Uncovering Hidden Gem Accounts Leads to $120K in Potential Revenue (HEI Hotels & Resorts)

The Challenge

The Westin Waltham was challenged with a loss of sales staff in 2020. Prior to the pandemic they had 12 salespeople. Currently, there are only two staff members conducting sales including its new Director of Sales & Marketing, Meredith Slovin and Nicole Chan, Director of Catering who recently returned from furlough. Even as 2021 began, due to COVID market conditions, meetings and events were limited to small groups of less than 10 people.

While the staff was glad to have the business, it didn’t come close to the revenue the hotel was accustomed to in the past. “Essentially, we needed to take whatever business came our way, regardless of size, as long as it was profitable,” said Chan. Other markets bounced back quicker than the Boston area and Chan and Slovin, together with their HEI Hotels & Resorts management team, knew that they would need to turn to technology to help them identify new business.

The Solution

Historically, the Westin Waltham was a busy hotel, hosting corporate meetings and events in addition to a thriving catering business. But lead volume was flat compared to what it was before the pandemic. They knew if they could identify contacts from local medical and therapeutic companies, they could offer support and in turn begin to rebuild the pipeline for group events as soon as restrictions began to lift. To help them identify local businesses to fill the gap, they turned to Knowland.

Using Knowland’s data-as-a-service platform, they gained access to 46 local accounts to target. Over the course of three weeks, they began conducting proactive outreach.“Knowland is crucial for the sales process. We are a busy hotel under normal circumstances, and we certainly needed to increase our manpower to see more results. However, what we determined is that it was necessary for our small team to make proactive outreach a part of our regular routine.” Slovin said.

Knowland helped us identify the right business and establish new relationships to speed our recovery.

– MEREDITH SLOVIN, DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING, WESTIN WALTHAM BOSTON

The Results

Over the course of three weeks, using Knowland’s database, the team was able to conduct meaningful conversations with local bio-tech companies, in addition to other prospects, about potential events happening later in 2021/2022. Soon, the switch flipped and as a result of the proactive outreach, they identified two new business opportunities with a global biopharmaceutical company with potential total revenue valued at $90k. Following their outreach, they received an RFP, followed by a site visit in May for an October 2021 event. As a result of the site visit, they also obtained a second lead for September 2021 for 65 rooms.

Although the team knows that the results could be even higher once they are able to bring in more sales personnel, Slovin reported that due to Knowland’s great support and resources, they have solidified relationships with local businesses. “Proactive outreach produces results,” said Chan. “Knowland helped us identify the right business and establish new relationships to speed our recovery,” added Slovin.