Every year for the last few years I have been running Christmas sales campaign workshops for a number of clients within the hospitality industry. This could be for restaurants, pubs or hotels looking to fill their businesses with bookings over the Christmas period. Selected members of staff who display an ability to sell and engage with people are placed in a team usually called something along the lines of Christmas Coordinators and I then train them. The workshop can last either a half a day or a full day and are always very enjoyable to attend and deliver.
The content of the course is made up of different topics working through the sales cycle also looking at some of the administrative tasks involved. Delegates learn new skills or refresh existing ones and this is done in a fun and engaging environment using activities and exercises.
The activity during the day that causes the most concern/drama/upset/blind panic is when I get the delegates on the course to pick up the phone and start approaching potential guests. There always some delegates who relish this task, grab their phone, pick up the work they’ve done on potential target guests and crack on with the task. There are always some who need encouragement and perhaps a bit of a shove! Then there are other ones who really don’t want to do this and display their reluctance in many ways from tears to fury.
These behaviours I can display when faced with a task I’m reluctant to complete, think of a child not getting his or her way in a supermarket and you won’t be far from what I can look like! When faced with reluctance from my delegates I have to sell the idea to them and usually after a bit of empathy and the right sort of encouragement they tentatively pick up the phone and start calling people. Very quickly they realise that most people love to hear from restaurants, pubs or hotels and feel quite special when they do. They also realise that the job of organising Christmas usually falls to somebody who is busy and is looking for an easy option to get it all arranged. Finally they realise the conversations aren’t as hard as they thought they were going to be and they have the skills to handle the call following the training. Once the task is finished and everybody comes back into one group you can see the smiles on their faces knowing that they’ve overcome a personal barrier and pleased with themselves that they went for it. Everyone always gets bookings.
So what are you putting off today? What task are you scared of or reluctant to do? Perhaps if you just went for it and attacked the situation you’d be pleased with yourself too? The difference between try and triumph is a little umph…
Have a task completing successful day
