5 Simple Hotel Sales Resolutions You Can Keep

Solving the Problem with Resolutions | 5 Simple Hotel Sales Resolutions You Can Keep! | By Carol Verret

In this is week before the holiday (and the week after the holiday) when the sales world has gone dead, the time is ripe to formulate resolutions for 2012 to make sales and revenue management activity more effective and efficient. The problem is that we tend to overcomplicate these instead of keeping them really simple.

Why do we love the new iPhone with Siri? The technology may be complex, but the effect is that it simplifies our lives. We ask it questions and it give us answers without having to log into a browser, conduct a search and hope that the correct 'answer' is somewhere on the first page.

Think about it. The person who says 'I want to lose weight in 2012' is going to get a gym membership, maybe sign up for a weight loss program but most of these efforts are doomed to failure. It is much easier to say 'I want to lose ten pounds by the end of March'. That's a simple, clear measurable goal.

The problem with resolutions is that we over complicate them and they become an opportunity to set ourselves up for failure. Simple resolutions should give you the opportunity to simplify your life!

What follows are five really simple resolutions for sales. Next week will feature five really simple revenue management resolutions. Five is manageable -- more than that is chaos. If you 'fall off the wagon' get right back on and don't beat yourself up!

1. Get supremely organized (my personal resolution!)Will this be the year that you (and me) finally do this? Don't force yourself into someone else's system of organization – do what works for you. I use my email like a filing cabinet with tons of folders. I will eliminate some of those folders and use those more efficiently so I don't have to rely on the Search feature in my Inbox to locate the things I didn't put in a folder!
2. Set goals for your activity so you can achieve your revenue goals. I love Google calendar for this as I can color code every type of activity to ensure everything is done! I will make it a point to refer to that calendar every morning to keep me on track and moving the ball down the field every day.
3. Develop and implement a social media system to ensure that you are maximizing opportunities. There are a few on the group LinkedIn Strategies – my favorite is 7 Steps to Make LinkedIn work. I will develop my posting strategy for all social media and incorporate it into my Google calendar and will finally get on Google+.
4. Prospect like crazy! Set a goal to identify X number of new prospects each week and stick with it! Don't just identify them – set up an approach strategy to actually contact them no matter how cold they are and actually contact them!
5. Celebrate success – both yours and that of others! Don't let pride get in the way of asking others how they do things well in areas you want to improve on. Find a mentor! A mentor can propel you to achieve success faster than almost anything else I can think of. If you can't find a mentor, consider hiring a sales coach for period of time to assist you in evaluating yourself objectively and building on the things you do well!

These are five do-able resolutions. Please feel free to hold me to those that I have identified I will do with you – email me in three moths and make sure I'm on track and I will ask you the same thing. Share your successes . As Oprah said about New Years Resolutions "Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right."

Happy Holidays to everyone!