SELLING TRAVEL by SMP Training Co

THE E-MAGAZINE THAT FOCUSES ON THE REALITY OF SELLING TRAVEL

PLUS The O&M The EDGE The Frontline The BDM

In Memory of William Hsu

MARCH 2012

In this issue THE MARKETING TOOLBOX

EDITORIAL

What’s in your wallet TOOLBOX? Hey, study this issue of SELLING TRAVEL and I know what will be in your wallet. Money! It’s time to sharpen the saw. Time to hammer that nail home. Time to replace a few old tools with next generation kit. It’s always time to learn something new and exciting. In this issue is all about the POWER TOOLS that will help you market yourself, your business, your brand, your niche and more. Open the box but remember, creativity is a dangerous thing. Once you release it, you cannot put it back! Don’t forget, if you need help with anything you see in Selling Travel I am as close as your email or Skype button.

Best regards, Steve Crowhurst, CTM Publisher www.sellingtravel.net steve@sellingtravel.net www.facebook.com/sellingtravel Skype: smptraining1 T: 250‐752‐0106

IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM HSU… THE O&M – The Hire Power THE FRONTLINE – Product Knowledge Toolbox THE EDGE – DIY Toolbox NEW TOOLS IN THE TOOLBOX – Toolbox Ng THE SOURCE OF IDEAS – Looking For The Tool Book WHAT’S IN YOUR AGENCY’S TOOLBOX? THE PROBABLITY & IMPACT GRID PLUG INTO THIS POWER – The Creative Power Aura CORY ANDRICHUK – Social Toolbox THE POWER OF NUMBERS – Which Toolbox to Join? THE EXTREME BDM – Branded Toolbox And more…

Selling Travel is owned and published by Steve Crowhurst, SMP Training Co. All Rights Reserved. Protected by International Copyright Law. Selling Travel can be shared, forwarded, cut and pasted but not sold, resold or in anyway monetized. Using any images or content from Selling Travel must be sourced as follows: “Copyright SMP Training Co. www.smptraining.com” SMP Training Co. 568 Country Club Drive, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada V9K 1G1 Note: Steve Crowhurst is not responsible for outcomes based on how you interpret or use the ideas in Selling Travel or on the Selling Travel Website.

editorial

Say what? How is that English anyway? Well who says you have to write right, all your want to have happen is that your message gets out there, gets across, causes a response that sounds like, “kaching!” Give it to me one more time… “kaching!”

I love that sound. Real time audio or in written word or graphic or cartoon. So many ways for it to be viewed. Did I mention hard cash too? Not yet. Well I meant to. Perhaps the message was jumbled, bumbled and not quite clear. Perhaps I needed some additional tools to help push that message out there. What to do? I could read this issue of ST I guess. In this issue of Selling Travel I will tell you about and show you the cutting edge tools I use to create images, slogans, logos and more. With limited space I can only show you so much, BUT… there are webinars in the wind, so hold on to your buzz saw. Stay tuned with The Travel Institute and CITC. Back with us for March is the one and only COACH CORY – yes, ‘The Coach’ – Cory Andrichuk of brandUcoaching and back with another great article. Let’s go make something happen! Let me know what you need! Creatively Yours!

Steve Crowhurst Author, Trainer, Columnist, Keynote Speaker, Publisher and world traveller.

My ole Dad used to be able to build pretty much anything with a Woolworth’s hammer, saw and drill powered by human energy! In fact I still have his old screwdriver. He used it for bashing, stirring as well it’s intended use. Today we have POWER TOOLS for work and play. Make sure you are using the latest tools. The old and best can still work – but the NEW tools have the edge you need.

1963 - 2012

With heartfelt condolences to William’s family and the Uniglobe Geo team.

I wanted to pay tribute to William who passed away February 27th, 2012, as to me, he always represented the creative side of travel. We go back to 1985 when William bought a Uniglobe franchise in Edmonton, Alberta and I was his T&D Consultant. I can remember the first moment we met at the Uniglobe Regional HQ in Richmond, BC. We had an instant rapport. He was eager. He listened. He learned. He applied it all. Then he did it his way and over the years, with his team and partners they built a marvellous, energetic, thriving business and led the pack. He once said in a trade interview: "I didn't know anything. I followed to a T what the franchiser was teaching…" and that’s exactly what he did. He learned the craft of travel and franchising. Over the last few years we exchanged an email or two and met perhaps once or twice – each time that old creative buzz between us was still buzzing! It’s at times like now, you wish you had spent more time with that person or simply made the call. A one‐of‐a‐kind, gone too soon. Wherever William is now, I’m sure he’s listening, learning and applying the knowledge once again.

“Here’s to William!”

Are you old school or new? Do you place a trade add when you search for your new high producer or do you go online and file a wanted notice? Both can work, however a BLENDED approach can work best depending upon who it is you want to attract.

If you truly desire THE HIRE POWER then you’ll need to invest in a profiling tool that can 1.) determine the best skills and talents that exist in your BEST counsellors and 2.) measure new candidates against your established and BEST agents. You have I am sure heard of DiSC, Drake P3 and Myers Briggs to name three. The one I am familiar with is Drake P3 and I know the reports it can produce that will reduce your hiring mistakes by 80%. Can you even imagine hiring the RIGHT person for the job? WOW! How can that happen? The RIGHT person for the job you say. Imagine once again, hiring someone who arrives with the knowledge you need. The service attitude that warms both customers and colleagues. The creativity that helps generate new business ideas that and here’s the clincher – that work! Is there such a moment in time for an agency owner? Fact is – all of this and more awaits you however you must do some work prior to claiming your rainmaker prize. You must first review your existing team, assess their skills and competencies, measure and profile your best of best and then with that profile in hand, you can now train the rest of your team up to the level you know to be BEST and you can also hire against this model too. The cost for the initial round would be close to $100 per person. To get the best‐of‐best profile you would need at least 10 to 15 people who are truly the best at what they do. Once their profiles are in the software – the data can be produced in various reports.

That would be the status quo. If you want to build your agency then you must decide where you want to take it, by when and then list the skills you’ll need your agency team to have. If they don’t yet posses these skills then you’ll invest in training – or cut to the chase and hire people who already have the skills at the level you need. Take note: The way to The Hire Power is through planning, profiling, and then selling the sizzle of working for YOU to attract those e‐resumes. To test the market, you could ask for resumes in any format other than the usual paper version. Better still, request a stand up presentation. Hold an audition. Include a couple of your BEST agents to help you decide.

THE PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE It’s a tough job but someone’s gotta do it! Below is a partial list of hats that you wear and each one bears the responsibility of knowing. That’s the word – knowing. You have to know. There is an old, repeat old, phrase that states as a travel agent you don’t need to know it all, you just to know where to find it. That might be true for a general, all purpose agency, however if you are focused and specialized and working in a niche market then you truly must know it all. 1. Accommodation Provider 2. Accountant 3. Almanac 4. Budget Planner 5. Car Rental Expert 6. Cruise Expert 7. Customer Service Associate 8. Dad 9. Favourite Aunt 10. FIT Planner 11. Go Between 12. Guidance Counsellor 13. Honeymoon Consultant 14. Information Bureau 15. Insurance Agent 16. Magician 17. Mum 18. Negotiator 19. Priest 20. Salesperson 21. Sounding Board 22. Specialist 23. Warrior 24. Weatherman 25. Wedding Planner Frontline Font: PlazaPUit

HOW MANY HATS FOR YOU? Believe it or not it’s an interesting exercise to work on as a team, listing the number of hats you wear each and every day. You’ll find that you will weave in and out of the personality that goes with each hat. During one customer interaction, chances are you’ve worn every hat listed here. You might even have to be the MAGICIAN who not only wears the hat, but pulls something from it… like an upgrade! As you read through the list on this page, and the list you create at your agency, think about the information and the product knowledge you’ll need to support each role. #15 states Insurance Agent – pretty easy that one. You need to make contact with your preferred insurance vendor and discuss training or remedial training if it’s been a while since you actually went through the program. Now what else is there? #18 ‐ you being the Negotiator. Yes you do this. You negotiate with your client, your manager, your suppliers and sometimes the level of negotiating is ramped up to something close to an international trade discussion. This is a skill every frontline counsellor should be trained for. Knowledge of how to negotiate properly will win you more clients, win more concessions from your suppliers for your clients and show you to be the consummate professional you claim to be. Right over to you! I recall one list like this listing over 40 hats. Keep it fun, but find out how your personality changes and the knowledge you need to support each change/hat.

YOU KNEW THIS WHEN YOU STARTED. AS A HOME BASED AGENT YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. Well, you have the support of the host agency, but they’re not there to actually do it for you. They are there to support you – you must still do the work. It’s your business, so that’s fair. However many of you write in to say this:

I’m looking for real‐time challenges that stop you from being the best you can be. Be sure to include your email and website links. Thanks!

“No one told me it would be If you truly intend to be the best‐of‐best Home Based Agent then you’ll need certain mobile tools in your this tough to make sales…”

Hey welcome to sales! Now that you are in the travel trade it’s mandatory you apply the best set of tools to anything and everything you do. As the years go by you will be gathering unprecedented information and experience that will always guide your decision making. The fact will always remain – that to do a terrific job you need the tools. So what’s in your DIY TOOLBOX that needs updating? Computer and more: Are you working with the latest technology Do you have the latest version of software? Without these tools being the sharpest in the toolbox you’ll not get very far. Make sure you have what you’ll need to deliver the sales and revenue you strive for. Knowledge: If you stepped out of a long term travel career to go home then you’ll have all the knowledge you need and the travel history to support it too. If you are new to the role of HBA then you’ll need to factor in a few months of travel this year alone if you wish to compete. All new HBAs should actually take off for the first 3 months of their career and build a decent knowledge base first hand. The Edge Font: Baby Kruffy

toolbox. Better put your toolbox on wheels! You should be able to communicate, market and close from anywhere. You cannot afford to say, “I’ll get back to you” – your client will be long gone by the time you respond. To keep your name out there you’ll need to be pretty good at creating graphics, slogans and writing catchy phrases that attract new clients to you. Be sure to read the NEW TOOLS article in this issue. All of the tools mentioned are tools that should be in your toolbox. Each one is a DIY agent’s best friend. PLANNING: If you haven’t worked it out as yet, this is the word. The keyword. You will need a business planning software or perhaps if you are self‐managed, all you need is a spreadsheet in Excel. Plan your sales, then your marketing activities right across the entire year. In this way you will never be wondering, “…what shall I do this week?”

What else should be in your DIY Toolbox? Stats, facts, brochures, DVDs, a new office, a new host agency? Hey, it’s your business. You have to make the decisions.

TOPICS INCLUDE: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

What Is A Consumer Webinar? Webinar Products, Features & Pricing Where Skype Fits Into This Concept Best Webcams To Use Correct Camera Positioning Choosing Your Type Of Presentation Marketing Your Webinar Recording Your Webinar Marketing Your Recording Selling Your Recording Effective PowerPoint Tips & Tools Effective Graphics & Layout Charging For Attendance Co-Op With Suppliers Marketing Your Webinar Handouts & Brochures For Clients Follow Up Establishing A Webinar Schedule

It’s the latest way to sell yourself, your agency and your tours.

TWO DATES TO PLAN AROUND MARCH 9th & MARCH 22nd IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND EITHER DATE YOU CAN PURCHASE THE RECORDING PACKAGE

PRICE

Regular rate: $45 + taxes per person includes 75 minute webinar, 30 minutes of post webinar time with me, workbook and recording. SAVE $15! The LIKE rate is $30 – all you have to do is LIKE the Selling Travel Facebook page and request your discount code by email. LIKE ME here: www.facebook.com/sellingtravel

WOW! YOUR CLIENTS!

Delivering webinars to your clients is easy! You can do this from anywhere. All you need is your computer and a webcam and you are in business. Imagine, selling the beach, from the beach in real time. Let me show you how it’s done, explain the steps and the tools – and in 75 minutes, you’ll be ready to deliver your first event. Register early. CLAIM YOUR LIKE ME DISCOUNT CODE THEN REGISTER BY CLICKING YOUR PREFERRED DATE DATE: Fri March 9th 2012 Time: 10 A.M. PST DATE: Thu March 22nd 2012 Time: 10 A.M. PST

Questions? Ask Steve directly: steve@sellingtravel.net

TAKE A PEEK INSIDE YOUR TOOLBOX. WHAT’S IN THERE THAT CAN HELP YOU MARKET YOU AND SELL THE SIZZLE OF DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU? There are so many new tools, ideas and suggestions zinging around the trade that it must boggle the mind of someone new to selling travel. Everyone has their own ideas on what works and what doesn’t and what’s best, cutting edge, the fastest growing and so much of what you read is so old and regurgitated. For me, I’m down with whatever works for YOU. The difference in what works for you will depend on your style of business, whether or not you can make your own marketing decisions, your niche, business focus, target market and all the other tabs in your marketing plan. Keeping it plain and simple, no‐ fluff and little theory, my call to arms, will get you there. HUMOUR: The art of using humour in marketing is a skill you can learn. We’re not talking jokes. Humour can be expressed in text, photographs, cartoons, caricatures and a poke or two at real life situations. Better if you can laugh at your self and be your own stooge. For the latter, my wife tells me, I’m a natural! Yes she has been embarrassed many times as I set the scene and ask her to take a picture of me doing some wild and to me, funny thing. Once the image is captured you can turn it into all sorts of promotional icons, headings, flyers and attachments. The outcome should range between daft to silly, but never rude or lurid.

One of my favourite tools. Contains all the comic layouts you need, plus text styles, fonts, you can create and upload your own cartoons or photographs. You do not have to produce a comic. You can use the layouts to showcase anything you wish.

The comic shown here is something I created. The cartoon character is me. I added a beard onto my photo, played with it in Photoshop Elements and then sketched it out by hand, photographed it again and bingo. Job done.

So now you can turn your flyers into something a little more creative. Even if you just placed a photograph of you standing somewhere with a speech bubble “saying” something humourous, it could work for you.

http://plasq.com/products/comiclife/win

The TABLET is the tool of travel. More and more of your clients will be T‐Travellers sooner than later. So, what to do? You must embrace the art of T‐ Marketing. To do this you’ll need to beef up on mobile marketing tips and tools. There are some email services such as Constant Contact that are already scaled to look good on a tablet screen. You can still send emails. You can attach flyers. You can also build your own APP for a tablet. Skype also works on a tablet – which means you can chat live and in person with your T‐Customers. Skype is not new. It’s been us for a few years now, but it might be new to you. It’s a wonderful tool and easy to use and FREE if you stick with the basic edition. You can use Skype to chat with your clients via their tablet, also via their smart phone. You can send (IM) instant messages, exchange files and photos. One of the best chat and marketing tools there is. www.skype.com You can put Conduit to work for you and create your very own APP in about 30 minutes. Pay attention to the details and it’s pretty easy to do. Once you have your APP you can let your clients know about it and send the link out to them so they can download it to their smart phone and tablet. Now you have them where you want you! Got it? I knew you did. Conduit also has the goodies for you to create your own agency toolbar. Send that out to your clients and it resides on their browser.

Photoshop Elements 10 is the latest edition. Cost under $100 and has so many tools for you to explore. We can chat photography another time, for this article I want to focus on one specific tool – the Filter, then Distort, then Liquify tool which allows you to play with say, err your own face (!) to create something humourous. You could also reshape a cruise ship, a hotel or a landscape scene. Aha! Can you spot the difference? Whaddiya mean NO! Let your imagination run wild, not with my face, with yours then think what else can you do. Well you could turn one of your photos into a poster and then you could sell it or give it away. It’s also possible to turn an image into a watercolour – you could grace the walls of your agency with framed artworks. Here’s one of my own works that has been edited in Photoshop Elements. www.adobe.com

Do you have any of your own images that would look great as a poster? Bet you do!

The Logo Creator is something I use constantly. It takes an hour to learn and then you are on your way. Don’t dabble here, just buy the full program and then you’ll have everything you need. Hundreds of templates you can use or change. Create slogans, headers, ads and produce as JPEGs or PNGs. www.thelogotcreator.com Here’s one I put together:

You’ll have a voice to text program in Windows that you can play with, however Dragon is the best for business use. I use it to TYPE when I have pages of information to add to a Word document. Once you have learned the program which doesn’t take too long to be “pretty good” at it (longer to be excellent) you can speak into your microphone on your webcam and watch the screen fill with text as you talk. Dragon is also available on your smart phone. Capture ideas by voice and print them out at the office. You can also apply the use of Dragon to email. Imagine sitting back with a cup of coffee as you “do your email” by voice. “Open email…” “Click on…” Reply… Hi Steve…” Then you can sign off with, “Send” and it’s all done. You can work as fast as you can speak with little to no typing errors – unless you’re chewing and speaking at the same time. www.nuance.com

Once again, buy the bundle and you’ll have access to a fantastic set of tools for video, audio, images and even ring tones! http://www.avs4you.com You have to try it out before you’ll become a believer and you get ALL of the AVS programs for one low price. Try importing your latest photos and turning them into a movie, then emailing or posting on your website or social media pages. Here’s one layout for the video editor program featuring dozens of first class TV like transitions.

Chances are you have a screensaver on your own computer screen. It might be an image of your kids, a special place, a pet… whatever it is, it has some meaning to you. Screensavers are also marketing tools. You may have seen various suppliers offering you their screensaver to download. The scene is spectacular and the logo is a reminder for you to book with them. Using the same principle – you too can create your own screensavers and then make them available to your clients to save on their monitor. Each time they log on, they will see your screensaver and be reminded of you and your agency. http://www.dd2002.com/ To quench that entrepreneurial spirit you might also start to sell your screensavers, or open a screensaver development business! Why not?

Muvee is one more video producing / editing software and it has a style that I do like. The style is one that will turn your video in to an old 1920s style black & white movie that flickers as it plays. Classic. With The Artist winning several Oscars – the silent movie has a place once again. Work on it. See if you can use it. www.muvee.com

You will know all about QuickTime I am sure. If not – now you do. Go online and download it – pay the small fee and buy the pro version. When you click File, New Audio Recording the recording button you see below will pop on screen. What you are about to do is create an audio file that we now call a PODCAST.

Here’s a very simple marketing idea you can use for when you wish to conduct a direct mail campaign. Use a DVD, it’s flat, light, mails easily and for low cost. Use a DVD mailer. No need to use a jewel case – just the DVD. The DVD content can be a full brochure in PDF that you have downloaded from your preferred supplier’s website. You can add your own images, your voice, music and or put all of this together using the AVS4YOU suite of programs or Windows Movie Maker. All you need is a box of printable DVDs, an inkjet printer with a CD/DVD print tray and you are in business. Print your DVDs. Copy your finished movie to the DVDs and they are good to go. Don’t forget to include a booking form if you are promoting a specific tour. This idea works so well for small targeted lists. Make sure your content is focused on the right client profile. If you are adept at PowerPoint you may want to check out SlideShare and BrainShark. You can narrate your slide show and then upload it to play on either or both sites.

Once you have finished recording and saved it to file you can upload your file to your website, to your social media to be shared and also to the iTunes library. http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/ The marketing tip here is to use your storytelling skills and if you are blessed with a voice like Earl Ray Jones, Barry White, or Maya Angelou then you are in business for sure! Tell the story of your journeys and through your words pull the listener into your story, send them to your contact information and your website and they might well book with you on your next journey. Well known TV Traveller Rick Steves has his own podcast site – click below to check his website and listen too. http://www.ricksteves.com/radio/podcast.htm http://podcasts.ricksteves.com/feeds/pgm277_pod.mp3

Talking photographs, chances are you have heard of FLICKR and even have an account there. Question is, are you pushing your clients there to check out where your last tour group went. Add the link to your emails and website. If you love to travel and long to write, well ISSUU is for you. As you read this issue of Selling Travel you are reading it on ISSUU. Why can’t you write your own travel magazine and use ISSUU to get the word out. It’s FREE! So that’s the toolbox for this month. Hope there is something here you didn’t know of, haven’t used as yet and now have something NEW to try. Good luck!

THE SOURCE OF IDEAS

Every travel professional will eventually build their own toolbox and fill it with the latest and greatest ‘everything’ that any travel agent would need to prospect, tell, sell, close, follow up and ask for referrals. After a few years the toolbox will be bursting at the hinges! Many of the tools are now digital. The toolbox is now a folder on your hard drive. I have such a folder which is named FILING CABINET – in every sense my toolbox. I collect data and information and I copy and past and save it in my Filing Cabinet. But what about The Source of Ideas? Well that’s what SELLING TRAVEL is all about and it’s what I do for you – and you can do it for yourself.

My toolbox is jam packed and it’s what I refer to when I am producing this publication, creating my webinars and writing self study manuals. The idea here is that you do the same for your agency and to suit your specific niche market. The toolbox mindset that you’ll need to develop is one where you can quickly see the outcome, the end result of using the tool in front of you. As hammer is to nail you’ll be thinking for instance, Skype to customer service, or digital camera to website images. It’s all in the use of the tool and the expected or newly created outcome and how you creatively turn something to a new use. You do not always have to know how something works. What I ask is: “What does it do?” The answer to this question is the nugget you are looking for.

You should be prepared to spend much time online as you search for and review all sorts of websites, book reviews and how‐to. TOURISM WEBSITES If you are looking for a selection of fantastic images featuring the destination you specialize in, then your first stop would be to visit the website of the official tourism office. Look around this website for the image gallery. It may be listed under the Media or Travel Trade tab. You may find you have open access to the images or you may have to register and then sign in order to access them. Point is this is one tool you can employ for all destinations. Great images at no cost to you. Read the fine print re copyright and what you are legally allowed to do with these images. E‐BROCHURES Here is another tool in someone else’s toolbox, just like the images found on a tourism website. These e‐Brochures allow you to do so much. You can download them and save them in your toolbox and then forward them, send out a link, even copy certain pages and create your own e‐ brochure – or you can go to print with it if that’s your goal. E‐brochures can be found on almost all supplier’s websites. It’s the green thing to do. STORIES TO TELL If you need help in writing your flyers or your blog then you’ll be looking for content to fill the voids. You can go back to the tourism websites and you can go back to the supplier’s brochures too. Everything you need is there, right before your very eyes. The skill to be developed is in taking what’s supplied as written and turning it around to be written in your own style and perhaps embellished by your own experience. As long as it’s all true, your are doing well. Keep this in mind when you have writers block. AUDIO THEMES Let’s say you need your own jingle. Why not use some of the online music generators such as UJAM where you can take an existing theme and mess with it – or create your own jingle.

TRADE PAPERS ONLINE AND HARDCOPY Everyday my inbox is filled with trade news from all sorts of trade papers that I have registered with. You should explore any and all sources of trade information as so many ideas are just sitting there and ready to be acted on. The Aussies have some fantastic ideas as do the Brits. If you can read more than English then head to the travel trade news websites in other countries. DATA & INFORMATION Not too many travel agents look for data. Not sure why, however why don’t YOU make the difference and follow this advice. Start searching for surveys and reports and newsletters and info graphics too. Once you gather this data you’ll be reading it and applying it to your business and where you do business. If a report mentions how much the affluent client is using social media then, and if that’s a target market for you, get busy focusing your social efforts towards an upscale product. Your words and phrasing would also change to represent an upscale product. THE TEAM SOURCE OF IDEAS Believe it or not, very few owners every collect the creative output of their agency team. Amazing but true. The Source of Ideas, or a source of ideas is sitting there day in day out and not being asked to share. Make this your first priority after reading this page. Call a meeting of all staff. Tell them by next week, you want list of business building ideas that consist of a title, how it works and why, the cost to implement the idea, an expected return on investment and anything else you’ll want to know. You then review each idea with your accountant. You follow through and do the math and then report back to the team what ideas came through as great potential and which didn’t meet the target and why. Reward those who had the revenue generating idea. Let them share in the profit for the first year. Ask your new source of ideas to also pool their favourite websites and make sure everyone has the list. Build your own intra‐toolbox where your team can add the new tools they find.

Â Take a few minutes to work with your team to identify what tools you have in the agency toolbox that help you sustain, maintain and gain new sales. Create this list by writing in each box below then discuss how each element works. Next, review who needs further training on any or all of your agency tools. You should include tools made available by your host agency, franchise and consortium, too.

PRINT / PHOTOCOPY AS REQURIED

TOPIC:

PROBABILITY / IMPACT SCALE 1 =Low and 10 = High H

PURSUE FIRST 10

P R O B A B I L I T Y

1 1 LOW

5 6 IMPACT SCALE

10 HIGH

Use this Probability & Impact grid to determine the potential of your idea. Probability refers to: time, money and people. Impact refers to the expected outcome. If time, money and people are in short supply then you would score low. If you had time and people and the campaign was to send emails –then this is very probable. The impact would depend on how well your subject line is written, the offer, the response mechanism and so on. Have this grid with you in a staff meeting and get input from the team. Anything that falls into the top right quadrant is an action worth pursuing. Don’t forget to do the math. We need an ROI!

Everyone has one. Even plants. Animals. If you live, you have energy and that means you have an aura. Some people can see them, read them and then there are cameras that can record the aura too. Mostly used in scientific circles however once in awhile that old voodoo psychic show comes to town and if you are open to such things, then you can have a fun day and find out a little more about your creative talents too. The point of this page is to have you focus on that internal talent and to listen to your inner knowledge and gut feel. There was a time when “we” thought up a new stone tool so we could hunt and eat. Nothing has really changed has it? You must still go out day after day to generate your own food – or least generate the means to buy your own food, and you do that through sales. From my experience everyone has the creative gene. It’s built in. Hasn’t left us at all. For some it’s hidden way down in there somewhere and for others they’ve been told that they aren’t creative that they can’t, shouldn’t and so on. In the past I have run workshops where attendees turn up with tubes of acrylic paint in colours they like, plus a 22 x 30 inch piece of art paper. With a little coaching everyone produces a ‘one‐of‐a‐kind’ artwork. No matter what it looked like – there was only one of those in the entire world! How does that make you feel? Once you learn the path to tap your own creativity the power switches on. Then there is no stopping you. The challenge becomes how to turn it off. Not ALL things will work or come to fruition. To accept failure is good too.

Tapping into your own creative power requires trust. You must trust yourself, your decisions and your chosen path. Whatever you believe in call it to mind and ask for help and let the universe guide you and it will if you let it. The way to learn is to study and study hard. After you have the theory down solid, you must try it, do it, in real time. You will make mistakes and that’s good. You will learn how NOT to do it. Your travel experience will aid your creativity. The number of magazines you read will do the same. The number of TV commercials you watch will help. The number of billboards, shop windows, in‐store displays, book covers and so on – all of this data will filter into your creative and when you need it, it will come forward six inches from the back of your brain to the front (!) and then you can access it for the current project you have in mind. Your brain needs INPUT. It should be stimulating. You may want to collect ads, layouts, websites, audio files and build a library of how others have done it. You need this hardcopy data to access too. To kick your creative side into gear, all you have to do is doodle something on paper. That’s it. By doing that, you will move your thinking into your ‘right brain’ where the creative side of you is supposed to live. Take a test here: http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver /left_right/rb_test.htm

Learning The Craft of Creativity I seem to come by it naturally. People in my family are creative – there are artists, fashion designers and one uncle who was ambidextrous. He could draw with both hands at the same time. For me I was sketching as a child and as a teenager and back then it was pen and ink. The sketch below from 1966.

Today you can use all the drawing tools available to you in a software program. All you need to do is click and play. That’s the keyword for creativity. You must play and then the light goes on. You’ll break boundaries that were self‐imposed and you’ll be amazed at what you can produce. There are any number of books on the topic of creativity. Some are over the top and the only person to understand the content is the genius who wrote the book! I like the books by Roger con Oech. They are old now, but still a great place to start. Observe and Learn Observation is an element of creativity. As you know two people will look at something and see two different things. When I want to know what colour is being used to attract people to buy, I head to a bookstore. I look at the latest hardcover releases, and let my eyes go a little fuzzy and then I can see what colours come shining through. Reds and yellows, more white… then there is a certain type of font, and cover page layout that seems to be “in” – and this is where I get my current information. New books only have a 2 week window to ‘make it’ – hence colour, title, image is important. Have you observed your brochure rack lately? What’s going on there? Look beyond the glorious imagery and let the colours come to you, check the wording, those special phrases too. Your suppliers spend thousands of dollars getting this cover page just right. There is an education on each cover of every brochure. Observe and learn.

Look Over The Fence, Too Many times an industry is unto itself. When that happens and you focus inward, you cut yourself off from so much creativity and new ideas. I am always checking out other industries and their styles of advertising and marketing. The world of photography is a sister industry to travel. The magazine industry runs parallel to travel brochures. All of this plus you have the colour palette of travel, too plus its sights and sounds. This is a TWO + TOO business as you are now sensing. Your Next Step Start collecting. That’s an activity that will serve you well. Collect and record, Save to file anything that causes you to go WOW! in your mind. Next, take a course on creativity or follow those in the trade who are doing what you want to do. Study them. If you are gutsy enough, you can phone your creative idol and have a chat. It’s how I did it way back. I called the author of the book you see here. We had a 40 minute conversation and I had the answers I was looking for. Your turn!

Integrating Facebook into business has proven a challenge at best. Travel agency owners, manager’s supervisors, and self‐managed home‐based travel entrepreneurs have no doubt all wrestled with the issue of managing Facebook time in the workplace. However, it is hard to resist the positive economic impact on one’s business (when done right!) with close to one billion users connected by April 2012. There is no doubt that business social media tools have begun to change (and some might say!) revolutionize the way we do business today. Social media marketing, and the publishing tools that have built and brought this transformation to both the consumers and industry’s attention, seems to be more about a shift in HOW we communicate than anything else. It’s NOT about broadcasting, advertising, and telling (old‐world marketing) as much as it is about connecting, conversing, and engaging with your community (both online and off!). In my experience, the best way I have found to connect, converse and engage with my target market is to consistently research, produce and then share information that helps save time and money. As professional travel agents selling travel, you do this all day long, some for a fee, and some for free. Simply stated…your business social media marketing strategy starts by taking your travel knowledge socially online, and sharing it, positioning you as the Travel Authority in your niche/ community/ segment of travel business.

Begin every Facebook post with the mindset that your information is valuable, and posting it with the objective to helps others, who will share it (going viral) with their friends, fans, colleagues, and ultimately their entire community. This shared mindset will help you stand out from your competition, and most of all, with consistency, prevent your fans from booking online. Travel information like insurance quotes and stories, international visa requirements, vaccinations, currency, and passport knowledge, weather, and local cultural content is what makes you the personal and professional travel and niche specialist right? So, communicate with the intent to converse, connect, and add incredible upfront so that your fan base does not have a reason to book anywhere else… Stay tuned for next month as we will explore more humorous and entertaining ideas to post on Facebook, to again, keep your target market tuned into brand U. Coach Cory

Call me #1855 BUY CORY (289 2679) Follow me

@branducoach

coryandrichuk.com

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In a former life I was the VP Uniglobe Western Canada. Those were great days. The trade had no idea what a franchised travel agency was all about and it was a time of walls going up to block out the blue, teal blue. How times have changed. What hasn’t changed is the Power of Numbers and the Power of Focus.

Today you have such a wonderful choice as to which group, host, consortium or franchise you wish to join. Some of these groups now have rules and requirements before you can join. Some require that you produce X amount of sales and others are ready to take you on and train you. What you need to work on and work out, is simply this: which group has the best toolbox based on what it is you want to do with your agency – or if you are just starting out, your new career. Once you’ve created your plan and charted your course, you can then search for that toolbox. The Power of Numbers Lives It is still true. The more agencies in the group the more power the group has. That said everyone must be rowing in the same direction. The more agencies, owners, managers in the group the more creativity is generated. There are more ideas that are proven to work. There are fellow agencies owned by people who have been there done that. The power is enormous if you tap into it. Here’s the thing: if you plan on building a corporate meeting planning service you’ll need a group that can support your plan. A cruise only group would be hard pressed to do that, unless… you plan to focus on corporate meetings onboard cruise ships. Now you have the tools in the right toolbox.

Your group should be on the cutting edge of social media and generational selling and be offering you advice and support re travel insurance and travel safety issues and legal advice for when things and events and clients corner you. The tools are one thing and hopefully they come with a tool master. A travel trade Mike or Michelle Holmes if you will. Someone that can show you HOW, keyword, HOW to use the tools. Ask the hard questions if you are planning a move or looking to get into the travel business. Always ask: How do YOU know? Followed by SHOW me HOW. When you are told to “Get groups!” ‐ you now know what to say in reply. If your host cannot walk the talk… it’s time to go. The Power is reduced if you don’t participate in the host program. If you cannot support the program then unplug and find another socket. The Power of Numbers is a terrific tool in the toolbox as long as everyone is plugged in. If you belong to a group of 200 agencies or 900 home based agents then you should have a built in sales outlet for your specialty tours. Let’s say you create a tour program with your preferred suppliers to Ireland or Scotland that is different from what’s on the market. The Power of Numbers should mean that you can ask your colleagues to share in your creativity and book your tours to support you and to earn a point or two more in commission. That’s the Power of Numbers working to the common good.

On this page we enhance the sales relationship between supplier BDMs and the travel agent. Outcome: faster, quicker, larger, higher revenue sales!

So what have you got for me? I’ll play the role of a travel agency account and what I want to know is: what’s in your toolbox that I can access to help me grow my sales of your products? The next question is: Do YOU know how they work and can you show me how they work?

Here’s what I would love to have access to:

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Access to you logos Brochures Co branding Co op funding Consumer Night Plans Fams FIT Training Flyers Giveaway Ideas Marketing Kit Partner programs Podcasts Print Campaigns Radio Commercials Sales Letters Sales Training Social Media Campaigns Specialty Agent Programs TV Commercials Videos White label programs Workshops

BDM Font: Baily

As an extreme BDM you should know how every one of your branded marketing tools for agents work and you should have tested them yourself perhaps working with a preferred agency account to prove that they do. That done – you can now spread the word and show how.

You may want to consider putting on a workshop where you show and tell how the tools in your toolbox work and go step by step so that your audience can actually learn how to use them there and then, apply them and help build the sales you want and they need. Many of the tools that are listed in this issue of Selling Travel can become a sales builder for you and help you communicate with your agency accounts and, if you learn to use these same tools, you would then have something extra in your kit to train your agency accounts on. For instance, if you had the images, the story lines and the filler text, you could help your accounts publish their own eMagazine like this one and the content could be ALL about YOUR brand. How nice would that be? Remember, you only buy the hammer to drive the nail home! What will you use to drive sales home?

Remember the BDM Mantra: “If I can’t sell it to them… they won’t sell it for me!”

MONDAY APRIL 2nd 2012

FREE to TTI members. Non‐members pay a small fee of USD $19.99

Let me know the topics that interest you and I’ll see what can be done to create a webinar on that topic. Send to: steve@sellingtravel.net

412 PAGES 273 IDEAS 100s of VARIATIONS 700 LINKS TO MORE RESOURCES When you need a source of ideas to either implement as is, or to help jog your own creative juices, this is the book to buy. It took me over 25 years to get it ‘here’ and that story is on page 5. It was some journey. When I started writing it, the IBM Selectric was the word processor of choice! What a laugh. Some suppliers have purchased a copy for each of their Business Development Managers, host agencies have made bulk purchases for their members and individual agents have written in to say this book is their idea bible.

WHEN YOU BUY THIS BOOK YOU WILL RECEIVE 2 HOURS OF IDEA TIME WITH THE AUTHOR AND 10% OFF YOUR FIRST STATIONERY ORDER WHEN PURCHASED THROUGH BIG BARK GRAPHICS EASY TO USE E-STORE!

It also, as you can see, comes in pill form, a cure for the common creative block! Okay, just kidding, but it is available in E‐BOOK format if you prefer to read it on screen! For e‐Books: steve@sellingtravel.net

NO OTHER BOOK LIKE THIS ONE – AND IT’S CURRENT!

PURCHASE THE SOFT COVER FROM

$44.95 + taxes and shipping

YES! IT’S UP AND RUNNING AND ACCESSIBLE RIGHT NOW. SO CLICK THERE WHEN YOU CAN AND USE WHATEVER YOU CAN FIND. SHARE IT WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES AND SEND IN ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE ABOUT SELLING TRAVEL. YOU’LL FIND SOME OLD FAVOURITES AND A FEW NEW PAGES TOO. ENJOY!

www.sellingtravel.net The SELLING TRAVEL webpage will eventually take over from the SMP TRAINING Co. website which will operate but become more focused on developing training modules, presentations and keynote speeches. The SELLING TRAVEL website and SELLING TRAVEL eMagazine will compliment each other and offer travel agency managers and staff a continuous flow of no fluff, street savvy sales and marketing “how‐to”. If you can help build the selling travel community it would be greatly appreciated by letting your agency colleagues and head office management team know about it.

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How To Sell Tips, Tools and Techniques Social Media Info and How‐To Niche and Specialty Travel Marketing Videos and Surveys Free PowerPoint Training Links Webinars E‐Books and Handouts Downloads Articles On Selling Travel Find Your Favourites: The Edge, The O&M, The Frontline and The BDM all here in the Selling Travel E‐Magazine

A division of SMP Training Co.

www.sellingtravel.net T: 250-752-0106 steve@sellingtravel.net