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Making New Year's sales and marketing resolutions real and practical - Part 1 of 2Jan 13, 09 | 1:56 am By Dr. John Hogan, CHA MHS CHE "You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." Zig Ziglar, "Secrets of Closing the Sale", 1984 January is the time many people set (usually lofty) resolutions, based on what we hope to improve on in the coming year. While the budget was completed in the latter part of last year, January is that time of year many people stretch for renewed enthusiasm and commitment. The hotel segment of the hospitality industry in many segments and locations set revenue and profitability records in 2007 and began 2008 with optimism and hopes of a repeat performance. The reality of the global financial crisis changed those expectations by mid year in most markets and we are all facing significant challenges in 2009 and 2010. Most hotels created a sales and marketing plan for 2008, but what happened to the execution? While one can blame the economy or the government or some other 3rd party, we must each assess how much of our success is tied to our efforts. The calendar now says January, and looking back at lost opportunities for last year is a wasted effort. It is now time to think how you will be conducting your sales efforts this year, in measurable components. If you have a flexible, effective sales and marketing plan developed for THIS year - congratulations! Now it is clearly time to hunker down and focus on execution. If you don't have one prepared, you are behind much of the competition but it is not too late to plan the work and begin to work the plan. Part of this means looking at last year's action plans and results - did your team follow the sales action steps you felt were appropriate when you made the plan? The answer for most of us is that we do not always follow either personal or business resolutions unless we build in a reminder system. Those systems might include using Key Result Areas (KRAs) or Personal Business Objectives (PBOs) that are tracked and formally reviewed with others monthly or quarterly. Those systems may include submitting monthly reports on actual compared to plan in leads, conversions, revenue, bookings, calls, trips, etc. Regardless of where you are in planning , think about TODAY to committing yourself to a fresh start. Once again, resolve a new effort. In our book LESSONS FROM THE FIELD - a COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE HOTEL SALES, Howard Feiertag and I offered practical approaches to selling in the last big market downturn. This article is divided into two segments and I have updated those strategies.
Ask those people you admire if they work from a set of goals. You already know the answer - seriously working resolutions regularly pays off. Please contact me if I can be of service, feel free to share an idea at johnjhogan@yahoo.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops or speaking engagements. Autographed copies of LESSONS FROM THE FIELD - a COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE HOTEL SALES can be obtained from www.smartbizzonline.com, THE ROOMS CHRONICLE www.roomschronicle.com , and other industry sources. Upcoming columns on the following topics include:
All rights reserved by John Hogan and this column may be included in an upcoming book on hotel management. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this publication
John Hogan is a corporate educator and a frequent guest speaker at management company and franchise industry events. He writes and advises on industry 'best practices' and conducts reviews of quality in operations and marketing, including mystery shopping and repositioning of hotels. Hogan's professional experience includes over 35 years in hotel operations, food & beverage, sales & marketing, training, management development and asset management on both a single and multi-property basis. He holds a number of industry certifications (CHA, CHE, MHS, ACI) and is a past recipient of the American Hotel & Lodging Association's Pearson Award for Excellence in Lodging Journalism, as well as operational and marketing awards from international brands. He has served as President of both city and state hotel associations. John's background includes teaching college level courses as an adjunct professor at three different colleges and universities over a 20 year period, while managing with Sheraton, Hilton, Omni and independent hotels. He was the principal in an independent training & consulting group for more than 12 years serving associations, management groups, convention & visitors' bureaus, academic institutions and as an expert witness. He joined Best Western International in spring of 2000, where over the next 8 years he created and developed a blended learning system as the Director of Education & Cultural Diversity for the world's largest hotel chain. He has served on several industry boards that deal with education and/or cultural diversity and as brand liaison to the NAACP and the Asian American Hotel Owners' Association with his ongoing involvement in the Certified Hotel Owner program. He has conducted an estimated 3,100 workshops and seminars in his career. He served as senior vice president for a client in a specialty hotel brand for six years. He has published more than 350 articles & columns on the hotel industry and is co-author (with Howard Feiertag, CHA CMP) of LESSONS FROM THE FIELD - a COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE HOTEL SALES, which is available from a range of industry sources and AMAZON.com. He resides in Phoenix, Arizona and is finalizing his 2nd book based on his dissertation - The Top 100 People of All Time Who Most Dramatically Affected the Hotel Industry. Expertise and Research Interest
Service to the Industry and Hospitality Education
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