Doug Kennedy’s Next Training Webcast: Reservations QUEST Part Two: Upselling, Overcoming Objections, and Closing More Sales

Register your team and participate live, or view the recording, of Doug Kennedy’s next 40-minute training webcast scheduled for Friday, February 21, from Noon – 12:45pm EST. REGISTER HERE

There seems to be a huge desire to steal back market share from OTA’s, and the easiest, but too often overlooked way of doing so is to get your staff trained on the how to turn calls into bookings. KTN President Doug Kennedy

These days, those who are shopping online often call directly to ask specific questions about rooms and rates, but untrained agents simply answer these questions, letting hot prospects slip away and book through costly third parties, or worse yet, book a competitor. Because KTN’s Reservations Sales Coaches regularly listen in to cloud-based recordings of real conversations, its training has been updated to help convert these pre-informed callers who are feeling a sense of “choice overload.”

Join in as Doug shares highlights from Part Two of KTN’s 2025 edition of Reservations Sales QUEST, which has helped hundreds of hotels, luxury vacation home companies, and destination resorts increase call conversions and upsell higher-rated accommodations. This webcast covers:

• Defining upselling vs. rate optimization.
• Using “Storified Selling” to upsell higher-rated accommodations.
• Securing the sale is a natural next step that benefits everyone, including the caller.
• When callers decline. Is it rate resistance, or are they just not ready?
• How to overcome rate resistance, based on a variety of different rate strategies that may be in place.
• Using “rate framing” to position mid- and low-tier rates as being a good value.
• A new approach to explaining top-tier/high-season rates.
• Following up proactively when callers are interested but not yet ready to commit.

Those who missed Part One of this two-part series can access it at KTN’s YouTube channel, along with all previous webcasts, which are now also available on your favorite podcast channel or on KTN’s Spotify channel.

Everyone who registers for this and all KTN webcasts receives a link to the recording, even if they cannot attend. The 40-minute format is perfect for “lunch and learns” or excerpts can be shared at staff meetings. The target audience is anyone who is interested in upskilling themselves or others, and the topic areas are broad enough to be relevant for all sectors of the lodging industry.

We are grateful to the generosity of our sponsors who have allowed us to offer complimentary admission, said Kennedy. It takes a lot of time to design, promote, and deliver these events, and so we would normally charge at least $99 registration per person, but this series is now completely free to all.

Sponsors include: Travel Outlook, the only KTN Certified call center, and Track Hospitality Software, a TravelNet Solution, whose products include a PMS and CRM.

Complimentary registration can be accessed at www.KTNwebcast.com. Here are the additional topics scheduled so far.

Understanding What Personalized Hospitality Is (and What It Isn't!)

Friday, March 21 (Noon EDT)

REGISTER HERE

The phrase “personalized service” is used an awful lot these days, most often to promote some new AI-powered tech solution to drop guests’ names into welcome emails and display it on their TV, or to conduct creepy-feeling research on guests’ social channels in an attempt to recommend an amenity, a local attraction or an activity. However, when you simply look at the root word, it seems quite clear that true “personalization” is best done by a person! In this webcast, Doug will share his opinions of what personalized service is not, based on his personal experience as a guest at over 80 lodging companies of all types over the previous 12 months. More importantly, he will also share examples that staff members of all departments can use during everyday micro-encounters to truly provide the kind of personalized guest experiences that encourage social media promoters and enduring guest loyalty.

Capturing More Catering and Event Sales Revenue

Friday, April 25 (Noon EDT)

REGISTER HERE

Although the jobs of Catering & Event (Wedding) Sales Manager and Hotel Sales Manager are often thought of as being similar, the real-world skills needed are actually quite different. Often, the “need” behind a group sales booking is much more commodity based, such as a coach or parent-volunteer who is booking a sports team block, an admin booking a small, routine meeting, or the increasingly automated process of bidding on negotiated corporate rates. On the other hand, the leads arriving daily in a catering sales manager’s inbox are much more likely to be coming directly from those who are personally planning emotionally important events such as weddings, retirement parties, annual awards banquets, holiday parties, Quinceañeras, and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs.

Simply replying with generic templates, sending quotes back via in-app messaging, or emailing over pricing and menus, creates a sense of “choice overload,” and planners often have difficulty deciding because the proposals are similar in content and presentation.

In this webcast, Doug will cover training tips from KTN’s catering sales training workshops:

• Overcoming lead fatigue resulting from participating in catering and event booking channels.
• Standing out in a sea of sameness; when your hotel has parity of product, price, and place.
• Obsessing on salesperson availability and back-up lead catchers.
• Creating client connections: Loop-it-Back Listening, Storified selling; using snappy taglines.
• Consultative selling to gain client confidence.
• Organizing and embracing “process” to enable follow-up that is both tenacious and personalized.
• “Out peopling” the competition.

For additional details, contact KTN at info@kennedytrainingnetwork.com or by phone (01) 954.533.9130 www.kennedytrainingnetwork.com.

*Sponsored By Travel Outlook and Track Hospitality Software.