<![CDATA[SMP Training Co. - THE O&M BLOG]]>Mon, 14 May 2012 18:02:27 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[The O&M Blog is now a Page in SELLING TRAVEL]]>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:18:40 -0800http://www.smptraining.com/3/post/2011/08/the-om-blog-is-now-a-page-in-selling-travel.htmlAs you know, you must continue to reinvent what you do. So... on that note, I have reinvented the Q&M Blog page to a page in my new digital e-Magazine Selling Travel. You can find the O&M page here  ]]><![CDATA[The Adventure of Management ]]>Mon, 02 May 2011 14:23:03 -0800http://www.smptraining.com/3/post/2011/05/the-adventure-of-management.htmlYou know it to be true. Owning and managing a travel agency is one big adventure. You never know what's around that corner and when it comes to tourism even a gust of wind can start a chain reaction. Sometimes adding to the ballooning experience and sometimes causing devastation as in the southern USA. It's about the day to day adventure that I write about here and what you are doing to stay on the cutting edge of excitement.

Having worked for owners and managers and then becoming an owner and manager I have, like you, seen different styles of both. Some good, many bad, one or two excellent. The thing that always stayed with me as an employee was the excitement the owner or manager brought with them into the agency each and every day. This excitement was usually part of their personality, the way they came at their business, their role, their job and how they let that excitement permeate the agency so that everyone caught the fever which transferred to the customer which increased the number of bookings. 

Think about how you as an owner or manager enter your agency, greet your agency team, push them, manage them, teach them, talk to them, listen to them and so on. All of this is part of the adventure from the team's point of view. The key is to make sure they stay with you along the journey.

One thing you can do to maintain the excitement is to create something 'exciting' to sell. Something really interesting. Something that causes everyone in the agency to study up, read, learn and add to their own knowledge base. 

Next comes the 'how to sell it' session with you advising and showing how this new and exciting product or destination can be talked about, mentioned, stated, written about and sold. 

Your brochure rack should be turned into a place of awe, sporting a selection of mind blowing brochures containing images that just capture the imagination and make anyone reading them say, "I gotta go!"  This works for your customer and it also works for your agency team each time they pass that brochure rack... what they see reconfirms the excitement of selling travel.

Don't be afraid to get your agency team out into the world to experience what the agency is selling. So few travel agents have actually traveled and seen or been to where and what they are selling. It makes you wonder how they can even wear the title of travel agent. Your investment in time and energy and of course money will come back to you. There are ways to share the cost of the educational trip - even if the agent took the trip as part of their vacation. Assuming your agency team is a dedicated team, true career travel people versus hangers on who really shouldn't be there, then investing vacation time into an educational trip would be a great thing to do.

For you to turn up excited about your business or the agency you manage, each and every day, what would it take? What needs to be switched on for you to get you on top of the current trends and to overcome the sad news re cost of oil, lack of this and that, climatic conditions, world wide disasters and so on. These things are never going to leave the travel industry alone. It's a fact of life and fundamental to the trade and so you'll need to develop you own way of managing not only the way these things affect you - but also how these things affect your team. Right there is where you come in. Right there is where your excitement must shine through.

When the bookings are flowing in the door - life seems to right itself doesn't it. Life gets a little tense when the flow is choked off for whatever reasons and there stands the mission. You'll need to develop your long term plans that consider pretty much anything that can be thrown at your industry. Look ahead for new opportunities that you can use to build momentum now.

There have a seven or more natural disasters in recent months as you know. Each one offering an exciting opportunity as time moves forward. There will be a surge to visit Japan, New Zealand, Chile and so on. You could send in fifty-dollars to help, but better to send in 50 couples who will spend $2,500 there.  

There are new movies such as African Cats coming out ASAP... there's your moment of excitement. Tie into this movie and all the marketing that will happen and start selling the African Safari. That's exciting and the marketing is almost done fo.

The Borgias TV drama is on for a few more weeks... there's your sign to start selling tours of Italy, Rome in particular, tie into Italy's 150th anniversary of unity. 

How about selling more Canada. Now this is exciting and here's why. The killing of Bin Laden might cause more than a few people to stay home. Where can Canadians travel in relative safety to witness awesome sights... right here in Canada and south of the Border in the good ole USA. Mind you the border crossings might get a little tense and if that's the case then start putting and exciting spin on travelling Canada.  

I'm sure you know we have the 3rd highest waterfall in the world, right? You know about the African migration but do you know about the Caribou migration up north?  You must do. Treks to the North Pole. Northern lights. Yukon. New Brunswick. Strolling Halifax...looking for ancestors. From coast to coast, year round Canada is an adventurers delight.

So back to the excitement you bring into the agency each and every day. Start with a "Hey guys... guess what we're selling this month?" and then deliver your most exciting destination or travel type, backed up by a well thought out media plan that includes email, website, agency windows, newsletter, social media, t-shirts, in store promos, online presentations and consumer events. 

Let me know what you do!
Best regards
Steve 


]]><![CDATA[How To Keep The Wedding Fever Going]]>Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:21:44 -0800http://www.smptraining.com/3/post/2011/04/how-to-keep-the-wedding-fever-going.htmlWell, the wedding is over. William and Catherine managed to bring off a superb wedding extravaganza and set the scene for existing and would be wedding planners and perhaps that’s a new direction for you. What do you say? Would you like to ramp up your wedding and honeymoon skills? If so, you now have a model ‘how to’ to go by.  

The legacy of the event will not die out right away. There will be constant chatter as there always is following such events and here’s where you can boost your marketing as an agency that can and does handle weddings and honeymoons. If you Google the wedding you will now find all the intricate details and there for all to see, read and copy in terms of "doing something similar" you can find the cake, the prayers... you name it, it's all there and available.

So how do you tap into all of this post event activity? Well for one thing you might want to bring together posters of William and Catherine, buy the DVDs and so on. The reason being, you will use these as a backdrop to your agency's wedding and honeymoon promotional activities. Up goes the poster in your agency window with a slogan, "We create weddings fit for a king!" - or something like that. You get the idea. The DVDs would be your 'gift' to your clients once they leave a deposit or pay the final balance - your choice when the 'thank-you' gift is handed over. 

You could follow what some firms where doing in the UK and put a call out there for Catherine look-a-likes. Take your collection of images and use them in your marketing campaigns, brochures, on your website and more. Be sure to get a signed release from 'your Kate'. You want to be the sole owner of the images. 

Try working with a local dress shop, ladies wear, fashion designer... focus on the dress and build it into your promotional theme.  

After the honeymoon, there will be one more destination for your own honeymooning clients to consider. Especially those newlyweds who are of the same age as William and Catherine and who identify with them in some way and would simply like to do, to copy what they did. All of this is good and all of this is good for perhaps the rest of the year. Humans as you'll know already are a fickle bunch. Memories start to get a little thin as real life perks it's head back up. If you like the idea of using the Royal Wedding as a springboard for your own niche market throughout 2011 then now's the time to go for it as Harry said!  

]]><![CDATA[So what's keeping you awake at night these days?]]>Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:49:57 -0800http://www.smptraining.com/3/post/2011/04/so-whats-keeping-you-awake-at-night-these-days.htmlYawn, stretch, toss and turn... what's going on with you and your agency this month? What's keeping you awake at night these days? The business does not seem to have slowed down too much. Suppliers are back into some of the recent traumatized areas... so there will be an up-tick in business to the Middle East and Japan, New Zealand and Chile. Corporations appear to be flying again and the meetings industry is set to increase as is the incentive business and the cruise lines are expecting their share of both the meetings and the incentive segments in 2011. 

If nothing is keeping you awake at night let me give you something to think on and it has everything to do with planning how you will attract new customers to do business with you. Perhaps they will come from the segments experiencing growth.

The first question is: how many new customers do you need in order to sustain your business for the balance of 2011? You may already have calculated the number of bookings you need in order to break even on your expenses so it's the profit segment that you need to factor in now.  Where will your profit come from and will it be an all out war to achieve your goals or will be a well planned exercise? I'm hoping for the latter.

If you are vacation biased you can still take a hard look at the meetings and incentive segments and through your generic knowledge of all things vacation oriented, you would know very quickly the best resorts and safest destinations where a business group could relax, have their meetings and enjoy their surroundings. So that's one thing to keep you awake at night - plotting how you can get your share of this extremely lucrative segment. The cruise segment is on a continuous growth curve at the moment so that's another possible. Chances are you are already selling cruises, but are you really selling cruises? Are you selling thirty per month? Are you blocking 50 staterooms to sell? Are you packaging a cruise into an FIT you have designed? So many ways to build that profit segment you need. 

Everyone talks about a niche market and how, if they had one, they could get away from the daily grind of selling typical travel to the average touristy type of client. I suppose it would be nice to have all Smithsonian adventure level customers versus those old mundane customers who keep wanting to book the cheapest to wherever.  Moving up a notch or two can happen as long as you are committed to giving up those old customers who never book anything exciting or expensive. It's not easy giving up regular business - and you could experience a dive in business as you make the transition, and don't forget, once you cut off those regular customers you'll never win them back. So perhaps your plan should be to stay with those regular customers and develop your niche at the same time eventually out growing your regular customers as the more lucrative segment takes over. Now there's something to keep you awake at night!!

What's keeping other travel agency owners and managers awake at night? Well one thing for sure is most owners and managers are wondering about where the next sale is coming from. Also where are all those talented young travel counselors the trade needs to hire and then there's service fees and commission cuts and suppliers going direct - and oh yes, is a social media plan really necessary? 

If you get the chance to post a comment below, let me know what is actually keeping you awake at night and perhaps I can create a webinar on the topic and help everyone sleep a little better.

Best regards,

Steve



]]><![CDATA[Hiring Smart and Training The Next Generation]]>Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:51:33 -0800http://www.smptraining.com/3/post/2011/04/hiring-smart-and-training-the-next-generation.htmlWhen did you enter the travel industry? Why did you join or seek a position in this wild and wonderful, glamorous industry? If your entry into the trade was anything like mine, you had a passion of some kind, to see the world to explore it and then help others go see what you had actually experienced first hand. My passion to travel started when I was about 13 years old. Japan was my focus. I had that burning desire to 'hit the road' and just go. Bring back any memories? 

There was moment in time during one of my workshops when I sat with a group of travel trade veterans to review our first day on the job, what we did and what we earned. Now that was interesting chatter! Looking at the now senior manager and watching their face and body and persona change back to that 'kid on the road' was an incredible insight as to the original dream and the outcome that is still unfolding. Given half a chance, everyone in the room would have thrown away their laptop and gone travelling... but, times have changed. To use the current language, it's a new world, a different landscape. Which is true and it's within this new world of travel that you are hiring.

Hiring smart means to know the exact profile of the position you are hiring for, the reason that job exists and key performance objectives and indicators that can be measured to show success is happening on the job. Hiring smart is also about hiring in people with skill sets that go beyond today. It's a good bet that 90% of people hired today have obsolete skills tomorrow. So what's your plan for tomorrow? What skill sets have you identified as crucial for the coming year or two?

The main reason people are hired into a business is to solve the profit problem. Chip away all the fancy words and get to the no-fluff discussion and you'll arrive at this truth: people are hired to generate a return on their salary. They are hired to produce sales, to service the customer 100%, ask for referrals, seek out new profit opportunities, maintain and grow their own education and skills and to repeat, increase the profit of the company that hired them. When that key point is understood - you can put back all the fancy things that go with the job like super 'look at me' titles and travel expenses and techno tools. Never lose track however that the job is not to 'look good' but to turn a profit. 

When you are in hiring mode this basic issue of profit has to be addressed. Get past the 'how long in the trade' questions and get to the issue of sales. You need and want the candidate to prove to you that they can sell. That they can meet and greet and handle themselves at the level for which they are being hired. Find out if they are worldly, up on the latest business and trade news, do they know what's going on around them, can they stand in front of an audience of peers or clients and deliver a fantastic presentation or keynote speech? Do they 'get" the company culture and philosophy? 

Have we asked them to prove what they say they can do? Ask the front line candidate to generate three bookings. Get them involved in a simulation with another member of staff acting as a customer. Keep it natural and nice but test the knowledge, and the candidates ability to use the CRS, hunt online for something. Now ask them to respond to a prepared email. More searching online. Put them through their paces.

Same for a Business Development Manager, same for any Manager. All skills must be proven. 

Training the NEXT generation means you, if you are the manager or trainer, had better be on your toes when it comes to techno everything. Now just because a candidate is twenty-something does not mean they are a whiz-kid for all things online. Probably most younger people applying for a position are well versed with the basics of Facebook and the like. Others might be further ahead. And a few may be the whiz kid that with training in marketing could lead your social media / marketing strategy.

For more information on how I see the profile of a Ng Travel Agent - click to my DIRECTIONS BLOG... 

More to come on hiring smart and training the Ng TA.  One question for you: if YOU where interviewed today for your current job would you get it? Are your skills sufficient for next 3 years?

All the best.
Steve  

    ]]><![CDATA[PERKS, PERFORMANCE AND REVENUES]]>Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:24:09 -0800http://www.smptraining.com/3/post/2011/03/perks-performance-and-revenues.htmlThis isn't really news, the challenge has been in the trade for a very long time. I'm referring to the challenging situation that owners and managers find themselves in when it comes to suppliers offering agency frontline a multitude of perks in order to attract the business to their brand. I'm hearing that it's a challenge on both sides of the trade - with each supplier trying to best the other's incentive. It used to be that the owner and the manager set the rules of engagement when it came to who sold what and who earned what and all supplier perks were the "property" of the agency - well, actually any and all perks are the property of the agency owner. The reason for this is simple. It is the agency owner who finances the business and therefore all financial offerings, returns and perks are in fact the property of that owner.

Of course it might take a strong character to stand up to a stronger character in the shape of a top sales person who challenges back with "I sold it so I get it" - and that's fine IF it works for the good of the company. The problem is when a supplier's perk or offering seduces the frontline into selling away from the current preferred supplier agreements and against specific policies and procedures the agency has established. There are some owners who do not tolerate such goings on - which can be deemed as subversive and toxic to the stability of the agencies finances and supplier relations.  

So where are you on this issue? Do you have a strategy in place that funnels all perks to you the owner / manager and you dispense the cash, fams, gadgets etc., according to what you feel will further your business? Or do your staff run the agency and tell you how it's going to be? The next question is this: do you have an internal incentive strategy that you control and manage and a strategy that causes your team to stretch both in education, knowledge, performance and sales? 

FAM trips for instance should be used to enhance the knowledge of the destinations and products that your agency is known for and support your niche sales. When one of your frontline accepts a perk'ed FAM and disappears for 7 days to a place that they will never sell, a few things have happened: 1) your soft and hard costs ranged between $3,000 and $7,500, 2) time, money and energy were wasted on the wrong destination / product, 3) the rest of the team were stressed out, 4) there will be no ROI on your investment... and 5) the supplier who awarded the FAM will not experience an ROI either!  Here's the thing: when someone on your team takes a FAM to a destination that is not in your strategic plan - it's called (and always has been) a vacation. 

It's a good idea to practice Team Work and build that well worn term into something meaningful. It needs some soul. All perks are the property of the agency. Gadgets such as iPads also belong to the agency and it is you the owner who should use those gadgets as internal incentive prizes for when your team achieves what the agency has set for goals and performance standards / benchmarks. Start preaching that everyone works for the common good of 'The Agency' and from that core business all things eminate... such as jobs. 

Is it time to take control of the perks? Have you discussed the issue with your preferred suppliers? If on the other hand you have let this run wild then you are in for a battle - however, from here on, make sure the rules are written into the employment handbook, discussed in the hiring session as one of the hiring requirements right alongside with the expectation of prospecting and most certainly alongside the statement that with 99% of agency clients are expected to be prsold travel insurance.

Need help? Let me know.
Steve Crowhurst, CTC, NBG
250-752-0106
steve@smptraining.com 

PS: Don't forget to click on the RSS button to receive the O&M blog to your inbox.

    ]]><![CDATA[First Post!]]>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:58:02 -0800http://www.smptraining.com/3/post/2011/03/first-post.htmlCOMING SOON! ]]>