“Adaptability is a part of self-management…. a critical component of emotional intelligence.
If involves having the flexibility to handle change and being open to new ideas.”
Punt, pass, kick. Seems logical. Stop. Look. Listen. Again, logical. Propose. Negotiate. Sign. Ideally, this is the local steps of sale.
But how logical is the sales effort? In fact, it probably goes more like this: Propose. Negotiate. Stall. Wait. Wait some more. Re-Propose. Re-Negotiate. Stall. Wait. Re-Negotiate. Sign. (If you are lucky.) Selling – it requires that you adapt to every client, every day, every situation. You must be organized, timely, and efficient to keep up with everything on your plate.
Developing sales opportunities requires you to use a vast array of sales vehicles. First and foremost, is following up on repeat business. Have you looked at your 2012 calendar and followed up with all those groups who booked business in the third quarter of 2012 to see if they will be having a similar event/meeting in 2013? If not – get out those files and start calling.
Second, what is going on in your competitive set hotels? Are you visiting the hotels, making generic random sales calls, driving parking lots, talking to sales people in other hotels, ASKING your customers who else they are considering in their search? Every industry article I have read this year indicate that this is the year for share shifting business. Is your competition taking all your base business because you do not have an adequate system for following up with YOUR customers?
Thirdly, when was the last time you made a maintenance call on a good customer? Do you have a plan in place to visit your Top 30 every quarter? Why NOT?
Are you a visible sales person who is out on the streets and in the community? Or, are you the invisible man/woman who sits behind the desk waiting for the phone to ring and doing everything you can to avoid pounding the pavement? You need to adapt to your market immediately and be a proactive sales person. You alone are the master of your destiny.
Happy adapting!
Linda