With the holiday season heating up and the economy cooling down, restaurants and hotels are battling over a dwindling market share of holiday parties.
The economy is challenging, and everyone understands the importance of private parties to the bottom line. Even when the holidays have passed, private parties remain a vital contributor to profitability.
Coyle Hospitality Group—a market leader in designing and implementing mystery shopping and quality measurement programs exclusively to the hospitality industry—referred professional evaluators for 100 assessments of 50 restaurants and 50 hotels in five major markets: New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Miami. When the professional mystery shoppers called, they inquired about hosting a holiday party for a small-to-mid-size group. Sales staff were then rated on such categories as:
• Professionalism
• Prospecting
• Rapport building
• Advancing the sale
The data told a compelling story. The average score for all 100 calls was 66%, and the breakdown by market and by category was interesting as well.
| City | Hotels | Restaurants | Both Groups |
| Chicago | 91% | 65% | 78% |
| Los Angeles | 78% | 59% | 69% |
| New York City | 64% | 62% | 63% |
| San Francisco | 71% | 49% | 60% |
| Miami | 58% | 61% | 60% |
| All Markets | 72% | 59% | 66% |
The following table shows the least practiced sales behaviors.
| Standard | Fulfillment % |
| Caller is asked if they are considering other venues. | 16% |
| Caller is invited to see the space. | 19% |
| Caller is asked how they heard of the facility. | 21% |
| Caller is asked if they have ever been to the facility before. | 22% |
| Caller is asked if dates are flexible before availability is checked. | 26% |
| Caller is probed for key motivators for a successful event. | 36% |
| Caller is asked when the decision will be made. | 37% |
Not surprisingly, performance covered the gamut. Some salespeople were adept at qualifying the lead, promoting their venue, and advancing the inquiry to a potential sale. Others did not fare so well, with 36% not returning a phone call within 24 hours, a handful not bothering to return the call at all, and one location saying the sales contact does not take phone calls.
So what is the moral of this holiday tale? If someone calls your restaurant or hotel with the intention of planning a holiday party, and you do not secure the sale, one of your competitors will. This will be just as true in January as June as it is now in December.
Because private parties offer improved efficiencies and margins compared to traditional a la carte sales, the next five weeks will certainly provide significant opportunities for those that are prepared.
A SalesQore assessment of your staff will not only provide a benchmark of where you are today; it will also show how your team compares to others in the industry. Perhaps most important, though, Sales Qore is an excellent tool that reminds your sales staff to be ready to turn that next looker into a booker.
| To try SalesQore today, Click Here |
About SalesQore
Sales Qore is Coyle Hospitality Group’s cutting edge telephone-based mystery shopping analysis program, designed exclusively for the hospitality industry. Sales Qore is an effective tool that measures:
Staff responsiveness
Professionalism
Prospecting/qualifying capabilities
Ability to advance the sale
Quality of your collateral material
Your performance amongst your industry peers
Got Comments? Send them to research@coylehospitality.com
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