Over the past few years, businesses all over the world and in a wide range of sectors have been hit hard and fast by the pandemic and lockdowns. One of the sectors that got the brunt of the force was the hospitality sector and their relationship with restaurants and food establishments with cafes, bars etc. being forced to close multiple times throughout the lockdown.
As things ease back and reopen, the fallout from the disastrous year has left some businesses unfortunate enough to bear the full weight of the losses. While reopening has caused quite an impact especially with those eager to get back to dining out, suppliers have reached a dilemma of clients on the razor’s edge of falling,
So how exactly can you open up your business to adapt to wider markets in the hospitality industry while being consistent with your own needs?
Targeting The Right Markets
It all starts with establishing a consistent plan of action and with that comes identifying the type of market your company would like to target. A quick way to assess this is to take into account the needs of the industry. Aspects which are subject to change are the most important as well as their sustainability in the long run.
Below are just a few examples of industries today that may need that push from your hospitality supply:
- Nursing Homes
An industry which remains strong and unwavering despite the pandemic, the nursing home industry faces an increased demand in catering and food supply. While the industry may have struggled during the pandemic, their resilience and strengths has helped them push through. This is due, in some parts, to the strong response to food and consumable needs.
The needs of individual care homes can fluctuate from situation to situation but as a whole, their needs for food are going to be consistent and concise with providing and catering.
- Hospitals
With hospitals working at a higher capacity than usual, there has been a noticeable increase in demand for food and consumables during the pandemic. This provides an opportunity for more food suppliers to support these larger facilities by providing more frequent deliveries of their said supplies.
In contrast to nursing homes, the easing stage of the pandemic will see a decrease in patient capacity, hopefully returning to normal. This means that requirements will change but their food supplies will always be present even despite lower quantities.
Breaking Through These Markets
Now that you’ve identified your target markets, begin thinking of plans to approach them. While they may have a supplier in place already, it’s important to consider and ask how well you can capture their attention and in what ways can you provide more to them than their current suppliers.
Below are just some of the ways you can do so, methods and scale may vary depending on the size of your company;
- Use Targeted Campaigns
Social media has and still is playing a big role in maintaining engagements and interactions for countless businesses over the years. This, however, may not be as effective when it comes to penetrating and establishing a position in a new market. For this, a more proactive solution can come in the form of telemarketing
When it comes to approaching new targets, it’s important to get a grip on their needs and struggles as well as their current solutions and how you and your business can help solve them. Directly picking up and calling these businesses allows an open line of communication and can be the quickest and most effective way to gather information
- Establish a Hook
This is especially important when approaching a prospective client that already has another supplier. Providing an incentive, a resolution to an issue that they have with their current supplier is an effective way to go about it. You will need to use the information gathered on the call, creating a tailor made pitch to your prospect.
- Time and Resources
Dedicating a considerable amount of time when it comes to planning, setup and execution of the campaign is important when it comes to establishing a successful one, Allocating resources like staff to man the phones and make calls and creating a right sized budget for acquiring data, using software, subscriptions, equipment etc.
All that being said, breaking into these new markets requires a lot of time, money and effort invested in building the campaign as well as a complete guarantee that the results will be worth all that. Outsourcing may help and is one of the best ways to take the hassle off of running an in-house campaign while enhancing potential results.
