Be Prepared

The process upon which you are about to embark begins with the customer, not your product. Always prepare thoroughly because you will need some edge in your discussion and this may be the way to gain it. Do a Google search on the company (and the person you are seeing) and find out what they sell or do, what their competition is, how profitable they are and who owns them.

Think about why you are making this visit or having this meeting. You must never sit down with a prospect unless you have some written objectives plus an idea of some of the questions you will ask. What do you want to achieve from the meeting? Is it an order, or an appointment for them to visit you?

It is helpful to prepare some cue cards for yourself, highlighting your features and benefits and any other company or personal information you have gathered. An agenda is also helpful, even if you don’t give it to your prospect. Just having it will keep you on track.

Use Your Personality

However great your hotel and its food, most people are buying into a relationship with you, not the physical product. If you want to be remembered, do whatever you can to be different, but in a memorable way. Discover your uniqueness. I don’t mean that you should wear a silly hat, but let your personality shine through. Think about the way you dress and the way that you talk to people.

Think of ways that you add value to your relationships by sending birthday cards, hand-written notes with articles of interest etc. Always display a positive attitude and have your best smile on your face. If you can be different, then great.

Your prospects also have differing personalities. Extroverts are sociable, active and impulsive. Introverts are less sociable, less active and more cautious. Their behaviour will mirror their personality; if an extrovert says, ‘I’ll think about it’ it probably means ‘No’! Adjust your approach depending on your prospect.

Problems And Opportunities

Your main objective is to get to some understanding about your prospect’s problems, needs and desires. It is best to start with questions around these issues. It is tempting to feel you ought to start with some more general questions about his golf handicap, but how do you help him with this? Be guided by the prospect. Wait for him to start.

Identify all the specific problems he has; this will give you the opportunity to incorporate your solutions into your presentation.

Ask Questions

The key to any successful contact with a prospect is the quality of your questions. Good questions receive good, useful and illuminating answers. The reverse is also true. Always keep questions short, use ‘you’ a lot, and keep them open-ended.

Ask your questions clearly, match the tone of voice to your contact and wait for the answer. Respect the silence. It is also very helpful to write down your questions before the meeting so that they are not a surprise to you. This way you will be able to organise your questions around the outcome that you want. Preparing in advance also gives your subconscious the opportunity to help you.

Although you should usually use open-ended questions (starting with who, what, why, when and how) there are times when you just want a straight one-word answer. Here are some really powerful questions. You don’t have to use them all, and you will have some of your own.

General business questions to find out context:

• ‘Tell me about your business.’
• ‘Describe the people in your organisation.’
• ‘What are your responsibilities?’
• ‘What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business?’
• ‘What are your priorities?’

 

Moving on to supply issues:

• ‘What do you like about your current hotel.’

• ‘If you could change anything about your current hotel, what would it be?’
• ‘What qualities are you looking for in a new hotel?’
• ‘What are your criteria for making a decision?’
• ‘Under what circumstances would you use a new hotel?’
• ‘What is your decision-making process?’
• ‘How do you measure the success of your current hotel?’
• ‘What are your expectations from a new hotel?’
• ‘When do you decide on new hotel contracts?’
• ‘How many room nights do you book each month?’
• ‘What do you know about my hotel?’

 

Try to avoid soft, bland questions:

• ‘How are you?’
• ‘Can I be honest?’
• ‘I was wondering&’
• ‘Yes, I agree, but&’
• ‘I may be wrong but&’
• ‘I see your point, but&’

 

Active Listening

Whatever you do, listen to the answer. Don’t just plough on with your own agenda regardless. By all means keep your objective in mind but it might not be a straight line from beginning to end. Just to show that you are listening, try asking, ‘Am I right in thinking that what you are saying is …?’

Listening is the key to navigating your way through the relationship so that you achieve what you want. Listen for the silences and the pauses and don’t immediately jump in with another question. Don’t hurry the conversation along or be rushed into speaking.

Listen closely enough to take notes and where possible write down some quotes that you can use later in your presentation. Speak to any police officer and they will tell you that when a suspect is talking they don’t do or say anything that makes them stop. This is definitely worth bearing in mind for your prospects.

Very often sales are lost (particularly for meetings) by not making the correct offer. This is caused by not understanding your prospects’ real needs. If there is anything you don’t understand ask for clarification and then summarise your perception before moving on. If you have been in the same sales situation before, and can almost predict the requirements, avoid being too quick. Appear thoughtful and the customer will see that you have come up with a solution that is tailor made for their particular situation.