JIT Coach Conference Call

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

9:00am PDT

Recap

Participants: Kim Anderson, Kelly Doba, Shelley Marlow, Nancy Kemp, Renee Sheffner, Blane Dejno, Chris Daudet, Curt Ewald, Deborah Png, Jennifer Lowry-Downey, Kim Less,

Not able to participate: Cindy Arthurs, Jodi Boland, Kathy Knox, Linda Betsch, Linda Graf, Jane Pritzker

To listen to the recorded phone conference, please follow these steps:

- Dial 1.866.803.1430 to access the playback center,

- Press "1" to indicate you would like to listen to your recording,

- Enter 3793564# for your Conference ID,

- Enter 5841118# for your Playback ID.

Attached:

“Revised” Synopsis Grading Guidelines

MCA Blended Learning Overview

General Observations & Concerns

Welcome & thanks!

MCA Database

  • Some feedback/observations…
  • Date call conducted displays original date & time stamp when synopsis first opened. - Is being addressed, will force coach to manually enter date of call
  • When will previous month’s calls go away for shopper’s homepage?
  • Changes will be made so that calls are only kept on your shopper’s homepage for 30 days after call has been completed
  • After that they will be archived – an archive link will soon appear allowing you access to those archived calls.
  • Contractionsi.e. “can’t” are showing incorrect – Problem will be addressed to correct itself on the “back end”, client will see correct even if shopper doesn’t on synopsis.
  • Some internet browsers have spell check (Internet Explorer does for sure) – check to see if yours does – it will solve your spell check concerns.
  • Problems viewing e-proposal once downloaded, seeing error messages when you try to view. Last time it was because of a corrupted file from the customer. – Will be addressed.
  • We are finding that the customers are not updating the database as we had hoped. So whenever you get an update from a customer/sales leader please forward those to Kelly (via email is fine) asap. Kelly will then correspond or update Account Managers as necessary.
  • There is some confusion as to which sales leader to call for Four Seasons. Always call the Director of Marketing first, then the Director of Sales, then the Director of Catering. DO NOT CALL the Director of Hotel Marketing! Jeff’s position as Dir of Hotel Marketing is a regional position and he has no interaction at the property level.
  • Always look at all specs and details before making any call.
  • Always check the “status” of a sales professional or sales leader in database before calling. In the far right column of sales leaders and sales professionals chart it notes “active” or “Inactive” – please do not contact any sales leaders or sales professionals that are notedas “inactive”.
  • Be sure to input your invoice number and fee for each call and save on your homepage.
  • Realize that info is not being saved once input – situation is being addressed immediately with the programmer
  • Be sure to always update your synopsis as you make your attempts to the sales professional. That will change the status from “scheduled” to “in progress” and then Kelly and the Account Managers know that the call has been started.
  • General Database update
  • Spell check hopefully coming within 2 weeks (July) – but again, check your internet browser as it may have a spell check feature (Internet Explorer does).
  • Another new feature coming soon will allow us to attach documents (like customized synopsis or measurement forms) to calls that do not utilize the regular JIT or Mystery synopsis form. This will allow Kelly to assign and track all calls through the database regardless if they use a regular synopsis form or not. We’ll keep you posted on progress!
  • Email distribution – We are getting feedback from the customers that the synopsis forms are not being emailed to the correct personnel. There could be a number of reasons for this…
  • A database error
  • The customer information was not input correctly
  • The personnel to receive emails have not been correctly identified.
  • As a result we are asking you to double-check the email distribution of each synopsis form. The instructions for each customer will be updated to include a list of who is supposed to be copied on the synopsis email.
  • Once the email has been sent and you see the email addresses of who it has been sent to – please verify those names with the list in the instructions.
  • If you see an error or that someone is missing – please notify Kelly immediately.
  • Let Kelly or Kim know immediately (24/7, via phone or email) if you experience any problems with the database. It may be an isolated problem or may be system wide. We often don’t know about a problem until you tell us. So please let us know asap even if it seems small. Don’t overlook any problems or discard them as “that’s just the way it works”. If we cannot be reached you can contact anyone in the MCA office.

GoDaddy email accounts – every coach should now have a GoDaddy email account. If you have any questions about how to use these email domains please contact Kim. They can be used for any calls where you are requesting a contract or proposal and need an email for the sales professional to respond to.

Transferred calls – Everyone needs to do due diligence in trying to get the right people and not have incomplete calls if we can avoid it.

“Grading” Closes: What is a strong close? – The Synopsis Grading Guidelines have been revised (and are attached) to further define what is considered an excellent close.

For example, this is considered a strong close (excellent)…"We would love to be your number 1 choice. I would love to send you a proposal. Then if all meets with your approval I will send out a contract. When can I follow up with you?"

Question 29: Asked for the Sale (Close)
Excellent / Asks for the business; gains certain level of commitment from customer; salesperson takes a proactive stance in expressing enthusiasm about having their business / 7
Average / "Soft" close (i.e. asks to hold space or send a proprosal) / 5
F/D / Does not ask for the sale (i.e. asks only to forward information) / 0
Question 30: Next Step/Follow-Up
Yes / Sales person initiates follow-up with the customer / 4
No / Leaves next step up to the customer (i.e. to call back) / 0

If this sales professional hadjust offered to send the proposal without the statement “We would love to be your number 1 choice…” it would have been considered “average”.

If you have any questions, please call Kim.

MCA Blended Learning

  • Attached is a document that overviews all of the workshops, programs, webinars, coaching, etc. that MCA offers. More than just about the classroom – we have a very structured, blended approach to our learning/training that includes the JIT & Mystery calls that you do.
  • Overview of Blended Learning document – please review carefully
  • MCA certification – For all sales workshops a process of pre/post testing that certifies a sales professional in their sales knowledge and measures the effectiveness of our training by tracking a sales professional’s ability to sell an account pre/post training.
  • Classroom training – 2-3 day workshops and 1-day skillbuilders that MCA offers – (see list on document)
  • E-Learning
  • 21 workshops available on line; approx one-hour in length
  • For participants individual development; each costs $45-100/course (pay via credit card)
  • All coaches are able and encouraged to take any of our e-Learning courses (coaches can participate free with demo code provided on attached document) – Call Kim with any questions on how to access.
  • Experiential Simulation Training – more experiential workshops from our “core” offerings
  • Sales Reinforcement Vignettes – designed for sales leaders to facilitate on property as follow-up to classroom training
  • JIT Coaching & Mystery Calls
  • Sales Skills Webinars
  • Pod Casts / Vod Casts
  • If the opportunity does present itself on the shop calls for you to recommend additional training or resources (either to the sales leader or sales professional) please forward those “leads” on to the appropriate account manager. You may be eligible for a “Finder’s fee” is new business develops.

Account manager updates

  • Miki Mitrovich – Four Seasons
  • No feedback is good feedback when it comes to Four Seasons – things seem to be going very smoothly
  • Miki will address with FS Corporate the length of time it is taking to get a response from Directors
  • In respect to “transferring calls” protocol we discussed above. FS has an initiative in place to handle all inquiry calls immediately. It is their preference in the sales office to transfer calls rather than take a message. This is noted in the FS instructions how to handle. If you are offered another person to speak to please note that in the synopsis (under Communication History for that attempt). As far as tactic…just allow the sales admin to transfer you to the person they are suggesting and hang up before that person answers. This would be considered one attempt.
  • We have started calls in Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific this month (June); Many sales professionals handle accounts or have territories in the US so there may be some assigning of Intl calls to US based coaches as necessary. Get your Skype on! 
  • Some of the coaches observations working with Four Seasons thus far:
  • Don’t close strongly
  • Very flexible on price however have a tendency to drop rate without getting a quid pro quo
  • Assume everyone knows the Four Seasons name
  • Miki suggested that the coaches challenge the sales people a bit more– try to put their back up and make them react, avoid them from just going through the motions. As an example one coach has said that they have “been too expensive in the past” …sales person generally sells harder then.
  • Nancy Kemp
  • Greystone – starting JIT calls in July /Aug
  • Jameirah Group – new client in Abu Dhabi; have hotels in NY, Middle East & Asia; will probably be doing shop calls in addition to training
  • Renee Sheffner
  • IHG will move to JIT calls in July for Q3 & Q4 (after doing Mystery Call in Q1 & Q2)
  • WHI will start doing a different type of measurement call (24/7) in June & July
  • Continuing to do Mystery Calls
  • Remember recordings are so important with this client!!!!!! Kim Less just completed May with 100% recordings working!! Jodi Boland had one earlier in the year as well.
  • Shelley Marlow
  • Morgans
  • BlakeDanner, VP Sales & Marketing, resigned last week – could means some changes organizationally
  • Susanne Macintosh is the DOS only at the Clift – she does not have corporate roll that she used to have
  • Sofitel – starting JIT & Reservations calls in July – be advised we have not done sales training with them for a couple of years
  • Vikram Chatwal (Hampshire Hotels and Resorts) – very “boutiquey”, hip hotels in NYC (Dream, The Time, Night, Stay) as well as India and Bangkok
  • Starting JIT, mystery and reservation calls for them (NYC)