Business Tips: Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin

Have Everything At Hand
One of the best ways for you to overcome procrastination and get more things done faster is for you to have everything you need at hand before you begin. When you are fully prepared, you are like a cocked gun or an archer with an arrow pulled back taut in the bow. You just need one small mental push to get started on your highest value tasks. 

Clear Your Workspace
Begin by clearing off your desk or workspace so that you only have one task in front of you. If necessary, put everything on the floor or on the table behind you. Gather all the information, reports, details, papers, and work materials that you will require to complete the job. Have them at hand so you can reach them without getting up or moving. Be sure that you have all writing materials, computer disks, access codes, email addresses and everything else you need to start and continue working until the job is done. 

Make It Comfortable
Set up your work area so that it is comfortable, attractive and conducive to working for long periods. Especially, make sure that you have a comfortable chair that supports your back and allows your feet to sit flat on the floor.

The most productive people take the time to create a work area where they enjoy spending time. The cleaner and neater your work area before you begin, the easier it is for you to get started and keep going. 

Assume The Position
When you sit down, with everything in front of you, ready to go, assume the body language of high performance. Sit up straight, sit forward and away from the back of the chair. Carry yourself as though you were an efficient, effective high performing personality. Then, pick up the first item and say to yourself, "Let's get to work!" and plunge in. And once you've started, keep going until the job is finished. 

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, take a good look at your desk or office, both at home and at the office. Ask yourself, "What kind of a person works in an environment like that?"

Second, resolve today to clean up your desk and office completely so that you feel effective, efficient and ready to get going each time you sit down.

How to Romance Customers by Making the Easy Sale

"Romance should begin with science and end with a settlement." - Oscar Wilde

How good are you at romancing your customers?

If you suspect you might not be good enough, you're in luck. Because this week we have a snappy little piece from writer Michael Hepworth that shows us how to do that. No need for a big warmup. I'll let Michael take over from here.

Michael... she's all yours:

When I was a teenager, I had a friend Gavin, who had a very direct approach with the young ladies in the town where we lived. We used to laugh because he got a lot of slaps, and we were also envious because he was sometimes successful.

At the time, I didn't appreciate the marketing lesson in this. Thinking back, I realize that one of the reasons Gavin got slapped so often, is that he was trying to make a very difficult sale. He tended to fail more often than he succeeded. He just didn't know how to romance his prospects.

When dealing with your customers, are you rushing the sale or trying to close a sale that is hard to make?

If you are advertising or selling to people who have never heard of you and you start off asking for a relatively big commitment to quickly, the answer is almost certainly yes. It is also true when trying to sell big ticket items or complex solutions to new prospects. Are you making the same mistake as Gavin, and turning off many prospects, simply because you are too aggressive and they are not ready to take such big a step?

In many cases to move forward in small increments, each building a greater level of trust, will yield better results than asking for a big commitment right away.

You can't afford to undermine your efforts with this kind of mistake. To reach a qualified prospect and get turned down is simply too expensive, and the opportunity cost is too high. Like most marketing mistakes the issues are subtle and are not always obvious to the casual observer.

Savvy marketers understand that no matter how much success they have with a program, they owe it to themselves to continually find ways to improve their results. They know it costs exactly the same to run a direct mail piece, a sales campaign or an advertisement that yields 1%, 2%, 3% or 4%.

They also know that you can often get dramatic increases with only very minor changes, that cost nothing.

The easiest way to increase your success rate with customers is to get a little romance going. The key is to make the easy sale first. My young friend might have been more successful if he had built trust by inviting his prospects for coffee, getting to know them a little better and understanding what they were wanting out of a relationship. So it is with your customers. You have to be prepared to invest time and energy in building trust by selflessly providing value before asking for any commitment.

Making the easy sale first, usually involves offering something free. Let the customer try out your services at no risk.

What can you offer free, without breaking the bank? The most simple gift is information. Do you have information that is useful and valuable to your prospective customers? It must not be self-serving, otherwise it defeats the purpose. The best kind of information is the kind that helps them avoid making bad buying decisions, or protects them from dangers they might not be aware of.

You can also offer a free, no obligation, consultation or service to new prospects. If your services are good and your prospects are properly qualified, the downside risk is minimal for you. You should get a lot more people trying your service and becoming customers.

Remember, I did say, make the easy sale first. You still have to sell, but it will be easier. Be clear about the benefits your prospects will get, if they take this first step. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because you are offering something free, people will automatically take you up on your offer.

However, once they do take you up on your offer, you are well on your way to developing a profitable long-term relationship.

If you would like any marketing advice on your current marketing activities please contact TA Fastrack on 07 3040 3588

Facebook hotel booking conversions growing, for some higher than TripAdvisor

Facebook is fast becoming more than just a customer relationship tool for many hotels, motels and resorts. Many accommodation properties are now offering fans the ability to book a room directly from the hotel's Facebook page, which is leading to incremental sales.

“Over the course of 2009, we saw the volume of direct referrals from Facebook to hotel websites grow. The conversion rate was higher for Facebook than it was for TripAdvisor and other travel review sites,” said Douglas Quinby, senior director of research for PhoCusWright, a travel research firm in Sherman, Connecticut.

"The conversion rate on direct referrals from traveler review sites to hotel supplier websites ranged from 4% to 6% in 2009, while conversion from Facebook to hotel websites was 8%," said Mr Quinby.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has provided a booking function within a tab on Facebook for all of its brands and properties since it has been on Facebook.

“Conversion on Facebook is smaller but close to conversion on our brand websites. (Starwood’s Facebook fans) start to see other people’s experiences at the properties,” said David Godsman, VP of global Web for Starwood.

While Starwood primarily uses Facebook to “engage” with its guests, the company’s executives realize the valuable e-commerce potential on the global social-networking site. To that end, Westin Hotels & Resorts in January introduced a “Shop” tab on its properties’ Facebook pages. The shopping widget serves as a fully-contained shopping transaction, instead of working as a link from Westin’s website.

“What we are seeing now is an emergence of technology that that we didn’t see six months ago. There is an opportunity for ourselves and other hotel brands to enable these type of transactions within Facebook,” Godsman said.

If you would like to find out more about using social media, or to get a professionally designed Facebook welcome page for your hotel, which includes an overview of your products and integrates your booking button on the page, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3590.

Five reasons for embracing an email marketing strategy

Here are the key points why you should start emailing your customers on a regular basis:

1. Email can help you achieve your business goals
2. Keeps customers in the loop, which equals happier customers
3. It's cost-effective 
4. Lets you gather and use customer intelligence to target specific specials to them
5. Improved overall online marketing

To get started on email marketing, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3590.

Tips to Help Empower Yourself

“It’s not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.” - Vance Havner

How hard do you really push yourself and is what you expect in return realistic? Most of the time results achieved fall in line with the exact amount of effort we are prepared to commit. We often sit and wonder why we did not achieve what we set out to do, we look for external reasons (and conveniently find them!) which give us suitable excuses for our half hearted effort. The fact is ordinary results come from ordinary effort, do you want to be ordinary or would you really like to be superb?

To achieve more you need to expect more. You need to be more demanding of yourself first, you can then follow this with higher expectations of others. We often expect more of our team members than we get, after all we pay their wages don’t we?

This rational will never work when it comes to improving results. It has to start with YOU FIRST. Your team are listening to you even though you don’t think they are, they are watching you even though you don’t think they are, and when you slip up… they will remember.

The expectation you have of you team and the results they will produce will only ever be effective in relation to the expectation you have of yourself and how you demonstrate this within your business.

Here are some tips to help you empower yourself to ‘step up the stairs’ today.

1. Set your goals and then re-set them just a little higher.
2. Be committed to constant improvement, believe that you are going to be better today than you were yesterday.
3. Practice, practice, practice, one day you WILL get it right.
4. Have a high level of expectation for yourself, this will enable you to raise the standards for everyone in your team.
5. Lead by example in every possible way.
6. Look for ways of improving your own skill set, knowledge base etc
7. Don’t just talk about it, DO IT!

10 Tips For Marketing Your Hotel on Google Places

Is your hotel making the most of Google Places? If so, how does your page rank among local competitors?

Place pages are more important than ever. A recent Google study found that 20% of all searches on Google are used to find location specific answers.

Place pages - individual Web pages for businesses and points of interest - often dominate search results for location specific queries (e.g. “Sunshine Coast Hotels”), along with a Google Map feature with red markers identifying locations. Google often blends Websites with their accompanying Place pages, as one search result, and even includes links to hotels’ reviews. As you can tell, Google Places is a vital channel for your property.

Below are 10 tips to optimize your page…

1. Add as much detailed information as possible. Google Places listings are ranked by relevance to search terms entered, as well as location, among other factors. Make sure you completely fill out all of the fields in the 'edit page' area. These includes latitude and longitude, your property’s hours of operation, amenities and payment types accepted.
2. Fill out the additional, yet optional, information fields. These are broken up into two categories: “Label” and “Value.” Do not put full sentences into your label. Use specific words. For example, add “Services: concierge, tour booking service, free wireless Internet” not “The services we offer are concierge and free wireless Internet.”
3. Take advantage of Google Tags. These tags allow your hotel to have a direct link to different locations such as your booking page, apartments page or photo gallery. The links are displayed as yellow highlighted icons. Google tags should not be mistaken for a sponsored listing. They will not affect the ranking of Google Places listings.
4. Optimize your description. Write a description that will be helpful to your guests first, then Google - not the other way around. When describing your hotel, using relevant search terms are important, as these are the keywords that people will also to search. For example, “Our Gold Coast holiday accommodation features spacious, self-contained 2 bedroom apartments, a great range of facilities, including a swimming pool, tennis courts and sauna and an unbeatable location - right next to the beaches and close to entertainment and popular Gold Coast attractions.”
5. Select category listings carefully. Google allows you to select up to five categories. These offer your potential guests, and Google, a more detailed description of your accommodation. You should only select categories that directly apply to your property. Creating a lot of “custom categories” doesn’t necessarily help; in some cases doing this can hurt your ranking.
6. Keep your title simple. The title must be your property’s name. Don’t attempt to embed keywords into your title, as that is almost a certain way to ensure your property listing is never seen.
7. Use the “share an update” feature. These updates will be listed on your Google Places page for 30 days, unless you remove the event prior. This is another feature to reach out to potential guests, and add more information about your property, eg special events, conferences etc.
8. Include pictures and videos. Take full advantage of this! Google allows you to upload up to 10 pictures and five videos. When you upload pictures and videos, it provides Google and your potential guests more information about your property. It also displays the photos next to your Google Places listing, which will naturally draw a potential guests’ attention to your listing first.
9. Take advantage of the coupon feature. This is a good way to help drive traffic to your site. However, there are many guidelines for using coupons; the main rule is that the promotion should not be available without the coupon. Therefore, you would need to use a promo code or have them print the page to bring to the property when checking in.
10. Encourage online interaction with your guests. Ask that satisfied guests leave positive reviews on your Google Places page. If you do get a poor review, respond quickly and calmly. Positive reviews that are left on other reputable travel sites (such as TripAdvisor) may also increase your Google ranking.

With four million businesses and growing currently listed on Google Places, the competition for page ranking, especially for hotel related searches, is constantly growing. If you do not currently have a Place page or your page is not appearing near the top of Google results, your property is missing a huge opportunity to reach travel shoppers and direct bookings.

For more information about marketing, website design or if you need help setting up a Google Places page, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3590 or email@tafastrack.com.au. 

Turn Front Desk Clerks Into Front Desk Salespersons

Despite the continuous increased focus on improving revenue management processes at most hotels these days, more often than not the job of working the front desk is still viewed as primarily being an operational position.


While many hotels and hotel companies have focused training efforts on hospitality and guest-service efficiency, few have provided the more comprehensive sales training that the position calls for. Whatever sales training that has been presented has typically focused on reservations sales techniques for converting inquiry calls, which is certainly a step in the right direction. However, at most properties the front desk team faces myriad sales opportunities each day. Depending on your property's location, brand, and market segment, here are some opportunities your front desk salespeople might encounter daily, along with corresponding training techniques for your next departmental meeting.

Capturing more walk-in business

Create a positive first impression by initiating contact and welcoming the guest when they enter the lobby. Rather than quoting only the lowest rate and sending them back out to the car to make an "either-or" decision, instead create a "which should I chose?" decision-making scenario by offering two or three room types and/or rate options. Reiterate benefits. Embellish descriptions of features that are relevant.

Securing "move-overs" from disgruntled guests currently staying at other hotels in the area

Hotels located in dense markets such as Interstate exit ramps or near metropolitan convention centres might often encounter "move-over" opportunities when guests of nearby properties stop by to check rates and availability. Train your team to present your hotel's unique advantages and to avoid negative remarks about the competition. Rather than saying what the other hotel doesn't have or doesn't do, focus on the advantages your property has to offer with statements such as:

"What's unique about us is..."

Up-selling effectively during registration

With so many guests booking either online or via third parties, the registration process might represent the best time of all to up-sell to higher-rated accommodations. After reassuring the guest that the option they booked is still a good choice, gauge the guest's interest with questions such as:

"Did your travel agent have a chance to mention our concierge floor?" or "Are you familiar with our suites?"

Present the upgraded options as being a unique opportunity: "We've had some of our executive king rooms open up this evening..." Personalize the benefits: "As a guest on level you would receive full access to..."

How Would Your Customers Rate Your Service?

Rendering exceptional customer service is both a responsibility and a smart business decision; unfortunately, far too many salespeople view customer service as an administrative burden that takes them away from making a sale.


The truth is, providing quality customer service presents tremendous opportunities for cross-selling, up selling and generating additional referrals. Dick Cavett once said, "It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear." If your clients were given a customer satisfaction survey, how would they rate the level of service they are receiving from you?

Customer feedback consistently points to the fact that the little things make a big difference. Quality customer service is typically defined in terms of attention to detail and responsiveness. Not surprisingly, the top two customer complaints with regards to customer expectations are unreturned phone calls and a failure to keep promises and commitments.

Successful salespeople place great value on developing lifetime relationships with their customers and always "go the extra mile" when providing service. In today's competitive marketplace, they are aware that their customers are aggressively prospected and their loyalty cannot be taken for granted.


Could you use a few more referrals? "Go the extra mile" when providing service and turn the customers you serve into advocates to help you promote your business. Your referrals and follow on business are in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of service you render on a daily basis.


When a customer begins a relationship with you, he or she brings to the table specific expectations. These expectations are primarily based on their past experiences as well as their perceptions of you, your product, and your company. It's critically important to take the time to ask open-ended questions and clarify what your customer expects. If they have false or unrealistic expectations, be clear with them upfront on the process and work with them to manage outcomes and set reasonable timelines.


How can you be sure that you customers are satisfied with your service? Just ask them. When it comes to customer service, perception is reality. Service is not defined by what you think it is, but rather how your customers perceive its value. Knowing more about your customer's needs and expectations will allow you to customize the service you provide. If you don't already have a customer service feedback system in place, establish one to monitor how your customers perceive the service you provide.


When it comes to impressing your customers, it's the personal touch that really makes the difference. Stay in contact and keep good records. Take the time to jot down notes from meetings and phone calls making certain to record all relevant information. Maintain a written record of service.


This is especially helpful when clients are reassigned. It's a good idea to setup a suspense system to track important contact dates such as client review calls and birthdays. Consider sending a personal note or an article of interest every six months.


Relationship building and follow on service are critical components for promoting both customer retention and revenue growth. Salespeople that fail to implement an effective customer service program actually do a disservice to their customers and unknowingly, leave the back door open to their competitors.


If you do it right, sales and service blend seamlessly and you will exceed your customers' expectations!

How to implement hotel fees without sacrificing customer satisfaction

Taking a page from the airline’s book, hotels have begun implementing separate fees for services previously included in the room rate. In the airline business, this process has been called the unbundling of the airfare. While there isn’t yet a clever descriptor for the similar process in hotels, it is certainly becoming more prevalent. Vague “resort” and “service” fees have been appearing on check-out bills, and hotels have employed new motion-sensing technology to enforce minibar consumption. Some of these fees are imposed to make up for systemic revenue shortfalls; whereas once phone service was a significant revenue generator for hotels, the proliferation of mobile phones strangled this stream, so some hotels have taken to imposing a telephone fee, unlinked to use.


Whatever the impetus for the imposition of new fees, they are on the rise, and don’t show any sign of abating anytime soon. For hotel owners and operators, these are important revenue lifelines in a market that still aspires only to 2008 conditions. But what is fiscally beneficial for ownership has the potential to alienate consumers, and this is a distinction operators need to keep a good eye on.


Where, in terms of fees, is the line between prudent business practice and chiseling the customer? Where is the balance between needed revenue and nickel and diming?

The truth is, hotels do need the new fees, just as the airlines needed to expose their core product to free up additional ancillary revenue streams. The key for hotels is to avoid some of the mistakes the airlines made, and make those fees straightforward and included upfront in the booking path, clearly linked to tangible services, and not too egregious. Springing an unexpected fee on a guest only at the end of their stay - as is the practice at some properties - is not conducive to repeat bookings and customer satisfaction, the two major drivers of hotel profitability. But there are ways to implement fees without sacrificing these.


First, let’s look at some of the kinds of fees that are being implemented or considered. The most straightforward sort of fee accompanies a clearly delineated auxiliary service. What makes this kind of fee a fee and not an additional product or service for sale is its compulsory nature; a guest will not have a choice to decline this product or service. Housekeeper gratuities are a good example of this sort of fee.


The second kind of fee is derived from something that used to be included in the room rate as a matter of course. Energy surcharges fall into this category, as do in-room safe fees. This sort of fee is also largely unavoidable, and allows hotels to defray the indirect cost of lodging a given guest.


A third kind of fee spreads the cost of property upkeep to the individual guest; examples of these fees include groundskeeping fees, facilities or maintenance fees, resort fees and pool fees. Whether or not a guest actually uses an amenity, they are assessed a blanket charge for them.

The final sort of fee isn’t really a fee at all, but a charge for various services that a guest may or may not engage in. Local phone fees, minibar charges, airport transfer fees and internet connectivity are all examples of fees that were (or are, at a different property) offered complimentarily to guests, with their cost covered by the room rate. But since guests are not compelled to partake in these services, they are not automatically on the hook for their associated fees.

Clearly, the first and last kinds of fees are the most palatable for guests. Vague-sounding, badly-defined charges like resort fees upset consumers, and rightly so; it is a transparent attempt to artificially lower the base room rate by separating a portion of it out. Fees that are closely associated with a given guest’s impact on the property, like energy surcharges, are a bit more palatable, though these fees are often instituted in response to changes in supply cost (does anyone remember an energy fee before crude oil prices went through the roof?), which is also transparent to consumers.

If a hotel sticks with those fees that fall into the first and fourth categories, they can effectively keep the fee revenue stream open without running the risk of alienating their customers. These fees are both reasonable, as they are tied specifically to auxiliary services or products. In the case of the fourth category of fees, there is an opportunity for guests to avoid them if they care to. These are the sorts of fees that hotels can reasonably impose, and continue to reap the benefits of repeat business and high guest satisfaction levels.


Whatever kinds of fees a hotel decides to implement, it is absolutely imperative that the hotel be up front about them. Guests should be alerted well in advance that there is a fee associated with a particular service or product, or if a fee will be imposed regardless - as soon as the booking path. This has a dual effect: first, if a fee is avoidable, this notification gives guests the opportunity to opt out. Second, if a fee is compulsory, it prevents a guest from feeling bilked in the end. Of the two evils - being nickel and dimed and being outright snookered - the former is always preferable.


Hotel fees don’t have to be a Faustian bargain. By imposing reasonable, incremental fees, and by disclosing their existence clearly and early on in the booking process, consumers can be made to accept what is becoming an ever-more common practice. By following these simple principles, hotels can have their fees, ad their repeat customers and high satisfaction rates, too.


After all, isn’t your customer satisfaction just as important as additional revenue streams?

7 Top Reasons to Use Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is a great way to promote your business easily and quickly. It can help you reach an unprecedented number of potential customers, while staying in touch with current and past clients.

Below are some reasons why you should start using email marketing for your business today:

It’s really easy!
Setting up an email marketing campaign doesn’t take very long and you don't need to be very computer literate to get it set up. You can send out a monthly newsletter with just a few articles informing your customers about what's happening with your business and the area.

It draws more web traffic
Unlike a regular mail marketing campaign, which might only draw a little bit of traffic to your website, an email marketing strategy will draw tons of traffic on a regular basis. This is mainly because you can embed links to your site in emails; if people just have to easily click on a link to get to your site instead of booting up the computer and typing in a link, they’re more likely to visit your website.

It keeps customers in the loop
Putting out monthly or weekly emails about specials, business updates and what's happening in the area is one of the best ways to keep customers coming back time after time. Instead of sending out expensive mail that will never get opened, you can send emails that customers can scan easily for current specials and discounts they’ll be more likely to use.

It’s cheap
With email marketing, you don’t have to pay for printing and postage, which means that it’s one of the cheapest ways to stay in contact with your customers.

It can be voluntary
It can be annoying when you send people unsolicited mail, but if you have a great website, you can allow people to sign up for your email newsletters and special offers. This is a great way to get advertising copy to the people who want it the most: customers who are already interested in what you have to offer or who have already used your products and services.

It’s fast
Sending an email takes almost no time at all. Of course, writing and proofing a professional-looking email will take some time, but it won’t take you any time at all to send out that email once it's finished. This means that your email can be in their inboxes almost immediately.

It builds relationships
Keeping in touch with your current and potential customers on a regular basis is the best way to build your relationship with them. People love to feel connected to other people, and by sending out regular emails, your customers will feel connected to your business, which will draw them back time and again.

We've listed some great reasons why you should get started on an email marketing campaign straight away. Just make sure that you hire a professional email marketing company who will be able to help you design a professional looking email design and provide you with tips on how to make your campaign more successful.

If you are looking for a company that can provide you with a great email marketing solution, manage and design your campaigns or somewhere in-between, check out TA Fastrack's email marketing service. For more information, visit www.tafastrack.com.au for a free email trial, or call 07 3040 3590.