Sales Lessons Learned From A Cruise Show

I attended a cruise show at the weekend. Many of my clients have been on different cruises worldwide and they’ve informed me it’s an experience you will never forget.

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So I went along with an open mind and to see if I could book a cruise. Instead, I was dealt with awful sales behaviour, plus appalling customer service from the hotel. There was a big surprise at the end.

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1.???? Give People an Experience

At the presentations of the cruise ships, they showed how many ships they have and even ones that are being built. NOBODY cares about what you do, we care about how you can help us. We want to see testimonials from satisfied customers and stunning ocean views and amazing sunshine, not fancy cartoons or 3D visuals of a ship and how many of them you own.

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2.???? Learn How to Speak in Public

This is a valuable sales skills to have, especially when doing presentations., Every person gave a generic fast-spoken presentation, there was NO QUESTIONS at the end, no love, no joy, and nobody wanted to be there. Why would anyone care to spend money on a cruise when the sales reps didn’t care?

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3.???? First Impressions Matter

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Check out these A4 sheets on the wall. You expect this in a newsagent selling discounted items or looking for a babysitter or dogsitter. When people spend ￡3,000 up to ￡15,000 for a cruise, you don’t hang black and white copy on a wall, It’s tacky.

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4.???? Get Your Customer Experience Right

I’ve been to this hotel group on 12 occasions, from afternoon tea, to daytime events to gala balls.? It’s always been a wonderful experience. When you arrived there was one tea, awful coffee and no water. Half way through the day, we went to bar... waited 15 minutes for our order to be taken, then 25 minutes for the food to arrive.

It was a simple soya flat, white, diet coke and two traybakes, The tray bakes never arrived, a biscuit did, and the flat white wasn’t good. ?When I paid for the bill, they tried to charge for the traybakes. Staff were miserable and stressed and every guest I spoke to complained about how awful the hotel was.

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Worst hotel experience in 2023 and the worst hotel experience for a long time. I won’t be returning.

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5.???? Don’t Judge

I wanted to leave, however, was determined to have a good talk with someone. The sales rep for the cruise was in her early fifties and asked questions about what I wanted – luxury cruise, no kids, amazing food. I engaged with her. She recapped what I wanted and gave me options, telling me why I would like it. Impressed, I asked how long she was in sales. She told me she wasn’t in sales, she was in customer service – and she outshone every lazy salesperson there

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In today’s sales world, too many companies are obsessed with hiring young people and too many people my age are becoming redundant, yet the only good salesperson there was a woman in her fifties. So stop judging older people, they often have great manners and know how to communicate.

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