Mr. Cheatham

Sales & Marketing

Developing 'Imperfectly Inimitable' Skills for Effective Sales

By Michael J. Cheatham, Director of Sales Recruitment, Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Upon encountering a potential client that was non-responsive to phone calls, a young but determined sales manager realized that he was one of many hotel sales people soliciting her business. He decided to take a novel approach. He sent a letter informing her that she had two opportunities: 1) a chance to be a winner and 2) a sure-fire way to be a winner. The chance was a ticket for the Colorado state lottery, enclosed with the letter. The sure thing, he explained in the letter, was that his hotel's service and amenities would exceed her expectations and, in doing so, make her a winner in the eyes of her boss and meeting attendees. His creative approach set him apart from the competition and ultimately led to a lasting professional relationship with this client.

Let's assume for a moment that every person in hospitality sales knows the importance of qualifying prospects, knows how to develop an effective opening, understands how belief in their product helps them to exude confidence, knows that to close the sale you must ask for the sale, and that service after the sale is as important as the sale itself. While we're at it, let's just assume that everyone has read those endless lists of "sales tips" written on how to become an effective salesperson.

If we assume that colleges and universities are adequately training sales people, why is it that all new hires are not excellent sales people from the get-go? Further, with all the professional development opportunities available, shouldn't there be armies of effective sales people and no shortage of great candidates for those looking to hire?

So, what is missing? What sets excellent sales people apart from the plebeian masses? According the Resource Based View of strategic management (Porter, 1980, 1991; Peteraf, 1993), an excellent sales person would be one who is able to deliver consistently above normal economic performance. In the parlance of RBV, they would possess a "competitive advantage." The sustainability of this competitive advantage is dependent on the degree to which an individual possesses resources or skills that are valuable, rare and "imperfectly inimitable" (Peteraf, 1993). These skills, by their very nature, are not easily copied or transferred.

What are these imperfectly inimitable skills that excellent sales people possess? We believe they include sense of humor , creativity, timing and common sense. These elements are missing from most undergraduate sales curricula, seminars and most of those lists of sales tips precisely because they are difficult - but not impossible - to teach. With respect to these essential elements, it is often said, "Either you have it, or you don't."

Every sales person ought to know that selling involves identifying customers, successfully communicating with them, increasing their awareness and interest in your product, and persuading them to act on that interest. In addition, to truly set themselves apart, we argue that sales people must develop these imperfectly inimitable skills. This article offers thoughts on how sales managers and sales educators can develop and utilize sense of humour, creativity, timing and common sense to impact the bottom line.

Sense of Humor - The Power to Think

Clarence Darrow, one of America's great orators, once said, "If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think." Recent research has shown that sense of humour can be an effective tool in the classroom (Berk, 1996, Lomax & Moosavi, 1998) and in building lasting work relationships (Sultanoff, 1993).

A sales representative with a large pharmaceutical company visited his clients, all of them medical doctors, on Halloween eve dressed as Vegas-era Elvis Presley. He even wrote songs about his products using melodies from some of the King's more popular tunes. While his colleagues were befuddled by his antics, they took note of the unique relationships he had built with his clients. "I wish my doctors were as happy to see me as they are to see Dave," relayed a co-worker.

Of all the inimitable skills we discuss here, humour may be the most difficult to cultivate. Fortunately for the humour-challenged, there is help. Today, perhaps the best source of material is the World Wide Web. Search for humour and you will find thousands of possible sites and sources. Often organized by subject matter, this can be a great way to find humour appropriate for your particular situation. Another excellent source of tasteful humour is back issues of Reader's Digest.

Two places where humour can work particularly well are in the opening and in building rapport with clients. Working a humorous anecdote into your opening pitch can be particularly effective in most sales situations. Many sales are won or lost at the outset and an attention-getting opening can provide the hook to draw clients in. Also, humour can be used to build rapport. "Elvis" says that one of the main reason he visits doctors this way is to give him an opening. "There are some doctors who would never speak to a sales rep but they'll talk to me ... and many times the conversations starts with my Elvis routine."

Timing - Regulating Pace

If, as Woody Allen once said, "90 percent of life is just showing up," then the other 10 percent must in the timing. Webster's dictionary defines timing as "the art or operation of regulating occurrence, pace or coordination to achieve the most desired effects." Part of timing is mechanical: day planners, PDA's, and "notes to self." The other part of timing is more intuitive. Many experts have made fortunes off the mechanical side of timing; we'll make a go at the intuitive side.

Everyone has a sense of timing whether they are aware of it or not. It is evident in the rate in which we speak, the way in which we move, and the way in which we interact with others. Unfortunately, most sales people, especially the younger ones, tend to go at one speed - full throttle. Most need to develop a better sense of when to act and when to wait.

The intuitive side of timing, we believe, is knowing a customer's needs before they do. This intuition is enhanced to the extent that you know your customer's routines, interests, and likes and dislikes.

A number of successful sales organizations have developed databases with basic information about key decision-makers (e.g., birthdays, favourite food and beverages, their favourite sports team, etc.) as well as information about their organizations (e.g., buying cycles, meeting location preferences, etc.). Utilize this information to know when to send a birthday card or when a customer may be too busy for a friendly phone call. Or use it to interject a little known fact about a client's favourite sport team into a conversation. These small but meaningful efforts may help you to develop a warm and lasting relationship. Never forget that "friends do business with friends." And good timing may help to forge or strengthen a friendship and business relationship.

Creativity - Deviating from the Expected

To develop creativity, students and sales people must see creativity. This can be problematic because many lecture-style classes and seminars tend to be predictable and boring - the same old, same old year after year.

The expression, "Thinking outside the box" may be an over-used clich'e, but its message is a good one. The trick, though, is in operationalizing this expression. We suggest the following: When confronted with a competitive sales task, ask yourself, "How is this task typically done?" Then ask, "How can it be done differently to greater effect?" Or put another way, "How can I deviate from the expected?"

A sales manager in Miami, Florida, was faced with a difficult situation in which the proposed room rate was substantially higher than that of his competitors. So he took a creative approach to set his proposal apart from the others. The sales manager knew that the other proposals probably arrived in some kind of priority-mail envelope and, as such, would lie flat on the client's desk. To make his proposal stand out, he rolled up his proposal, tied it with a piece of jute, inserted it into a plastic bottle with a small amount of sand and seashells from the hotel's beach, corked the bottle and mailed it to the client.

When his "message-in-a-bottle" was received, it "stood out" on the client's desk and it reinforced the sales manager's assertion that his hotel stood above the rest. His proposal was accepted, demonstrating that the lowest rate is not always the determining factor.

Common Sense - Embracing Dissonance

According to Webster's dictionary, common sense is "the unreflective opinions of ordinary people." In other words, it is non-specialized knowledge. Although professional training can serve to advance our knowledge in a particular field, it may also have the tendency of lessening our ability to render sound, practical judgment that result from good common sense.

While some are said to possess innate common sense, it can be learned or acquired. A first step to acquiring more common sense is to take an information inventory. Where and how do you receive information? What types of information do you receive? We naturally are drawn to what comforts us and reinforces what we already know or believe. Many people experience "cognitive dissonance" when they encounter views that differ from their strongly held beliefs (Festinger, 1957).

In order to enhance common sense, you should embrace this dissonance. Seek out credible sources of information that are at odds with your own views. If you tend to have conservative political and social viewpoints, pick up a copy of the Utne Reader once in a while. If you tend to lean to the left, subscribe to Forbes Magazine's daily email briefing. Also, follow developments in sports even if you think March Madness is one of the best times of the year for department store sales. Or attend the latest opera in town even if you think Pavoratti is a pasta dish. These strategies should broaden your understanding of the world and provide you with a greater ability to connect with people.

Conclusion

While there will always be someone funnier or more creative or who has better timing and more common sense than you, there are steps you can take to more effectively develop these essential skills and use them in your sales repertoire.

Focus on developing one skill at a time. Enhancing any one of these imperfectly inimitable skills can take a great deal of time and energy. For example, setting up a database of "fun facts" on your potential clients and their organizations may take months. But once you have mastered one skill, it becomes part of your routine and you can move onto the next.

Don't do too much too soon. For example, the Elvis costume is a strategy that most of us could not "pull off," but we could send potential clients a postcard with an Elvis theme and build from there. This leads directly to the next step.

Practice, practice, practice. They are called imperfectly inimitable skills because they are difficult to imitate. Develop your own sense of humour, sense of timing, creativity and common sense by practicing what works best for you.

Michael J. Cheatham is Director of Sales Recruitment at Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He has 21 years experience in hospitality serving in various sales and corporate positions for both Hyatt and Marriott Hotels. He is Founder and President of Inspired Solutions & Associates; a consulting group specializing in professional development, career counselling and inspirational speaking. He is a member of Hyatt's Diversity Council, a national board director of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and has a degree in Speech Communications from Indiana University. He can be contacted at mcheatha@corphq.hyatt.com

Michael J. Cheatham is Director of Sales Recruitment at Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He has 21 years experience in hospitality serving in various sales and corporate positions for both Hyatt and Marriott Hotels. He is Founder and President of Inspired Solutions & Associates; a consulting group specializing in professional development, career counselling and inspirational speaking. He is a member of Hyatt’s Diversity Council, a national board director of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and has a degree in Speech Communications from Indiana University. Mr. Cheatham can be contacted at 312-750-8028 or mcheatha@corphq.hyatt.com Extended Bio...

HotelExecutive.com retains the copyright to the articles published in the Hotel Business Review. Articles cannot be republished without prior written consent by HotelExecutive.com.