'What does the future hold, for the Hotel Sales Manager?'.

(Answer: They will continue to be essential if they add value through collaboration.)

Recently, I was asked to appear as a panellist on a webinar debate; the subject being, ‘What is the Future of Hotel Sales?’ Unsurprisingly, I was quite ‘for’ the need for Salespeople and would therefore be arguing this position (mainly for my continued employment...) against others who were of quite a different opinion.

As the discussion evolved, the debate brought forth some interesting topics (along with proof that sadly the ‘Flashy-Salesperson’ is still a 'thing'…some people it seems are letting the side down out there) - and we had a lively chat about the true top-line influencer in the 'Revenue Manager vs the Sales Manager' debate…an age-old, and contentious, 'battle' in hotel land.

Throughout the chat, I had absolute clarity on what I wanted to get across in my turn to speak; for me the role and worth of the sales professional is very clear: we exist to add value. We add continuous value and in our most successful guise, we evolve to become a trusted extension of our client’s own operation.

I even came up with a nice tag line,

‘You can teach a spreadsheet to spot a trend, but you cannot teach it to make a friend!’

(I also ‘do’ Marketing, you see?).

Whilst any derogatory remarks I may have employed in the debate, regarding any absence of skill behind Revenue Management, were of course all in jest, I do still, however, stand by the essence of that tag line; Sales is making connections, connections that develop through having provided value and you simply cannot automate this collaboration (or personality).

To illustrate my point, I told my fellow panellists this story:

I started out in sales at a pretty young age; my weekend job was assisting in the selling of cars at a friend’s Dads Dealership. Aged fifteen.

As you do.

(The garage is long gone, to make way for a McDonalds now, 'I remember when it was all fields round there'...)

Now, in those days ‘Lone Worker’ or a ‘Young Person in the Workplace’ Risk Assessments had yet to be introduced - or perhaps, just adhered to - so at that young age of 15 I would go off happily with strangers and accompany them on test drives.

(Only getting stranded after running out of fuel once!).

At such a young age…obviously…the ‘experiential’ knowledge of the product wasn’t something I possessed; I had no real frame of reference to draw upon - beyond moving the cars around to get washed - so, I couldn’t ‘sell’ the vehicle as a driving experience. But I could do one thing, I could listen, and I could add value:

• I live in the Countryside - This car has excellent ground clearance.
• I spend a lot of time on the road - Check out how comfortable these seats are.
• I run my own store - This car has exceptional boot space.

Listening and adding value.

It is a potent thing, to take someone's desired experience or outcome and add to it via collaboration; it served me well then, and it still does today.

On the flipside, the dangerous part of not having that person/or people in your business is that somebody else will have them and, if they are smart, they will be out talking about how to best bring value to your -soon to be ex- customer.

Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable with being at such a disadvantage, would you?

My closing line,

‘If you want to get out of any economic hole that you may be in, the best thing you can do is get yourself a salesforce who go out into the market on your behalf and actively look at how they can add value to your customers.’

So, long live the Sales Manager who adds value through true collaboration; I wish you every success!

PS you should make sure those people adding value on your behalf are 'Sales Rockstars' - this is how you find them.

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As the Cedar Court Group moves into the remainder of 2020, we are making some bold moves into new technology and business functionality; we will soon be revealing the first of these developments. I am truly excited by this as we will have something very unique, and we will be in a position to add incredible value to our customers (and that is what we do).

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I will soon be the subject of a ‘Spotlight Interview’ with The Institute of Sales Management; we will most certainly be discussing the above mindset amongst a myriad of other topics - I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts afterwards.

You can register for that here.

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