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Inactivity in travel will be your 'death sentence': roomsXML

Get off ya @ss and act! The travel market is changing and believe it or not, but your inactivity will become your death sentence.

Get off ya @ss and act! The travel market is changing and believe it or not, but your inactivity will become your death sentence.

 

Every year there are new and exciting challenges of being a travel agent. Historically we had airfare margins slashed from 30 percent down to nothing; new brands; and once upon a time, that big game changer, the Internet.

And my how the Internet continues to delight us – not! Although the cat videos have been a good distraction, you can rate online, you can search online, you can even hire a virtual travel assistant to do all the work for you. Some even book online (I know, right!)

Change is the norm.

There are two types of agents when it comes to change.

The first complains about the inequality . On the desk is a TAA calendar and if you are lucky a Pirelli calendar in the coffee room. In the air, the smell of death.

The second embraces change, accepts the challenge and engages in personal and business improvement.

Agent Smith says: “One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not.”

I’ve been self-employed for more than 80 percent of my working life; I find it staggering when business is not proactively evolving their business or mindsets. It’s actually fun.. by the time you read this, I will have competed at a state level Karate tournament. In the Veterans. It’s my third season. Age is not a factor for stopping your evolution.

Get your @rse into gear and act. Consider these:

 

Wholesalers face challenges too

agent stressed

Business gets more challenging every year, for everyone with rules continuouly changing for you and us. We face competition from local companies and international behemoths like Expedia. Every couple of months we see a market change and how we need to turn that into an opportunity.

Early in the year we come back to work with all the baggage of 2015 left behind. Once the creative juices get flowing things get interesting. 2015 problems can suddenly look amazingly simple.

The Australian travel pie is not getting that much bigger. Innovation is keeping us ahead of the game. roomsXML is growing at double-digit rate in Australia and globally. CPI is not. Its evolution, baby, and it works.

 

Any agent can drive an innovation

travel agent

This story says so much with one action. So he deserves a plug.

A young man who is clearly not going to let anyone rain on the joy of his new job, including Webjet. Not jaded, not been knocked down much, there is a lot that is attractive in this enthusiasm

Brett Kappler works with Sean Simmons travel. He wrote DEAR WEBJET – WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?.

“Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it”

It’s gold. In one action he has pumped himself up, pumped enthusiasm into his workplace and created a buzz. There’s no negatives here. He definitely got his @rseintogear.

What’s stopping you?

 

If it ain’t broken I’m not going to fix it

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“You’ve been living in a dream world, Neo.”

I’m visiting agents now who tell me that clients regularly come to them not asking for a holiday but saying: “can you do this hotel at this price on these dates”.

Where they once sought your expertise , they are asking your opinion as they are now the “expert”. Where they once stood around water coolers holding conversations they are sharing photographs on Facebook.

Are you in those locations?

The changes are so much more complex than that and yes, it is challenging. But it is doable. There are agencies who are growing, there are agencies who are thriving, there are agencies looking at making massive changes switching brands and feeling confident now moving in the right direction.

Fortune favours the brave, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Anyone can be an agent who is going to prosper.

“Don’t think you are. Know you are!”

To start, you just need to get your @rse into gear.

Do you think inactivity will impact an agent’s business?