The Sales Business Analyst (SBA) position is responsible for positioning the hotel for revenue growth by communicating with group clients who are interested in the hotel, learning their needs, analyzing the best decision for the hotel to create a proposal or a decline availability for the group opportunities. These critical thinkers possess sales skills, communications skills, and the ability to analyze data to provide pricing recommendations and client proposals.
SBA must be a big-picture thinker knowledgeable of the hotel strategies of growing revenues and market share.
An SBA will have the responsibility to make the best possible business decisions for group business in order to set the hotel up for success in both the short and long-term. The SBA will use data intelligence to support decisions.
In addition to managing the lead volume, an SBA will also be responsible for identifying business development group opportunities that will help the hotel fill slower dates (Summer, December, holidays). The research by an SBA will be passed onto a Sales Manager to make contact with the end-user.
An SBA’s primary role is to transfer quality leads and prospects into the hands of the Sales Managers to convert into on the books revenues, and contribute the hotel growing the number of group rooms sold and actualized each year.
SBA job duties include, but are not limited to:
- Lead catcher; monitor all incoming leads from a variety of sources. In periods where the SBA team will respond to a majority/all inbound group opportunities.
- Meet with Revenue/Director of Sales regularly to ensure they understand the business/revenue needs for the hotel.
- Make business decisions to determine which leads to turn down or pursue, or bring to Daily Business Review for further evaluation.
- Work closely with other SBA’s, Revenue team and Sales leadership to review business opportunities that require additional analysis along with review reports/analysis to understand pricing/demand.
- Create and respond to all opportunities with the assigned scope directly to client, electronic distribution channels (CVENT, Starcite, Etc.), or the clients provided response tool. Response process should include review analysis of the opportunity along with important skills related to the following training topics. This list is not inclusive of all processes that will be used in the response of opportunities:
- FAME - What Motivates Your Customer?
- Handling Objections Using the 4 A's
- Listening is Not Just Hearing
- What is Successful Communication?
- Make considerations for additional revenues for all groups. This should include total resort spend.
- Provide the Sales Manager with notes in the Envision booking so they can proceed to next step with appropriate information at their fingertips. This could include Hyatt and meeting history, rate range to bid, proposed meeting space and F&B minimum or meeting room rental.
- Communicate with the sourcing agent/client during the inquiry stage to verify information such as date flexibility or to gather additional information on an RFP
- Be familiar with the property’s need periods, holidays, and holes to fill in all years of hotel’s booking cycle
- Have a solid understanding of the competitive set hotels and share with the sales team when changes take place at the competition, including large business booked or cancelled.
- Monitor lost leads to the competition and utilize that data for decisions on future opportunities.
- Develop an expertise with the hotel’s booking guidelines to support in decision making
- Be familiar with and utilize additional support tools for business review. These include, but not limited to the cost of concessions calculations, group optimal pricing, RevPAS/POS, SPGRN, total resort spend, and other metrics and tools.
- Assist Sales Manager identify organizations to target during the research of a sales trip
- Create a database for all business development opportunities
- Create business development traces in Envision Sales for Sales Managers to act upon from a turned-down booking on accounts with future potential
- Manage their assigned assistants to support the SBA function and keep the workflow moving (ie: turn downs are responded to quickly and meet all deadlines)
- Support out-of-office Sales Managers as their backup to ensure tentative bookings and new leads maintain momentum. This could be contacting clients for tentative bookings and or creating executing contracts.
- Provide coaching and support to Sellers when needed. This could include ideas to improve conversions, how to follow-up effectively with challenging clients or general support to maintain production
- Work closely with the Sales Managers by monitoring their tentative pipeline and check on significant bookings that would positively impact the hotel’s strategic goals and identify key bookings that have either high likelihood of conversion or fit into a specific need period for the property.