It's easy to be seduced by new digital channels but the sales function must be up there taking its place in your toolbox, Ray Stone tells Yeoh Siew Hoon.

In an era where there is so much noise being made about digital channels, Ray Stone, senior vice president, sales and marketing, for Accor Asia Pacific, would like to remind people that the personal sales call is still the most effective method.

"You can make telephone calls, send emails, Skype but nothing beats sitting down across a person and demonstrating that you are interested enough to be there and that you want to listen to them," he said. "Obviously in today's fast changing world, it's critical that you efficiently drive your share in the online environment but the sales function must be up there taking its place in your toolbox.

"The body language is so important and you don't get that any other way except meeting someone face to face."

Stone believes the importance of the sales function may have been lost in today's environment where more people want to be marketers than sales and there are exciting new channels opening up all the time.

Putting the pride back into the sales professional is key, believes Stone. He says that some young sales people inherently grapple with a moral dilemma. "Should I be influencing someone to buy what I am selling? That moral issue is resolved when you say to yourself, I am never going to lie to a customer and if I don't have the answers, I will say I don't know and I will come back to you. It's a question of highlighting the features and benefits of your product versus the competition."

And often, the sales person who manages to conquer that moral dilemma becomes the most effective. That's when the selling process gets into the fifth dimension - that of empathy, "to get the customer feeling that you know what they are feeling".

Sometimes, Stone says, sales people are simply uncomfortable to go out into an alien environment (the customer's office) and they will create all kinds of reasons not to go. "The fact is that you will never be as effective with a telephone call or an email, you will miss vital information."

Stripping it down to basics, Stone says sales is about influencing the decision-making process and implicit in that is identifying the decision-making process, not always as simple as it first appears.

"Sales is a great way to understand yourself - the way you interact with people helps you understand yourself."

His pet peeve is sales people who don't listen. He refers to LAER - Listen, Acknowledge, Explore, Respond - a module in a sales training programme he taught in the US some years ago.

Stone says that modern sales training is based on providing sales solutions which should be based on first listening but all too often this is forgotten in the anxiety to deliver a pre-planned message, with the urgency of the latest REVPAR figures in mind.

One of his concerns is that the quality of sales and marketing personnel simply cannot keep up with the pace of development in the region.

"We try to train people with the belief that they're going to be around in another year. Individuals should have a strategic approach to their career - three to five years ahead - and not just leave for better money. They should analyse what comes along with the salary."

In a resume, he looks for a couple of things - big company experience "which means they must have received some solid training" and "how many jobs in a certain time". "If it's five jobs in seven years, then there's not much loyalty demonstrated and you'd want to know why."

The first question he usually asks is about a person's interests to begin to gain an insight into the personality "which is at least as important as the skills set. "

"How will this person fit into the team? Will they be disruptive. You want creative types but are they manageable?"

At the end though, it's a highly intuitive process, emotional intelligence,if you like, he says. "You see how people are reacting, their body language and you look for potential and drive. I sometimes think of it as space to develop and the drive and intelligence to fill it. As obvious as it may seem, you also look for a basic inclination to interact with people in a friendly manner."

Yeoh Siew Hoon, one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, writes a regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry for 4Hoteliers.com.

Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her other writings can be found at www.thetransitcafe.com

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