An Hotel Website!

hello guys, please can someone tell me what are things i'm going to face tomorrow, i saw an hotel around my environment. truly this is hotel is kind of new and you could compare it to hotels we have there at the Island e.g Eko Hotel and Suites, like Sheraton Hotel very beautifull infact, i really rate the hotel as number one hotel around my area.

But the problem is, i went there on my way to the school and i ask if i could drop a proposal letter for a website Design, the gatekepper direct me to a lady who really welcomed me, i explain who i am to her and she directed me to the receiption, and i met the young lady who welcomed me too their response was okay, and the recieption lady ask me to see the MD around 8:30am.In nutshell i would like to know what are things i'm going to face or things i might say to the MD, i don't want him to look at me like a small rat.

And someone advice me not to go there for just telling them to build a website alone, i should try and tell them how they can reach their targeted customers.

What you want to do is one of the hardest selling techniques ever: cold calling

[list]
[li]Request a meeting to see the head honcho, to discuss how to attract customers to the hotel[/li]
[li]If they agree:
[list]
[li]Go well dressed, with your presentation to match[/li]
[li]Tell them how, though biz is good, it cd b better[/li]
[li]Tell them how they can ease the customer experience by allowing them to book online[/li]
[li]Show/tell them of sites owned by the competition and how their biz has improved[/li]
[li]Tell them how they could entice those in the diaspora by offering online services[/li]
[li]be prepared to answer any questions as well as have ready-made answers to questions you know they may ask[/li]
[/list]
[/li]
[li]If they don't agree, thank them for their time, and simply move on to the next potential customer.[/li]
[/list]
I hope this helps

thnks bro. actually i haven't seen the MD just saw those little ones, so today been tuesday 8am i will see the MD according to the receiptionalist, so i will give ya feedback on how everthing went successfully.

Hey! smart,
I wish you a lot of luck in ur venture today. Please remember the way to success is first of all believing you can and thats autimatically builds a gr8 deal of confidence in you. talk with authority and certainty cos afterall you aint got much to be afraid of, the worst that could happen is for them to say, No they aint interested and like 2cents said, you move to the next customer. But then, let them know you can do it, dont give them the impression you are trying ur luck.

Hope this helps someone.
Once again Best of luck

humm just got back from the trip, i'm hungry i will tell you what really happen, my laptop is beeping. will get back here soon !

we are waiting 4 d gist oooo

Thank you guys for your replies if i get this done,  i owe you guys a gift each cross my heart.
Anyway when i got there i went straight to the Receiption and i ask her if he gave my CARD to the Md, she said yes so i sat at the receiption watching CNN, Later a young man hop in and i found out that the guy was a Designer. Oh Gush,  ! i never knew he was a graphic designer i taught might be one of the Website designer so i kept quite.

So 20mins later still waiting for MD, i brought out my laptop and i was force to ask "Are you a website Designer" he replied know "I'm a Graphic designer" so i decide to show him some cool stuff on my laptop so this young guy told me The chairman that owns the Hotel wants something that will really bring his Hotel out and stuff like that.

So 30mins later the MD came him and delayed me for about an hour, i didn't say anything because i need not to complain, Because i came there for a purpose and my aim must be accomplished.

so he ask the lady at the receiption to call me,lord and behold i heard "well we aren't ready for that yet" because we just started last week friday and we have alot of expensense to cover but anyway you can drop your proposal, anytime we need that we contact you.

Infact i was really downcasted, but the young guy graphic designer said i should see the chairman himself because he knows the chairman will be willing to have his hotel on the web,  infact i just like that guy because he was like encouraging me to see the chairman. i'm going there again tomorrow to drop the proposal but i will like to see the chairman himself,  just kind of confuse guys

smartsoft,

sounds like u and the graphics guy have some synergy going on

U 2 should join forces and conquer the web world. Good luck!!

Smart Soft

Dont be suprised at that response! you ll have to get used to it.

Its nigeria and its d same around here. No biggie just move on, or give them some time and still go back to them!

Thats why One 2 One marketing is damn too frostrating and provoking, even though its tha best way to market your services

Smartsoft, don't worry about the response, that's expected.

As posted above, just make sure you outline the advantages of having a web presence will be. You can also use some competitors with web presence as an example. Also, follow up with them.

All you men that matters i salute you all, well well thank you for the encouragement i just belived that their aren't notting God cannot do, so i keep my finger cross awaitng for their response.

and While you wait for their response, get more aggressive! find more resourceful ones and i sure know by the time they ll be coming back, you have gotten a whole lot of clients and design on ur table and dont forget that the aprico's are watching, they are so despirates and they are ready to yah job for a thank you.

How bad d country is!

Thanks man !

Design it for free, maintain the content, give them personal emails, teach them how to use it, and start charging them after one year of hosting, and maintainance thereof, you can overcharge them, as you want.

Dont forget to.
1. Be the only one that has control over the control panel and hosting account.
2. Always be ready to put their new products, press release and content online.
3. Encourage them to put the website address plus their email on their business cards, promotional flyers and on their sign boards.

Trust me, you would make your money.

@Kazey

Its quite a good idea, I bet it wont work in Nigeria, you design and send it to them for free? Once they have the Site for free and after a year you wanna start charging,? just trynna imagine how many sites you ll design for free and tell em the same thing! See the Real people that would even pay at a start to design & Host, most time end up not paying to continue due to ignorance or something talkless of someone you give for free? Trust me? they ll only seek for an alternative address and designer just when you intend to start making your money. Its so sad how things er in this part of the world!

hmm, once their promotional materials and business cards contain the email address and web address, they wont leave you or decide that they don't need the email services after getting used to it.

There is one thing we call a change model. It literally involves properly educating your clients, and changing their mentality, especially if you let them know the competitive edge they would be having with the technology you are introducing into their organization.

They would evolve to appreciate and embrace whatever technology or services you are trying to introduce to them. This we normally call the Unfreezing, shifting and refreezing process, works well in the technology industry.Once you introduce that model into any marketing concept, your clients would willing to pay when you bill them in the future.

Works under any atmosphere, Nigeria is not an exception, as long as you are smart in developing the package and playing the game. It takes more than just the theory but the willingless to explore the possibility.

Kazey's suggestion worked for me a couple of times. One important suggestion, though it might sound selfish, grab their domain name ASAP. One guy did that to one of my clients some years back. Best of luck

Thats quite intresting, since i left my proposal letter i haven't been called, though the MD told me he will contact me when they need the website,

Panache:

Kazey's suggestion worked for me a couple of times. One important suggestion, though it might sound selfish, grab their domain name ASAP. One guy did that to one of my clients some years back. Best of luck

I like the highlighted bit up there, it is an extreme positioning and a suicide marketer will not think twice about it. If u can afford it, grab their domain name and use your spare time to develop something for them which you will keep improving till you are ready to go see the MD again. With your laptop you can give him a free show of what he will get including the domain name. Also note that some jobs can be done almost 4 free while targeting other fallout from it.
When next you meet the MD tell him a little of the story contained in your first post here, and how you want the hotel to be a landmark in your area. Don’t tell him anything about money but how you want that hotel to be in everybody’s mouth both in Nigeria and outside. Tell him you want the hotel to beat Sheraton, Hilton and other hotels in the same class.

The job is yours if you persevere.

Smartsoft,

Have you designed other websites before? If positive then, pointing the prospective client to the ones you have built and giving them room to independently checked if your services are good will help.

It becomes easier to deal with prospective jobs when you have some in your portfolio otherwise look for businesses to take online either for free or for a small fee.

I once offered to design a website for free and instead the client instead on paying, started with N16,000.00 a year, today he is happily paying N110.000.00 a year simply because he is satisfied.

Do not forget that a lot of business owners have either experienced first hand or heard about disappointments by other victims.

Good luck.

hmmmn. will post a post i made months ago, maybe it'll help,

I am about to approach a big hotel in lagos for their website also, (after reading your post).

However, I have had some time to look at the issue of why the MD was not so hot on the idea immediately.

I have a strategy (took me two weeks to taper) if it works, i'll swing you the proposal i did and how i got the ball rolling but here are a few steps i have taken

1: Know the hotel business (home and abroad) - what value do the best hotels offer online?
2: what other related businesses can piggy-back on the hotel's website (revenue for the hotel) Bureau de change, Airport taxis, shops, etc
3: Is the hotel takin home the cheddar (like Ludacris), so you can gauge what their budget is like.
4: good thing you got on with the graphics guy, now time to score points, share good ideas that can make him look good without "shenkin" you off the job, (Sacrifice that weekend to do a demo site) there are tools to wrap it into an exe so people don't steal your idea.
5: Get insider info on how people (especially in Accounts and PR) take the idea of a website - let the graphics guy do this for you.
6: Get this tool MindMap from MindJet.com, simple the best "jobbin" tool available. it lets you organize your cool thoughts into a logical-easytoread-mind map, simply bowls me over when i look at it, see sample attached
7: Always keep an eye out on the 'criminal' competition, they have all the right words but all the bad intentions - ripoff the client and dump a dirty ink-blotted newpaper as a website, learn to present like 419 guyz do, with passion and belief.
8: do notsubmit your proposal on white A4 paper, in a brown envelope, 12 Point Arial(double-spaced), No, no, no, add some pizzaz, look at my second attachement (it is still a new approach though, )so MDs might not be ready for unconventional proposals
Buy a slick black -non-gloss plastic document holder, add a gold back cover and transparent front cover. print in rich color with some clever graphics and layout.

Use some flash (just to get them hooked. MDs always like something new and fun to watch)

Let me know what you think

Will feed you the whole package when i am done, hopefully if time permits in two weeks.

here is the cover and some pages, but you'll get the drift

I think companies will get websites when they feel they have need for them.

People do not feel comfortable gambling with their hard earned money these days as things are tight.

Simply elect to setup one or more websites for businesses and demonstrate that you know what works and what doesn't work.

Too much gist or convincing may actually work against you.

Referrals remain the best route for getting web projects as the sales resistance is near zero, you only get to negotiate the cost, hence not time wasted on whether you can deliver ot not.

I started convincing people, did some for free + fun and today I hardly ever know my clients before I work for them. You a phone call asking if you can reduce your price, not whether you can do it.

It is simple to do although many may feel it's not that easy.

Build a portfolio and point people to it. I find it difficult to imagine that web designers talk about developing websites for others when they do not have websites themselves.

How can you convince me to get what you are not using?

awwwwwwwwwwwwwww wao thanks to you lagerman,  i really appreciate this kind of help infact someone who will see yours will be diffinetly convince to do his/her company website,  and mind you my proposal was really prepared well, and well binded but i never included a demo because it was our first time and i really know if the Chairman sees the Proposal that very day, he would have giving me go ahead.

And Mr. Afam, thanks to yours too  what u said is really right, you get jobs from other referrals because people will refer people to you,  the last job was from a referral sha.

Thanks one again.

Lager man please can you give me your Yahoo IM i would like to chat with yah please,  my yahoo Id is "php_guy_uche" thats my ID please,  please,  please,  i want to chat with ya,

And i was thinking my next tyme is to go there with a demo website, and get the graphic designer to get me their hotel pictures,

@smartsoft is it by force to do web, they said theld call you when they are intresed, abeg face school joo, PM me the hotel name maybe i could help you steal the job (joking), but really man, whats the need for a hotel to have a site in nija sef, cos most ppl who lounge dont always make pre-reservations. i feel its just a waste of money on there part. Pity them and let them settle, Wait till we have a rich tourism culture around here. Im sure thell want your sercies then. Meanwhile you can got in anytime to watch CNN. Just bone joo.

Im sure they see you as a freelancer they cant trust with their money. If your had a better packaged uche, maybe thel have considerd further, But really you do somfin cheap for them rather than the free offer Kazey is Givin, tell dem yuld give dem email services and two pages for as cheap as 20,000, a least that one would make you pay skima for your domain and yu do the hosting for free on your plan.



@Kazey, i dont fink that free thingy works around here ohh!!