Babies aren’t the only ones to cry for help | Travel Research Online

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Babies aren’t the only ones to cry for help

Babies are clueless. They cry at the drop of a hat. But as they grow they realize they are self sufficient and no longer need to cry out for help.  I am not so sure that is an entirely good thing. Three weeks ago, I fell and tore the Patellar Tendon in my leg. When it happened, I felt for sure I could get up and walk it off. Wrong. Then after my male ego was sufficiently bruised and several people dragged me to the side of the road, I felt a friend could just pick me up and take me to the doctors. Wrong again. After the ambulance ride and the emergency surgery the following morning I figured I was all set to get back into the swing of things at work. Wrong yet again.  Maybe I should have left that macho gig behind and asked for help in the first place. Yup!

My knee and running a business are really not that different. Believe it or not, there are times when you need to ask for help. Ever funded a business? Get some help. Need some solid basic advice? Maybe look to SCORE. Are your employees running amok? Maybe a human relations consultant is the solution. The point is that no man is an island at some point you need to ask for help. There is nothing wrong with it. As a matter of fact, I think it is a weakness if you don’t ask for it–knees excepted.

When I had several branches to my travel agency, I once booked a speculative group. I had hoped to sell 50 cabins. Well it snowballed on me and before I knew it I had 800 under deposit and no clue how to handle a group of that size. I called my Royal Caribbean DSM and asked for advice and she personally worked with me to get my act together and pull off a much larger booking than anticipated.  I asked for help.

A friendly competitor in my marketplace had a strong corporate base that wanted his agency to handle their meetings. If anyone does meetings and incentives, you know this is a different breed of travel. My competitor called me, since I had some agents who were strong in meetings and incentives, and we developed a program where I would handle the meetings and incentives and he would handle the corporate travel. He took a 5% override on my business and I kept my hands off his clients. Everyone won and earned some more business. He asked for help.

More recently, a relatively new agent in Missouri was putting together a themed culinary group on Holland America Line. He was not sure of the best way to promote the group and get the best return on his promotional dollars. He turned to TRO and our Community and asked for advice. He received tips, suggestions, and solid advice for writing a solid press release. Now he has a special website for the group and last week, he was featured on a local television program. He asked for help.

Your need may not be so urgent as to need an ambulance, but as a businessperson you do need to know when to call for help. TRO is here to help you. Do you even know the tools which are available to you at no cost?

Don’t be macho like me and lay on the side of the road with a blown out knee hoping for the best. Be proactive and use the resources available to improve your business and your customer retention. Ask for help!

And in keeping with the topic at hand (and having learned my lesson the hard way) I am reaching out for help right now. At the bottom of each column is a link for you to “Leave a Reply”. This is for you to comment on our articles. Do you agree with them? Disagree? Have something to add? TRO is your site and we welcome your input and comments. Please, I am asking for help—just one more click!


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