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| Implementation By Michael S. Finn, RRP Would you rather have a good plan poorly implemented or a poor plan implemented well? The answer is a poor plan implemented well. If you can implement well, the world is your oyster. I think I borrowed that from someone, the oyster part anyway. Let's take a look at a couple of poor plans well implemented. Most people have heard that Coca-Cola was a recipe for a hangover remedy. The syrup was created in a lab and one day an assistant accidentally used seltzer water as opposed to regular water. Someone liked the taste and one of the best-marketed products ever was born. Another example was a soap company who over-boiled their product. This mistake created a soap that could float. While most people were still bathing in lakes and rivers the floating soap became an instant hit. I'll give you a hint, it's 99.4% pure. Yes, Ivory Soap. My point here is that plans do not always turn out how they are originally plotted. Yet, if you have good solid team that can adjust and implement well they just may make a silk purse from a sow's ear. In the timeshare industry the examples of good and bad plans are plentiful. The best example of both would be the owner referral program. The results of this program will vary greatly from one resort to another. Why would two otherwise similar resorts have a higher closing percentage or a larger share of owner referrals as their overall marketing plan? The answer again is quite simple. One resort implements better than the other does. If a resort fully implemented owner referrals then it could have over 70% of the resort sold out by owner referrals. It would work like this; if the resort sold 10% of its inventory and each owner sent five referral guests that the referral department would convert at 20%, the owner base would double with what should be the most efficient program. Imagine automating this system and repeat it, you can now see how the numbers would follow. I am not suggesting that all resorts could be completely sold out through owner referrals. What I am suggesting is that all resorts put forth effort getting the most owner referrals possible. Now that is easy enough said. How is it done? We go back to proper implementation. People who are diligent run the best referral programs. They keep meticulous files on their owners and keep track of every correspondence. If you have one of these diligent people, count your blessings and hold on to them. If not you have three choices: you could hope to find one of these people, you can settle for what you have, or you could learn to automate your system. In this day and age of computers, being able to automate your referral program becomes not only feasible but essential. It could be as simple as just properly using your database. There are ways to use the computer so that tickler files can be set; viral emails can be implemented; offers can be personalized and tracking can be efficient and useful. Using the tools at our disposal is what it is all about. At the start I skipped the best plan of all. That would be a good plan well implemented. How do you do that? You must automate everything you can and have good people that will implement well. Referrals require consistency and communication. Owners are your greatest asset for a number of reasons. Keep the owners well informed, happy and contributing, and the referral program becomes that much more successful. |
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More Finn | Home Michael S. Finn, RRP,
writes an insightful bi-weekly column regarding issues of ethical and profitable sales & marketing. Read his bio here |
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