Sales Development: A Comprehensive Analysis of Hilton Hotels and Resorts

This report delves into the sales development strategies employed by Hilton Hotels and Resorts, a global hospitality leader. It examines the organization's internal merchandising materials, promotional activities, personal selling techniques, and operational design. The report also provides recommendations for improvement and justifies key principles that should be included in the sales training program for Hilton Hotels and Resorts. By analyzing the organization's sales development practices, this report offers valuable insights into the effective implementation of sales strategies in the hospitality industry.

SALES DEVELOPMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................2
3.2 Evaluate and review internal merchandising materials of your selected organization..........2
3.3 Evaluate promotional activities for the different scenarios, provide recommendations for
improvement for the selected organization..................................................................................4
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................6
4.1 Evaluate the personal selling techniques, make recommendations for the improvement for
selected organization...................................................................................................................6
4.2 Discuss the influence of the operational design on the sales revenue for selected
organization.................................................................................................................................8
4.3 Justify key principles that should be included in the sales training program for the selected
organization...............................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Sales development is the process of generation of more number of sales for increasing the
organization’s market share and profitability. The major aim of sales development is to target
various segments of market by applying various improvements to the products and services and
obtaining more number of customers. For development of sales the organization always tries to
attract large number of customers in the market. In this report, Hotel Hilton is the organization
which is chosen. Hotel Hilton and Resorts was founded in 1919 and have 540 hotels worldwide.
Hilton Hotels and resorts are located in Park Lane. This report will define the various services
and products and involvement of product mix in the sales of Hilton Hotels. This report will also
discuss the techniques for sales development which affect the behaviour of the buyer. In the end
of the report, the style of personal selling, sales training and role of staff will be discussed
briefly.
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LO 3
3.2 Evaluate and review internal merchandising materials of your selected organization
Internal merchandising materials refer to those which support the products and services that are
delivered to the Hilton Hotel and Resorts. For maintaining the reputation and position of the
hotel, the hotel management always tries to provide all services in organized and effective ways
to the customers. This can be managed by welcoming of visitors, communication with employer
and tent card at the table. In internal merchandising hotel approves various services according to
the needs and requirements of the customers. They always provide services in very comfortable
manner which do not cause any disturbance for the customers (Yadav, 2018). Various
evaluations have been carried out by the Hilton Hotel and Resorts of internal merchandising
materials which are as follows:
 For retaining their visitors and customers, Hilton Hotel requires highly-managed process
and proper coordination which meets the level of customer’s satisfaction.
 Sales of the Hilton Hotel can be increased by providing delicious and healthy food to the
customers at affordable prices.
 The level of any Hotel is judged by the food and services they are being provided to the
customers, as food and beverage section plays very major role in the internal
merchandising.
 All the merchandising materials of the Hilton hotel are being places in very attractive and
comfortable manner so that customers can increase their stays at the hotels.
 The increase in sales can be done through the layout and lucrative design of the hotel.
The decoration of the hotel, trained staff, serving facility and good infrastructure helps in
increasing the sales of the organization (Dev, et.al, 2017).
 The highly reputed hotels may include various services like high speed of internet access,
gym, restaurant and bar, discount facility, parking facility and place and ambience for
creating any event in the hotel will increase the sales at large pace.
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 The hotels can use various promotional codes like the coupons and electric marquee for
tracking the effectiveness.
 The sales can be increased by providing best conditioned hotels to the customers, they
will become the centre of attraction for the customers as it increases the market position
of the Hilton Hotel at large pace (Momany and Alshboul, 2016)
Therefore, the evaluation and review of internal merchandising of Hotel Hilton is being found
with all the services. Customers of Hilton Hotel are very much satisfied by their sales and
services which they provide to the customers at their best. This is the best results of internal
merchandising which are being used in the organization for serving the customers at its best
which gives customer satisfaction and even their money spent do not waste.
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3.3 Evaluate promotional activities for the different scenarios, provide recommendations for
improvement for the selected organization
There are various type of occasions in which Hilton Hotels provide various services to the
customers for increasing their sales and profitability. The Hilton Hotel provides various offers
and events according to the conditions and seasons. The promotional activities of the hotel help
in improving market share, image and brand loyalty. In order to achieve the targets of the
organization, hotel facilitates festival benefits, family packages and discount offers. The reputed
hotels generally offer various services to middle class, business class and loyal class customers
that are discussed below:
Business Class Customers – These types of customers generally attracts towards the
conferences, meeting rooms and auditorium with various facilities like audio-video conferencing,
Wi-Fi and internet connection which are the basic requirements of business class customers
(Dębski and Niemczak, 2016). There are different measures which are used to attract customers
of business class by sending emails, letters, brochures, and pamphlets. Hotels also offer services
like business class packages which include breakfast and services of free calling related to the
business.
Loyal Class Customers – They are the type of customers which are generally attracted towards
the services like cherish library, parking facility, hotels near hill station, fitness centre,
accommodation, fitness centre, restaurant and bar and spa facilities. Personal contact and
telemarketing are the ways for promoting the hotels and their services at large scale for targeting
the customers. The customers are more attracted if the hotel provides services like contest,
coupons and competitors. Hilton hotel generally provides services like weekend break or cultural
break and discounts according to customers needs (Kim, et.al, 2017).
Middle Class Customers – They are the type of customers which are attracted to the food
services of which means serving the food in proper manner and food should be hygienic too. The
hotel has provided 40 percent of discount at the weekend for the government employees. There
are various services from which the customers are being magnetized like holiday offers,
memberships, spa, gym and room services. The bar and restaurant of hotel helps in targeting the
normal people which enhances the expansion of their business at large pace.
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To perform these kinds of activities, hotels must have availability of resources, money and time.
At the time of festivals many visits are been recorded in London, which enhances the growth of
hospitality sector (Sehlikoglu and Karakas, 2016). For improving the base of the customers, the
management of hotels organizes parties and various cultural activities so the customers can get
fully satisfied by the services. These are the activities from which the sales of the Hilton Hotel
can be increased which will give enormous growth.
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LO 4
4.1 Evaluate the personal selling techniques, make recommendations for the improvement for
selected organization
Personal selling refers to the business in which people are used for selling the product to
customer face-to-face. The seller of the organization promotes their product by their attitude,
knowledge of product and appearance of the product. The seller of the organization uses to
encourage and motivates the customer to buy the product or can at least try the product. Personal
selling helps the organization to directly reach to the customers that provides information of
various products and services of the hotel (Paesbrugghe, et.al. 2018). For following this
procedure Hilton hotels can use various techniques which are used for personal selling which are
as follows:
Online Selling – Today, the selling of products and services is increasing through online selling
of the Hotel services. Hilton Hotel can apply the idea of online selling by selling their services
and products worldwide. In online selling, they can provide all the information like location and
price of the hotels so that customers can plan their stays according to the services they are being
provided. This technique reduces the time and cost which helps in increasing the sales of the
organization.
Sales Calls – The marketing department of the organization generally provides calls to their
customer Group and corporate groups for giving all the information to the customers regarding
their activities and offers (Xie, et.al, 2016). In this process the department of marketing of the
hotel follow their clients at various organization and clubs for influencing the buying behaviour
of the customers. Sales calls makes easier for the customers to achieve the target sales.
Doorstep Selling – This refers to that process of selling that includes the information of hotel’s
services and products at the customer doorstep. It can be handled by pamphlets, brochures, etc in
which all the information regarding the organization should be mentioned so that customers an
plan their stays at the Hilton Hotels.
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Counter Selling – In this, the salesman is being appointed by the manager of the organization
which provides all the information to customers on the counter itself. The counter of selling can
be in the form of retail shops which provides direct idea of any kind of product and service to the
customers (Terho, et.al, 2015). Hilton Hotel can manage the counter at their hotel’s doorstep
which will help the hotel to increase their sales at large scale by providing information to the
customer.
Therefore, it is recommended to the Hilton Hotel to prefer personal and online selling technique
for targeting existing and new customers. These are the techniques which will help the
organization in enhancing the profits and sales at larger level for customer satisfaction.
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4.2 Discuss the influence of the operational design on the sales revenue for selected organization
For improving the sales of the Hilton hotel and operational design the hotel needs better
cooperation and coordination of the employees for achieving the sales target. Hilton Hotel
contains best design of operational platform for delivering the services to the customers. The
hotel management is trying to manage all the operations in standardized form. For reducing cost
and increasing the efficiency level organization need to perform following operations in an
effective manner which are as follows:
 The Hilton hotel must use the HVAC systems in their hotels which will help in reducing
the cost and will also save the energy in the organization (Ramanathan, et.al, 2016). The
HVAC uses LED bulbs which help in saving electricity that cost approx thousand dollars
of the electric bills.
 The hotel should maintain the personal contact with the customers by various means of
connectivity like tablets, smart phones and social networking sites which gives the
convenient way of connecting to the customers personally.
 The space of the hotel must be used for organizing parties, business gatherings and social
events in any season, even in off seasons too. This increases the operations and interest of
the customers in hotels and their services.
 The option of direct sales must be utilized by the hotels by dividing the customers into
various segments so to maintain the position in market of competition. Direct sales can
analyze the likings and disliking of the customers.
 The hotels that are reputed formulated the strategy plan for the successful implementation
of the plan for improving its business activities and helps in achieving the targeted goals
which are planned by the manager of the organization.
 Mangers of the hotels should train their employees in very effective manner so that they
can apply their knowledge skills in sales and operative functions for reducing the cost and
increasing the profits for the organization (Dhar, 2015)
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 The efforts of the marketing should activities should be done properly and effectively so
that it can support the direct sales activities which helps in increasing the customer
satisfaction at large scale.
 For achieving the customer desires and satisfaction all operations of the organizations
must be operated and managed on time which should be done clearly. The operation of
all the activities helps the hotel organization which increases at global rate.
Therefore, people talk about various experiences they have been gathered from the hotel Hilton
which gives the impact to the others of using the services of the hotel (Johansen and Vergé,
2016). The operational activities help the hotel Hilton in expanding their services by increasing
the sales and earning more profits.
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4.3 Justify key principles that should be included in the sales training program for the selected
organization
Sales training program helps the organization to get successful and becomes the leader in
industry. The main aim of sales training program is to make the employees knowledgeable and
skilful. The employees of Hilton hotel will help in improving brand image and sales. Following
are the principles which must be included in sales training program which are as follows:
Knowledge of Hotels and its Services – The employees of the Hilton hotel helps the customers
to gather information regarding products and services of the organizations. This will help the
customers in choosing the right services for them by getting all information about the hotel
services (Rathore, 2017). The training of employees of the Hilton hotel must be done properly so
to achieve the organizational goals of the hotel.
Communication Skills – The training module should include the program which involves the
improvisation method for communicating with the customer’s at large scale. The communication
style of the employees must be fluent and understood by the customers while describing the
services and products of the organization.
Better Understanding of Competition – The employees must be trained in proper manner so that
they can understand and deal with the competition of the organization. The hotel must be aware
of the competition so that they can make strategies according the market competitors (Solnet,
et.al, 2016).
Best Source of Information – The sales training program must include the source of information
from which the customers can collect all the data regarding their stays at the hotels. The sources
will able to help customers in greater sense without creating any sense of discomfort in the
organization.
Development of Personalities – The sales training program must include the development ways
through which the personalities of the employees of the hotel can be groomed by motivation
them into the right direction. It also helps in creating the leadership skills into employees so that
they can help the customers in a better manner.
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Sales Conversation with Customers – The training programme should aim at the conversation
style that needs to be followed for the customers for achieving the targeted goals. The sales can
only be increased if the customers feel easy to understand all the services and the products of the
hotel (Presbitero and Teng-Calleja, 2017).
Therefore, the principles mentioned above must be considered properly while preparing the
training program of the Hilton hotel for increasing the sales force so that the resources can be
utilized at larger level. This will generate the business at large growth which will increase the
sales and customer trust too.
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Conclusion
From the above report, the importance of sales development in the Hilton hotel has been
discussed. The report has also concluded about selling techniques, product mix and different
training principles which has increased the sales of Hilton hotel and even the revenues too. The
organization has used product mix technique so that it can attract the customers in large numbers.
The Hilton hotels have used various ways to advertise their products and services to the
customers. The organization has put emphasize on various external and internal factors which
has helped in improving the sales that has divided the services and products according to the
preferences of the customer. At the end of the report, the report has discussed about the elements
or principles of the sales training program such as knowledge about hotel, communication skills,
sales conversations with the customers, development of employees personalities etc which is
necessary to include in training program.
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References
Books and Journals
 Dębski, M. and Niemczak, K., 2016. The importance of the region’s tourism
attractiveness in the management of a hotel’s promotional activities. International
Journal of Contemporary Management, 2015(Numer 14 (4)), pp.111-129.
 Dev, C., Hamilton, R. and Rust, R., 2017. Hotel brand standards: How to pick the right
amenities for your property.
 Dhar, R.L., 2015. Service quality and the training of employees: The mediating role of
organizational commitment. Tourism Management, 46, pp.419-430.
 Johansen, B.O. and Vergé, T., 2016. Platform price parity clauses with direct sales (No.
2017-45).
 Kim, B., Kim, S. and Yoonjoung Heo, C., 2017. Consequences of Customer
Dissatisfaction in Upscale and Budget Hotels: Focusing on Dissatisfied Customers’
Attitude Toward a Hotel. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration,
pp.1-32.
 Momany, M. and Alshboul, A., 2016. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: UTILIZING
SOCIAL MEDIA TO ADVANCE BRAND AWARENESS AND INCREASE ONLINE
SALES. International Journal of Business, Marketing, & Decision Science, 9(1).
 Paesbrugghe, B., Sharma, A., Rangarajan, D. and Syam, N., 2018. Personal selling and
the purchasing function: where do we go from here?. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales
Management, 38(1), pp.123-143.
 Presbitero, A. and Teng-Calleja, M., 2017. Employee proactivity in hotels undergoing
organizational change and development. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality &
Tourism, 16(4), pp.401-421.
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 Ramanathan, R., Ramanathan, U. and Zhang, Y., 2016. Linking operations, marketing
and environmental capabilities and diversification to hotel performance: A data
envelopment analysis approach. International Journal of Production Economics, 176,
pp.111-122.
 Rathore, P.S., 2017. Significance of training and hospitality skills for hotel
employees. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research, 7(3),
pp.53-56.
 Sehlikoglu, S. and Karakas, F., 2016. We can have the cake and eat it too: leisure and
spirituality at ‘veiled’hotels in Turkey. Leisure Studies, 35(2), pp.157-169.
 Solnet, D., Baum, T., Robinson, R.N. and Lockstone-Binney, L., 2016. What about the
workers? Roles and skills for employees in hotels of the future. Journal of Vacation
Marketing, 22(3), pp.212-226.
 Terho, H., Eggert, A., Haas, A. and Ulaga, W., 2015. How sales strategy translates into
performance: The role of salesperson customer orientation and value-based
selling. Industrial Marketing Management, 45, pp.12-21.
 Xie, X.K., Verma, R. and Anderson, C.K., 2016. Demand Growth in Services: A Discrete
Choice Analysis of Customer Preferences and Online Selling. Decision Sciences, 47(3),
pp.473-491.
 Yadav, A.K., 2018. Emerging Opportunities In Planning & Review Of Inventory Control
in Hotel Industries. Multidisciplinary Higher Education, Research, Dynamics &
Concepts: Opportunities & Challenges For Sustainable Development (ISBN 978-93-
87662-12-4), 1(1), pp.126-138.
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