Sales Horror or Sales Hurrah?

Many friends and clients have requested we revisit this post from last year. We hope it resonates with you as it did with them!

Everyone in the hospitality industry works tirelessly throughout the holiday season: planning, cooking, trouble shooting, and managing hard-to-please clients. This is followed by a race to close the books before finally enjoying a well-deserved holiday break. Two scenarios are likely to follow:

Scenario 1: The Horror, the Horror!

• Many hard-earned kudos and pats on the back for a job well done.
• Down time from December 20th until a few days after New Year's.
• A January filled with a belated office party, extra time chillin' in the break room, cleaning the file drawers, and posting pics of your holiday successes.
• Snow day!  Stay home with hot chocolate and good movies.
• A last minute getaway over Valentine's Day weekend.
• Commerce hasn't stopped but you sure have....
• No revenue in the sales pipeline.

Do the math. In this scenario, your company may have missed out on 2-3 months (that’s 15-25%) of the sales calendar! You missed the chance to beat the previous year’s numbers. You handed your competitors a big head start.

Small businesses must sell hard all year long and there is a way to do it:

Scenario 2: A Sales Hurrah!

• Enjoy a much-needed rest and family festivities over the Christmas and New Year's weekends.  Even attach an extra day off on either end.
• Consider the week between Christmas and New Year's a prime selling time.
• Get on the phone and reach out to business owners (decision makers) directly. (Note: the executive staffs of many small businesses are in their offices during this week, working to get a jump start on the new year.  Therefore, they are accessible, have fewer pressing deadlines, and there are no gate keepers to hinder your sales efforts!)
• Create aggressive sales activity quotas to kick off your new year.  Start a contest to reward the salesperson with the best first quarter sales.
• Contact your holiday clients and inspire for referrals.  Offer them an incentive program.
• Anticipate the flood of bridal inquiries that arrive at the first of the year.
• Host intimate open houses for new brides, planners, and key clients - now that the holiday hubbub has died down, they'll be happy for a night on the town.
• Prepare your specialty menus and marketing plans for the Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Passover, etc.
• Offer to speak at local business and entrepreneurial groups.
• Fill your sales pipeline.

Everyone in our industry knows to anticipate a robust fourth quarter but that’s no reason to snooze through the first couple months of the year. The smart approach is to ramp up sales throughout the first quarter. This will set a pace for the entire year and, rather than the horrifying loss of 2-3 months of sales time, you can be well on your way to a meaningful increase over last year’s numbers.

That’s definitely a reason to cheer “Hurrah!”

 

The Morning After

For caterers, the frenzy of holiday planning is at its pinnacle. It’s all we can do to corral clients for last moment selections, secure rental and decor orders, fulfill staffing assignments, and ensure that, with a few deep breaths, a wipe of the brow, and many sleepless nights, parties go off without a hitch. But before popping the champagne in celebration of having survived the holidays, remember that the job continues until well after the last gingerbread man is served.

All too often, attentive customer service ends when the event ends. However, a proactive post-event strategy is as important as your pre-event sales process. It is a key to developing ongoing business and client trust. Here is a post event step-by-step strategy: 

• Call client the next day to say "thank you" and include  a short event debrief.  For more involved events, schedule a conference call or meeting.
• Call venue contact to review execution of the event.
• Hand write a Thank You to the client.
• Review event reports from Sales Executive, Chef and Supervisor.
• Generate a P&L.
• Create client/venue/vendor information files noting their preferences.
• Evaluate the client using a grading system based on criteria for your Best Fit Clients.  Grading should be based on event revenue, profitability, frequency of events, ease of function, and client's willingness to promote your company.
• Request a client testimonial.

Following these steps after each event will help nurture your relationships with clients and venue managers. You will quickly find that a proactive and comprehensive post-event program leaves the sweetest taste and wraps up each event with the prettiest bow.   

When Does Age Become a Problem?

Our Marketing Director, Melanie Spratford, shares her thoughts on when it's OK to talk about your (company's) age.

I’d like to suggest an experiment for all caterers: pull up the front page of your company website. Now open the site of the local company you consider your fiercest competitor. Let’s also look at the homepage of a local company you think is inferior to yours. Just for fun, pull up the sites of a few caterers in other parts of the country, too.

If my observations are correct, the majority of those sites mention a variation of the following statement (usually within the first couple sentences on the site): 

      - For 30 years, XYZ Caterers has been serving Anytown, USA....

      - Founded 20 years ago, ABC Catering Company is proud to be a part of....

      - In 1987, Chef John Smith started Smith Catering....

Almost every caterer uses the first lines of their website to state the age of their company. It’s a terrible trend. It does nothing to educate customers about your services and, unless you are the oldest or youngest company in your market, it does nothing to distinguish you from your competitors. 

I understand the instinct to “tell the story” of our companies. Catering companies are families, each with its own interesting history. As caterers, we pour so much effort into this all-consuming profession, and it’s natural to want to explain how dedicated we are. Plus, you have every right to be proud of your longevity. This is a grueling business and, let’s be honest, the past 10 years haven’t exactly been the easiest.

Trumpeting your company’s age, however, doesn’t address the primary interests of people visiting your website. Customers are interested in themselves. They want to know how your company can tend to their needs. That you’ve been in business since Reagan was President doesn’t necessarily reassure a bride that you can successfully cater her wedding. Don’t assume that a client knows the value of your years of experience. You need to connect the dots for her: “Our 3 decades in business have given us the operational expertise to create an event you will be proud to remember for just as long.”

It’s a subtle difference but one that will help a client understand how your years of experience have given you the skills needed to deliver consistently incredible catering. Simply telling visitors to your website how long you’ve been in business isn’t enough. You need to explain to them how those years set you apart from all the other caterers. Once you’ve done that, your website will stand out from the crowd.

Swinging for the Fences - Part IV

In my series on the parallels between Major League Baseball and the catering game, I've examined the roles and responsibilities of the owners, the managers, and the players. With the playoffs underway and the World Series quickly approaching, it’s time to look at the fans, the paying customers, and see where they fit into this equation.

Simply put, the fan is king!

The only obligation the fan has is to enjoy the game on their own terms (providing they’re not celebrating by tipping cars and throwing bottles). And, as we see every year during the World Series, it is perfectly acceptable for fair weather fans to cheer right alongside the diehards. An organization would be foolish to discourage the enthusiasm of any fans.  I am always perplexed that along with the standard promotionals such as “Bobble Head Day” or “Ice Cream ‘Sunday,’” ballparks include the self satisfied announcement of “Fan Appreciation Day.” What, one whole day to appreciate the fans? Imagine how badly a hospitality company would fare if it only appreciated its guests on special days.  It would ruin us.  

Caterers must realize that, just as in baseball, clients may change allegiances at any time based on whim, whimsy, fickle, or folly. The client may determine that their caterer is not worthy because of a small PR mistake or because of repeated poor performance. Sometimes, the client is influenced by the preferences of others in the community. Or they lose faith, maybe rightly so, when their team trades all its core players as the Red Sox did this summer. Clients lose confidence when their caterer seems to have a revolving door of Chefs, account executives, and key staff. Really, anything can cause a client’s loyalty to waver.  That is their prerogative.  It is up to the caterer to find innovative ways to keep hitting home runs and keep fans engaged.

Baseball and Hospitality are both games of business. However, we – the owners, managers, coaches, players, and staff - must never forget that the game is, in the end, about ensuring entertainment and celebration for our fans and clients. Without that fun, the money never flows.

By the way, my favorite team was knocked out of playoff contention weeks ago but I’m one of those eternal hopefuls chanting the phrase “Wait ‘til next year.”  A similar determination drives me in catering.  Every new event, every new inquiry, every newly-met prospective client is a chance to be the hero who clinches the Series with a grand slam, thereby winning a fan for life.