Operational Excellence: Keeping Your Resorts a Step Above

Operational Excellence: Keeping Your Resorts a Step Above

by James Canfield
Systems Products International

We are all in business to make money, service our clients and develop long term win-win relationships. In the past, the time share industry has been victim of bad press and bad business practices. While the reputation continues to improve because of industry associations, better business practices and higher quality properties there is still a stigma in the industry that owners, investors and sales managers have to deal with on a daily basis.

Owners can simplify the sales process by delivering on their promises and improving communication with their existing clients and prospects. Given the speed of change in the industry and the ever rising cost of new client acquisition it is more critical now, then ever before to take a serious look at your sales and property management operations for cost savings.

Operational excellence comes through a great deal of work, number crunching and assuring the investments you are making, from new client marketing to the cleaning staff are delivering value for your money. There are any number of software applications that can provide you with a good understanding of how effectively your dollars are being spent. There are many applications that will manage your resort. Applications that will do both, are specifically focused on the timeshare industry, have a strong client base and provide you with dynamic snapshots of how your entire organization is operating are less in number.

On average in the industry, you will be spending $.50 for every dollar invested in your property to sell your product. There are many ways to develop leads including OPC, online and print advertising as well as telemarketing and more. What works best? Which is most cost effective? How do you know? Your sales management system should tell you this, daily, monthly and annually without having to run a lot of reports. It should deliver an immediate snapshot for whatever period of time you choose.

Too many timeshare marketers rely upon antiquated methods of tracking costs and all too often details (MONEY) get overlooked due to the pace of business Your goal is to sell product that delivers great value to visitors so that they refer friends and relatives. Referral is the least expensive marketing method and carries the highest percentage of close.

Choosing a management application for your business is a difficult task. We would like to provide you with a list of questions to ask that include what you need when managing the Enterprise that is your resort.

Does your software manage all facets of my sales and marketing operation including:

Sales operations
Delivery of Sales Contracts in under 10 minutes
Delivery of real-time inventory availability
Delivery of real-time closing percentages by:1) Lead Source 2)Sales Rep; 3) Upgrade vs. New
Delivery of cost by lead source
Delivery of an easy to use and secure infrastructure that enables users to get the data they need; process leads and gifts quickly.
Quick access to prospect information for follow up activities on non-closed deals.
Tracks and automatically delivers follow up deliverables such as thank you notes and alike electronically.
Tracks your do-not call information keeping your organization out of trouble with the Attorney General
Manage your expenses

Does your software manage all facets of property management including:

Applications to manage all facets of single or multi-property sites through a single system
Ability to track on utilization of inventory
Ability to track payments and dues from owners
Ability to automate the process of sending out dues notices in advance of their due date electronically.
Ability to deliver real-time availability statistics for rental purposes
Ability to track maintenance requirements by property
Ability to automate follow-up communications such as Thank you notes and requests for a grading of their stay at the property including any recommendations for improvements or changes.
Quarterly, notification of deals to all owners qualified to change their arrangements.
Robust set of online services enabling your owners to reserve, pay, change make special requests online
Manage your expenses

The use of information technology (IT) in your organization is critical. Too often technology is seen as a necessary evil when in reality, a system designed to manage everything from Sales and Marketing to Property Management will make your operation more efficient. The costs associated with these types of solutions can vary greatly. They can be as inexpensive as trying to use a spreadsheet to manage your multi-million (billion) dollar property to trying to “make work” a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) / Accounting System or becoming a software developer and building your own.

All methods have their flaws. The bottom line is that the industry is mature enough now that companies have developed turn-key industry specific packages that you can review and decide between. The first two methods, “spreadsheet” and “Make It Work” tend to become very manual, requiring a great deal of specific knowledge that is very difficult to document / turn over. The third method “development” will require the structuring of a document that denotes all facets of the business; require a team of developers and will quickly out expense a “canned” timeshare management solution.

The process for evaluating a software package is rather straightforward. Develop an understanding of your businesses requirements by answering the following questions.

Where are we in the process? Sales or Property Management
Do we know what we are spending on advertising? (new client acquisition)
Do we want to be “computer geeks” or do we want to run our property as profitably as possible?
Do we have too many people, involved in operations and not enough directly accountable for sales and marketing.
Are our systems automated; do they tell us when it is time to do something?
Does our staff, IT specifically, understand that the goal of the business is to sell out as quickly and efficiently as possible, typically less than 5 years, and to that end is in need of a reliable, expandable and easy to manage timeshare specific system.

IT should be focused on revenue and cost management. Technology gets easier each year if the IT folks focus on the business. Then it is a matter of making sure the solutions you are reviewing are industry standard, scaleable and have a good reputation in the industry.