This was initially posted last November, and was a hot topic for discussion. The importance of converting leads into bookings cannot be understated. Therefore, I highly recommend this article to anyone who wants to close more business!
Converting Leads into Sales – Rumpelstiltskin’s Rules for Spinning Straw into Gold
By Frank Finn
Hospitality sales and marketing professionals face the same challenge the miller’s daughter confronted in “Rumplestiltskin,” the 19th-century German folk tale immortalized by the Brothers Grimm. Don’t remember the story? Here’s a recap:
Once upon a time, a miller who wanted to seem important bragged to everyone that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king caught wind of this and locked the daughter in a tower with a spinning wheel and a pile of straw. “You have three nights to spin this straw into gold,” said the king. “If you fail, you will be executed.” The miller’s daughter despaired until an odd little man named Rumplestiltskin appeared in her room. In exchange for her necklace, he spun the straw into gold. The king was so pleased, he made the miller’s daughter his queen.
There is a lot more to the story, but the point is, hospitality sales and marketing people face the same do-or-die situation every day: take straw (leads) and turn them into gold (bookings). After all, a sales lead is as worthless as a pile of straw until someone converts it into a booked meeting.
So what’s the secret? Follow “Rumplestiltskin’s Rules” and while you may not become royalty, you will live to spin another day.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #1: Don’t Let Hot Leads Go Cold
Sales leads are like bread; they go stale overnight. However you generated the lead, whether through a show, a print ad, your Web site, a direct mail campaign, act on it quickly. With each day that goes by without a “touch”—a follow-up telephone call, email message, or some other contact—the odds of converting a lead drop.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #2: All Leads Are Not Created Equal
Too many sales and marketing people treat all leads alike, when in fact their quality varies widely. Show leads often get priority treatment because they are costly to generate. But let’s face it, those business cards you collected by holding that “Win an iPad” drawing in your booth aren’t leads from serious prospects interested in booking a meeting at your facility. All you’ve got is a list of people who would love to win an iPad. They aren’t nearly as valuable as the list of people who requested information about your meeting facilities on your Web site yesterday.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #3: Qualify Leads Using the Three I’s
At every stage, make sure the leads you are devoting time and effort to pass the “Three I’s” Test:
- Interest – The meeting planner is actively seeking a facility to hold an event.
- Influence – The contact is responsible for selecting the site.
- Investment – The planner’s budget for the meeting is in line with your rates.
If you are diligent about confirming the Three I’s, you won’t waste time on prospects who can’t or won’t book a meeting with you.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #4: Put a Fuse on the Hottest Leads
When you assign a lead to a salesperson, especially those that come in as RFPs, always give him or her a deadline. Nothing creates a sense of urgency in a salesperson like the words, “I’m taking this away from you in 10 days and assigning it to someone else if you haven’t booked the business.” On the appointed day, unless the salesperson can show they are making real progress on the account, reassign the lead to the next person in line.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #5: You Can’t Hit the Bull’s-Eye if You Don’t Have a Target
Effective conversion of sales leads depends on defining the kind of business you are targeting. And in today’s environment, your target may be change every six to 12 months. Be very specific about which type of group and meeting suits your facility best. Then screen your leads and rank them according to how well they fit the profile.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #6: Old Leads Never Die, Unless You Let Them
If a lead doesn’t convert into a sale in short order, don’t purge it from your database entirely. As long as the organization holds meetings that you can accommodate, put them on “life support.” Send the contact an invitation to receive your e-mail newsletter. Add the person to your postcard mailing list. It’s well worth using these low-cost, low-maintenance tactics. For one thing, getting address corrections back from postcard mailings will help you keep your list up to date. And if certain lead never open your email promotions, they just aren’t interested. Purge them from your prospecting database.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #7: Drill Down to the Decision-Maker
Whatever system you use to track leads, make sure that you can see all the players in a target organization, and that you focus your sales efforts on the decision-maker. Too often, sales resources are wasted on second- and third-tier players who influence the buying decision at best, while the person whoreally decides never hears your story.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #8: It’s All About . . . Timing
You know that the prospect’s meeting is a perfect fit for your facility. You know you have the amenities they are looking for. You know who will make the ultimate decision. But you are still missing one critical piece of information: when the decision on a meeting location will be made. Your sales effort should build to a crescendo just before the decision date and build in a contact just prior to that time. Talking to the planner at that point gives you a chance to adjust your proposal for last-minute changes in the meeting specifications and win the booking.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #9: Change Equals Opportunity
Be sure to track the changing profile of every lead, both individuals and organizations, in your database. Here’s why: When the person who books meetings at a prospect organization leaves, that change can create two opportunities. A current customer at a new organization could book additional meetings with you. And the person who moves into the old customer’s job is a prospect for return bookings.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #10: Customize Follow-Up by Lead Source
Today’s sales and marketing departments generate leads from multiple sources: Web sites, shows, direct mail, print advertising, email broadcasts and so on. You’ll get better results if you tailor your follow-up efforts by source. For example, prospects who inquire over the Web expect a quick response. Don’t be shy about feeding Web requests and RFPs to your sales staff with instructions to make the call immediately. If you need time to draft a response to an RFP, program your site to send an instant email advising the prospect that a proposal will follow within 48 hours. That’s not to say you can dawdle responding to leads from other sources (see Rule #1).
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #11: Exploit the RFP Opening
With the proliferation of RFP generators, meeting planners can broadcast these documents to multiple hotels and CVBs at the click of a mouse. So is each RFP less valuable as a lead than it once was? Yes, but every RFP still deserves to go to the top of the active prospect list. Never miss an opportunity to contact the planner, preferably by telephone, to get more information. You’ll be in a better position to respond to the RFP in hand and you may also learn about future meetings still in the planning stages.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #12: Fire Up Your Team with a Tote Board
Salespeople are competitive by nature, and competitors thrive on recognition. That’s why a tote board is an essential tool, whether it takes the form of a white board at the front of the sales department or a spreadsheet in a shared folder on the network or a weekly email to the entire team. And that tote board should highlight each salesperson’s current close rate, the percentage of leads converted to bookings for the month and the year-to-date. The top performers will enjoy the limelight and compete to stay on top. The stragglers will feel the pressure to raise their game.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #13: Feed the Funnel
While you’re working to convert leads into sales, don’t forget to keep the leads coming in the first place. When acquiring lists for direct mail and telephone campaigns, stick with sources that provide the organizations’ prior meeting activities—the number of meetings per year, preferred location, peak room nights and other data you need to target qualified prospects.
As you can see, there is nothing magical about Rumplestiltskin’s Rules. Converting leads into sales takes hard work, organization, and more than a little determination. But hospitality sales and marketing professionals can be sure of one thing: When the time comes to tally sales results, those who follow his rules will be golden.
[bio]
Frank Finn is Executive Vice President and COO of Briefings Media Group, LLC, the publishers of The Salesman’s Guide® meeting planner directories. Briefings has also partnered with the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International to create MeetingPlannerLists.com, the largest online source of qualified meeting and event planners.
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