Sales Development and Merchandising - Assignment Example

Sales Development and Merchandising 1.1 Introduction Sales development techniques and merchandising are key elements when it comes to achieving goals in the hospitality industry. In regard to hotel industry marketing, useful and proven techniques of stabilizing and increasing sales are vital in ensuring that the hotel’s products and services are the ones customers want to use again and again. The goals of hotel marketing are to attract both existing and new customers. The aim of this paper to discuss the sales development techniques and merchandising in the hotel industry in reference to Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel. 2.1 Task A: the elements of the product in a business and services context 2.2 Products On the surface, one may simply think that a product is a marketing offer, which can be either tangible or intangible that customers are willing to buy and use. However, hotel products are quite much different from any other products. There are three key elements of products of Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel. The key elements of the hotel’s products include the personnel, the hotel, and the entire process. The elements of Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel products are mainly service in nature (Chakraborty,Srivastava & Marshall 2007, p.45). The only part that seems to be tangible is the hotel element. The other two elements the process and personnel are intangible. With the understanding in mind, one can evaluate and conclude that the products of Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel are mainly services not ignoring that the hotel also offers physical elements such as room décor, design, food and beverages, and ambience. As a service, Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel posses some unique characteristics that provides the managers with some challenges. Some of the hotels services pertinent attributes include heterogeneity, intangibility, inseparability, and perishability. 2.3 Steady product mix One of the marketing strategies that enable Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel to always stay ahead of its competitors is ensuring a steady product mix. Product mix means a comparative proportion in which products of a certain company are sold. For instance, Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel sales 3 sandwiches for everyone's bag of chips and 3 soft drinks. This product mix for Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel is 3 is to 1 is to 3 (3:1:3) out of every seven item offered, the hotel typically sells three sandwiches, one bag of chips, and three bottles of soft drinks. This marketing strategy results in increased sales volumes unlike in other hotels where customers prefer to purchase one product at a time (p. 67). This increased sales volume relatively results in increased hotel profit. 2.4 Market segmentation Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel establishes market segmentation as one of the marketing strategies that enables it to stay ahead of its competitors. Market segmentation refers to the process of implementing separate marketing approaches that enables an organization to appeal to its customers with varying interests, needs, attributes or budgets. Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel identifies segments of its potential client base that gives it the greatest likelihood to sell its products or services. This process highly allows the hotel to efficiently market its products and services to individual sets of clients or customers. Marketing segmentation helps the hotel to maximize its advertising returns by putting efforts on specific customer groups and reduces expenses on customer groups who are not willing to purchase the hotel’s products or services (p. 76). Market segmentation also helps the hotel to improve customer loyalty as well as repeat sales by ensuring that the customers have the feeling that the hotel management understands their desires and demands. 3.1 Task B: external sales development techniques Many people wonder why the management of Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel earns a lot of profit yet it looks so relaxed. The main reason is that the hotel gets back great results and rewards, and create long lasting relationships with the customers and clients and implemented appropriate external selling techniques that enable it to achieve the desired goals and objectives (Bhuiyan 2011, p. 56). Over the past years, the main account managers in any organization were termed as the ‘farmers of relationship’ who were able to develop a very strong relationship with other major accounts. 3.2 Key account managers One of the main reasons why Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel always enjoys maximized sales volume is that it ensures that all the sales people are hybrids of key account managers as well as new development specialists. These sales people since they are willing to earn great payments and rewards, they ensure that they create long lasting friendships, get respect, and implement external sales techniques that are transferable to other industries, enabling the organization win other competing hotels in the city as well as developing the existing clients and customer relationships (p. 67). 3.3 Selling skills and sales techniques What makes the waiters of Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel great sales people is that they develop insight, demonstrate great selling skills and sales techniques, display the appropriate behaviour and attitude towards the customers, and show great applications. By saying developing your insight, I mean that the sales people at Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel have a great insight into the targeted clients and customers as well as the entire industry. This strategy places the salespeople of the organization better more than 95% of the other competitors’ sales people. To achieve this, the marketing department of the Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel carries out some research from the industry and clients in terms of: (i) All the external pressures, compelling events, and trends that the clients and the industry are facing. (ii) The internal bottlenecks. In most cases, the external pressures in combination or individually cause internal pressures, which sales people must exploit in order to win business? (iii) Lastly, they must research on the main goals and objectives such as desires and needs in order to improve the overall performance of the employees in the park. For instance, the goals and objectives of the hotel is to reach and attract a large group of customers, reduce expenses as well as the operational overheads. 3.4 Wide external sales techniques In order for the hotel to successful and always stay ahead of its competitors, the management ensures that it employs hybrid sales people who can develop a wide external sales techniques’ range as well as good and attractive selling skills. The management also ensures that all employees have a good attitude and behaviour towards customers. This strategy enables the organization to attract and retain a large customer population (p, 78). This is because good attitude is one the most essential perspectives that sales people in any industry should have and behaviour refers to the way they actually act towards customers. 3.5 Right attitudes and behaviours Alongside other external sales techniques, Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel management ensures that all the hotel employees have the right attitudes as well as behaviours in order to improve customer satisfaction. The last external sales technique used in Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel is a great application. The marketing department always ensures that it is efficient and effective. The combination of the above discussed external sales techniques has placed Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel ahead of its competitors. Not only having a competitive advantage, these external sales techniques have enabled the organization to be one of the leading hotels in the city. 4.1 Task C: internal sales promotion and merchandising Internal sales promotion and merchandising techniques are the most valuable methods that enable most big hotels to increase their profitability as well as growth. However, implementing internal sales techniques does not necessarily mean increasing the profit of the hotel, but also increase the satisfaction of the customers. This is because internal sales techniques aim of suggesting new services and products that will attract new customers as well as enhancing the existing ones to stay. Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel makes use of the upselling internal technique (Duncan, Ginter &Swayne 2008, p. 45). This technique is particularly essential for such a hotel that has established a good customer and client relationship. Because the existing customers understand and trust the hotel service level, the hotel always expects quality output. These internal sales techniques are both profitable and simple. 4.2 Rooms- Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel management ensures that the rooms are always clean to meet their customers’ expectations and satisfaction. According to the hotel industry consulting agency, upselling rooms at the hotel’s front desk should relate to the availability of the rooms. In addition, this starts with the question “will you be happy spending your time in a better room?”this internal sales technique is used by the front desk staff in order to adjust the rates of premium rooms. 4.3 Food and beverage-most big hotels believe that in order for them to increase their sales volumes and attract more customers, there is necessity of ensuring they offer quality banquets and catering services. After conducting my research, I found out that Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel management ensures that employees apply upselling techniques to the food and beverage products. For instance, instead of the customers being offered a standard menu with many questions, the hotel uses customized menus that have specialized food stuffs and pricing. Using these customized menus may increase the taste of customers and influence them to purchase the premium goods and services (p. 54). 4.4 Training- one of the biggest obstacle that might hinder many customers from going in a certain hotel is when hotel staff or sales people fail to ask them whether they were satisfied and interested with the additional goods and services or upgrades. Training and education is one of the most effective internal sales techniques used in most big hotels across the world. This internal sales technique helps Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel staff members to understand the worth of offered services, products, or any solution offered to the customers. 5.1 Task D: the role of staff in maximizing sales 5.2 Staff performance Poor staff performance can result in increased costs to a company such as time, lost opportunities, money, resources, and reduced productivity. These costs have a negative impact towards the growth and development of an organization. A large number of organizations place accountability of performance of the employees themselves. However, it is the role of a company to recognize and address all challenges affecting staff performance, such as abilities, knowledge, and skills (Breaugh 2009, p. 34). What is the most appropriate factor that enables staff to excel? Is it good environment or is it motivation or appreciative manager? All these factors are important, but the common ingredient that is shared by those staff members who excel in the duties is confidence. Staff confidence is contributed by ability and this leads to increased productivity. Staff members who have the appropriate knowledge and skills always offer quality and quantity performance. 5.3 Personal selling techniques-one of the roles played by staff members in Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel towards sales maximization is personal selling. This is categorized as one of the promotional methods used in the hotel to build good customer and client relationship. Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel has the ability of using personal selling techniques to maximize sales since there is enough time of building relationships with the hotel’s customers as well as understanding their needs. The roles played by personal selling techniques used by the staff towards sales maximization are (i) reduce expenses compared to alternative marketing strategies such as advertisement, (ii) benefits and pricing can be discussed and negotiated, (iii) results in establishment of customer relationships, and (iv) enables an organization to offer custom or complex services and products (p. 65). 5.4 Influence of operational design on sales revenue- The menu is one of the most essential internal sales and marketing tool used in Mandarin Oriental, Hyde park, London hotel to market its services to the customers. This is the only printed advertising piece that a hotel management is sure that the customers will have a look at it. Once an attractive menu is placed in the hands of the customers, its design can affect not only the orders they will make but also the amount of money they will spend. The design of menu positively affects sales revenue. 5.5 The key principles The following are the key principles that Mandarin Oriental,Hyde park,London hotel management ensures that they are included in sales training programs. (i) Focus mainly on learning and not on training-sales training programs should mainly be meant to enable employees to achieve their potential. (ii) Sales training programs should mainly focus on the employees’ emotional integrity, maturity, and compassion. These are the only characteristics that matters in maximizing sales revenues. (iii) Develop the sales people, not just their knowledge and skills (p. 76). Helping and encouraging employees to become fulfilled individuals is the key principle that trainers should focus on. 6.1 Conclusion In conclusion, in order for a business organization to succeed, especially in hotel industry, it should implement good sales development techniques and merchandising since these are the key elements when it comes to achieving goals in the hospitality industry. In order for a hotel to earn a lot of profit, it should ensure that the employees are capable of using appropriate sales development techniques and merchandising. The hotel management should also ensure that they offer quality services and products to its customers. Bibliography Bhuiyan, N 2011, A Framework for successful new product development, Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 4(4), 746-770. Breaugh, JA 2009, Recruiting and attracting talent: A guide to understanding and managing the recruitment process,SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series. Chakraborty, G, Srivastava, P, & Marshall, F 2007, Are drivers of customer satisfaction different for buyers/users from different functional areas?,Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 22(1), 20-28. Duncan, WJ, Ginter, PM, &Swayne, LE 2008, Competitive advantage and internal organizational assessment,The Academy of Management Executive, 12(3), 6-16. Read More