Insider Insights:

 

Bob Gilbert, President, and CEO

HSMAI

Mc Lean, Virginia

 

The fundamental skills in sales have been consistent for a long time. Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) has identified four emerging skills sets that we believe are vital for the modern sales professional. We believe that today’s hotel sales professionals need to be strategic collaborators, which requires superior listening skills and the ability to negotiate, as well as be sources of reliable analysis, providing information, ideas, trends and facts to prospective and current clients.

 

(Abbey, 2014)

 

 

Create your own “hotel” . Look up hotels in Cape Town South Africa and develop a general Sales Kit that sales staff may use when doing sales calls. The developed Sales Kit must include the following information:

1. Detailed property information sheet
2. Meeting and banquet room information sheet Testimonials or endorsement letters
3. Business card of the salesperson
4. Visual aids –photos compiled on hotel rooms, restaurants, banqueting facilities, and exterior of the hotel put together in any of the following display formats:

• Brochure 
• Video

Remember: a Sales kit is presented in an attractive folder or format and should include the salesperson's name, the name of the hotel or restaurant, and contact information of the hotel.