Simplify the Closing in Selling Process for Hospitality

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now I could ask you to put together a list of strengths and weaknesses in each market you should probably have a list of strengths and weaknesses for your government market for your association market for your catering market for your weddings market for your IBT market these probably have strengths weaknesses so the next time you're going to bid on a piece of business you need to ask yourself this question who else is bidding your presentation you're purple we've talked about this for three days your proposal presentation means nothing until you compare it to who else is bidding you have to be the customer the customer is gonna lay three proposals down side-by-side there's yours there's the other two and they're gonna compare the three proposals and trust me they're looking at strengths and weaknesses of the three properties price was way down on the list prices way down on the list so here's what you need to do you need to have somewhere in your office a list of strengths weaknesses we're gonna call this affectionately a matrix this is your matrix it should be in everybody's marketing plan yeah I don't expect you to memorize the strengths and weaknesses of every hotel but I sure expect it to be at your fingertips so the next time you come running into my office a Steve Steve I got a chance to really book a nice piece of business that's great sit down who else is bidding I don't know you're not ready to make a presentation you got to die trying to find out who else is bidding otherwise your proposal cannot be compared to anything so if you find out who else is bidding what you want to do is pull out the matrix here's your strengths and weaknesses here's their strengths and weaknesses here's the magic moment and if you get this go to the head of the class where your strengths are the same as their strengths you better not make that the thrust of your presentation you got it they got it the customers saying they both have it nobody wins on that one and yet we find too often our sales people are saying well we've got we'll meet your needs we have great accessibility we'll build a wonderful relationship we're business friendly we don't have a we have awesome location our services fantastic our food is good you don't think every other hotel saying the exact same thing you didn't break any tie there and yet we just thought we delivered a fantastic propose no you delivered one that looked exactly the same as the three other hotels that are bidding but take heart where your weaknesses are the same as their weaknesses the truth is you've lost nothing competitively you don't have it they don't have it they don't have shuttle the airport you don't have shuttle the airport it's ok for you to mention if you'll look none of the hotels in our area have shuttle to the airport and that's a true statement I'd say it but we've made other arrangements for you and if you have a large number of people coming in we've got a list of mile-long of transportation experts we work with all the time we'll take care of that here's the bomber where your weaknesses match up unfavorably with their strengths you have a problem and this would be the moment when we morph from removing resistance at the point of sale to negotiating we'll get to that in a moment and it's gonna sound like this Lindsey you're right we don't have that and the other hotel you're looking at does have that tell you what I'm gonna do this is how we're going to address that that's you're stepping right into negotiating that's stale skill number four and that's how you know when you've just entered the negotiating phase it's a point of resistance that you cannot overcome that the other Hotel has listed as a strength but here's the winner winner chicken dinner where your strengths matches up favorably against their weakness that becomes the thrust of your presentation that's the money shot look we have this and it's clear it's important in your decision-making process the other hotels you're looking at they don't have it now you don't have to say it that way a meeting planner with any sense will get that because they're looking at your proposal they're look at your proposal but if you don't mention that in your proposal and all you do is talk about it over the phone but it doesn't show up and writing it doesn't show up in your proposal it doesn't show up in your email that you subsequently send them you're asking an awful lot for them to remember it you haven't made that the thrust of your presentation this is huge if you can get to that moment in time where you know who else that are looking at right and the thrust of your presentation is your strength measured up against their weaknesses there's a high probability you will land that piece of business you could probably even land it a couple of bucks more because you have something they need this is very sophisticated stuff yet basic and very elemental right and yet how often do we do