Upskilling new sales staff quickly and effectively has never been more important than it is now. Why so? Because post-pandemic appetites for MICE and leisure bookings have bounced back with a vengeance. So far, so good. But there’s just one small potential spanner in the works…
The exponential skills shortages in the hospitality industry have been well-documented. As a result, you might have recruited ‘against type’ or from outside the industry, as a matter of necessity.
So, here’s the dilemma. Your need for upskilling new sales staff is pressing. But hospitality is a way of life that can be completely alien to sector newbies. It can be a daunting task for them. And it can be challenging for you, too, wondering where to start to get them up to speed.
To this end, here’s three game-changing tips for upskilling new sales staff rapidly and effectively.
Upskilling New Sales Staff for Short Term Stability and Longer-Term Gains
• Instil Commercial Acumen – Why would you take one booking but not another? Newbies are often bursting with enthusiasm to seal their first deals. Help ensure that their first wins don’t turn sour. After all, it’s soul destroying for everybody if they think they’ve made a killing, when they’ve actually blocked out your largest space at a bargain basement rate during peak season.
• Decipher Industry Lingo – Imagine that your Sales Manager has been wining and dining an agency for months. The agent finally has a juicy enquiry. And a naïve sales newbie innocently pleads ignorance about commission. Credibility killed in nanoseconds! So, spare a thought that hospitality sales can be like learning a foreign language for newbies who don’t know their corkage from their cakeage.
(Savvy Sweetener: Click here to download a copy of our free Sales Abbreviations for hotels & venues )
• Nurture Team Work – The Sales v Ops factor in hospitality is as old as the hills. But your intrepid newbies don’t know that. How can you factor it in to your onboarding training, to get them off to the best possible start with other departments? Remember, team work makes the dream work. And besides, inter-departmental harmony is infinitely preferable to a sniff of bad blood that might send sales newbies running for the hills.
The benefits of upskilling new sales staff, from the second they set foot through the door, are transcendent. But it’s hard work, especially if you’re already time and resource poor. Fear not! Selling Savvy to the rescue.
Our online self-service Welcome to Sales course is like gifting your sales newbies with a mentor in a box. And better still that it comes with a completion assessment and recommendations, courtesy of your Selling Savvy Associate.
Got questions about the course and how to book? Send them this way – kate@sellingsavvy.co.uk or take a look at our website.
