Be Specific
Monday, December 13, 2004
So we went to Toronto this weekend for the Travel Only Seminar and while we were overwhelmed once again with a lot of talking on a lot of information all at once, I was able to extract a few things and with a few lessons learned from our first few months as agents I have some thoughts.
-Being an generic travel agent kind of sucks. There is part of this business I am not really enjoying. The "why is this $100 cheaper over on this web site". I'm not enjoying competing with online web sites that can afford to earn $20 per package because of the volumes they can sell. So I don't think all inclusives are where we should focus.
-What I do like is the selling of a dream...some examples we saw "I wanted to go to Greece and with help I made it work and sold 28 packages to close friends." I could tell these people didn't have the business or marketing sense that I know I have and they were still making it work.
-It's not rocket science to do a Group booking.
-Do packages that interest you.
Plan a trip to the US Open for Tennis (do a presentation at a tennis club, or put up flyers in a tennis club)
Stratford festival (send packages to the drama teachers at the high schools)
(this list is endless)
I'm seriously thinking of doing some soccer trips. (I think the market in Ottawa is there and I have so many resources and contacts: from Steve Johnson, to Andy Nera, to Christa who practically runs Kanata soccer, to the Ottawa Fury. There are 4 soccer domes and a partnership with the Fergus Inn could also be lucrative. Timing on Soccer is great right now too. Because if we get any bookings in 2005, could mean huge repeat business in 2006....for the World Cup in Germany!
-Do packages where a Travel agent is must (Destinations Weddings could be great!)
-Be Specific: This was stressed when looking for co-op funds and in general. So I want to book people on soccer tours. (not effective) I want to go to English soccer games (getting there). 3 day/2 night package, Manchester United Game vs Fulham, March 29th, Man U museum tour, Old Trafford Stadium Tour. (now we are talking.)
posted by aforward @ 11:19 AM,
2 Comments:
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At 11:51 AM,
aforward said...
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I'd love to get to a point where I can just tell people to go book it online! (unless they want insurance..of course hee hee).
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At 2:20 AM,
said...
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Can't your technology group put that into place :-)
(kiki)
