You 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.