Hotels- this one's for you! In 2017, we asked >2,500 hotels what they are doing to "go green." So we have good info for you...

I returned recently from a cruise where so many mistakes were made, I decided to revisit this topic. Mistakes are to be expected, I get that, but knowing how to recover an angry or frustrated customer into a loyal customer is a learned art. A Customer Focused Attitude is critical for successful service recovery. Employees need to be trained to anticipate and identify potential problems, as well as have the experience to make decisions and to deliver skillful solutions to customer problems. 

It is a very competitive and fast paced consumer world. For your business to thrive, you must take the time to learn (and know) your product, competition, market trends, economic factors, and current events. Customer relationships have to be built, AND accounts must be qualified.

How can you qualify and build customer relationships?  First, inquiring about the customer’s key needs and objectives are questions that must be asked during the sales process. Then, by understanding the needs of the customer, your sales process and pitch can be custom designed to match his/her key needs.  What's better?  Your customer will know that his/her needs are being met when you take the time to uncover his/her wants.  This will lead to loyalty and ongoing sales, which also results in a strong relationship. 

Where did January go? Are you still focused on your New Year's resolutions? Looking back through the rear view mirror (if you will) is an exercise I find interesting each year. What happened, what didn't, what is inevitably going to continue to happen, what do I want more of, less of, that sort of thing.  Lot's of trend articles will surface about the previous year.  In fact, here was ours last year: 2017 Trending.  This year, as I was reading through some of the top trends, I came across a very interesting article by Simone Puorto, called Five hospitality trends to keep an eye on in 2018. So instead of looking back, we are going to look to the future.