and can anticipate them.

C
Now - probing deeper.

Find out about other departments, other contacts and, critically, where else are they meeting. Assist and advise.

Your sister property or sister brands will appreciate any business that you can help locate.

D
Create a bond with the contact person who has NO business NOW; build for the future.

Rather than being a “sales person” to the client, become the advisor.

What can you do to assist them with their needs, whatever they may be, irrespective of immediate need for the property?

E
Corporate Travel Maximization

Where is the rest of the business going and why?

Group travel - probing for the relationship for group business while doing the corporate travel calls. With downsizing, many Corporate Travel folks are handling group as well.

F
Social Connections: research to gain connections before the call

Social Marketing – the buzz word!
Reading the periodicals and extracting contacts and information out of the articles is a daily job. Does the team know what they are looking for in the DNA of the hotel’s business? Or are the business journals and meeting planner magazines creating a mess of their in-box?

Is everyone a member of the valuable LinkedIn groups?
How often are they being worked?
Just joining is not enough, one needs to get in there and start “talking”.

G
Get Seen

The old ways work, even better now that so few sales managers use them.
How often does the team get out to see the local contacts?

Versus emailing your proposal or contract – how about hand delivering it to your local contact? Or utilize your other hotels to assist in the delivery should your client be out of state. Sounds like simple suggestions….but for some reason we’ve been busy trying to take the personal contact out of sales. Not every client can fit into the ‘box” that we’ve created. How about we try fitting into their box?

We know it’s not easy.
Remember, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

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a marketing plan that is built by the team is used by the team.

simple.