“I recently stumbled upon an image online that stuck with me, and I’ve found it applicable to a number of situations since. It said:
“Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist:
While you were arguing about the glass of water, I drank it.
Sincerely, The Opportunist.”
This clever spin on the age old question “is the glass half-empty or half-full” applies directly to your everyday business. Yes, the economy remains volatile, and there’s still some uncertainty underlying the continued recovery. And the competition is as fierce as ever, of course. But the moral of the aphorism is that while many competitors are either standing on the sidelines afraid to make their next move or pumping up what they’re going to do once everything is so great again, you can simply act now and beat them both to the punch. By taking advantage of a unique placement in the market, or something special that only your employees can offer, you can answer the door when opportunity knocks.” (Excerpt from Opportunist Amenities by Dan Marcec)
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I am always looking for opportunity. I just can’t understand it when a person sits back on their laurels and judges what is going on in the market thinking they have all the answers. In this day and age, and degree of competition in EVERY market, this is just inexcusable. Every sales person in our portfolio needs to have their ear to the ground every day, reacting to every situation.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not even suggesting that I have all the answers; however, I am suggesting that many sales persons in our industry do not feel the need to go out and look for opportunity because they think there just isn’t anything more to be had. Why are we content with our production and Star indexes?
Carpe diem – seize the day!
When we were constructing Sales and Marketing Plans for 2012 I encouraged each of you to develop a property identity and marketing phrase. This idea was to identify what your hotels stands for in the market….. why a customer would choose you versus the other hotels in your market. When was the last time you reviewed your plan? More importantly, have you woven your property identity into all of your sales correspondence, materials, advertising and collateral? Do you and your team have a clear cut mission that takes advantage of your hotel’s uniqueness and answers the door to opportunity?
If you can’t immediately answer positively to every questions above, it is time for you to pull out your roadmap and get back on track. Do it today.
Happy planning!
Linda