Great travel consultants are action heroes. The best don’t wait for events to happen to them, they make things happen. True travel professionals actively market according to a plan, they proactively service their clients and they anticipate bumps in the road.
Too many times we over-plan and over-perfect and in the process lose valuable opportunities to others who are quicker to act. Advice like this can be easily misunderstood. Certain essentials have to be in place prior to marketing. Don’t throw out your business plans and your careful research. But also do not let those things become excuses for not moving quickly and decisively. In fact, one of the key failings of many businesses is to believe they are executing a plan simply because they have one. It is not enough to have a plan: you must act on it!
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This 365 Marketing and Sales Tip is provided free to the travel agent community by: |
Be sure to write an Action Plan (how and when) along with your Marketing Plan (what to do). Make your action plan and your marketing calendar a key component of your business. Force the plan onto your marketing calendar. If during planning you have to re-calendar once, do it reluctantly. If you have to do it twice, get serious – refuse to re-calendar a third time. Do not let the process of planning defeat your plans.
Now, put it into action. Commit to living with your business plan and to being accountable to it. Your marketing plan gives you a document behind which you can rally. But, your business plan won’t work…you have to work it. Nothing will happen unless each and every day you put your marketing plan into action. The mere act of working your plan will provide you with the inspiration you need.
Act decisively, act intelligently, but for goodness sake ACT! Or don’t. It will be up to no one but yourself. In the final analysis, it is as simple, and difficult, as that.
