Service, Relationship Sales And 'Back To Basics' Are Key Messages From HSMAI Sales & Marketing Summit

Schulze was speaking to the more than 400 travel, tourism and hospitality industry delegates at the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Annual Sales & Marketing Summit at Marriott's Camelback Inn in Scottsdale.

His focus, after criticizing many of the new mantras for sales and marketing executives, was to remind the industry about "the need to provide real service. Let's first find out who we are and give our guests what they want, which is service."

In a passionate speech he told the delegates: "Personalized service creates loyalty. With personalized service people pay more, but they don't mind going to Nordstrom's or using a clothing cleaners who knows who you are, even if it means going out of your way. It's because they provide real service. They remember you and make you feel good when they take care of you."

"Service has a beginning and an end. It starts the moment we make contact with the customer. The first step is the welcome." However, Shulze strongly criticized most companies for their telephone service, saying: "Service on the telephone today is non-existent."

He added: "The second step is complying with what the guest wants. Most often, we don't know their wishes so we can't provide any real service.

"The third thing is the closing. We may say 'Have a nice day,' but we usually don't mean it. It doesn't matter what we actually say, but we should be saying with our face, our body and everything we do that 'I was happy to serve you today' and 'thank you for allowing me to serve you.'"

Shulze noted four points for sales people to keep in mind:

1. Clients are looking for a personality from all sales people.
2. Clients are looking for a relationship from sales people.
3. Clients are not looking for order takers.
4. Get to know your customer.

To kick-off the opening session, comedian Shelley Berman had delegates laughing from his legendary, humorous stories about his travel experiences over the years. The adjacent trade show featured 36 exhibitors with a diverse array of products and services including a unique collection of technology items for sales and marketing departments.

The following is a brief outline of some of the topics that were covered over two days of workshops and seminars.

According to the president of Peak Performance International and "America's mental toughness coach," Dan Teitelbaum: "In uncertain times, top performers continue to increase their abilities to find ways to bring in business." In an insightful and highly motivational session, Teitelbaum presented chief strategies for success.

He told attendees to identify and focus on one or several vertical markets and make that their specialty through mentors, associations and reference materials; master sales and relationship-building skills that will help them reach the decision maker; and continually seek referrals from clients, but be sure to reward them in return.

"The most effective marketing is person to person," according to Linda Clark, senior manager, American Express One. She proposed "focused, tailored marketing materials that show that you know who your client is; and keep it simple."

Clark suggested that we "should use the Internet primarily as an educational resource, but not for marketing. I don't suggest using the Internet and e-mail unless the client has asked you to reach them that way."

She also noted site inspections are still considered important, but not done often because of lack of time, and that that use of convention bureaus is often limited to that of a resource.

Alan Sweitzer, director of sales, Renaissance Meeting and Incentives Management, talked about the importance of research in preparing for data mining and CRM (customer relationship management). He emphasized that data modeling should use all kinds of demographics, and also noted that psychographics are not as precise as many people think.

"All guests are not created equal when you are applying marketing dollars," Sweitzer said. "It is important to focus on those clients who are the most likely to come back and spend money."

He reminded the audience that customer relationship marketing "is not a rewards program, not a quick fix, not a computer system itself and not a department in sales and marketing." He focused on the product development for customer relationship marketing "because that's what the customer wants."

Sweitzer said: "People are not loyal to brands, but to experiences." He also noted that rather than provide discounts, provide recognition: "You've been there before, come back again."

In a separate session, Mike Manzari, director of marketing for Marriott's Southwest Desert Resorts, supported the remarks made by Sweitzer and also focused on personalized service and one-to-one marketing. Personal planning and loyalty programs centered on the guest experience were two of the points he emphasized.

Distribution channels he suggested using for marketing purposes included the Internet with travel sites, web sites, e-mail, and advertising banners. He noted that travel partners continue to be important including the travel agents, airlines and wholesalers.

Bruce Mainzer, senior vice president marketing for TravelClick, noted "it will take a long time for travel agents to go away. Travel agents drive $250 billion worth of travel on the GDS worldwide."

Mainzer said "hotel bookings are growing at double-digits each year on the GDS. About 20 percent of all hotel revenue, or $15 billion is being booked through the GDS. He pointed out that in 1999 consumer on-line spending for hotels was $1.5 billion and increased to $2.5 billion in 2000. He projects this to increase to $3.5 billion by the end of this year.

Terrance Donnelly, sales director hotel channel for Passkey, moderated the panel on technology and noted that the Internet remains the most important vehicle for marketing meetings with 92 percent of meeting professionals considering it the most important for that purpose.

Kathy McCarthy, owner of McCarthy Consulting Services, told delegates to "look at ways your customer wants to be communicated with. Make it easy for the planner by giving complete solutions."

She also suggested that companies "develop on-line resources that will help meeting planners, but that they should seek to build relationships through the Internet without losing the personal touch."

Donnelly further suggested that anyone planning to expand their use of technology in marketing ask several important questions including:

1. What's my budget for technology?
2. What are my in-house resources?
3. Is my technology vendor a strategic partner?

In a two-part interactive workshop on sales skills by Victoria Dunn, vice president of Hotel Revenue Resources, she focused on "Keeping It Simple in Sales or KISS."

She suggested we all get back to basics and remember that "sales is a series of questions to uncover needs, build relationships and gain a commitment." She reminded the audience that "sales is real work and that 80 percent of all sales take place after the fifth contact."

Dunn urged delegates to be sales consultants rather than order takers by taking control, listening, becoming a problem solver, being helpful, managing relationships and providing non-product value to customers.

She discussed prospecting and put the audience through some interactive tasks that got everyone thinking.

The audience also focused on words that generate sales, words that steal sales, customer relationship management, overcoming objections and questions.

"Questions, questions, questions and listen, listen, listen, and listen some more are still the key to success in sales," she added.

Arlene Vernon, president of HRx, highlighted how teamwork can result in sales success by providing a framework for attendees to understand the team concept in business, identify obstacles, learn management's role in team-building, know the components of high-performing teams and orchestrate teams.

"When it comes to assessing how you are functioning as a team, think about it this way when it comes to work: If you're doing it alone, assume you are doing it wrong," Vernon told the attendees. "If you are doing your work alone, then you are not utilizing everyone on the team."

Vernon admitted that achieving individual goals often gets in the way of teamwork in the sales environment. But, there are ways around the problem, including designing reward/goal systems that include some team goals in addition to individual goals. "Create a common mission and vision for your team," said Vernon, and "arrange responsibilities and work flow so that groups of employees share ownership and accountability for measurable results."

Arlene Vernon also presented this session, which stressed that to become a new leader, you must be a motivator, mentor, model and manager. "Most people are only taught to be a manager," said Vernon. "New leaders must also be able to move others to action, be wise and trusted advisors, and serve as examples to be imitated."

"The Employee Life Cycle," which Vernon created, was the basis of much of her presentation. Included in the cycle are Orientation, Training, Education, Reward, and Challenge. Key employee life cycle questions, according to Vernon are: "What do employees need in this phase," "What do employers need in this phase," and "How do I motivate, mentor, model and manage." At the center of the life cycle should be the company mission and employee philosophy. "Every decision you or an employee make should answer the question 'how does this match the mission statement,'" she said.

Led by Mark Blessington, principal with Nextera's Sibson Consulting Group, the session was subtitled "Identifying Winning Sales Strategies to Drive Incremental Revenue." It highlighted the characteristics of hospitality sales forces, pinpointed best practices in performance measurement, and explained pay-for results in pay-plan design.

"When looking at best practices in performance measurement, it is best to move closer to using profit and away from yield. There is too much focus on yield-type measurements in the hospitality sales field," said Blessington. When moving to such as a performance measurement system, Blessington recommended that organizations start with higher-level sales positions and then move down through the levels of sales positions. He also advised that hospitality companies learn from other industries how to design winning sales teams and systems, and to think about sales force excellence as a competitive advantage.

Jodi Walker, president of Success Alliances, presented creative ways to add the personal touch to stand out from the crowd and create added value.

Concepts such as "It's the little things that make the difference," "Get your people to think like an owner," "The power of one," and "Sensing the personal touch" were among the concepts presented to create customer-driven, sales and service-oriented employees dedicated to excellence.

"To maximize customer relationships, it is essential to understand all interaction points between a company and its customers," says Renetta K. Haas, managing director, Nextera. And, key among the interactions, or touch points, is the relationship between the sales organization and the customers.

This all-encompassing session addressed the definition, challenges and opportunities of CRM, focusing on how to involve the sales organization in a collaborative ecosystem with other customer touch points.

Haas illustrated how properly executed, CRM enables a company to have a 360 degree view of the customer throughout their lifecycle, and the customer to have a consistent experience with the company.

From a brief history and the ABCs of the Internet, to meeting planning web tools and a glimpse into what the future might hold, Corbin Ball, CMP of Corbin Ball Associates, told all about how to make the web work effectively as the most powerful sales tool.

Many factors have influenced the information available to and used by hospitality marketers. Among the many changes are: the reinvention of distribution channels, changes in commonly used metrics, greater accessibility of powerful technology at lower costs, and a shift to public ownerships in the hotel sector. With the "horse" out of the proverbial "barn," Cindy Estis Green, executive director of The Estis Group and HSMAI Foundation Chair, and Maureen O'Hanlon, founding partner, Marketing Arts Organization, prepared hospitality marketers to take advantage of these changes and harness the information to their benefit.

From the Pre-Boomer, to Boomer, Cusper, Buster and Nester, Marilyn Moats Kennedy of CareerStrategies, addressed satisfaction and selling across generations.

In this workshop, she discussed how to market and sell to these unique and segmented audiences, in particular the younger sets, and offered communications strategies that will deliver a message in ways these groups understand and respond to.

"Considering the arrival of Generation X, the most prominent difference to the marketplace is what they consider value—what is worth spending money on," she explained.

Furthermore, Moats Kennedy profiled the post-TV generation—the Busters. "They are not sold; they negotiate from cost of production, not from list price; they want to buy parts of products and service, rarely the whole thing; and Busters want to know every detail of what they get for their money," she noted.

Sal Dickinson, CHME, of Dickinson & Associates and incoming chair of HSMAI, explored the world of websites, reviewing how to make the most out of search engines and links. Dickinson asked session attendees, "Is your website design consistent, simple and straightforward enough to make it effective?" And, he focused on the importance of making sure there is a mechanism in place for continuing dialogue with site users, as well as a means for measuring the success of the interaction.

"The world is your customer" is a statement that now applies to every aspect of the hospitality and tourism industry, says Lalia Rach, dean, Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism. Her insightful session explored the trends impacting the evolution of the global customer.

The HSMAI 2002 Sales & Marketing Summit will be held in Orlando, April 24-26, 2002 at the Radisson Hotel Orlando Universal.

HSMAI is the leading organization of sales and marketing professionals representing all segments of the hospitality industry. With a strong focus on education, HSMAI has become the industry leader in identifying and communicating trends in the hospitality industry while operating as a leading voice for both hospitality and sales and marketing management disciplines. Members can access a wide variety of educational tools and enhance their skills and expertise to increase business and enrich their careers. Founded in 1927, HSMAI is an individual membership organization comprised of over 5,000 members from 35 countries and 60 chapters worldwide.

For more information on HSMAI, contact the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International, 1300 L Street, NW, Suite 1020, Washington, DC 20005, or call (202) 789-0089. You can also visit the web site at www.hsmai.org.