W South Beach Engagement Training
The Business Challenge
The pandemic hit a number of sectors hard, but one that was particularly affected was that of hospitality and tourism. Without traveling and seeing a property first-hand, selling the experience of a luxury brand like the W South Beach creates some exceptional challenges.
Hotel sales staff are extroverted people-people who thrive in face-to face-situations. They are hired for their interpersonal skills, to create relationships with customers. Without face-to-face interactions they weren’t able to use their “superpowers”. Virtual meetings and webinars became the only viable way to showcase the property and create sales for future events.
Virtual-selling is a relatively new concept to most companies and it’s difficult to know where to begin addressing the gaps. “The fact that we were moving to more webinars, and virtual presentations and site inspections, meant that we needed to go find some type of training that can enhance their skill set,” said GM of W South Beach, Rick Ueno. Being a luxury hotel and one of the flagships of the W brand, it was important that the virtual representation of the property be of a high quality. Not an easy proposition. “We had nothing, no idea of what Zoom could provide us with, and what Microsoft Teams could do,” said Director of Sale Christine Judson. Adding to the challenge, sales team members were struggling to have a professional, polished virtual presence while working from home. Having the right gear, and knowing how to seamlessly use the online meeting platforms was integral.
The Solution
Hospitality consultant to the W South Beach, Jo-Anne Hill, tapped her network to find possible training solutions. She found Engagify and its founder, Anders Boulanger. “His name came up with a solid recommendation and we went with it.” After reviewing the training content online, the management at W South Beach were impressed. GM Rick Ueno commented, “I watched all the videos. I didn’t zoom through them, I wanted to see everything that would be taught. And I thought it was so great!”
Engagify proposed a combination of a live-virtural training, an on-demand course and three group coaching sessions. The coaching sessions were a place where new skills could be applied and valuable feedback given. “The coaching enabled the team to step out of their comfort zone and really try something new, and help each other grow; because one person might have found a technique different than another person, and then they learned from each other,” said Director of Salesat W South Beach, Christine Judson.
The Results
The sales team at W South Beach poured themselves into the training and began to implement Engagify’s suggestions. Judson was quick to embrace equipment requirements and supply the team with the proper gear in order to increase virtual production value.
Jo-Anne Hill remarked, “I believe we’ve moved into best in class. A lot of hotels had to move into webinars more than ever before. Now, we’ve become best in class and people want to emulate us. It’s actually been a marked difference. And the sales team loved it. They are very grateful… thank you for bringing this to us.” The change has not gone unnoticed by the parent company Marriott. “I have actually bragged about this to our regional team in Marriott to let them know what a difference it has made. Personally, I’m very, very pleased with the way it looks,” said Hill.
Christine Judson added, “just two weeks ago, I got an email from the global sales team about two of our salespeople’s presentation skills. This confirmed that it’s really impacted positively and made it a best practice. Thank you for all that you’ve done for us. It’s really incredible.”
Rick Ueno sums it up best: “The engagement between our sales team and the travel agents is just better… It’s just more luxury.”