TRAINING FOR HOMESTAY OPERATION. Module 7: Low cost marketing. Hoa Ban Homestay

Transcription

1 TRAINING FOR HOMESTAY OPERATION Module 7: Low cost marketing Hoa Ban Homestay Address: Tả Van Giáy, Tả Van, Sa Pa, Lào Cai Telephone: xxxx Services: Sleep, Leisure, Art performance, Cooking class, Handicraft making. esrt programme

2 Introduction to low cost marketing Topic 1 Developing partnerships: Host familiarization visits Give a sale call to a local travel agency Potential business partnerships Topic 2 Repeat visitations, referrals and new markets Evaluate marketing materials Prepare simple marketing materials

3 Introduction to low cost marketing 15 Time: mins Partner intermediaries Business partner Work on a service agreement. Give a sale call to a local travel agency: Inform their partner travel agencies about new products and services. Host familiarization visits: Introduce new products and services Evaluate marketing materials: Business cards, guest books or signs. Prepare simple marketing materials: Based on provided templates Hand-outs Business card Activities Show participants some pictures of business name cards, guest books ask if they know these stuffs. Discuss why marketing is important Invite participants to share their prior experiences of low cost marketing activities in their homestay English

4 Developing business partnerships 1

5 Developing business partnerships Time: 30 mins Potential business partners: Travel agencies Tourist information centres Local associations such as travel agency/ tour operator clubs, hotel associations, tour guide clubs, youth union, women union, etc. Hotels Neighbouring homestays or villages Roles of the partner: Promote products and services to traveller markets Attract tourists Send tourists to homestays Main content of a service agreement: Representatives of the homestay and the business partner Main roles and duties of each parties Implementation of the contract Place, date and signature/ stamp of each parties Annex 1: Description of homestay products and services; Booking and reservation conditions. Annex 2: Prices and commissions; Payment terms and conditions. Hand-outs Activities English Sample service agreements with travel agencies. 1 Discussion on who are potential business partners of homestay and what are their roles. Partner Puzzle: Given a set of cards each showing a different tourism business, arrange them in the correct order of how or where they connect to the homestay Discussion on roles of different partners. Flash card sequence: put main content of a service agreement in right order. Trainer show examples of a service agreement with business partner and explain how it works in practice. Travel agent Tour operator Hotel

6 Giving a sales call to a travel agency 2

7 Giving a sales call to a travel agency Time: 30 mins Sale calls are cheapest and quite effective way of marketing that can be made occasionally or periodically either by homestay operators or the community tourism management board to inform and update partner travel agencies on homestay products and services for sale. Steps involved: 1. Develop a professional greeting 2. Introduce yourself and your company 3. Express gratitude 4. State the purpose of your call with a question 5. Schedule a meeting 6. Thank them and reconfirm the date, time and location of the appointment 7. Give your contact information 8. Follow up Hand-outs Activities Discussion: How to make sale calls Demonstration of a sample sale call by the trainer. Participants observe and practice the telephone conversation. Trainer feedback and correct it. English 2

8 Hosting familiarization visits 3

9 Hosting familiarization visits Time: 30 mins The best way of selling intangible homestay services is to offer partner travel agencies a chance to experience real homestay services by familiarization tours in which homestay operators would serve staffs of travel agencies like their actual tourists. Welcoming delegates Provide the actual homestay products and services Discussion on products features and pricing Formalization of a service agreement Hand-outs Activities English Sample service agreement Demonstration of their entire hosting familiarization tour by the trainer (with sample tour activities such as check-in and check-out). Explain key points. Participants observe and practice the same process of hosting the tour. Hold discussion and formalization at the end. Trainer feedback and correct it. 3

10 Simple and low cost marketing materials 4

11 Simple and low cost marketing materials Time: 15 mins Simple marketing materials: Business cards: to distribute to guests and business partners Guestbook s: to leave guests comments and testimonials when they stay in the homestay as well as their contact details for future sale promotion Signs: a wooden/ bamboo/ rattan or plastic board with name, contact details and main services of homestay to get attention of walk-in customers. It is normally hung in front of the homestay house or place in a nearby public area/ road junctions to guide visitors to the homestay. Hand-outs Sample marketing materials such as business cards, guestbook, pictures of signs Activities Introduce 3 simple marketing materials Show the participants sample marketing materials Discussion on different elements of the marketing materials English Welcome to XYZ Homestay Address Telephone number 4

12 Elements of good marketing materials Logical layout Do not write in capital letters Matching colour Easy to read fonts Well-space content, not overcrowded 5

13 Elements of good marketing materials Time: 30 mins Hoa Ban Homestay Address: Tả Van Giáy, Tả Van, Sa Pa, Lào Cai Telephone: xxxx Services: Sleep, Leisure, Art performance, Cooking class, Handicraft making. Tips for good quality marketing materials: Homestay name but be emphasised Do not write in capital letters as it is hard to read The font must be clear and easy to read and a good size Background of business card should be in white colour Printing must be good quality and clear Stick to no more than three colours of business card Avoid clip art Provide all contact details Only use relevant pictures of your own homestay and local areas. Use clear pictures of good quality (high resolution) Keep the information clear and simple All information must be true and accurate Make sure that local printers can copy or print them easily Hand-outs Sample marketing materials such as business cards, guestbook, pictures of signs Activities Presentation: Trainer gives presentation on low cost marketing techniques Trainer explains elements of good marketing materials and compare with their evaluation Group exercise: 4 group critically look at marketing brochures and materials from a range of different tourism products and compare them. Present what they think is the best one, and why Brainstorm on how best to customize the sample marketing materials in the local context English 5

14 Preparing simple marketing material Hoa Ban Homestay Address: Tả Van Giáy, Tả Van, Sa Pa, Lào Cai Telephone: xxxx Services: Sleep, Leisure, Art performance, Cooking class, Handicraft making. 6

15 Preparing simple marketing material Time: 60 mins Prepare the business card: Customize the logo and name of the homestay Add name of the contact person Add contact details On the backside, list all provided services Prepare the guestbook: Customize cover page Guest Comment Book Customize the logo and name of the homestay on the front cover Customize the cover letter Create spaces/ boxes for writing comments/ testimonials on the inside pages Add boxes for writing name and the contact details of the guest Provide a little background on the homestay, the village, culture, etc. Inform the guest about a few of the rules of the house. Develop and draw a logo and name of the homestay on the board Add the address, telephone number, Hang up the signage Remember: Keep participants informed about the time as it is not likely to be enough. They can finish their work at home. Prepare the signs: Prepare the wooden board Hand-outs Sample templates of business card, guestbook and signage Activities Presentation: Trainer explains different features of sample marketing materials on the learner page, the templates and steps to make it. Group exercise: Participants work in group of 3 5 to prepare the marketing materials based on the provided templates. English Guest Comment Book Name DOs DON Ts Number Telephone Address 6

16 Contributions This series of materials has been produced in collaboration between the High Impact Tourism Training for Jobs and Income Programme (HITT) funded by the European Union, the European Union funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme (ESRT), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Vietnam. These programmes and organisations contributed to the development and printing of this material and will be using these training materials to deliver High Impact Tourism Training to their respective target beneficiaries. This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of the publication are the sole responsibility of the projects HITT and ESRT and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. For more information on EuropeAid, please visit ec.europa.er/europeaid/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License ( Đóng góp Tài liệu này được xuất bản với sự phối hợp giữa Chương trình Đào tạo kỹ năng du lịch có tác động cao cho khối lao động phổ thông (HITT) do Liên Minh Châu Âu tài trợ, Chương trình Phát triển năng lực du lịch có trách nhiệm với môi trường và xã hội (Dự án EU) do Liên minh Châu Âu tài trợ và Tổ chức Lao động Quốc tế (ILO) tại Việt Nam. Các Dự án và tổ chức trên đã đóng góp vào việc xây dựng và phổ biến tài liệu này và sẽ sử dụng các tài liệu đào tạo để giúp đào tạo kỹ năng du lịch có tác động cao cho các nhóm hưởng lợi mục tiêu. Tài liệu này được sản xuất với sự hỗ trợ tài chính của Liên minh Châu Âu. Chương trình HITT và ESRT hoàn toàn chịu trách nhiệm về nội dung của tài liệu này và nội dung đó không thể hiện quan điểm của Liên minh Châu Âu. Để biết thêm thông tin về sự hỗ trợ của Liên minh Châu Âu (EuropeAid), xin vui lòng truy cập Tài liệu được cấp quyền theo giấy phép Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (tham khảo