As the hospitality industry has become increasingly competitive, it is a necessity nowadays for hotels to use a sales CRM and better manage incoming leads. Such a tool can help hotels not only manage leads more efficiently but also gain a competitive advantage - Which is especially important in this day and age.
But knowing what core features to look out for and what you need in today's context is a challenge.
In this concise article, we aim to provide you with all the essential information you need to know about hotel sales and catering software in 2021.
What Is a Hotel Sales and Catering Software?
A hotel sales and catering software is a system that performs functions related to sales and marketing activities. All functions are designed to help the sales representative increase hotel sales and can be used to track, manage, and nurture leads throughout the sales cycle. Below are some of the core components of a sales system.
Lead Tracking
The lead tracking component helps your sales team capture and manage sales opportunities as they progress throughout the sales cycle.
Essentially, it allows your reps to log details about each lead as it comes in, helps them keep track of which leads have been contacted or should be contacted again, and shows whether they have converted these to a customer.
Contact Management
The contact module lets you store all your contacts like people, organizations, or businesses. In general, you can store contact information such as phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing addresses in contact groups.
Apart from this, sales and catering software allows you to integrate profiles within the property management system and capture rich data on hotel sales and reservations history, which gives you a complete customer profile.
Pipeline Reporting
Pipeline reports show how many leads are at the top of the sales funnel, how many are progressing to an opportunity stage, and how many are about to reach the buying/closing stage.
This information helps managers make data-driven decisions about their strategies, access crucial sales data, and evaluate their sales reps' performance.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Hotel Sales CRM
Implementing a sales and catering system in a hotel business can be both beneficial and detrimental to its future success, as there are some drawbacks that need to be considered.
Below are some of the main advantages and disadvantages of sales CRM software.
Advantages
Increase profitability by better managing leads and converting them into paying guests.
Access trackable, measurable results on sales reps' performance and sales data.
Reduce operational costs by managing sales and marketing activities more efficiently.
Increase revenue by gaining a better understanding of your customers' preferences.
Disadvantages
An up-front cost to set up the system, and often a monthly fee afterward.
A steep learning curve for employees, which can be costly not only financially but also in terms of time.
Certain CRM solutions may create and store duplicate or inaccurate information about your guests.
It can be a challenge to integrate hotel sales CRM with your existing hotel technology infrastructure.
4 Important Things to Look For in a Hotel Sales CRM in 2021
The hotel industry is one of the most competitive markets in the world. With new hotels popping up every day, it's becoming increasingly difficult for hoteliers to attract and retain guests.
Many hoteliers are still under the impression that their current sales and catering system is good enough, although that may no longer be the case in 2021. The industry demands have evolved, and so are the systems that cater to them.
So how to increase hotel sales today? Whether you are looking for hotel sales and catering software in Dubai or anywhere else in the world, here are our top four lists of the important things your sales CRM needs in 2021:
The ability to integrate with other systems - Having a system that connects with your hotel's technology infrastructure, such as your hotel PMS and Loyalty Program, will allow you to gain a rich 360-degree view of your prospect or customer. This can help you to create a sales funnel centralized on the customer experience, which was ranked as equally important as services and products by 80% of respondents in a 2020 Salesforce survey.
It needs to be scalable - A hotel sales management software should be scalable so it can grow with the hotel. This means that it should have a modular structure that allows new modules to be easily added as needed without disrupting current systems.
Automate mundane tasks - The more time sales people spend generating new leads, the less time they have to close deals. We have talked about this earlier in How to Improve your Hotel through Automation blog post. New software programs can automate the redundant mundane sales processes by for example sending up follow-up e-mails or interacting with prospects through a Chatbot.
Access real-time data and implement sales strategy - Giving your sales team access to real-time sales data allows them to make more informed decisions. Supervisors can use real-hotel time sales data to better execute strategies to increase room sales, monitor employee performance, and optimize sales and marketing efforts.
Conclusion
In today's dynamic and ever-evolving environment, hotels need to better manage incoming leads. One of those ways is to use a sales CRM system. When choosing a sales and catering system for your hotels, make sure it includes the core components:
Lead Tracking - Used to manage sales opportunities within the sales cycle; from a lead to paying customer.
Contact Management - Helps you store all the important information about your contacts.
Pipeline Reporting - Provides a clear overview of leads and their respective stages.
However, given the competitive market your hotel is in, you want to make sure your new sales CRM system can communicate with your current hotel technology infrastructure, is scalable as you grow your business, automates redundant sales processes to work more efficiently, and helps you implement and track all of your sales strategies in real-time.
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