Travel Agents Make a Difference in People's Lives
My career in travel has given me amazing opportunities to visit places and participate in events across the country. You might even say I have become a bit jaded to the wonders of the travel experience. This past week, however, I had the joy of seeing the Grand Canyon through the eyes of my brother and his wife - neither of whom had ever been west of Ohio. They were awed, they were thrilled, they kept calling it, “the trip of a Lifetime.”
I have thought, repeatedly, that travel agents make a difference in people's lives. They get the bride to her wedding; they plan the perfect honeymoon; they move heaven and earth to get a child to the sickbed of a parent or a parent home in time for her son’s big game. But until I saw my brother’s face looking at one of the wonders of the modern world, I hadn’t really realized that every trip makes a difference in someone’s life.
Now – moving into the summer vacation season – is the time for every travel agent to reach out to clients and remind them how simple a great vacation can be when they leave travel plans to a professional.
In this month’s issue, Bill Todd addresses just how important it is to focus on that existing customer, particularly as the economy begins to turn around; and remember, your competitors probably aren’t doing this.
We’ve also profiled the Amadeus white paper on the “expert amateur traveler.” I urge all of you to read the full report for insights into how you can take advantage of many new trends in travel.
And, of course, our hotel and other travel partners have terrific offers that really can help you make the difference for your clients.
Economic indicators point to a stronger economy in the months to come. Start now to remind your clients that it's time to have some fun - it’s time to start traveling again.
Mary Wiley
Director of Marketing, CCRA Travel Solutions
Travel Professional Since 1985.
During the Recovery, Focus on Your Existing Customers
Written by: Bill Todd
Why focus on existing customers? It costs five times as much to acquire a new client as it does to motivate an existing customer to buy again. Repeat business is your most powerful engine for boosting sales.
As a rule, most travel businesses reduced their marketing and sales efforts during recent poor economic times. As a result, they probaby focused their reduced business resources on finding new clients. This practice violates a long-standing prescription for success that suggests you spend 60% of your time on existing customers, 30% on qualified new accounts, and 10% on prospecting.
Too often we take our existing clients for granted. As a result, we spend little time communicating with the very people who are currently paying our salaries. Remember the words of a wise old advertising executive from Texas: “Don’t neglect your horses to find new ponies.”
Travel professionals who consistently outperform their competitors understand one simple rule—the greater the competition in your area, the greater the importance of consistent follow-up and customer service. In short, your existing customers must feel appreciated each and every time they do business with you. When your current customers feel appreciated, they become walking, talking billboards for your company.
Start planning your strategy today for contacting all your existing clients; remind them how pleasant travel can be when all their plans are taken care of; offer them some specific ideas for a summer vacation or a weekend getaway. I like to remind my sales team that selling is like housework - it never stays done!
Bill Todd
Bill Todd is one of the travel industry’s most sought-after sales and marketing speakers and coaches. He is the co-author of the new book Speaking of Success which also features best-selling authors Stephen R. Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People), Ken Blanchard (One Minute Manager) and Jack Canfield (The Secret and Chicken Soup for the Soul). Todd has served as vice president of sales and industry marketing for the 5000+ franchises and seven global brands of Choice Hotels International, and was vice president of sales and marketing for Marriott International’s Corporate Lodging Division. BTodd@BTodd.com | www.BTodd.com | 301.633.5856
COMMISSION/Express - Helping Agents Make More Money Faster
This past January, CCRA unveiled COMMISSION/Express, a program that offers 15% commission on extensive inventory only available when agents book through CCRAtravel.com.
CCRA also began reconciling and paying commissions to CCRAtravel.com agents on a weekly basis.
We hope you will take a minute (one minute and seven seconds to be exact) to watch what Kate Rice, technology editor for Performance Media Group (including “TravelPulse” and “Agent@Home”) has to say about our new program.
Amadeus and a Group of Industry Experts Look to the
Future of Travel and Technology
Recently Amadeus, the world’s largest global distribution system and a leader in travel industry technology released a new study, The Amateur-Expert Traveler: three important trends in travel which are being accelerated by the recession.
This paper identifies and describes three broad trends influencing the travel industry today – increasingly expert customers, the ever more technological trip experience and the growth of “niche” travel – that Amadeus believes are being accelerated by the current downturn.
To reach these findings, Amadeus interviewed thirty leading executives and thought-leaders in the travel industry and polled 2,719 travel professionals worldwide about a series of key trends in the travel industry. They also conducted extensive desk research to understand how these trends might be affected by the recession.
The amateur-expert traveler: the Internet has put much more information at the fingertips of the average traveler – whether from professionally produced content or user reviews and other social media. With business and personal budgets squeezed, the incentive to put all that knowledge to good use has never been greater.
The responsive journey: technology has improved the booking experience immeasurably but the trip itself remains ripe for technological innovation. Such innovation may be provided by talented executives using the recession as an opportunity for a change in direction.
All niches great and small: travel companies will increasingly look at opportunities in travel niches or selling niche travel services or additional offer opportunities for additional revenue as well as higher margins for in-depth expert advice.
The Amateur-Expert Traveler contains a wealth of information about how technology and the economy will significantly shape both the travel experience and the travel decision.
The conclusions from these industry experts have immediate and far reaching implications both for travel planner like travel agents and tour operators, as well as travel providers like hotels.
Every hotel should take the time to read through the entire Amateur-Expert report (download the report) and start developing strategies to meet the challenges and opportunities that advances in technology will bring to our industry.
Graphic used with the kind permission of Amadeus.
Article Source
Developed by Amadeus; Original Publication: www.amadeus.com/amateur-expert
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Hundreds of Volunteers Headed for Angel Island To Help
Cash-Strapped State Park
Tourism Cares, the premier charity within the travel industry dedicated to preserving the travel experience, is targeting Angel Island State Park for a massive, work-day volunteer event. Hundreds of volunteers will gather together on June 4 on Angel Island and come to the assistance of California State Parks, a system hit hard in recent years by a sagging economy and budget shortfalls.
Angel Island is a picturesque California State Park with magnificent views of the San Francisco skyline. It has been selected for the eighth annual Tourism Cares for America volunteer event.
The island’s rich and diverse history dates back nearly 3,000 years. It has served as a Civil War encampment, an immigration station for thousands of Chinese immigrants from 1910-1940, a discharge depot and recruitment center during WWI, an embarkation station and POW camp during WWII and a Nike missile base from 1955-1962.
“This is the time when tourism destinations like Angel Island need us the most,” said Bruce Beckham, executive director, Tourism Cares. “Tough budget times are the best times for our people to step up and provide their substantial resources in manpower to help keep America’s tourism industry strong and support California’s economic recovery. It’s a gratifying event that makes a lasting impact.”
In a single day, Tourism Cares for America will bring more than $50,000 worth of free labor, helping California State Park staff to accomplish tasks that would take years to complete.
Sponsors for the event include some of the largest and most prominent tourism associations such as NTA, Student Youth Travel Association, US Travel Association, United States Tour Operators Association, San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the California Travel & Tourism Commission; as well as private corporations and individuals including: PIER 39, Amadeus, Marriott International, Wyndham, MaCher, Dan Dipert Tours, Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino, Save America’s Treasures, Angel Island Company, Blue & Gold Fleet, MTR Western and Edelman. Registration is now open to members of the travel and tourism industry at www.tourismcares.org/tourism-cares-for-san-francisco-bay-2010.
About Tourism Cares
Tourism Cares is a 501c(3) non-profit public charity that benefits society by preserving the travel experience for future generations by awarding grants to natural, cultural and historic sites worldwide; by presenting academic and service-learning scholarships to students of hospitality and tourism; and by organizing volunteer efforts to restore tourism-related sites in need of care and rejuvenation. For additional information about Tourism Cares, visit www.tourismcares.org.
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