Josh Ramsey: So how would you introduce yourself? 

Mike Hoelscher: you know, it's

Interesting. I'm gonna answer that a couple different ways. If I'm introducing myself to someone in the industry or

someone who Knows hospitality or hotels, it's simple. As a field director of sales and marketing, I, I oversee the sales efforts and results for a portfolio of hotels.

When someon the industry. but for industry, they really jus what salespeople do in ho

Josh Ramsey: Mm hmm. 

 Booked a Hotel for their kid's wedding

Mike Hoelscher: or a family reunion, or they even travel for business. I think there's, I think people don't really understand what hotel sales does.

And it's not 

To say that there's a lack of knowledge.

I just don't, I'm not sure people are curious enough to want to know.

But when you explain it to people and when I explain it to people, I almost always see that, that metaphorical light bulb go off over their head. As if to think. Really? Hotels need people to do that. And

it's [00:01:00] like, oh Yeah, we need people to do those things.

So, If I'm talking to someone outside of hospitality, I try to let them know that sales in hospitality, it's not necessarily difficult. We're not carrying cancer, we're not launching rockets, but it's also not an easy job because I think for so many years, and I won't say COVID broke it or changed it or didn't made it be that much different.

But I think for so many years Hotel sales organically were a lot easier. But 

When we started to see heavy intermediation by the online travel agencies, when we started to see a procurement mindset from travel buyers, your travel managers, your VPs of purchasing, that it, and all those things, Josh, nine, 11 changed the landscape COVID clearly changed the landscape, the financial crisis in 2008, and those were all little incremental steps, I think. Of how hotel sales has had to modify and adapt and how we in [00:02:00] hospitality sales have had to change our approach on so many things because, the phone doesn't ring the same way it used to. A big part of what we do is I call it dialing for dollars, right? You

know, you're picking Up the phone and you're calling a potential customer. Well, , at this point, you're lucky if you get a, someone to answer the phone. And even when you leave the most compelling voicemail or send a compelling email, your chances of getting someone to call back are equally small.

And , thinking over my 30 plus years in this industry, it was never like that at the

beginning. It was like at The beginning, you know, people kind of embrace, customers embraced Hotel sales a lot more. And I think as those incremental, those very small changes have happened over the last, let's call it 20 years using nine 11 as a bit of a benchmark. Think people view it the same way.

So we've had to modify and adapt on the hospitality side to change how we sell because customers have changed [00:03:00] the way they buy.

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. I love the way you're thinking about this is because I'm trying to get back to the roots as well. Right? 20 years is I think is a great question. And I've been digging into like, historically, where did this idea of a hotel come from? ? What is the word hospitality mean?

Right. And it's this mutual exchange of vulnerability like hosp, 

hospitality is, hospice is the root word. And that word meant both guest and host. And so it was a sense of kind of other, right? Someone that is different than me but there were rules created, to say, this is why and how you should allow someone into your home, right?

Or how and why you should allow someone that's traveling or that's in need to stay with you. And so I'm being vulnerable to host you and let you in, and you're being [00:04:00] vulnerable also to step into my place, 

Mike Hoelscher: What's interesting to me is I read a lot of historical fiction and nonfiction.

And I'm really fascinated by the period of time from the Gilded Age, right? From like 1880

to 1915, hmm. 

And I did read a book once upon a time that talked about the advent of the modern hotel and it traced its roots. Back to that time in the gilded age. And while hotels have existed in the form that we would recognize, they've existed for. 200 years

But they really started as like that roadside in,

and there was, it was shared beds and you didn't know

who you were Sharing with.

And, you It was like a bed and breakfast,

but 

Josh Ramsey: Mm 

Mike Hoelscher: terribly Rustic. And then, as we became a wealthier society and a more well traveled society, the advent of the modern hotel as the. kind of show place in the middle of the city where the truly wealthy and [00:05:00] cultured and educated went. In those days, so think 18 60 to kind of 1900.

Often hotels were built by the very wealthy for the very wealthy and people like you and me. Middle class working people would probably have not gone

Josh Ramsey: Mm hmm. 

Mike Hoelscher: And there was even a period of time when the very wealthy would not go to a hotel

because it signified that they did not have the financial means. Or network, if you

will, to ring up another wealthy friend

and say, Hey, can I stay in your guest

Josh Ramsey: Right, right. 

Mike Hoelscher: so wealthy people for a while truly didn't go to hotels because that was too common. It was too public. So then we get to a more mobile society, think, train, travel.

In the early part of the 20th century, but certainly automobile travel. Well, then you have this whole class of people, the middle class who now have access to simple transportation and they can go places and they want to go [00:06:00] places. And I think that was really the dawn of the modern hotel age.

And you know, it goes back to founders like Kimmons Wilson,

Hilton,

Howard Johnson,

These hotels at the side of the road, but it made the concept of hospitality a little bit more universal.

And I think it also made it very accessible.

And then, you know, you fast forward to the times we live in now, when brands like Hilton and IHG and Marriott have multiple brands. Because

for any number of reasons, and each one of those brands want to make sure they're grabbing that piece of the traveler

wallet. I think it's brilliant how hotels have evolved over time.

What's interesting

Is that the concept of hospitality, which you mentioned, that concept I think has changed remarkably over

time, from something that was a little bit more high touch. And reactive to now low touch, but very anticipatory.

And I think sometimes those compete with one another.

Josh Ramsey: . Yeah and I think part of what you're saying is [00:07:00] even as hotels have become more accessible and have grown in size their Our times where it could, it will naturally fill up with existing demand that is coming somewhere. But you need a sales team to fill these other gaps and even fill a foundational level of rooms 

to maintain the operations of that hotel for the times when the demand wouldn't just naturally be there.

Mike Hoelscher: Yeah. Absolutely. You do. And it's interesting in that regard because, I think a lot of it has to do with where a hotel actually decides. to be located.

Not that the hotel itself gets to

decide. But when owners

I want to put a hotel on this street corner. One is hopeful that they've performed their due diligence to understand what kind of business they can reasonably expect, right? You get a downtown convention center hotel. Yeah, you've got some built in baked in demand that as long as the convention [00:08:00] center sales team is doing their job, well, you're gonna have a pretty steady faucet turned on. coming in. You get your interstate hotel, right? Well, depending upon where it is on that interstate between City A and City B.

Yeah, you can expect there's gonna be some baked in demand travelers being hyper mobile and really guests in general thinking business travelers, that typical road warrior who may be going on a three city circuit tour to visit His businesses they're going to choose that roadside or that interstate hotel, I think when we get into an urban environment, a suburban environment that doesn't have one stable demand generator or one stable revenue source, I think that's a time when sales becomes absolutely fundamentally critical to getting that baseline of occupancy that helps the hotel financially remain open

A good investment for the owners.[00:09:00] 

Josh Ramsey: So what are the things you do? So I know even as you're describing what your role is, you've got an area, a group of hotels that you support from a sales perspective, meaning each hotel has their own team of salespeople. And your role is to help that sales team be more effective at their role.

I would assume, is that 

how you would describe that? 

Mike Hoelscher: Yeah, the hotels that I oversee are the, uh, the select service and extended stay variety. So in most cases we have one salesperson doing all the work and that's okay because with specific or with low enough key count, you can have a one man band in those buildings. But even if it is one person, I view my job, Josh, as First, I'll tell you what I don't do, and that's I do not micromanage. I believe in any organization, and certainly my organization feels this way and feels very strongly. If we do the right job hiring [00:10:00] someone, then it becomes more about collaboration and oversight versus day to day. You know touching base with the salesperson to make sure they're doing all the right things, right? So I make it a point to have regular touch points with my sales professionals But I tell them when I came on board because I have a couple sales folks who predate me in their position or predate me in my position I should say. But I tell new people when I bring them on i'm like Look, I'm here if you need me and we're going to talk on a regular basis, but I am not going to call you every day to see what you're doing. Here are the expectations. And I think as long as we're clear with expectations, my conversation, this conversation becomes much easier. I can say, look here's the budget. Here's the revenues that need to be brought in. Here are the segments from which you should be getting business. Here are the tools and resources and platforms and programs to help you get that business. And [00:11:00] then I'm pushing them out the door. Go get business right now. I think in the life cycle of every hotel, you're going to have times when you know, a demand generator closes or business contracts or you get a new competitor who starts eating your lunch, right? Those are the dynamics of the industry in which we work. So in those particular cases, I am going to lean in a little bit more and I don't do that because I feel like I have to. I do it because I want to. One of the benefits I think of having been in this industry for as long as I have and selling for as many years as I've had, I have I've seen a lot of up cycles and I've seen a lot of down cycles and one constant through all of that was the need for sustained proactive sales activities or dialing for dollars or soliciting, you know, however you want to. kind of word that out. The need for a sales professional to constantly be mining for new business, whether it's new business, new [00:12:00] account, new business, existing account that has never gone away. And I know from my days In training, because for a few years of my career, I worked in corporate training for Marriott. That was a very big part of our overall training mantra. And a lot of the classes that I delivered, it was about, okay, you found this business. What are you going to do to go get more?

And it's not such a difficult concept, but it's not practiced often enough. I think a lot of times, and if there's one thing I could, wave the magic wand and change. It would be. fostering a constant hunger for more. And it's not to say that sales people have gotten lazy or complacent, but I think sometimes we get that account and it's sunshine and roses and happiness and the hotel's making money and Yeah, that's great. But is there more? Is there more? And I relate myself back to a period of time when I was a general manager, [00:13:00] um, of a residence in and we had a beautiful piece of base business, josh.

It was like the dream extended stay business, sales training, 10 classes a year, 15 people, 30 nights. Great business, right? And we nurtured it and we loved it and we took care of it. And it was a great customer. Then one day I was meeting with the guy in charge, Tom Doyle. Never forget him.

He's etched into my

mind. And I said, Tom, I know we've been hosting your initial sales training. But are you responsible for any more sales training? And it's funny, Tom was the consummate salesperson. He sat back and he crossed his arms and he says, Mike, I had been waiting for five years for your hotel to ask me that question. So number

one, shame on me and my hotel

that we had not asked the question

earlier, But it turned out he did advanced sales training, smaller group, two weeks stays. So,

Josh Ramsey: Yeah.

Mike Hoelscher: So again, [00:14:00] and to me, that was so eyeopening. I wouldn't say my hotel got complacent or lazy or fat and happy. I would just say we'd never thought that there might be more out there.

So one thing I try to foster with my sales professionals is that curiosity

and just simply asking the

Josh Ramsey: Mm-Hmm? 

Mike Hoelscher: Is there anything

Josh Ramsey: Mm-Hmm. 

Mike Hoelscher: Is there

any one 

Else? I see it a lot now, Josh, as we've, Come out of COVID and I like to think COVID is pretty much in the rear view mirror.

It changed the industry indelibly. We'll never be the same, right? And that's okay too. But I think one thing that changed is once we found the business, we're holding onto it real tight because we don't want to lose it. But I also think that we have gotten a little less curious than we need to be. And so I try to foster that element of curiosity and, engaging with the customer and we are we actually asking our guests who are in the building, Hey, who else should I be [00:15:00] talking to?

I want more of your

business 

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. 

Mike Hoelscher: It's funny, I think salespeople get a bad rap. Just for any number of reasons, you can blame the used car industry. You can blame the mattress salesman.

you can

you can blame anyone I think salespeople sometimes get a bad rap. So I encourage my sales professionals don't necessarily think of yourself as a sales manager or a director of sales or a catering sales manager. Think of yourself as a detective,

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. 

Mike Hoelscher: You're

You're looking for the answers. The question is. Who has business? What is that business? Where is that business? But I think we need to, I think we need salespeople who view their job is becoming a detective. You know, looking at that one reservation and unraveling the mystery. I have a friend she and I grew up and marry it together. And she was relaying a story one time that, when she was a director of sales, she saw an interesting company name on her guest ledger, right? The list of companies she connected with the guests. It turned out he was [00:16:00] part of an advanced team that was getting ready to do a special project.

I want to say it was with either Lockheed Martin or Boeing. This was in Southern California. Yeah. And he was part of the advanced team scouting out locations. Michelle connected with him, qualified it and found a million dollars worth of business. And I think those million dollar opportunities are under our nose, every single and I brought COVID into it earlier.

I think we stopped being as curious as we were prior to COVID. And I would like to see us become curious again.

. There's a lot you said in there that I was thinking About . of. You said that there's this need for proactive, ongoing sales activities. and sometimes it's hard to keep moving when you have a win, right?

Josh Ramsey: You want to sit on that for a minute . I love to watch this reality show called alone, which is just like people get dropped off in the middle 

of nowhere and they have to survive by themselves. Like they get 10 things they bring with them, [00:17:00] but one of the common things that I laugh so much about, cause I run my own company is , People will stay for like 90 days sometimes like camping by themselves and like just have to find their own food But early on Somebody will catch a fish and they're just elated and they're having the best time and they're like so happy And the next day they can't catch a fish and at the worst time, you see these people's emotions, just they think they're going to get to stay forever.

And then the next day they think they're like, have to go home immediately, but they go on this emotional rollercoaster that I think it's the same way running my own company too, or any sales role is you get a big win. And you almost think, okay, I can relax for a minute. But the reality is okay, we need to be making relentless forward progress, but we need to keep this ball rolling.

Like as soon as we stopped rolling the ball. I should go, [00:18:00] now that I have this win, I need to go get another one because they can stack on top of each other and I'll get more excited. I'll believe in it more. I'll have more fun when I call the next person on the list, like you're talking about.

It, it's, it is a fascinating thing though about sales in general.

Mike Hoelscher: Yeah. And I think our best sales professionals in the industry, certainly in, in my organization, certainly in organizations with which you're familiar. I think the best sales professionals are the ones who personalize it enough that they know how to take the victory lap, not necessarily when to

take the victory lap at how to take the victory lap, but they always. know that they've got to look, they've got to keep looking. They've got to find

more. They've got to find more, and it

Is tough. I won't lie. Thinking back to, those dips in the cycle that we've both experienced, those were the times when I think salespeople became the [00:19:00] strongest,

Because they knew, and truly, I think the best sales professionals are the ones that understand it's not just about them.

that it is truly about that front desk clerk who's trying to put herself through

college. It's about the

hours Yeah. right?

It's about that restaurant

server. If there's not enough tips coming in, they've got to go get a second job, right?

And so I think that the best salespeople have a high level of

competitiveness. 

That they want to win. They want to beat their competition. They want to get the big bookings, but that it's also kind of juxtaposed with this deep and heartfelt empathy that if they don't do their job, they are impacting the income, the life, the food

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. 

Mike Hoelscher: table of people who work at that hotel.

. And I'm, I find that really interesting I've been experienced or I've experienced salespeople who [00:20:00] run the gamut of everywhere between like totally what's in it for me, what's my bonus compensation, how are you going to recognize me all the way over to the ones that are taking money out of their own pocket to buy the housekeeper's lunch.

Mike Hoelscher: And I think, and that, that spectrum is good. That spectrum has its place in this industry and it certainly has its place in. The hotel environment writ large, but I think you're salespeople who are most successful and this is my own, un, unresearched analysis, but the ones who are happiest being salespeople are the ones that know how to balance that aggressive, always on the hunt for

business with the empathy side of things,

because the empathy To my way of thinking extends to how we. We take care of our customers,

Josh Ramsey: Yeah.

Mike Hoelscher: It's easy. And what I used to always tell salespeople when I would sit down one on one and with them and train them either in a formal classroom environment or just one on [00:21:00] one like our conversation is that they had to find a way to differentiate their hotel from every other hotel out there, right?

Because at the end of the day, if you take the signage off the building, if no one's wearing a name tag. If there was no identifying mark in any way on a building or a person, most customers would be hard pressed to say, oh, that's a home two suites or,

oh, that's A holiday and express or,

oh, fill In the blank, right?

And so I always encourage my salespeople to do several different things to just get in the sales mindset. Number one, find out what makes them different and embrace it. and Then be genuinely curious about your customers and about their business needs. Right? So an example of this is I oversee a couple of candlewood suites and one of them, well, both of them actually, but one of them very specifically is located in a market that has a heavy concentration of oil and [00:22:00] gas.

So you can imagine the typical traveler for oil and gas. It's a guy in his twenties or thirties. He's wearing the construction boots. He leaves in the morning, comes back dirty. It's tough physical work, right? So candlewood sweets as a brand does not serve breakfast. So when I brought in the new sales person, he's like, we really need to think about breakfast .

I'm like no, we don't. Your brand doesn't do that. So find a way to sell without it. And it took a couple of conversations and I walked down that path with him, Josh, I said, okay, we do go to local restaurants and see if they'll give us breakfast coupons. Do we, we looked at a bunch of different things to give these customers breakfast.

And at the end of the day. It wasn't brand pure. And so the salesperson, I finally, he finally got himself to the place where when customers are like, gosh, we would like breakfast, he's like, you know what? That's not something we do. Here are some options. [00:23:00] So in his case, he learned to talk about what was great about his hotel and address the fact that we're not going to do breakfast for you.

Right. So that combined with a natural curiosity. Has made this sales guy really successful.

He makes it a point to go out and visit the job sites, recognize the guests when they come in, reach out to them in advance of arrival, finding ways to make their stay a little bit more special. So it's that empathy.

It's that curiosity. It's a genuine interest in others

Makes for a good, successful salesperson.

Josh Ramsey: So you said, one was embracing how you're different to is a genuine interest in your customer. Was there another one or those are the two that you stick 

Mike Hoelscher: Um, well, I'd say th

T

I remember in my early da person, I was dialing for it [00:24:00] telemarketing then. But, I would have a list of leads and I would pick up the phone and I would call and these were in the days before people stopped answering their phones. Quite honestly.

Yeah, I would get voicemail a fair amount of time, but people answered their phone more often than not. And I looked on it as I was actually happy when someone would say you not interested and hang up on me

To me it's okay, that's one person. 

Josh Ramsey: yeah, 

Mike Hoelscher: Immediately, and I might mutter a few things under my breath.

Right. But immediately though, I'm picking that

phone back up and I'm dialing

Josh Ramsey: Mm hmm. 

Mike Hoelscher: because it

Is, it's a drive to succeed. It's not being afraid of. No.

I think that's another critical personality trait that salespeople, I think in general, they have

that. I think some people get hung up on the know, even if they can work past it.

I think embracing the no, embracing that customer saying, I'm not interested, please lose my number.

Right? Okay. So that's one [00:25:00] customer out

of how many hang it up,

brush it off and dial

again. And it's that kind of persistence that I love

It in my sales professionals.

Josh Ramsey: that's good. I think about with the persistence and the getting a no is one. Do you believe in yourself? And what Is this no affecting you personally? Because I think sometimes people take it personally, right? It affects their own emotions.

And then two, do you believe in the thing that you're selling? So, if the no. Comes to you and you don't believe in the thing you're selling. It's proof that I, this thing that I'm trying to sell is no good. 

Or it's proof that I'm no good at this job. But those are the two things.

That if you if you continue to have a sense of self and resilience and continue to build strength in knowing who you are, the no is okay. A no doesn't hurt anything. It's kind of like, oh, great. Let's keep doing this.

Mike Hoelscher: you got to let it r back in

[00:26:00] some ways. Now, i me wrong. Some knows hurt

Josh Ramsey: Sure.

Mike Hoelscher: right? If i that you've nurtured and a good

relationship and d or everything by the

book going well and the custom And then they call you and they say, Oh, well, we're going with another hotel.

That could be

a little soul crushing, Right. But I think I think the best sales professionals try to view that as an opportunity to continue to nurture the relationship, ? I have customers that told me no several times. several times. And even though each one of those individual times was a little bit of a blow, I made sure that I secured their agreement that, hey, can I follow up with you in three months?

Can I follow up with you to see how this next one goes at the X Y Z hotel, right? And for the customers who said yes, absolutely. [00:27:00] I can say with confidence they eventually said yes to me in my hotels. Right. So there is that long term relationship piece and what's interesting. I think sometimes we view hotel sales is very transaction oriented, right?

Because in your realm and in prosperous realm, you guys are looking at group booking pace, right? We look at, our groups booking with us or, what groups are out there, what contracts are we waiting to get back. And so that becomes a little bit transactional, right? In some ways, and indeed even in the business transient realm, it is a transaction, right?

We are offering goods and services. We are asking for money in return. So it is a transaction. Same with a group, same with a wedding or a Smurf group or a corporate, whatever. It's, it is transactional, but it can be a transactional relationship. That runs deeper than just someone saying, yes, sell me hotel rooms. Now, and the [00:28:00] example I give, I realized that a lot of esoteric word salad there. So I apologize, but I think the true Testament to that is when a salesperson says, Oh, I'm knocking off early on Friday because I'm driving to whatever city, because I was invited to a customer's wedding. Or, I joined the Chamber of Commerce and became friends with these people and, we're all going on vacation together.

And that's what tells me that while at heart hotels have to be about a transaction, a business transaction, we can still have really good relationships, really strong relationships that will yield results beyond next month's P& L

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. Yeah. I remember somebody on your team saying I, I can't remember how it came up in conversation, but it was about a specific airline and she said, I deliver donuts to the, desk at the airport every week, there's these relationships that folks build that [00:29:00] are so much more meaningful than just the.

The sales Oh, you can get a good benefit from that of getting, rooms when when a flight's canceled, but that's also like a beautiful thing that you've built this friendship I love to hear and see the ways that, That salespeople have these chances to really build in the community and deepen the roots and like love on people in the community.

And Oh, by the way let me help you when I, when you have a chance, but also I just want to be a leader and present and available in this community that we're a part of.

Mike Hoelscher: Yeah. And if there's one thing I encourage my sales professionals to do is to go be visible,

Josh Ramsey: go be the face 

Mike Hoelscher: of the hotel, right? When people see you, I don't care if you wear a logo

shirt or your name tag, but for goodness sake, put your hand out, shake their

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. 

Mike Hoelscher: show that genuine interest, genuine interest in that customer.

Right? I think it's just, it's so critical. And what's also interesting to me is [00:30:00] You know, again, I'll say midway in my sales career. As I was doing sales training, a huge focus is getting to the decision maker, getting to the decision maker, right? And I'll try not to go down too many paths with this because once upon a time, I think more hotel buying decisions were centralized. And now I think they're terribly decentralized. So, we would admonish people, go find the decision maker. That's great and you wanna find that decision maker. But you know, sometimes. know in one case for me in particular, I made friends with the security guard at the desk of an office building and it was a single tenant office building was their headquarters and I made friends with the security guard and I did that same thing that you just described, like once every two weeks, I would just I take some treats over. And I'd walk in and we would have an honest conversation. And I was open with her about that. I said, I just want to get a better [00:31:00] idea of who is coming into this building so I can find their business and put it into my hotel. So, there has to be an element of honesty

and element With it. But I didn't walk in every two weeks and say, okay, tell me what you know. I would just walk in and drop off some treats. We'd have a five minute conversation. I might say, Hey, anything new? And I would move on, but she had my phone number. And when, a subcontractor group came in from a third party, I knew about it and I was able to get the business.

So, again, I think that goes back to some of the elements, it's the curiosity. It's genuine interest. It's forming personal relationships. It's being hungry. and, and taking the victory lap when you can, but make it one lap, please.

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So . I'd like to switch gears a little bit, so back to like thinking about introducing yourself to somebody that's not in the industry, earlier you mentioned a [00:32:00] hotels team needs to.

Go after specific segments and use specific tools. And so I would love for you to breakdown for me or for somebody outside of the industry. What are those segments that you would be looking at as a salesperson in a hotel?

Mike Hoelscher: Well, I'll start by saying every hotel is

different, I'll start with kind of that BT or business transient segment, because I think that's the one that's most easily identifiable,

um, For a lot of hotels in general, right? If you're going outside of a resort area or a destination area, I think most hotels have to have some component of that constantly churning weekday business transient

piece, right? So several tools actually come to mind when, thinking about business transient. Any kind of like Chamber of Commerce or C. D. B. Listing, they're gonna tell you the big businesses in the community. Hopefully, Through the development and initial opening of a hotel there, there's a hit list of, the big accounts in the area, the big businesses in the area. These are the ones [00:33:00] the hotel should target, right? So you've got, financial due diligence prepared by owners by banks. Again, CVB or chamber of commerce listings. That's going to tell you who those business customers are within a community shifting gears, thinking about a social segment. To me. That's all about being visible in those places where your typical buyers are going to present themselves. So weddings, right? Super simple as a sales professional. If you're trying to find wedding business. Go to the places where weddings take place, right? Go to your country clubs, go to your churches, go to your event and banquet facilities, go to your outdoor venues, who seasonally are going to see a little bit more of that. Go to your dress shops, go to your cake shops, go to your wedding planners. Right. And I could go on and on. We could spend our entire time together talking

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 

Mike Hoelscher: I think it's about price and position in many cases. All of our hotels [00:34:00] participate in some kind of visibility within the triple A or A.

R. P. Or senior platforms. So in those cases, it's going to those organizations that are vendoring those rates and making sure they know that your hotel exists. Sports groups, huge revenue source for many of the hotels within my organization, right? So again, it's going to those places where sports groups are going to present themselves, whether it's, a group of soccer fields like at our Memphis hotel.

We're really close. To a soccer complex that has gosh, Josh, I forget maybe eight or 12 competition soccer fields.

So going To the people who manage that organization and selling our hotel and asking for visibility on a website.

There's that. And conventions, again, we can unpack each one of those

Josh Ramsey: Yep. 

Mike Hoelscher: I think in general, it's about knowing where the customers are going to exist.

And then leveraging [00:35:00] technology and relationships and brand resources

To bring it all together. And an example I can give you on this, all the brands have a centralized transaction platform of some kind,

 , when that lead comes through there, it's all about responsiveness,

Josh Ramsey: Right.

Mike Hoelscher: Speed of doing business, in the olden days, and I'm not going to define it any more than saying in the olden

days, in the olden days, I think customers would have a little bit more tolerance if you didn't call them

back A day or two days. The way that business is transacted these days, the speed with which customers have access to information

Josh Ramsey: Yeah.

and 

Mike Hoelscher: for whatever reason feel they need to make a decision should be impacting hospitality

Josh Ramsey: in our speed of response 

Mike Hoelscher: And so, you know, speed Back to market, if you will, is absolutely critical and something that I won't lie.

I harp on if I see untransacted leads that have been sitting in a platform for more than a day, I won't say I get angry, but I will say that though I [00:36:00] don't micromanage, I will call that sales professional and say, What are you doing here? This needs a response. Um, and I think, crystal balling this out into the future. I think that's going to slow down a little bit. I think now that most people would say or assume that covid is not having the impact it did 234 years ago. I think customers are going to start looking for more of a human touch. I think people are going to become a little More accepting of a higher degree of personal engagement.

And I think one of the big keys to making that happen is a lot of companies starting to say, okay, you have to come back to the office. I was listening to the radio this morning. I believe it was Amazon who said, as of January 1st, you are back in the office five days a week. And I think that's pretty remarkable. But with that forced human engagement that employees are going to have with one [00:37:00] another, I think we will start to see phones getting answered again and customers being more open to that face to face sales call where we can build and nurture relationships because at the heart of the

industry, it is about relationships.

I know this sounds corny as all get out, but I believe it.

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that even the examples you've given of. The differentiator about your hotel and your brand. Sure. Those always are, there, but the thing that really will make you stick out is if you did the work to show that you really cared about that person to make their stay or their group or any of that kind of stuff what they wanted it to be.

Mike Hoelscher: what's interesting about that is I've seen the hotel industry kind of move in that direction of that personalization piece more than we ever have. Right. There's the pre arrival email. I stayed in one of our hotels earlier this week and because they had my mobile number in my honors profile, I got a text after I checked in and no, it wasn't after [00:38:00] I checked in.

It was the next day and I got a text from the F. O. M. Saying, are you enjoying your stay now? I know it was auto generated. I'm smart enough to get that. I know it was auto generated, but I truly believe that when brands do that, they are showing that sincere interest and they're trying to, gather that guest feedback and improve the guest experience for everyone. All of that is noble and good and necessary, and it's where we're going in the industry. So we better embrace it, right? I think what we could get back to is. Bringing more of the human element into that. And I think sales is

is

Josh Ramsey: perfectly poised 

Mike Hoelscher: to do that

to show that sincere interest and that genuine caring.

And this gets back Josh actually to what you said earlier at the top of our talk about hospitality and what how that is defined and in both people being, open and maybe a little bit vulnerable. And I think that salespeople at heart, when they are vulnerable in that way, I think that's what makes them successful.[00:39:00] 

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. Cause they want to know that the people that they're bringing are going to have a good time they want to know that they're going to look good to their boss, right?

These little things you can get to as a salesperson and have a conversation Hey, let me a better understand what you're trying to accomplish. And then I can show you why will be a good fit. Right. But that personalization doesn't happen when it's just about immediate response of like your rates and availability.

It's much more about here's how I'm going to help you be successful in what you want. I, I totally agree with you. Like in the age of speed and automation, there is still a movement toward and a desire for connection and authenticity and someone that really cares. And I think that's what your sales team is for, and what they do so well.

Mike Hoelscher: Yeah. Well, thank you. It's interesting you should say that because I have, I've traveled a lot over the course of my career and the [00:40:00] most memorable hotel experiences I ever had, had nothing to do. With the comfort of the bed or how crisp the bacon was the next morning or the rate I paid or any of the stuff in any of that, like table stakes, right?

We talk about brand standards. Talk. I think in terms of table stakes,

right? You've got to execute the basics. Well, flawless, flawlessly one would say, but the most memorable stays I ever had and I carry them with me to this day are the ones where someone showed a sincere interest in me.

right? Because business travel is grueling.

Josh Ramsey: Mhm. 

Mike Hoelscher: absolutely positively grueling. Has it gotten better? I don't know. But I can tell you that when a traveler has that kind of experience, of that sincere interest, that sincere caring

about a customer

and number one, it can't be faked.

Josh Ramsey: Yep. That's right. 

Mike Hoelscher: cannot be faked at all

when it is [00:41:00] genuine and sincere. I don't want to go so, so, I don't want to say life changing. But it's something you don't forget.

Josh Ramsey: Mhm. Yeah. What's one of those stories? .

Mike Hoelscher: I was traveling to Phoenix. Okay. So for context, I used to try when I was with Marriott I delivered training all over the United States and supported franchise companies throughout the United States. So a typical week. Had me going out on a Monday morning and getting back on a Friday afternoon, sometimes evening, two to three cities a week.

And I did that for many years, right? So I was flying to Phoenix and I'd had a day of meeting someplace, got to Phoenix and it was August or September. So very warm. And. It was like 11 o'clock at night. So I'm sure I looked like your typical weary traveler dragging my

suitcase in behind me at 11 o'clock at night.

And, I was checking into an, a [00:42:00] loft. Nope. It was a Moxie. I was checking into a Moxie cause Moxie's got the bar at the front desk. And the front desk clerk took one look at me and said, you look like you've had a long day. Let's get you checked in. Would you like your complimentary beverage now or later? I said, I'm good. I don't need it right now. Great. She asked me my name and I told her, and she said, Oh, we've been expecting you. I'm like, okay, well, I can, I can imagine because my name's on a list and it's 11 o'clock and you're wondering, is this guy going to check in? Right. And she said, by the way, we've already got the training room set up for tomorrow.

It's unlocked. If you want to poke your head in and confirm the setup, I can have our overnight houseman make any changes if you need him to. And then, the Pleasant surprises along those lines. Josh continued, cause so I went up to my room and I came back down and when I came back down, she handed me the beverage of the day because I said not right now.

So she anticipated that I would want it eventually. [00:43:00] But I went up through my bag down, came back down, checked out the training room, . And the surprise and delight happened the next day, right? So I came downstairs at around seven o'clock to do my final set up. The meeting room attendant was in there setting up the breakfast, came right over, introduced herself, shook my hand.

You must be Mike. We are so excited to host this training class, right? And I was in that building less than 24 hours. And this happened to me probably 10 years ago. And the reason I remember it is someone or several someones at that hotel had to have sat down with staff members and said, this dude is coming in from Marriott.

Here is why he is coming in. We don't know when he is coming in. Let's make it right for him. right? And every touch point I had with a staff person at that hotel in the less than 24 hours because it

was a one day training class. Started at nine. Ended

at four and I was out on the red eye that [00:44:00] night out of Phoenix.

Right. And literally everyone with whom I came in contact was delightful and they seem to love their job,

but that told me that's a culture inside that hotel. And you can feel it. I know you travel a lot too. You can feel it when you get into a hotel.

Josh Ramsey: Yeah, when you can see that it's an interesting paradox right of like people they've planned ahead, they are, usually more prepared than others, but then because they're more prepared, they have more space like in the immediate to be 

present, right? Like I'm looking you in the eye.

I'm grateful for you being here. We've got this taken care of. Versus other places where the culture can be frantic, and you can feel lost in all of that, I feel like with travel, I get lonely, there's like people all over, all around me and no one's making a real connection.

and I probably don't want to talk to someone on the plane either, but I do appreciate when someone does [00:45:00] make the space and the time to like genuinely connect.

Mike Hoelscher: You

know, the big Change I've made since COVID is now when I travel, I purposefully do not listen to music, right?, even though, I've been in the Atlanta airport more times than I can

count. Um, I know what it sounds like. I know what it smells like. I, I know it right.

Can say that for a lot of airports, as could you, but what I found since I started taking out my headphones and not listening to music is I'm just more aware of what is happening around me.

And even if it's there To people watch, but I think that because travel is lonely, you're absolutely correct. Travel can be lonely. That small little connection with someone in the line at in and out

burger In the Los Angeles airport.

Right. Even that five second

engagement, you just never know how you might be surprised. or how you could impact

Josh Ramsey: Mm-Hmm. 

Mike Hoelscher: And I know it sounds really strange, but I think hospitality can impact people's

lives for [00:46:00] the better. as long as we practice true hospitality.

Josh Ramsey: Yeah. Right. . That's good. 

Mike Hoelscher: Well,

I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed this.

I feel like I babbled a lot, but 

I hope they understand that, hotel sales can be so many different things and it can foster so many different emotions, but it can truly be a joyful experience.

And honestly, that's why I've stuck around as long as I have, because I really believe I believe that hotel sales does. Function as a critical role overall and in the hotels, but I think thinking more broadly I just think hospitality sales has a way of enhancing people's lives.

I know it. sounds I love it. I believe it too, man. All right. I love it. Thank you.

Take care

Josh Ramsey: All right. I'll see you soon