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. . Disconnect -- Aligning the Revenue Management and Sales Strategies |
by Carol Verret, May 2005
It became apparent at a recent Revenue Management conference that not only is there a "disconnect" between the sales department and revenue management but at times, it manifests in outright frustration. I was the "token" sales person at the conference. Following my presentation on Sales and the Revenue Management Strategy, it became apparent that I had touched a nerve -- that not all was well in the relationship between Revenue Management and Sales. However, the Revenue Managers in attendance expressed a sincere desire to bridge this disconnect. The Revenue Managers' frustration stemmed from a perception that sales only wants to sell "discounted" rates at inappropriate times, doesn't understand and/or support the revenue management strategy and is primarily concerned with their "bonus" or incentives versus the revenue of the entire hotel. YIKES! While I believe that this is not a universal sentiment -- it was sufficiently pervasive to prompt this article. The role of revenue management and the sales function should be complimentary -- the two strategies interlocking like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I was surprised that in so many cases this is not happening. There are several areas of "dis-connectivity" that can be identified: Inappropriate Discounting. It is
easy to forget that until the last perhaps twelve months, the industry
was pulling out of a deep recession characterized by decreased demand and
heavy discounting by hotels in an effort to stimulate demand that wasn't
there. This is a mind-set that is difficult to change when it has been
SOP (standard operating procedure) since 9/11, almost four years ago. Couple
this with meeting and travel planners who were dealing with drastically
reduced travel budgets and hammering sales people to give them their best
rate. As ADRs increase, those same planners are again "hammering" sales
for the best deal they can cut. Discounting the rate is an easy sale to
make -- building value into a rate and presenting it as a "good deal" takes
a skill set where many sales people haven't been trained.
CVCT, Carol Verret Consulting and Training, offers consulting and seminars on incorporating and using e-tools to enhance productivity and functionality as well as revenue management and customer service. Our associate, Tony D'Angelo, specializes in HR consulting and seminars. Carol Verret, in association with HotelTraining.com has an online sales training module that deals with New Business Development and developing client profiles by market segment. Contact Carol at [email protected] and log onto the company web site www.carolverret.com. The company can be reached by phone at (303) 618-4065. Log on for info about live web casts and online training modules that also address these issues. copyright © Carol Verret, 2002-2003 -2004 -2005 |
Carol Verret 5910 S. University #C-18, PMB 374 Greenwood Village, CO 80121 Telephone: (303) 618-4065 [email protected] Web Site: http://www.carolverret.com/ Email: [email protected] |