Hospitality is a very significant factor as far as travel and tourism is concerned. For instance, in the case of tourism, in most cases overnight stays are inevitable hence the need for provision of food and accommodation. Hospitality also plays a major role in customer attraction or provision of superior customer services in some travel and tourism organizations.
Provision of these products as secondary products in these organizations gives them a competing edge to organizations offering similar services. For success in competitive businesses therefore, customer expectations are to be put into consideration. These may include the location, level of service, accessibility, speed of service, hygiene among others.
Hospitality providers may exist as main businesses such as hotels, campsites or guest houses or they may be as an additional service such as in airlines and conferences. The products and services range from core such as food and accommodation, to specific needs, such as children menus and family seating.
The Pocahontas Cabins is a two-star hotel in Canada. It is located in a serene environment that is not very far from Jasper town. It borders diverse natural attractions and wildlife. A café and a restaurant are to be found within the hotel.
The cabins, just a stone throw from the east gate of Jasper National Park are equipped with kitchenettes with others having additional bedrooms hence making them superlative for vacations and getaways. A heated outdoor pool and a state of art hot tub is provided for the guests’ enjoyment. Guests have the option of obtaining tasty meals from Pocos Café or barbequing their own meals.
They also have the natural beauty of Jasper National Park to behold from the comfort of their cabins. Wildlife at the natural marsh can be viewed from here and not far away are the Miette Hot springs in whose waters they can relax (Allhotels, 2010).
MEMO
To: Members of Pocahontas Cabins sales department
From: Name
Date: 9/17/2010
Subject: Effective Sales Strategies
This is to inform you of specific procedures and effective sales strategies that should be implemented so as to best maintain our current customers and to generate new ones. The measures we will put in place will include production, placing, pricing and promotions.
Production is concerned with the overall idea of coming up with our products and services. Our strategy at this level is to ensure we put into consideration our customers’ needs and the market considerations before we embark on our production. We have to be economical in that we make our production costs as low as possible while at the same time ensuring the quality of our services is maintained very high.
When it comes to placing, our location is of concern in this area. The placing of our hotel in a wildlife sanctuary is a clear indication that placing has been put into consideration when setting up our business. In addition its nearness to Jasper town is enough to show that accessibility has been taken care of.
Pricing refers to how we determine our prices. The prices for our services should not be too high for our customers, yet still, they should be able to result in profit. This can only be so if they significantly outweigh the production costs.
Promotion is the most important strategy as it is mainly concerned about the tactics we employ in marketing of our services. A few policies therefore need to govern members of our marketing team if this is to be achieved. Our commitment and zeal is one such policy whereby they may have to step out of their comfort zones and do a little extra to ensure the satisfaction of clients.
A lot of tour energy and effort may also be put in during product presentations. We are also expected to be enthusiastic at all times. Needless to say, courtesy and respect are mandatory towards our clients if we are to attract them by any means.
It is also a high time we employed the use of testimonials of people whose opinions are respected in our commercials, as this will ultimately boost our sales and image (Khera Communications, Inc., 2008).
Each one of us is also encouraged to have a proper knowledge of our services. This gives us an advantage when it comes to customer queries. It enables us to explain things that we ourselves are able to understand and hence it does not present doubts to the customers concerning the quality of our services. We are therefore encouraged to verse ourselves well with our services by going through our brochures, journals and reading a great deal of related books and trade journals.
Frequent bonding of team members is also encouraged as this allows us to learn from one another’s experiences. We are also encouraged to consult from seniors and those who have been in the company for long. Regular meetings and conferences are also to be organized specifically for this same reason of gaining knowledge.
I invite the cooperation of each one of us to see our hotel rise to greater heights.
Before we implement these strategies, it is important that we carry out a customer survey that will enable us to determine exactly what their expectations are. This can be done by phone after the customer has left. We will have to find out how satisfied they are with our products and how possible it is that they may want to visit Pocahontas Cabins again.
This survey should be carried out frequently so as to get the most information but not too much to the extent the customer is annoyed. The feedback from this and the suggestion boxes should give us ideas on what to do to ensure the customers get the most benefit from us.
Much as the strategies outlined above are of tremendous value to our hotel. It is worth noting that their implementation may not be as easy as it may seem. Various challenges that may arise, for instance, some employees may find it difficult to embrace the new requirements as far as their general behavior and code of conduct is concerned.
It may also be a matter of time before our strategies start bearing fruit hence a considerable measure of patience is required. Determining the right prices for our services may also be a challenge in that we have to balance between being favorable to our customers as well as making sure we do not lose on our profits.
McKinsey and company is a world-class packaged goods manufacturer whose growth at one time was flowing. A comprehensive survey of customers was conducted and it was discovered that the relationship needs that the company had not been capitalizing on needed to be worked on.
A new segmentation model based on the 3-Dimensional framework was created. The company then concentrated on few key segments so as to develop business cases that were robust. From the improved concepts, groups had to be managed for focus purposes while at the same time conducting financial projections.
This in turn resulted in increase in client base and the overall brand value. The company also realized a 5 percent profit within 18 months before taxation, which is remarkable all together without changing the system or organization by large margins (Management-hub, 2010).
From the strategy employed by McKinsey and company it is clear that customer requirements have been put on the forefront. This is the same case as is with Pocahontas Cabins’ strategic plan for sales. There is therefore no doubt that it is a guaranteed recipe for success as far as our sales and customer satisfaction is concerned.
I believe my company’s sales may model McKinsey and company in that their profits may increase from the current value to about 8.5% if in addition they consider the four P strategies of production, placing, pricing and promotion.
References
Allhotels. (2010). Pocahontas Cabins. Web.
Khera Communications, Inc. (2008). The Four P’s: Effective Sales Strategies for Your Small Business. Web.
Management-hub. (2010). How to Become a Successful Salesman?. Web.