Source: http://www.hotelsmag.com/blog/370000637/post/550050655.html

Bart Berkey

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Practice Makes Perfect In Sales

November 17, 2009

How often are your sales people able to “practice” their selling skills? My son started playing volleyball and each week they work on new skills like passing, setting and spiking. Each weekend, his team has a league match for an hour. During this time, the parent coaches furiously take notes on what is good and what needs to be improved upon. From last weekend, the coaches noticed that the team wasn’t “calling” the ball (or indicating that they would handle the pass) when the other team was serving. At practice the following week, they worked on “calling” each ball to ensure proper communication among the team members. We are now looking forward to their next match when all the parents can see if they’ve improved on this specific task.

As sales managers, we are essentially on the court everyday. After a brief training program, we are placed into a competitive mode and asked to score points. How often do we refine our skills and encouraged to practice?

There are many “mystery shopper” services that hotels can utilize to evaluate their team’s selling abilities. Can you set up time with your less-experienced sales managers to role play and practice the art of selling? Provide immediate feedback just like a coach would do so their performance improves the next time they step onto the court.