Outsourcing your sales department offers many advantages

Hotel & Motel Management, Feb 16, 2004 by Howard Feiertag

To outsource seems de rigueur these days in just about all industries. The business of meetings management is no different. We see corporations and associations getting involved with third-party agencies that take care of housing, physical meeting arrangements, exhibits, ground transportation, registration for events and even site selection and negotiations. There is a distinct advantage to outsourcing part of a business function to companies that specialize in a particular aspect of one's business.

One thing that comes up often during our Hotel & Motel Management-sponsored sales workshops is that most directors of sales find there is so much to get done in the business of selling at a property that some activities fall by the wayside.

In the function of booking business for a property, many salespeople must get involved with a good deal of marketing, as well as sales details. The variety of things that demand a salesperson's attention is almost unbelievable. Prospecting for new business via telemarketing could be a full-time job. Then, of course, there is maintenance of accounts, building relationships with existing clients, keeping up-to-date on files and conducting sales calls on prospects.

Lately, because of the Internet, we find ourselves spending more and more time responding to requests for proposals, which arrive at a rapid-fire pace to most properties with sizable meeting space. Now, we also have salespeople who must deal with third-party meeting planners, as well as Internet travel agencies. And let's not forget conducting site inspections, advertising, public relations, direct mail, promotions, arranging a sales blitz or familiarization trip, and out-of-town sales trips. The list goes on and on. There's not enough time to get everything done properly in order to improve sales production.

In order to get more sales and marketing accomplished, we should start to outsource. There are experienced hotel industry sales and marketing people setting up shop to do just this kind of work.

Hospitality veterans Ken Benjamin and Tony DiRaimondo have seen the need for some hotel organizations and properties to outsource some of their sales activities. Their company, Hospitality Taskforce, provides temporary sales help. They also have a program to train general managers of small properties to better understand the sales process and help direct their sales efforts. Limited-service properties also need to figure out how to get their sales work accomplished when they do not have a sales department to make things happen. Why shouldn't we find ourselves seeking an opportunity to outsource some of these duties? It makes sense.

For more details about Hospitality Taskforce, contact Benjamin on the East Coast (ken@-hospitalitytaskforce.com), or DiRaimondo on the West Coast (tony@hospitalitytaskforce.com).

hmm@advanstar.com

Our next Hotel & Motel Management-sponsored Hospitality Sales Workshop will be held Feb. 23-25 in Richmond, Va. Please visit www.conted.vt.edu/hospitality for more information.

Howard Feiertag is on the faculty of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va. He can be reached at howardf@vt.edu.