➲ Don’t let hot leads go cold.

Converting
Leads [FRANK FINN]

into Sales
Rules for Spinning Straw into Gold

HOSPITALITY SALES AND MARKETING PROFESSIONALS face the Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #1

same challenge the miller’s daughter confronted in “Rumplestiltskin,” the Don’t Let Hot Leads Go Cold
19th-century German folk tale immortalized by the Brothers Grimm. Don’t Sales leads are like bread; they go
remember the story? Here’s a recap: stale overnight. However you generat-
ed the lead, whether through a show,
Once upon a time, a miller who wanted to seem important bragged a print ad, your website, a direct mail
to everyone that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king campaign, act on it quickly. With each
caught wind of this and locked the daughter in a tower with a spin- day that goes by without a “touch”—a
ning wheel and a pile of straw. “You have three nights to spin this follow-up telephone call, email mes-
straw into gold,” said the king. “If you fail, you will be executed.” sage, or some other contact—the
odds of converting a lead drop.
The miller’s daughter despaired until an odd little man named
Rumplestiltskin appeared in her room. In exchange for her necklace,
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #2
he spun the straw into gold. The king was so pleased, he made the
IllustratIon by amanda ChronIster

All Leads Are Not Created Equal

miller’s daughter his queen.
Too many sales and marketing people
There is a lot more to the story, but the point is, hospitality sales and mar- treat all leads alike, when in fact their
keting people face the same do-or-die situation every day: take straw (leads) quality varies widely. Show leads often
and turn them into gold (bookings). After all, a sales lead is as worthless as get priority treatment because they
a pile of straw until someone converts it into a booked meeting. are costly to generate. But let’s face it,
those business cards you collected by
So what’s the secret? Follow “Rumplestiltskin’s Rules” and while you may holding that “Win an iPad” drawing
not become royalty, you will live to spin another day. ➲ in your booth aren’t leads from seri-

10 HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW • FALL 2010

 ➲ It’s all about... timing.
ous prospects interested in booking a
meeting at your facility. All you’ve got
is a list of people who would love to
win an iPad. They aren’t nearly as valu-
able as the list of people who request-
ed information about your meeting
facilities on your website yesterday.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #3
Qualify Leads Using the Three I’s
At every stage, make sure the leads
you are devoting time and effort to
pass the “Three I’s” Test:
1) Interest—The meeting planner
is actively seeking a facility
to hold an event.
2) Influence—The contact is
responsible for selecting the site.
3) Investment—The planner’s
budget for the meeting is in line
with your rates.
If you are diligent about confirming
the Three I’s, you won’t waste time on
prospects who can’t or won’t book a
meeting with you.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #4
Put a Fuse on the Hottest Leads
When you assign a lead to a salesper-
son, especially those that come in as
RFPs, always give him or her a dead-
line. Nothing creates a sense of urgen-
cy in a salesperson like the words, “I’m
taking this away from you in 10 days
and assigning it to someone else if you
haven’t booked the business.” On the
appointed day, unless the salesperson
can show they are making real
progress on the account, reassign the
lead to the next person
in line.
FALL 2010 • HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW
➲ Old leads never die, unless you let them.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #5
You Can’t Hit the Bull’s-Eye
if You Don’t Have a Target
Effective conversion of sales leads
depends on defining the kind of
business you are targeting. And in
today’s environment, your target may
change every six to 12 months. Be
very specific about which type of
group and meeting suits your facility
best. Then screen your leads and rank
them according to how well they fit
the profile.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #6
Old Leads Never Die,
Unless You Let Them
If a lead doesn’t convert into a sale in
short order, don’t purge it from your
database entirely. As long as the orga-
nization holds meetings that you can
accommodate, put them on “life sup-
port.” Send the contact an invitation to
receive your email newsletter. Add the
person to your postcard mailing list.
It’s well worth using these low-cost, low-
maintenance tactics. For one thing,
getting address corrections back from
postcard mailings will help you keep
your list up to date. And if certain
leads never open your email promo-
tions, they just aren’t interested. Purge
them from your prospecting database.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #7
Drill Down to the Decision-Maker
Whatever system you use to track
leads, make sure that you can see all
the players in a target organization,
and that you focus your sales efforts
on the decision-maker. Too often, sales
resources are wasted on second- and
third-tier players who influence the
buying decision at best, while the per-
son who really decides never hears
your story.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #8
It’s All About . . . Timing
You know that the prospect’s meeting
is a perfect fit for your facility. You
know you have the amenities they are
looking for. You know who will make
the ultimate decision. But you are still
missing one critical piece of informa-
tion: when the decision on a meeting
location will be made. Your sales effort
should build to a crescendo just before
the decision date and build in a con-
tact just prior to that time. Talking to
the planner at that point gives you a
chance to adjust your proposal for last-
minute changes in the meeting specifi-
cations and win the booking.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #9
Change Equals Opportunity
Be sure to track the changing profile
of every lead, both individuals and
organizations, in your database.
Here’s why: When the person who
books meetings at a prospect organiza-
tion leaves, that change can create two
opportunities. A current customer at a
new organization could book addition-
al meetings with you. And the person
who moves into the old customer’s job
is a prospect for return bookings.
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #10
Customize Follow-Up by Lead Source
Today’s sales and marketing depart-
ments generate leads from multiple
sources: websites, shows, direct mail,
11

print advertising, email broadcasts and
so on. You’ll get better results if you
tailor your follow-up efforts by source.
For example, prospects who inquire
over the Web expect a quick response.
Don’t be shy about feeding Web
requests and RFPs to your sales staff
with instructions to make the call
immediately. If you need time to draft
a response to an RFP, program your
site to send an instant email advising
the prospect that a proposal will follow
within 48 hours. That’s not to say you
can dawdle responding to leads from
other sources (see Rule #1).
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #11
Exploit the RFP Opening
With the proliferation of RFP genera-
tors, meeting planners can broadcast
these documents to multiple hotels and
CVBs at the click of a mouse. So is each
RFP less valuable as a lead than it once
was? Yes, but every RFP still deserves to
go to the top of the active prospect list.
Never miss an opportunity to contact
the planner, preferably by telephone,
to get more information. You’ll be in a
better position to respond to the RFP
in hand and you may also learn
about future meetings still in the
planning stages.
Rumplestiltskin’s
Rule #12
Fire Up Your Team with a
Tote Board
Salespeople are com-
petitive by nature,
and competitors
thrive on recogni-
tion. That’s why a
tote board is an
12
➲ Fire up your team with a tote board.
essential tool, whether it takes the
form of a white board at the front of READER RESOURCES
the sales department or a spreadsheet
in a shared folder on the network or a
weekly email to the entire team. And Click on the links below for additional
information about Converting Leads
that tote board should highlight each
into Customers
salesperson’s current close rate, the
percentage of leads converted to
bookings for the month and the year- MEETINGPLANNERLISTS.COM
to-date. The top performers will enjoy Largest online source of qualified
the limelight and compete to stay on meeting and event planners
top. The stragglers will feel the pres-
sure to raise their game. HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW
Prospecting: Taking a Positive Path
Rumplestiltskin’s Rule #13 to New Business (12/10/2009)
Feed the Funnel The Basics of Direct Selling (Part II)
While you’re working to convert leads
(12/10/2009)
into sales, don’t forget to keep the The Basics of Direct Selling (Part 1)
(10/15/2009)
leads coming in the first place. When
acquiring lists for direct mail and tele-
phone campaigns, stick with sources HSMAI UNIVERSITY WEBINAR
that provide the organizations’ prior ARCHIVES
meeting activities—the number of Fueling Sales with John Parke- This
meetings per year, preferred location, two-part webinar series addresses
upselling in today's economy, and
peak room nights and other data you
moving from defense to offense.
need to target qualified prospects.
As you can see, there is nothing The Story of Rumpelstiltskin
magical about Rumplestiltskin’s
Rules. Converting leads into
sales takes hard work,
organization, and more
than a little determina-
tion. But hospitality
sales and marketing
professionals can be
sure of one thing:
When the time
comes to tally
sales results,
those who
follow his
rules will be
golden. n
HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW • FALL 2010