Sales Planning is the Principles of Success in a challenging economy.

"Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work."Peter Ducker
12 Successful Fundamentals in Sales Planning that can make the difference!
The current global economic news is not generally positive these days in the hospitality and many other industries. The need for planning is more critical than ever and the quote from Peter Drucker says it all - it takes focused efforts to address the situation and begin to turn the situation around.
Would you like to make your sales effort more successful?
The following are all fundamentals in sales, but are too often overlooked in exchange for what are actually marketing strategies. Pursue these sales guidelines when soliciting and booking business and servicing accounts:
1. Acquire and use good selling knowledge. Finding out who your customers are, where they are coming from, how they came to select your property, why they stay at your property, how long they stay and how much they spend- among other information -will help focus your sales effort.
2. Plan A Good Market Mix. It is extremely hard to be all things to all people all the time, which means knowing your proper customer base. While one does not want to turn away potential, understanding the mix of business reflects how much of what type of business you're doing. Ask yourself: What percentage of my total room sales comes
o from meetings at your hotel or nearby centers
o from youth groups or sports related activities
o from the transportation center (airport, bus, cruise lines, trains, etc)
o from seniors and why
o from the brand reservation center and at what rates and plans
o from transient business, walk in guests and other categories?
Now, after you review the past 3-6 months to accurately see trends, what decisions do you need to make in your selling activities? What mix of business would be most profitable?
3. Know Your Competition and specifically your direct competitors. I have heard more than one brand CEO warn at recent meetings that there are "going to be more e the areas in which you can compete the best, whether it is location, price, size, product, service or amenities. The idea, of course, is to sell your positives and to expand your market share.
4. Research and qualify your multiple price policy. There's nothing wrong with selective discounting. Hotels have been doing it for years, with special off-season, corporate, group, senior citizen and military rates, among others. Do you know which special rates are generating business for you? A periodic review of all your rates will help you establish the multiple-rate policy that's right for you. There are many 3rd party sites that may or may not help your profitability and/or cash flow, Rooms used, rooms denied because you were full, rooms declined for reasons of rate, location, etc. so that you can evaluate the business decision. Determine what your competitors are doing by there organizations as well you may.
5. Make high-quality Business Contacts And Make Them Work For You. Getting good business contacts is the first step, and making sure they're bringing business into your property the second. Make sure your contacts are frequent users of either the area and/or your property and then ask them to provide you leads.
6. Try New Things. Remember: most successful entrepreneurs would not be where they are today if they didn't take a chance and try new things. Come up with new ideas to promote business and don't be afraid to put them into action.
7. Develop new sales techniques to book more rooms and new proposals to land more group business.. . If only half of your new schemes works, you'll be ahead of the game.
8. Be Attentive To Selling Costs. In any business, spending more than you take in, of course, is dangerous. Cost effectiveness in selling for a hotel is very important. As total sales expenditures start to creep up, you must continue to expect a greater return from your sales effort. Budgeting for sales and monitoring the sales budget against results are essential.
9. Follow Solid Management Procedures. In general, try to do a better job communicating, developing, training, motivating, planning, organizing, directing and controlling. It's not enough these days to hire a salesperson and say: "Get out there and sell."
10. Recruit High-Quality People. You want and need sales professionals who are sincere, believable, down-to-earth, friendly, committed, well dressed and well mannered; in other words, individuals who will represent your property well.
11. Set Realistic Growth Plans. Yes, even in down economies, there must be some stretch goals. These should assess where you are today and honestly project where you expect and want to be next year, the year after, and so on.
Sell Aggressively. Aggressive and assertive are not synonyms. One means hard hitting and the other confident - in challenging economic times, those professionals in sales must have some of both.