Help! | Travel Research Online

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Help!

Babies are, well, crybabies. They cry at the drop of a hat. But as they grow, the crying becomes more infrequent and they in turn become self-reliant.  When they are teens, they know it all—just ask one!  Over the years, I have played the “macho” card and made the false assumption that I knew it all and could do it all on my own without any help.  I could not have been more wrong.

Just because you own a business does not mean that you know how to run a business. 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 we have become an industry of jack-of-all-trades and masters of none. And to succeed in today’s market—we need masters!

When I had several branches of my retail 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 nearly 1000 cabins under deposit and no clue how to handle a group of that size. I called my 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 to add meetings and incentives into the mix. 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.

Even TRO can be a lifeline for you. An agent in the Midwest was putting together an affinity group and was not sure how to get the best bang for his marketing buck. He turned to TRO and our Community and asked for advice. He received tips, suggestions, and solid advice for writing a solid press release.  He asked for help.

Sometimes needs require urgent help. Sometimes, it is less pressing. 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?

My advice is to not wait until you need help to seek out the sources for the help. Be proactive and use the resources available to improve your business and your customer retention. Become familiar with the help and expertise that is available to you. And… ask for help!

 

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