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Santa
Fe, NM – October 2020 / Newsmaker Alert / Most hotels have suffered
a major decline in sales leads from reliable digital channels. Can the
voice channel pick up the slack and drive direct bookings? Doug Kennedy,
President of the renowned Kennedy
Training Network, certainly believes it can.
In
the following interview, Kennedy discusses why the voice channel matters
more than ever, and how hotels can convert more phone inquiries. He also
discusses why well-trained independent call centers often outperform hotel
brands.
Interviewer:
What are the most interesting and rewarding parts of your job?
Doug:
I would say the most interesting part is that I get to work with an incredible
mix of lodging companies representing all accommodation types, from ultra-luxury
and boutique to selective services, historic inns and vacation home rental
agencies. The most rewarding part is seeing our KTN training concepts help
increase sales and revenue across all these various business models.
Interviewer:
You’ve often referred to voice as the “forgotten” distribution channel,
but now I read where you are saying that especially right now it should
be treated as an integral part of a hotel’s revenue strategy. Can you explain
your thinking?
Doug:
Indeed, voice has been a forgotten channel. Most distribution leaders have
failed to recognize the interplay of voice and online bookings. What I
mean is that many of those website bookings they seem to obsess on have
started off with phone conversations. Frankly though, I’m shocked that
so many are still overlooking voice at a time when group and corporate/BT
channels has been devastated. Right now, travelers are calling about what’s
open or closed in or nearby the hotel, or with questions about cleaning
protocols, or just for the reassurance that only a human voice can offer.
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Interviewer:
How has KTN adapted its training for the current pandemic era?
Doug:
Well to pick-up on my response to your previous question, with so many
more potential guests calling before booking online, it’s a wonderful time
to steal-back market share from OTA’s as much from the comp-set. For an
example specific to Travel Outlook, we put together a customized, live
webcam training on how to convert those “I just have a question” and “I’m
just checking the rates” calls into bookings by asking conversation-starting
questions. We also trained them to show empathy, as a lot of callers are
self-revealing challenging personal circumstances and situations.
Interviewer:
Compared to independent call centers such as Travel Outlook, how are hotel
brands handling their voice channel?
Doug:
Frankly, I have to say overall, very poorly. Recently, while doing research
for one of my monthly training articles, another KTN executive and I personally
conducted a mystery shopping survey of the call centers for top seven hotel
brands in North America and tested their agents on six established sales
essentials. We were basically replicating a survey we conducted in 2014
at the time when brands were launching their “book direct and save” campaigns.
Just like in 2014, the major brands scored poorly in nearly all categories.
Interviewer:
Can you give specific examples?
Doug:
Sure. One question we asked was, did the voice agent sell some of the hotel’s
benefits? And to be clear, we were looking for simple stuff — like whether
they mentioned that the hotel offered complimentary breakfast or had a
convenient location. Only 7% of call agents mentioned this kind of information.
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Interviewer:
Okay, wow, pretty surprising. So, what other categories did the brands
struggle with?
Doug:
Another category involved what is generally called asking “discovery” questions.
We gave credit to an agent if they asked guests any questions beyond the
basics about dates, number of travelers and the like, but the score still
came in at only 14%. Obviously, these questions are extremely important
because they help an agent learn more about the caller, make personalized
recommendations, and ultimately drive the booking.
Interviewer:
Based on the survey you conducted with the hotel brands how do independent
call centers stack up?
Doug:
Independent call centers frequently come out more favorably. As an example,
the scores for Travel Outlook are much stronger across the board, which
really reflects the specific training their agents receive both from KTN
and from their in-house leaders.
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Interviewer:
So, I have to ask then, how does Travel Outlook score?
Doug:
Well first of all, the call scoring criteria we use for Travel Outlook
is part of our KTN Call Center Certification requirements, so it sets a
much higher bar. For example, the generic version we used for the brands
had only 6 criteria, and yet the overall industry score was just 37%. Travel
Outlook’s most recent YTD score was 89% including these disruptive pandemic
era months, and that is based on a criterion with 21 line-items.
Interviewer:
Can you tell us more about the KTN Call Center Certification?
Doug:
Sure. Over the years we have provided training for most of the independent
call centers in North America, and a few years back some of them asked
us to come up with a certification process. In fact, Travel Outlook has
been KTN Certified since 2013, at this time it is the only KTN Certified
call center, although we do have others that have recently engaged in the
journey. First, certified call centers have to engage in KTN’s QUEST training
for existing and new staff, but that’s really the easy part. What’s far
more challenging is having to maintain a 90-day rolling average call assessment
score of 85% or higher.
Interviewer:
And can you tell us about any specific sales training concepts KTN uses?
Doug:
Part of our training involves encouraging the use of more and better investigative
questioning in order to understand a guest’s unique “story”; to basically
find out why they are calling, where they are in their buying journey,
what it is that they did not yet find out online. The other key part is
what we call a story-telling approach to narrate the pictures they have
already seen and reassure them on their decision.
Travel
Outlook is the only call center certified by the Kennedy Training Network,
the hotel industry’s best source for sales training and guest service excellence.
Interviewer:
So, there’s a greater feeling of spontaneity to the call?
Doug:
Spontaneity, for sure. But also, to create a feeling that like the voice
agent really cares. They’re trained to think about the call as a real conversation,
not just a sales call. Right now, a lot of travelers will be picking up
the phone to get reassurance from the hotel. If they speak with someone
who can address their concerns, show real empathy, and offer them personalized
help and advice, that’s the kind of combination that convinces people to
book.
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This
is one in a series of essays by John Smallwood, CEO of Travel Outlook Premium
Reservations Call Center about voice reservations, the second most profitable
revenue channel.
About
Travel Outlook Hotel Reservation Call Center Services
In
addition to the unique use of world-class call center technology, Travel
Outlook is the only call center certified by Kennedy Training Network,
the hotel industry’s best source for sales training and guest service excellence.
Its luxury call team is tested by Forbes and Kennedy each month. Travel
Outlook’s clients include many of the world’s finest hotels and resorts.
About
Kennedy Training Network (KTN)
KTN
is the lodging industry’s best source for hotel training programs and supportive
services in topic areas of hotel reservations sales, hospitality and guest
service excellence, front desk hospitality certification, and hotel sales
department training.
Company
Contact:
John
Smallwood, CEO
Travel
Outlook Premium Reservations Call Center
Email:
jsmallwood@traveloutlook.com
Phone:
844-TRAVELOUTLOOK (844-872-8356)
Media
Contact:
Raul
Vega
LEVEL
5 Hospitality
www.LEVEL5hospitality.com
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Previous Release: The
Future of Hotel Call Centers, Why Outsourcing May Be In Your Hotel’s Best
Interest (09/08/20) |