Sales Development and Merchandising: A Comprehensive Guide

This comprehensive guide explores the critical aspects of sales development and merchandising in the hospitality industry. It delves into the impact of design and layout on customer spending, evaluates internal merchandising materials, and analyzes promotional activities for different scenarios. The guide also examines personal selling techniques, discusses the influence of operational design on sales revenue, and justifies key principles for an effective sales training program. This resource provides valuable insights and practical recommendations for hospitality professionals seeking to enhance their sales strategies and optimize customer satisfaction.

Sales Development and
Merchandising
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LO3..................................................................................................................................................1
3.1 Assess how design and layout might affect customer spend.................................................1
3.2 Review and evaluate internal merchandising materials.........................................................2
3.3 Evaluate promotional activities for different scenarios, making recommendations for
improvement................................................................................................................................3
LO4..................................................................................................................................................4
4.1 Evaluate personal selling techniques, making recommendations for improvement..............4
4.2 Discuss the influence of operational design on sales revenue...............................................5
4.3 Justify key principles that should be included in a sales training programme......................7
References........................................................................................................................................8
2

LO3
3.1 Assess how design and layout might affect customer spend
On the basis of the structures study, it can be concluded that design and layout in hotel industry
highly impact the perception of customers which directly or indirectly influence customer
spending. It has been identified that premises of Hotel Hilton provides the facility of restaurant to
fulfil the needs of food of customers staying in Hotel (Bowie et.al.2016). It facilitates customer
to attain the services of restaurant as per their taste and preferences as it provides variety of food
for all the classes of people. In addition to availability of all time food service as per the taste of
customers, it also focuses on maintaining hygienic environment which enhances the satisfaction
level of customers. High level of customer satisfaction will encourage customers to utilise more
number of services to experience optimistic and realistic features of the hospitality industry.
Well designed, and tech equipped rooms in Hilton Hotel renders beyond the comfort satisfaction
to customers. Quality and comfortable mattresses, designed and attractive walls, king sized beds,
etc attracts large number of travellers to attain services which is highly beneficial for business of
hotel Hilton. Enhances customer satisfaction is highly advantageous for industry business as it
prompt customers to spend high on hospitality services of Hotel Hilton. Along with the quality of
room services, upgraded technologies in bathroom and others such as 24x7 coffee machines
boost the attractiveness of features within the physical environment.
Premises of hotel are well equipped with speed Wi-Fi services at free of cost inclusive of other
amenities such as entertainment, swimming pool and many other luxury services to encourage
high class people to spend more which directly enhances the profit margin of hotel business (Qiu
et.al.2015). By observing all the amenities of hospitality form it can be said that enhanced design
and layout provides benefits to customers as per their needs. Staff members of hotel industry
need to ensure that they provide best services to their customers. Attractive design and layout
will attract large number of customers and will influence the sales and profitability ratio of Hotel
Hilton.
1

3.2 Review and evaluate internal merchandising materials
Internal merchandising is one of the important aspects that attract more number of travellers
towards hospitality industry (Hosseini and Roslin, 2016). Merchandising materials puts positive
impact on market share as well as sales of hotel Hilton. These materials are considered as
internal an promotional activity that includes table tent cards, posters and many more that
support an organization to boost up their sales.
The management of Hotel Hilton must focus on planning of various activities to have effective
impact of internal merchandising. The hotel industry must focus on maintaining the common
area so that guests can sit comfortably in their leisure time while doing check in procedure or
who have come for making queries. The main objective of internal merchandising material is to
promote its offerings in an effective manner and therefore, management of the organization can
utilise table tent cards to attract more number of customers. Hilton Hotel must display the
information about its unique features on table tent cards to make customers aware about their
specialized offerings. This will attract more customers and sales of the organization will be
increased.
Communication amongst the staff members in an effective member will enhance the level of
customer satisfaction. To boost up the morale of customer in positive manner, management must
focus on marketing plan and other related decisions to maintain the specific standards of
merchandising internally (Galdon-Salvador et.al.2016). Electronic billboard is also one of the
important merchandising materials that is used to render information about its diverse services to
customers. In addition to this, it must focus on displaying paintings and unique pictures to attract
customers.
Moreover, it is recommended to management of hotel to make sure about maintaining the
merchandising materials in an effective manner. It is important to focus on cost of operations by
utilising promotional tools to gain high profit margin.
2

3.3 Evaluate promotional activities for different scenarios, making recommendations for
improvement
There are wide ranges of promotional activities that are adopted by hospitality organizations to
attract more number of customers (Kamala and Roostik, 2018). Improvisation and enhancement
of promotional techniques is highly advantageous for business firm in terms of profitability and
sales.
Direct marketing is one of the ways through which Hotel Hilton can make customers aware
about its quality and better offerings to seek their attention. Marketing department must
communicate directly with customers for sharing discount and information related to current
offers. For an instance, executives are hired who shares information by door to door marketing.
In addition to this, marketing executives and managers can also make customers about their
offerings with the help of brochures as well as direct mail.
Along with the direct marketing, it is recommended to Hotel Hilton to focus on sponsorship to
promote business activities (Dalgiç et.al.2017). Sponsorship programs can be arranged to create
awareness among travellers. In addition to this, sales promotional technique is also very
beneficial to gain better opportunities in the market. This will include combination of wide range
of techniques that will motivate customers to reuse their services.
In the era of digitalisation, it is recommended that hospitality industry must focus on promoting
its products by using internet facilitating social media and many other platforms. This type of
advertising will target large number of people and will support Hotel Hilton to maximise its
profit margin. Traditional methods like television and newspaper can also be utilised to target old
generation of customers.
3

LO4
4.1 Evaluate personal selling techniques, making recommendations for improvement
Assistance based on personal selling techniques is highly beneficial for organizations like Hotel
Hilton in both monetary and non monetary terms. Sales call is one the essential selling technique
that supports hospitality organization to escalate their sales (Stansbie and Nash, 2016). The main
focus under this technique is on designing the target related to sales so that end objectives can be
achieved in an efficient manner. Staff members of marketing department must be aware about
appropriate information related to products and services in order to accomplish objectives.
Unique features of the product can influence customers in positive manner. It also support
professional to make healthy relationship with customers which is beneficial for firm to enhance
their sales ratio.
In addition to this, sales of the organization can be improved by targeting other business firms.
For an instance, sales executive target corporate organizations and provide innovative products
and services along with discount coupons to attract them to seek their services. Internal Selling is
one of the methods which is also beneficial for gaining the new business opportunities.
It is recommended to staff members to inform about leisure services and related activities to
meet the needs of customers. It will definitely impact customers in positive manner along with
enhancement of sales and profitability of an organization (Pereira and Almeida, 2014). They
must suggest customers to take advantage of other supportive activities in the hotel which will
motivate customers to reuse their services in future. Staff members must use impressive words
and language to satisfy customers which will encourage them to spend high on seeking
hospitality services. Such types of techniques will support Hotel Hilton to escalate its sales and
profit margin simultaneously.
4

4.2 Discuss the influence of operational design on sales revenue
Operational activities in an efficient manner highly influence the sales and revenue generation of
organization in hospitality sector. Operational design in Hotel Hilton must be such that it impacts
the sales and profitability to the greater extent. With the improvement in operational design, an
organization can perform various other hospitality activities in the most efficient manner to
enhance the level of customer satisfaction.
Additionally, management of Hotel Hilton must focus on setting standards that will modify the
effectiveness of operational design (Alam, 2016). Efficient operational activities will alter the
level of customer satisfaction which will directly impact the business to gain new heights in
hospitality sector. Management of Hotel Hilton must focus on minimising the wastage of
resources on order to reduce the operational cost to meet the overall profitability of an
organization. If the customers are satisfied then they will recommend other travellers to visit and
seek the services of same hotel which will indirectly increase the sales of an organization.
In order to gain higher profit margin, Hotel Hilton must focus on energy saving as well as other
resources that can support minimising the overall cost of an organization. Hospitality industries
must focus on bringing changes with operational activities to meet the objective in terms of
profitability. Wide range of technological equipments has been installed in hotel premises to
ensure the minimum usage of power in an appropriate manner. It is also important for an
organization and various departments to co ordinate with each other to improve the business in a
positive manner. The operational design supports fulfilling the demands of customers.
Collectively and coordination among team members will provides higher satisfaction to
customers (Hall and Gössling, 2016).
Designing is the process which is initiated from transforming market and technical resources and
ends at providing quality of product to customers. Therefore it is recommended to Hilton Hotel
to follow:
Mapping: Identifying the major activities along with decision making related to inputs
Performance: Specific standards such as quality, speed, flexibility must be decided.
Execution: Implementation of approved design
5

Follow Up: It takes feedbacks from customers which will help in further improvements.
6

4.3 Justify key principles that should be included in a sales training programme
Quality along with performance of services offered by hospitality organizations like Hotel Hilton
highly depends upon sales force and service staff. Skills and abilities of the sales staff influence
the productivity efficiently. Being the part of reputed and well known organization, training of
staff plays an important role. The major principles of sales training programme include:
Individuality: Each and every member of the team is valuable and therefore, Hotel Hilton must
focus on providing training on the basis of individuality principle (Rathore, 2017). The purpose
of implementing the principle is that individual member among the staff must be capable of
serving customers. They should not be dependent on others while serving the customers.
Specificity: In order to increase the sales, employees must be trained to resolve the queries of
customers as well as their behaviour so that some standard can be set while delivering the
services. Specificity indicates the transparency and understanding about the subject. Employees
in hotel must understand the issues faced by customers and must be capable of taking initiative
accordingly.
Practicality: Employees must be trained as per the practical situation occurs in the hotel
industry. Hotel Hilton being the reputed organization focuses more on serving people from high
class and therefore its employees must be trained to behave and serve as per their lifestyle.
Therefore it can be said that appropriate guidelines about services will definitely boost up the
sales of an organization (Brandon-Jones et.al.2016). Appropriate knowledge about products and
services will support employees to deal the needs of customers. Training must include the
communication sessions as hospitality industry is highly based on interaction with customers
which will directly escalate the sales.
7

References
Books and Journals
Alam, W., 2016. Standard operating procedure: sales & marketing of The Westin Dhaka.
Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M. and Mariussen, A., 2016. Hospitality marketing. Taylor &
Francis.
Brandon-Jones, A., Lewis, M., Verma, R. and Walsman, M.C., 2016. Examining the
characteristics and managerial challenges of professional services: An empirical study of
management consultancy in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sector. Journal of Operations
Management, 42, pp.9-24.
Dalgiç, A., Güler, O. and Birdir, K., 2017. Promotion in the hospitality industry. Routledge
Handbook of Hospitality Marketing.
Galdon-Salvador, J.L., Garrigos-Simon, F.J. and Gil-Pechuan, I., 2016. Improving Hotel
Industry Processes Through Crowdsourcing Techniques. In Open Tourism (pp. 95-107).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Hall, C.M. and Gössling, S. eds., 2016. Food tourism and regional development: Networks,
products and trajectories. Routledge.
Hosseini, B.S. and Roslin, R.M., 2016. Experiential Marketing Influence on Customer Lifetime
Value of the Hotel Industry. In Proceedings of the 1st AAGBS International Conference on
Business Management 2014 (AiCoBM 2014) (pp. 407-416). Springer, Singapore.
Kamala, A. and Roostika, R., 2018. The Role of Green Equity to Support Customer Equity in
Hotel Industry. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 7, pp.314-327.
Pereira, L. and Almeida, P., 2014. Marketing and promotion in the hotel industry: A case study
in family hotel and hotel group. CONSELHO EDITORIAL| EDITORIAL BOARD.
8

Qiu, H., Fan, D.X., Bai, B. and Ren, L., 2015. Antecedents of switching behavior in hotel
industry. In The 5th Advances in Hospitality & Tourism Marketing and Management (AHTMM)
Conference, Beppu, Japan, 18-21 June 2015 (pp. 268-274). Washington State University.
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.
Stansbie, P. and Nash, R., 2016. Customizing internship experiences by emphasis area: The key
to increased satisfaction and motivation in hospitality and tourism management students. Journal
of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 28(2), pp.71-84.
9