PAGE #4 NEW EMPLOYEES TO HMC * Elizabeth Agar, Director of Sales - Radisson Hotel, Harrisburg, PA * David Gutierrez, General Manager - Country Inn & Suites, Anaheim, CA * Lexi Han, Dir. of Property Performance Improvement - HMC Corporate (Promoted from Field) * Brandon House, Accounting Manager - Holiday Inn, Memphis, TN * Misti Winter, Director of Sales - Radisson Hotel Dallas North, Addison, TX * Oz Pekmezci, Asst. General Manager - Holiday Inn Memphis The hotel is only 2 miles from the Memphis International Airport and 5 minutes from major corporate offices including FedEx, Medtronic, Smith & Nephew, as well as Graceland and many other Memphis attractions. There are 256 well-appointed guest rooms, outdoor pool, 36” flat screen televisions, and complimentary Wi-Fi throughout. Also, free airport shuttle service and a fitness center with over 2,000 square feet. In addition, this venue offers 36,000 square feet of meeting space, the second largest in the city. Email submissions for next edition to: [email protected] 17950 Preston Road Suite 710 Dallas, TX 75252 Phone; (972) 934-2040 hospitalitymgt.com HMC CORPORATE OFFICERS Leo Spriggs - President/CEO Bill Sullivan - EVP/CFO Daniel Killian - EVP, Accounting Del Robinette - VP, Sales & Marketing Gerald Morris - VP of Hotel Operations Patrick Bajdek - VP Development Libby Shaw - VP of Human Resources Chad Cobb - Sr Corp Dir of Hotel Finance PAGE #4 2240 Democrat Road ∙ Memphis, TN 38132 ∙ (901) 332-1130 ∙ www.ihg.com HMC TIMES Spring 2017 Peter Ambros General Manager FEATURED HMC PROPERTY HOLIDAY INN AIRPORT & CONF. CTR. MEMPHIS, TX Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Cecelia Baker, Housekeeping - 31 Years Danielle Roland, Banquets - 15 Years Patricia Black, Housekeeping - 11 Years Sheri Hatalla, Sales - 12 Years Alla Shmonova, Housekeeping - 26 Years David Martiez, Banquets - 22 Years Lisa Chenoweth, Sales - 10 Years Radisson Hotel Harrisburg Mira Savid, Housekeeping - 16 Years Ana Gabor, Housekeeping - 15 Years Kenneth Figueroa, Banquet Set-up - 13 Years Robert Williams, Lounge - 12 Years Amire Begic, Houskeeping - 11 Years HMC ANNIVERSARIES (10+ Years) THE IMPORTANCE OF SALES ENGAGEMENT Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ dfwHM Signature Worldwide Perfect Shop Call Winners! Once again, we want to recognize the outstanding guest relations staff with the ability to upsell here at HMC (March - June, 2017). Mystery callers phone in for hotel information and our employees have to handle these calls in a professional, friendly and productive way - unaware whose on the other end. The following team members excelled, achieving perfect scores being 5 of 5 or 8 of 8 in the Signature Transient Edge® program: MARCH 2017 Rhonda (3) - Baymont Inn & Suites, Big Spring, TX Michelle - Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham, Kenedy, TX Janelle & Lisa - Wyndham Garden, Lafayette, LA APRIL 2017 Amanda, Tara & Valerie - Baymont Inn & Suites, Big Spring, TX MAY 2017 Valerie & Rhonda - Baymont Inn & Suites, Big Spring, TX Kelly, Nathan & Nylex - Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Ennis, TX Tex - Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham, Kenedy, TX Stacie - Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham, Pleasanton, TX Hannah - Wingate by Wyndham, Slidell, LA THANK YOU This article to appear in the September issue of Hotel Business Review and hotelexecutive.com. Engagement and commitment are at the core of our professional lives in a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week operation. No matter the size or complexity of the box, engagement and our commitments should be a core fundamental that not only surfaces in our every interaction, but guides and directs our proactive decision making and our strategies and executions. Hospitality 101 teaches us as hospitality professionals, to engage with our guests, to make eye contact at 10 feet, to speak within 5, to escort when possible and to use our guests name in conversation. We are taught to professionally engage our customers and clients at every interaction and be the key stakeholders of their happiness during their time with us. Commitment to our client’s and guest’s comfort and happiness, successful planning and meetings should live at the core of our hospitality spirit. Far too often forgotten is engagement within our sales discipline. Are we hiring committed, passionate, truly professional sales people that come to work every day to do exactly what we hired them to do? Sell. Several years ago, I had an incredibly dynamic, engaged and committed sales person working for me. She was polished, involved with her clients and colleagues and everyone really admired this young manager. She was in early and out late, she was committed. She was the top sales person in our brand, year in and year out, won incentive trips and best of the best awards. I was shocked when she resigned to go work outside of our industry and outside of the sales discipline. When I asked her why, she very candidly said, I’m not that great of a sales person, in fact I hate sales. The reason she was first in the office and typically locking the door at the end of each day, was because she was anxious about her sales days. I immediately reacted with “You are the top catering sales manager in the entire company, by some pretty gross margins…by my account, you are an amazing sales person!” Her response “I just follow the sales funnel you gave us. I don’t miss a step, I go from A to Z and I do every letter in between and they buy.” “Stop it! Seriously? You were so engaged with the sales process and so committed to execution of this sales funnel, so much so that you just won the business?” She replied “Yes.” Of course, I replied, “Ok, what will it take to change your mind?” There was no changing her mind. Professional sales people, engage the sales funnel. They take every opportunity to build rapport first! This is the “A” in the “A to Z” They are committed to finding common ground with their client and developing a relationship, before considering selling. As professional sales people, we talk about building rapport incessantly. After all, as the old saying goes, people buy from people they know, like and trust. Professional engaged sales people, get engaged prior to selling. As professional sales people we close, we ask for the business, we talk about it constantly. Engaged sales people ask for the business! This is “Z” in the “A to Z” and no matter your method, we typically ask for the business in one form or another. But what about the “B through Y”? We build rapport well, we do the A, we ask for the business, and we come up short. Why? The B through Y. The most crucial piece of the B to Y is how we qualify! I believe, as professional hotel sales people, we have completely forgotten to qualify or we have devalued the qualification process. I mean, isn’t it so much easier to go from A right to Z? We are friends, they like me, I have told them a bit about our hotel, I have a pretty good idea or understanding of how many rooms they need, what their food and beverage needs look like, we have a shuttle and I am sure they need one of those, so I told them about it. I also told the client we have an amazing complimentary hot full breakfast buffet, so I have every right to ask for the business. Wrong! Did you know their guests typically leave so early that they don’t even have time to eat breakfast at the hotel and their company provides them transportation? Probably not, because we made a ton of assumptions and never got around to qualifying the business. We never truly understood the client’s direct needs nor uncovered their implied needs. We were so excited this person loved us and focused on the prospect of their potential business, that we forgot to marry their specific needs to our fabulous product. Engaged sales people ask open ended questions and take time to really understand the needs of their client before beginning to sell. The best sales people understand their economic landscape and what their competition is offering. When is the last time you shopped the competition? Isn’t it important to understand what your competition is offering before we even begin the dialogue? Get engaged with your segment, your competition and what they are offering. This goes for all segments, groups and meetings, catering sales and the business travel segment. Site tours can also give a client boosted confidence. When is the last time you invited the Food and Beverage Director and Front Office Manager to lunch with a client? Again, engage them before the tour and have a game plan. You are helping our executive teams understand the process, you are creating a cohesive environment where everyone feels the responsibility and accountability for driving revenues into the property and being part of the process. Focus on your goals and know and understand your budgets and numbers. What do you have in your pipeline, what is your conversion factor from prospect to definite? Why didn’t your prior year groups book this year? We all like to believe that we are making history calls, but are we? One of the best places to find business is historical bookings, but are we even calling? Raid the cabinet! The best strategies are created behind how we fill need periods and shift clients to holes in our GRCs, but more often than not we struggle with the execution. Remain committed to laying out the plan and strategy. Meet with your team daily to review plans and understand what is going on in the market. Set timelines and goals with consistent temperature checks and stay committed to those. Strategy without execution, gets dusty. Del Robinette VP, Sales & Marketing HMC’s 3RD ANNUAL CUTEST PET CONTEST is right around the corner. Details will be to you shortly. Plus, don’t forget to check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/dfw for additional information.