I recently had the honor of closing out HSMAI ROC’s lightning round presentations. The lightning rounds are a fun challenge – you have just 20 slides and 20 seconds for each one to tell your story. This year, I examined whether or not I am turning into my mother – or rather, whether or not we are all turning into our parents – and how that old-school mentality might be impacting our approach to revenue management.
While reading this, I challenge you to ask yourself: Is the old way really the best way? Or is the discipline of revenue management due for a shakeup?
Technology
My mom:
- Isn’t the best with technology
- Accidentally takes pictures of the inside of her purse with her iPhone
- Prints out paper directions from MapQuest instead of relying on Google Maps
Modern tech:
- Leans into automation
- Earns its user’s trust
- Still requires human interaction (because systems aren’t perfect)
Are you being forced to manually execute processes that an RMS should be doing for you? It’s not sustainable – and there is a better way.
Book a demo of N2Pricing™ RMS today to see smart automation in action and take back your valuable time.
Priorities
My mom:
- Loves paper and writing things down
- Spends hours hunting for the perfect calendar
- Likes to see things “at-a-glance,” but crams so much on the calendar it’s impossible to read
Modern tech:
- Manages by exception
- Prioritizes by the biggest area of opportunity
- Doesn’t care if that opportunity is 2 days, 2 weeks, or 2 months out
Our systems are cluttered with colorful calendars and metrics all over the place. They’re so overcrowded, you can’t actually take a quick look and understand what’s going on. Instead of dealing with everything in chronological order, we need to focus on where we have the biggest bang for our buck – whenever that is.
Profit
- Paid me $2/hour to let me “help” her at work (I was definitely just slowing her down, but it was fun)
- Focused on cash flow, but not costs
Modern tech:
- Optimizes profit instead of just focusing on revenue
- Considers the cost of things like OTAs when making pricing decisions
Our industry talks a lot about profit – but what are we actually doing about it? Most systems that boast “profit optimization” are really just taking turn cost into account. Instead, we should be leading with profit – putting that data into our systems and using profit as the metric that we drive our business towards.
The right system should optimize profit and automate decisions based on that optimization.
Training
My mom:
- Loves to learn new things and keep her mind sharp
- Recently retired and has a lot of free time on her hands
- Bought herself a series of educational DVDs for Christmas (you read that right – DVDs)
Modern tech:
- Acknowledges that training is critical
- Understands that people don’t have a lot of time to spare
- Offers training that is quick, easy to understand, and accessible
We waste a TON of time in training, spending days at a time to learn how to get into a system that is too complicated to understand. Then, we’re expected to turn around and teach others how to use it. Don’t get me wrong, training is still essential, but the way that we train people needs to change. We need to meet people where they are, and offer accessible, easy, quick training for our systems.
N2Pricing™ RMS is super intuitive and offers easy in-app training. Google Maps didn’t require a day-long training session, right? Neither should your RMS.
Methodology
My mom:
- Lives by a “my house, my rules” mentality
- Expects her kids to do things the way she had always done them
- Loves to start stories with “back in my day…”
Modern tech:
- Is configurable
- Utilizes automation
- Adapts to our ever-changing environment
If we’re not careful, we’re going to fall into the trap of doing things the same way we’ve always done them. “Back in my day” doesn’t cut it anymore. Back in my day, there was a DORM at every property, and you had to pull reports to validate decisions before manually pushing a button to make a price change – but the setting we work in and the systems we have are evolving.
It’s time to get comfortable with getting uncomfortable and reimagine the way we work.
The Time for Change is NOW!
So, the jury is out on whether or not I, personally, am turning into my mother – but there are clear indicators that revenue management is stuck in the past. My mother is amazing, but I don’t think our industry should be taking any technological cues from her. The old way isn’t always the best way.
The next time you’re managing your pricing, I want you to ask yourself these two questions:
- Why am I doing it this way?
- Is this the best use of my time?
If you’re still being forced to look at 5 different data sources before pulling the trigger on next Tuesday’s price update, it’s time for a change.
And I get it: change is hard. The decision to change the way we’ve always done things and invest in new technology doesn’t fall to one person.
From the top down, you must lead by example. Be a visionary and reimagine the way work gets done for your team.
From the bottom up, speak up. Don’t accept the button pushing. Ask for better tools and automation. Be the commercial leader that your team needs you to be.
If that rebellious teenager inside of you is ready to take action, book your demo of N2Pricing RMS today and see what a game changer modern revenue management technology can be.
(And go hug your mom.)
