Interviewing Sales Professionals assignment (15%) Essay

Interviewing Sales Professionals assignment (15%) - Essay Example The hotel is rated four-star, with comfortable guest rooms and dining facilities; a conference centre; entertainment centre; and a health and wellness centre. Services include all the standard services for luxury four-star hotels, from laundry and room service, to satellite television and broadband. These services are available in deluxe rooms, executive deluxe suites, business suites and super-large deluxe suites. Maggie sells to groups focusing on business, conferences, wellness tours, and tourism. Impressions of the Interviewee Nonverbal techniques Maggie uses very clear nonverbal techniques to make the person she is speaking to comfortable. Her greeting is formal, and her voice pitched low and smooth. Confidence in what she is saying is expressed both in her voice and in the relaxed, attentive posture she maintains when listening or speaking. After the formality of the greeting, her expression is friendly and receptive, with eye-contact maintained. Her body directly faces the per son she is speaking to, leaning slightly forward, and she maintains a slightly lower level of contact, seeming to look upward at the other party. She keeps her hands and arms relaxed, using some gestures to emphasize what she is saying in very controlled ways. When she listens, she slightly tilts her head, looking interested, and does not interrupt. It seemed throughout the interview, and sales presentations, that she has only one focus – the person/people she is interacting with. Appearance and demeanor In appearance, Maggie Chen is very well-groomed. She wears the dark-colored corporate uniform of the hotel chain. A friendly and approachable personality is evident. She reacts to questions in a thoughtful, confident way, thinking for a moment before answering in detail. The Presentation The sales presentation I attended was to a large chain of travel agencies, specializing in business conference organization for USA and Chinese companies. They were looking for hotels across China in which to stage conferences and business meetings for up to 100 delegates at a time, and ranging from 3 day to 10 day events, over the next 18 months. Their business would allow Ms. Chen to come close to achieving her targets for the year, as she would be able to report advance room bookings at approximately 30% of occupancy – half of what she was aiming for. A PowerPoint presentation had been prepared, and Maggie had thoroughly worked through the presentation. We arrived at the venue in the hotel 15 minutes before the representatives of the travel company were set to arrive, and all the technical aspects had been checked. Refreshments were laid out and the exact number of places had been arranged at the table. When the representatives arrived each was greeted in turn, from the most senior to the least senior and I realized that Maggie had researched the people and the company well enough to know all the details about them. Her PowerPoint presentation really just gave an overview of the hotel and what it has to offer in pictures and with music. It was the commentary by Maggie that identified the possible packages that could be put together to meet the exact needs of the travel agency and their planned conferences and meetings. She had also prepared a glossy handout, listing 4 options for the room bookings, and the