Start a discussion today with your employees. Ask them what your hotel/business can do today to increase sales equal to a $1 per employee.
The goal of course is to get your employees thinking about small ways they can help increase your revenues. Hopefully those ways can become consistent revenue producers.
Very few of us are smart enough to come up with an idea that will increase sales by $10,000 or $50,000. But we each can think of small things that can help revenue…starting today.
A few ideas:
- Put a special on some item in the gift shop that has been hard to sell.
- Put something else on a salad or desert that costs almost nothing and increase the price a buck.
- Put top selling (or bottom selling) spa items at the Front Desk as a “Close out special” or “Favorite products from our spa.”
- Have couples checking in tomorrow? Call and find out if they would like to provide surprise flowers, candy, a bottle of wine, etc.
- Have singles checking in? Ask if they would like to take a gift home for someone special. A small stuffed animal for a child perhaps?
As a parent, I always had to take back a small present for our daughter. It was often a pain on a busy business trip to find something I hadn’t already bought in other hotel gift shops. A small stuffed animal with the hotel logo, or hotel name as the name for the animal would have always worked.
- Housekeeping employees can tell you guests most frequent requests. What could you charge for that would be welcomed by the guest? Have perceived value to the guest?
Guests appreciate suggestions that appear spontaneous and caring. Guests dislike having their arms twisted in an “up-sell.” Guests also dislike having the above delivered by rote, or as an obvious canned sales pitch.
How much would your revenues increase over a year if your hotel averaged an additional $1 per employee per day? Your profits? A $1 per employee per day is doable. Get creative. Encourage employees with contests, drawings, gift cards to Target, Walmart, or a grocery store.
The path to enhanced success starts with a single step. Let’s jog!
