Did Covid ‘kill’ the traditional sales function in hotels?
Dare I say sales is dead? (or this year at least). As we move through ‘the times’, us, here at www.hotel-revenue-manager.com have focused a lot on paid ad strategies and best-practice implementation the last few months.
Our reach has been astonishing to say the least, and the amount of quality leads generated were double vs. the outsourced sales team (prior to Covid) could ever achieve. All this at 20% of the original cost.
Are the days of a sales team getting in their cars, handing out branded stationary to agents gone and defunct?
Currently most agencies are closed, many to never reopen (or at least cancelled their office leases) and are working from home in any case. Meetings and general communication have been conducted on Zoom type platforms and email/telephone. Is this the new normal?
I can certainly say that if I owned a travel agency, it is now possible, more than ever to cut overheads and run it from a home-based office, I mean why not? (for the small and medium agencies) it makes sense. So where will the sales team go to visit?
Most large companies use agencies to manage travel, some inhouse and some not. Many are now doing it themselves or let middle management handle their own arrangements within a budget. Only top/execs get some help. These companies, too, most likely cut travel and expenses. I ask again: where would the sales team go to, to call on clients? (existing and prospective). Corporate travel are veering more towards OTA’s and International agents are using email to contract, digital to advertise and online to book. I think we will see more traffic through the likes of Tourplan and H-solutions in coming years. What would the sales team do?
We understand the difference between marketing and sales (simple: marketing communicates the brand and sales close the deals). Could it be replaced with: ‘sales is dead and we only have marketing’ Therefor:
- Marketing is changing the belief with intent of a sale
- Sales is presenting an offer by overcoming their objections
- Closing is logical reasons to act now (buy/agree/contract)
In our digital world all three above actions are one step, one ad, one post. Leads are generated by paid ads to our ideal customer’s avatar, researched on Facebook Audience Insights and specifically targeted. The paid ad contains an offer where both a sale is concluded and the brand was exposed. Why not? The OTA’s does it so well?
Be careful though: doing online marketing and sales is a science (which we started learning) so be careful to just go jump on FB ads. Also for those on these sites already, please remember to have a call to action on each post. Most hotels are just running awareness campaigns that they expect sales from, which doesn’t happen. ( and it won’t!)
If you need help or advice just pop me an email on jaco@hotel-revenue-manager.com
That’s all for now.
Keep going and don’t give up! (always have a plan B, and c, d, e…)
My best, Jaco.
