Nick Marinkovich didn’t have a lead problem.
He had a focus problem.
Selling group business for Hyatt Regency Orlando means working across a massive market. Nick is responsible for opportunities ranging from 10 to 100 rooms on peak across virtually every segment.
He could prospect literally thousands of people. But, the harder question was figuring out who was actually worth his time.
“I would get into these ruts and say, ‘I don’t even know where to focus. I don’t even know exactly what I should be doing.’”
And even after identifying someone, Nick didn’t want his first move to be another cold sales email asking for business.
He wanted to build relationships, to be useful, and a prospecting strategy that actually felt like him.
Through Sales on Tap, Nick began using AI-powered prospecting tools and prompts designed to help hotel sellers identify people based on the markets they wanted to pursue and the signals those prospects were already giving off.
Instead of spending hours manually digging through LinkedIn, he could start with a specific objective.
Finance. Tech. Sales-as-a-Service.
Who in those industries might bring meetings to Orlando? Who hosts regional sales kickoffs? Who runs training events? Who appears to have a reason to know someone like Nick?
One recent search surfaced approximately 60 contacts worth focusing on.
But the real value wasn’t the list, it was knowing why those people belonged on it.
“It allowed me to save so much time and to just have a good starting point. This is where I should be putting my focus when I’m doing my outreach.”
Suddenly, prospecting wasn’t a giant blank page.
Nick had somewhere to start.
Nick showed up as Nick.
Sales on Tap isn’t about automating relationships. It’s about using modern tools to create more time and space for sellers to actually build them.
Nick leaned into LinkedIn, creativity, and value-first outreach rather than immediately asking prospects for an RFP.
And people started noticing.
They recognized him when he was out in the market. They sought him out at his hotel. They engaged with his content. And increasingly, inquiries began coming directly to him rather than through a shared inbox or third-party platform.
“It’s meant for the person who has shown value without an ask over time, and they see me as somebody who they can trust, who they have a relationship with, and who they think can help them.”
Those moments gave Nick something else that is difficult to measure on a sales report: confidence.
The kind of confidence that comes from seeing evidence that your strategy is actually working.
WARM PROSPECTING™ IN ACTION
The best prospect isn’t always the one who submitted the RFP. It might be the one showing you they’re interested before they ever raise their hand.
Nick uses signals like email engagement, website activity and LinkedIn behavior to understand where interest may already exist. Instead of treating every prospect the same, he can focus his attention on people showing signs of intent and reach out with something useful rather than another sales pitch.
“When you have intent and when you have those signals, you just have such a better success rate at getting a response.”
That’s Warm Prospecting™: recognizing interest, providing value and building the relationship while the opportunity is still taking shape.
Before attending Connect Marketplace, Nick decided he wasn’t going to show up like every other hotel salesperson.
He created Care 2D2, a mobile care station designed to spark curiosity and give attendees a natural reason to approach him.
But he didn’t wait until the tradeshow floor to introduce it.
Before the event, Nick created a product-reveal video and shared it on LinkedIn. He also pulled the show’s attendee list and sent the video directly to people he wanted to connect with.
The goal wasn’t to ask for business; it was simply to make himself recognizable before everyone arrived.
And it worked.
“People then at the show were actively looking for me, knew me, and called me like, ‘You’re the LinkedIn guy. You’ve got the Care 2D2. Show me what you’ve got.’”
Instead of Nick walking around trying to start sales conversations, people were walking up to him.
And because Care 2D2 gave them something fun to talk about, those interactions didn’t begin with square footage, rates, or availability. They started like normal human conversations.
Then something interesting happened. The conversations naturally turned toward business.
Tell me about your hotel.
I’ll be in Orlando on these dates.
Could we schedule a site tour?
Nick had changed the dynamic.
He wasn’t chasing the conversation anymore.
He had created a reason for the conversation to come to him.
Sales on Tap gave Nick tools to identify the right people. It gave him modern prospecting strategies to reach them. It helped him recognize buying signals and intent instead of treating every prospect exactly the same.
But Nick supplied the most important ingredient himself: his personality.
The result is a sales strategy that feels less reactive and more proactive. Less transactional and more human.
And much more focused.
“This is working. This is the way to do this.”
The modern hotel seller doesn’t need to contact everyone.
They need to know who deserves their attention, when there’s a reason to reach out, and how to show up in a way people actually remember.
That’s what Sales on Tap helped Nick put into practice. And his advice to other hotel sellers is pretty simple:
“You wanna up your game, you wanna learn how to do things differently, creatively, stand out from a crowd, you gotta get a part of this.”
Ready to stop wondering where to start?
Sales on Tap gives hotel sellers the tools, training, and practical ideas to prospect smarter, recognize opportunity earlier, and build relationships before the RFP ever arrives.
Try it out yourself by accessing the free training inside Sales on Tap Community 👇
