The importance of motivation when it comes to upselling

In a previous post, we talked about upselling and cross-selling, and the different ways to upsell.

I would like to focus more in depth today on the relation between motivation and upselling. After having trained hundreds of team members globally over the last decade, there are a few personal traits that keep repeating themselves:

The hungry one who loves cash and would sell anything

The one who wants to grow professionally, and sees upselling as an opportunity to shine in front of the bosses

The one who does it because she’s been told, so just does enough not to be told off

The one who does not do any at all, regardless of how much he is trained, coached, etc…

In all profiles, the key is the MOTIVATION. Out of the 4 different profiles outlined:

The hungry one is motivated by money. Either because she really needs it (hospitality salaries tend to be low, don’t forget that one), or because she likes to treat herself and finds this an easy way to make extra cash. They are great results’ boosters for the team. However, one has to be careful, as they might come across as pushy, and that would backfire and generate negative feedback from guests. Generally speaking, as long as guests keep appreciating the added value, they these team members should be left doing what they do great. Selling.

Then you have the ones to want to grow professionally. They are hungry too, but in a different way. Their motivation is to build a career, and they see upselling as another tick on their list of accomplishments. They tend to achieve a balanced scorecard, and are usually good too when it comes to enrolling on loyalty programs, getting their names mentioned on guests’ feedback, etc… They want to make sure they achieve any target that is given to them.

The third one tends to be very common. Very low motivation in general, doing just what is on the checklist, and needing to be reminded to do so regularly to achieve the goals set.

The last one is also very common, too. Completely demotivated team members. Question is: If they do not care about their job, do they care about the customers?  Will they ever go the extra mile to serve the guest, if all they are looking for is to do the bare minimum not to get fired?

When it comes to upselling, they all repeat the same excuses: “My shifts are terrible”; “I’m unlucky with the guests I check in, only groups and corporates”; “the station they leave me is the worst for upselling”…. When I talk to them, they think they are being creative with their feedback. But I’ve heard it hundreds of times. And the reason for the poor results is none of the ones they mention. But for most people, even when doing a one-on-one coaching with them, it’s challenging to open up and accept the truth “I’m not motivated”; “I hate this job”. I’ll rather have them telling the truth than looking for lame excuses.

There is a big challenge here, which involves HR and management. And that is a widespread globally in the industry. Why are so many team members demotivated?  How does that attitude affect the level of service they provide? How much revenue is potentially lost because these team members do not proactively offer extra services or added value? And what about the brand reputation of having demotivated staff facing customers?

It’s clear that the environment has to provide certain conditions, but at the end of the day, the motivation must come from within. That hunger, that passion, is what HR and management should be looking for when it comes to recruiting. Because those few ultra-motivated ones can ignite the competitive spirit in others, and then upselling can become a healthy competition where, each one with their own motivation, help achieve a common goal: deliver extra value to guests, helping the hotel make extra revenue, and getting a commission along the way. Win-win-win, the perfect scenario. And not that difficult to achieve.

#hotels #upsell #hoteles #onehospitality #bettertogether #torresconsulting