This is a good way to keep your processes streamlined and – at the very least – predictable. But no matter how much you believe you’ve figured out, there is always room for improvement.
By optimizing your sales and marketing, you can potentially generate even greater results on the same budget, or even less.
Here are some tips and suggestions on how to make this happen.
Get Sales & Marketing On The Same Page
You can greatly increase your hotel’s sales and marketing effectiveness by getting them on the same page. What does this mean?
If your sales and marketing teams are separate departments, you need to get them talking to each other to achieve synergy and cooperation.
This means defining what a qualified or warm lead is, scoring your leads, determining what the hand off process looks like, documenting your buyer’s journey, and potentially clarifying what marketing each lead has been exposed to.
CRM (or customer relationship management) software can be of immense benefit in this process. But choosing the right solution will make a difference, because sales people generally don’t want to spend all their time on paperwork and data entry. You may need to test out different apps to find the right fit for your business. Invest some time in research to find out what works best for your flow.
Increase communication between sales and marketing, and you will boost your sales and marketing effectiveness.
Document Your Strategies
It’s incredible how few companies have a documented marketing and sales strategy.
Big-picture thinkers, such as entrepreneurs, often have a bias towards action as opposed to analysis and strategizing. That’s not a problem, but you need to balance this out with proper planning. If you don’t have documented strategies, you need to write down your plan and execute against it.
Your marketing team needs to be thinking in terms of channels, tactics, and how to build a strong internet presence. Sales people may require scripts, procedures, checklists, and other documentation to do the best job possible. There are a lot of variables and moving pieces.
The process of documentation helps you get everything in your head down on paper. It can also help you think through processes, and whether something can be tweaked or streamlined so it can be made even more effective.
Systematization is the natural extension of documentation. Creating standard operating procedures can help you team members to know exactly what they need to do and when without constantly asking questions of their superiors. This boosts their productivity and efficiency.
A fully systemized business can be franchised. That’s when you know you’ve put all the necessary systems in place.
Test, Track, & Optimize
You could replace moderately effective marketing channels with more effective channels. You could cut costs by eliminating things that don’t work in your marketing. And, you could tweak the language your sales team uses to improve results.
The best way to improve your processes is to try things out for a set period and adjust based on the feedback you get. Some things will work. Others won’t. Track your data and analyze it periodically. Then optimize your processes to make them even better.
Final Thoughts
Sales and marketing can be systemized.
When you put the right pieces into place, you’ll see your team work more efficiently than ever, generating better results from their activities.
Getting to that point can require patience and diligence. You can’t plan for everything when you’re first getting set up, but as you begin to see holes in your processes, you’ll figure out ways to improve upon them.