Making 2017 The Best Year To Date | Travel Research Online

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Making 2017 The Best Year To Date

The New Year is fast approaching and everything you have accomplished in 2016 will soon be a memory. I certainly hope it was a year to be proud of, but if not, it still will be categorized as yesterday’s news.

My concern (and it should be your concern) is what lies ahead of us in the form of challenges, opportunities, and new, exciting relationships. I am sitting here thinking that 2017 is going to be a super year filled with all shapes and sizes of good things. I know that it will be up to me to make this happen.

I am also savvy enough to know that mere “thinking” won’t do the trick. Wishing and hoping are good things to do, but they that hold little weight when it comes to documented accomplishments.

So how exactly are we going to turn the page on January 1 and launch our businesses forward on our way to victory?

There are as many answers to this question as there are small business entrepreneurs. There are however, a few items that require our attention regarding personality, time constraints, and budgetary limitations.

What distinct trait distances you from the other choices that consumers have at their fingertips today? I am referring to your USP; your “unique selling proposition.”

By playing “me-too-only-better”, you are setting yourself up for failure in 2017. You must demonstrate a competitive edge. This answer may be obvious to you, but in all probability, it is as elusive as can be. It takes time, focus, and uninterrupted attention to zero in a truly effective differentiating value. You must determine what makes you the logical choice when it comes to travel management assistance.

You don’t have to be shackled to a single target market, but you will be doing yourself a favor if you begin directing your efforts towards a well-defined target. Becoming “good” in this area is not good enough. You must become “really good.”

You have to become the undisputed expert when it comes to your target market. In a sense, you have to “own” your market in 2017. This will only come with total immersion. (Sorry. Nobody said that making a living in 2017 was going to be easy.)

Next, you have to craft a message that is worth reading and worth responding to. You must deliver your message in a number of ways over and over again. Be forewarned: You are going to grow tired of your of message long before your market grows tired of hearing it. Continue beating on the door. Repetition and consistency is going to be the key.

Become famous for “RQ”, response quickness. This is an area that will position you mikes ahead of your competition. Be the first to answer the phone; return phone calls; answer emails; send emails; and follow up with a vengeance.

Challenge yourself to be the world’s best MR, marketing responder. Make up your mind that nobody is going to be better at “following through” than you.

This is a good start for making 2017 another banner year:

1) Define your market.

2) Craft your message.

3) Communicate regularly with your target market.

4) Follow through like a champion.

Tomorrow I will give you a few more ideas to make 2017 the best year of your life.


Mike presents a business-building webinar on the third Thursday of every month sponsored by AmaWaterways. To receive monthly invitations send Mike an email with the words “business training” in the Subject Box. You will also receive a link to the recorded version.

For information on Mike’s Fourth Annual Training Cruise, email Mike at mike@mikemarchev.com with the word “cruise” in the subject box.

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