Contribute to promoting hospitality services and products

This standard is about the promotion of services and products. It is designed for supervisors and managers who are close to the customers and well-placed to offer new ideas for promotional activities. This standard is for hospitality team leaders, first line managers or supervisors.
Getting the attention of target customers is key to any business. Your competitors will be trying their utmost to push their own products, so it's essential you do the same and constantly look for new and innovative ways to let customers know that your organisation is here and what you can offer.

You might promote your offer through posters and leaflets. You could offer special promotional discounts or one off special events such as tasting sessions. There is a multitude of opportunities available; which ones will best suit your needs?

Whichever you choose, make sure that you identify not just the potential benefits (such as the likely increase in sales) but also any wider benefits as well as a check for ethical concerns. Make sure the activities are consistent with your targets, your organisation's objectives and values, social responsibility practices and legal requirements. Then discuss these ideas with colleagues to test them out and get people behind your ideas.

Promoting products and service can be an exciting way to test ideas and, if successful, brings rewards in terms of increased sales and other benefits.

When you have completed this standard you will be able to demonstrate your understanding of and your ability to:

• Contribute to promoting hospitality services and products

1. Identify possible activities to promote the services and products in your area of responsibility
2. Identify promotional activities and the likely sales improvements activities could generate
3. Consult with relevant colleagues about your ideas for promotional activities
4. Ensure these activities are consistent with your targets, your organisation's objectives and values, social responsibility practices and legal requirements
5. Collect and organise relevant information to support your ideas for promotional activities, taking account of the resources that will be available
6. Help to develop and implement plans effectively
7. Brief relevant colleagues, as appropriate on planned activities
8. Monitor activities to make sure that targeted customers are being reached and promotional activities are run according to agreed plans and standards
9. Collect information about the promotional activities and evaluate their effectiveness

1. Relevant laws that you need to take account of when developing and implementing promotional activities and what may happen if your promotion breaks these laws
2. Social responsibility practices, `Best Practice' principles and ethical considerations that need to be considered in promoting hospitality services and products
3. What to include and how to write terms and conditions associated with promotions
4. Your organisation's target markets and sales targets which are relevant to your area of  responsibility
5. Your organisation's main competitors which are relevant to your area of responsibility
6. Your organisation's other promotional plans that are relevant to your work
7. What resources are available for promotional activities, where to obtain possible additional resources and who you need to consult in your organisation to obtain additional resources
8. How to cost promotional activity to ensure profitability is maintained and improved
9. How to present your promotional ideas effectively to other people in your organisation and what information you need to support suggested promotional activities
10. The nature of the product being promoted and any other materials that feature in the promotion
11. Any possible adverse results that the promotion, products and other materials may have and how to avoid these
12. What your organisation's procedures are for implementing promotional activities
13. Which colleagues need to be briefed in relation to different types of promotional plans and the different kinds of information that they should be given
14. When and how product and organisational logos, trademarks and branding should be used to support promotional activities
15. The types of things that may disrupt your promotional activities and how to deal with these
16. How to measure the effectiveness of promotional activities
17. Who you should make recommendations for improving promotional activities to

The following behaviours are provided as guidance to underpin effective performance of a hospitality supervisor

1. You seek out and act on new promotional opportunities
2. You identify clearly the value and benefits to people of a proposed course of action
3. You deploy a range of legitimate strategies and tactics to influence people
4. You develop systems to gather and manage information and knowledge effectively, efficiently and ethically
5. You identify and raise any identified ethical concerns
6. You reinforce the links between specific objectives, areas of work and strategic goals

This unit is a sector specific unit and has particular links with the following units in the Hospitality Supervision & Leadership suite of standards:HSL1-5HSL8HSL11HSL12HSL16HSL19HSL21HSL22HSL23HSL27