I established my industry credentials and told him about my company and the services I offer. We engaged in a lengthy conversation about the problems and joys of the industry in today’s market. It was a pleasant, informative chat between to seasoned, industry professionals. At the end of the conversation I went for broke and offered him a challenge.

I asked him if I scored a 10 during my sales talk if he would introduce me to the other owners he knew. He smiled and said he would but the talk would have to be a TEN. Then he agreed to the terms.

The next day I gave my presentation to a packed house. I believe in my services. I believe in my skills. I believe in my company. Most of all I enjoy what I do. I had a blast. The presentation went off exceptionally well and the Q&A went great with a lot of give and take from my audience.

I saw the owner later that afternoon and asked him how I did. He nodded and gave me a TEN. I laughed and remarked that he had some calls to make. He smiled and said he’d be happy to.

He didn’t lose a bet. That’s not why he’s making calls on my behalf. I gave him what every client or potential client desires. I gave him value and he responded with engagement. The exchange was equitable between both parties. We both came out ahead.

But none of this would have happened had I not ASKED.

So ask for what you want and be ready to provide them the value they seek. And you might even get more than you ever dreamed of.

“Would you like to go out with me sometime?”

If you’re doing the asking, the time prior to popping the question is spent with amped up feelings of anxiety and fear. If you’re the one being asked you’ve probably been waiting for the question and are relieved you can finally give the simple “no” response and move on with your life. The onus in this situation is always on the one asking the question because of the way the question is being phrased.

Now let’s rephrase the question and see what happens.

“So when would you like to go out with me? Friday there’s a great dance or we could hit the state fair on Saturday? What sounds like more fun?”

Now the onus has fallen on the shoulders of the one being asked. There isn’t a simple “no” response. That’s not one of the options. It’s either Friday or Saturday or the hideous option of the long-winded, uncomfortable explanation, “Well, you know, I like you as a friend but…” and most of us would avoid that at any cost.

So Saturday it is…because who doesn’t like the state fair?

Don’t kill a sales call before the sales call actually has a chance to be brought to life. If you keep your questions open-ended you will keep your options open and your potential customer engaged. More open-ended questions buy the customer time to realize he or she might actually need what you are trying to sell. And in the end that’s a win for everyone.

“You get your flour, pour it in a bowl and mix in 2 tablespoons of black pepper.”

“Now you get another bowl and crack some eggs add some milk and stir it up.” Whisk. Whisk. Whisk.

“Then you pound the steak like this to tenderize it.” Whack! Whack! Whack! Flip. Whack! Whack! Whack!

“Now you dip the steak in the eggs and milk then lay it in the flour. Flip it so that both sides are covered.”

“Now you drop the battered, floured meat in the hot grease and when it floats to the top like a dead animal it’s ready to serve and eat!”

I will never, ever forget how to cook a chicken fried steak. The dead animal bit sealed the memory for good. But the more important lesson was this: Everything in its time and place leads to a tasty meal.

Now imagine if I’d forgotten the flour or waited to add the pepper when the steak was already in the fryer. What if I’d have pulled the steak out before it floated to the top? Or waited to add the flour when the steak was already on the plate? Any misstep would spell disaster for the meat, the customer and ultimately the reputation of the restaurant.

A scattershot approach will not work with cooking nor will it work with Social Media.

The recipe for Social Media success is a completely integrated SM strategy backed up by a comprehensive SM campaign on the appropriate Social Media platforms. A company must engage its community with a dynamic message spoken with one, clear voice. The message must attract with humor and good will and it must appear consistently every day and every week.

So ask yourself, does your twitter feed and your Facebook page look like dry, dusty deserts where customers go to die? Or do they look like thriving oases in a Social Media paradise? If you answered yes to “desert” then I can lead your caravan to water. Or you can just follow the mirage to the dusty hole and keep telling yourself there’s water where there ain’t. The choice is up to you.

It took me completely by surprise.

The earth shifted beneath me and, in that frightening moment, I realized I could never see my world through the same eyes again…not if I was going to continue to succeed in business.

My business provides hotel sales support, sales training and Social Media services. I believe in what I do and my clients believe in me. My business is thriving and growing because the services I provide to my clients help them to grow.

The principles behind hotel sales haven’t changed. We build strong relationships, provide great service for a dynamic product and assist our clients at every turn. And, as always, meeting face-to-face is still the best way to do deliver our sales message. But the way our message is delivered and more importantly the way our customers or potential customers listen and communicate, can undergo cataclysmic shifts. And if I, the business owner, am not aware of this change, if I am not prepared for it, then my company and my clients suffer.

Every generation goes through this change. Technological innovation drives the change. The older generation ignores it, the current generation fights it and the youngest generation grows up with it as if that is the way the world always existed. With each new shift an entire new vocabulary is developed. If the current generation doesn’t learn it, they can find it very difficult to sell to the younger generation.

Yesterday I used the same conference calling service I’ve been using for years. The recorded voice asked me to enter my PIN number to connect to the call. Then the shift happened. The voice said, “Enter the pound or hashtag sign after your number to connect.”

The youngest generation has now come of age. Tens of millions of young adults know “#” symbol stands for hashtag not pound. This company recognized that fact and altered their recording to reflect the new language this generation uses to communicate. These young adults have grown up in the only word they know and they are now our customers. Soon they will be our managers, business owners and even our hoteliers.

In order to continue to be an effective salesperson I will embrace this new language and the revenue these new customers bring. #timesup

No really. Go with the sales consulting big boys. You know the ones that preach high overhead and bloated payrolls. They NEED you so that they can continue to overcharge and under-perform. You CAN save an out-of-touch, overrated, stuck in the last millennium hotel sales consulting company today by spending tens of thousands of zero-return dollars for unoriginal Social Media content, uninspired sales consulting and training, and crippled, impossible to navigate, boring websites. If you hurry you can insure their continued existence and guarantee you’ll be out of business by this time next year! What an exciting offer!!!

Or you can hire us: the forward thinking, hyper-efficient 21st century firm and for very competitive pricing we can:

1. Ramp up your sales with new millennium training/coaching, consulting or if you desire we can handle sales on your behalf

2. Establish your Social Media presence on an ever-changing variety of platforms that best suit your needs, create dynamic/engaging content and manage your Social Media community

3. Engineer cutting edge/stand alone websites that best represent who you are, where you’ve been and most importantly where you’re going

Those that think outside the box will prosper, those that don’t won’t.

Hint: we don’t even know what a box looks like.

We look forward to hearing from you…

It is at this point that one small word can rear its ugly head…”and”. This small word has been known to blow up a sure deal, sour a potentially fruitful business relationship and stymie self-confident sales persons, stopping them dead in their tracks. For all the training we receive to close the sale we receive precious little on how to deal with the “and”. Sometimes we hear the actual “and,” sometimes it’s implied. It will always come at that critical moment when the potential customer needs to feel as though they are getting something extra, at a discount or for free.

“So we’ve agreed on this number of room nights per month at this cost for 2012. Great. AND do you think you could throw in weekend for my wife and I in January? We love to ski!” Crickets. Crickets are never good. They imply uncertainty and an unwillingness to deal with the special request.

“We love the ballroom, the flowers, the cake and the caterer is marvelous! (and) Do you think we can get a discount on the groom’s cake? It would really help us out.” “Well I really don’t have any control over what the caterer charges.” You’ve gone from being the take charge, self-confident ally of the customer to the powerless, fearful, joyless enemy.

I could continue with these scenarios ad infinitum. You know the drill you’ve been there. So how do we handle these situations? It’s at this point that I like to remember what business I’m in and that’s the HOSPITALITY BUSINESS. If a guest asked for extra towels would I respond with a frozen smile and a blank expression? NO! I’d get them extra towels. If a guest came to me with a problem would I shrug my shoulders and say, “Well that’s not really my area.” NO! I’d do my best to solve the situation, immediately.

Hotel sales continue to be about establishing and maintaining relationships. We do that from a customer service standpoint. Will we always be able to fulfill every special request? Maybe not. But a concerted effort to deal with the “and” could save a sale…and a relationship. And that’s what hospitality’s all about!

For as long as people have been traveling others have been willing to provide accommodation along the traveler’s route. Whether it was setting up camp on privately owned land or renting a room in somebody’s home, some type of lodging could be had for a negotiated rate.  The rate could be calculated in the coin of the realm or bartered for goods or services.

The traveler, continuing on his way, would meet other travelers heading in the opposite direction. The travelers would exchange information on weather, possible danger and easiest route, and of course on what accommodations could be had down the road. But accommodations proved hit and miss depending on war, drought, famine, population shifts and the character, or lack thereof, of the town or individual catering to the weary traveler.

Travel was so rare until the Middle Ages no sane businessman would open an establishment for the sole purpose of lodging. This changed in the new millennium. Marco Polo charted a land route into China. Sailing ships opened up the New World. Desert caravans connected Asia to the rest of Africa and merchants found it profitable for the first time to travel and sell their wares.

700 years ago the bigger drinking establishments along the now well-traveled trade routes began to add rooming structures. These hostels became stand-alone businesses dedicated to providing travelers with safe lodging and the hotel business was born. But the more things changed the more they stayed the same. Lodging still had to be negotiated face to face and word of mouth on the trade routes let other travelers know about the lodging accommodations they faced, for better or worse.

2012. Travelers exchange information on the lay of the land on platforms like Trip Advisor. Rates are negotiated via email and text. Reservations are confirmed on websites. But the more things change the more they stay the same. The best and most productive sales negotiations still take place face to face, the innkeeper shaking the hand of his guest and looking them in the eye, a human contract that is part of our DNA dating back to the earliest times. And the best, or worst, recommendation on a hotel will always comes from a trusted, human voice rather than an anonymous thumbs up or thumbs down on some Social Media platform.

In order to meet humans and earn their business we must be human, smile, shake hands, listen and serve. This should be the basis of every sales call and every sales negotiation. This is our contract.

Embrace tradition. We’ve relied on it for centuries and it has never failed us.

James Watt patented an improved steam engine in 1769 creating the foundation for the Industrial Revolution. During the first decade of the 19th century Napoleon’s insistence that his army be able to transport food that did not spoil launched the canning industry. In 1885 and 1886 Daimler and Benz built and patented the first internal combustion engines resulting in the automobile revolution. Also in the 1880’s Tesla, Bell and Edison gave us the alternating current dynamo, the telephone and the light bulb and the phonograph. In 1957 Robert Noyce patented the microchip leading to the computer revolution.

Each of these inventions produced a warp in time. Beginning with the steam engine the length of time it took to communicate with a person on the opposite side of the globe began to compress dramatically with each new invention. From years to months to weeks to hours to seconds communication eventually became instantaneous.

Invention. Revolution. Effect.

Power.

It is the measure of the “effect” determined by its impact on society, the change that is wrought in individuals’ lives, the way we view the world and the way we interact with one another that determines the “power” of the invention.

I exist in a cell phone that weighs mere ounces. The cell phone is benign, inert. This shiny object is easily lost or damaged. It is my fragile shell.

From this tiny container of chips and circuits I changed the election laws in Canada. On my best days I launched the Arab Spring toppling dictators in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. I made giant corporations like Netflix, GoDaddy, PayPal, Wells Fargo and others beholden to their customers. On other days I destroyed the careers of politicians around the globe who didn’t realize my power. On my worst days I helped start the London riots. Drug lords in Mexico fear my reach as well as governments in China and North Korea.

People feared Big Brother in the form of an authoritarian, pervasive government that watched their every move. Now 6 billion people on the planet have the same power to watch and report on their government, their corporations and their leaders.  I am Big Brother in reverse.

Invention. Revolution. Effect.

I am Social Media and I am Power.

1.  Identify Objectives – What is your main goal? Set objectives based on a clear understanding of how SM changes the communication loop between your hotels and your guests. SM is not about reaching a mass audience and blasting out discounts or advertising. SM is about reaching influencers and key decision makers, developing relationships, having conversations, building an online community and gaining insight into your prospect’s needs.

2. Identify Your Audience – Who are you trying to reach to meet your main objective? There are several SM platforms, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Trip Advisor, Foursquare, You Tube, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Blogging, etc. In order to most effectively reach your target audience you must first find out what SM channels they use. The best way to do this is to ask! Ask your guests, your customers, your prospects, etc. Then focus your time and attention on those platforms.

3. Training – It’s important to identify an individual who has the interest and desire to start and maintain the hotel’s SM presence. Do not assign SM to someone who is not eager and enthusiastic! Once you have identified the SM channels you want to use, training on those platforms can begin.

4. Property Culture – Once a strategy is in place get your team members to embrace it by making it fun! It is important to involve your team members who interact with your guests in your SM discussions. Give them the ability to participate, provide content and communicate/promote your pages and accounts with your guests.

5. Integration – How will your SM plan integrate into your hotel’s on-line presence? All SM pages/accounts should point your customers to your hotel’s web site for ease of booking reservations through the lowest cost distribution channel.

6. Measurement - How will you measure success? Begin with a simple baseline measurement. Goals will change as your SM efforts evolve. Continual review of progress is needed for success.

7. Nike – Just do it!

In college I was challenged with the question, “Are leaders born or are they made?” It was such a thought provoking idea that it has stuck with me some 15 years later. Reflect on the leaders you have encountered personally. Think about famous leaders throughout history. Many of them lead their followers to greatness; many others, to evil. In both cases, a key characteristic of leadership was present: they inspired in others the desire to follow them.

I have worked in many organizations where people in positions of leadership have no business being there. They have somehow managed to raise themselves to a level of incompetence. They are easy to recognize because they do not motivate, instill confidence or inspire those unfortunate enough to report to them. One thing is for certain, you can’t fake leadership. 

Conversely, I have worked with, and for, some amazing leaders. They helped me believe that I was capable of what I had perceived to be impossible. They took me WAY outside my comfort zone and gave me ridiculously difficult assignments, while simultaneously stretching my imagination. They helped me become a better person. (Thank you Coach K., Peter Birckhead and Jeffrey Summers)

So that begs the question, “Are leaders born or made?” I have come to the conclusion that leaders are born. The basic charisma necessary to be a good leader is innate. However, people can learn leadership qualities and become more effective in that role. If you are not fortunate enough to have been born a leader, and are placed in a position of leadership, take the time to learn the skills you need to not make everyone around you roll their eyes when you walk in or out of a room!