The best salespeople do not just sell a product or service, they present it as a vision of a future their customers cannot live without. They offer a simple solution to a challenging problem.

A powerful story, therefore, can be used to facilitate the communication process between hotels and their customers.

Storytelling can help differentiate a hotel from its competitors, build brand loyalty and strengthen a customer’s attitude towards that hotel.

The opposite is also true. A poorly crafted story can undermine your sales efforts, your credibility and lose you a captive audience. To craft sales stories to have maximum impact, it pays to apply proven strategies and innovative tools as part of your sales effort.

Why sales stories win

• They have the power to capture an audience and encourage individuals to take action
• Stories build trust and rapport
• They make data interesting and applicable to the reader
• Retention rates increase alongside brand loyalty

Gain a competitive advantage with better customer engagement

Smart salespeople know that storytelling is the best way to capture an audience.  Simply delivering information cannot inspire customers to take action like the power of a good story.

An effective story builds trust, loyalty and most importantly credibility with prospects and customers.

Consider this:

Dear Angelika,

Thank you for your enquiry. We would be delighted to host you at Hotel Sophia. Attached is a detailed overview of our room rates and availability we offer.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.

Responding with generic replies, detailing availability and room rates will not captivate your reader and secure that sale.

Instead of ‘we can offer’ or ‘we have’ lead the conversation with ‘you’ or ‘your’ and make the reader the centre of the conversation.

“If you want to get the same results as everyone else gets, just do the same things everyone else does.  If your goal is to get more than your fair share you have to find ways to stand out from the competition”

To do this in your sales conversations you need to define your sales story and ensure your entire hotel sales team incorporates it into their sales communication.

Build brand loyalty with a defining sales story 

For this, consistency is key. To deliver real value to your customers, and drive repeat business you need a communication strategy that builds a conversation with your customers. Throughout the customer journey and across all key touch points you need a consistent story that customers can stand by.

“Differentiate from the competition by giving your customers a memorable buying experience.”

An effective sales story teaches an audience something that they have never previously thought about it. Consider highlighting what makes your hotel unique, share stories of your hotel’s history and the surrounding areas or detail past experiences enjoyed by previous guests.

Well crafted stories can bring standardised communication across departments, finally aligning sales and marketing, and strengthing your brand. Businesses can expect 36% higher customer retention rates and 38% higher sales win rate  if sales and marketing work together with a united brand story.

Case study: Jurys Inn 

Last year Jurys Inn improved the quality and impact of their sales communication by incorporating sales acceleration technology across their sales and marketing teams.

UpMail, a sales acceleration platform, set up a series of sales communication tools aimed at standardising email communication. These included highly customisable templates for prospecting, offers, proposals, and promotions for warm leads.

In 2016 salespeople at Jurys Inn successfully sent over 35,000 personalised emails all standardised with well-crafted stories that built brand loyalty, increasing both retention rates and conversion rates.

Contact one of our dedicated team members to find out how UpMail can help you and your team.

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