The Travel Industry News - Editorial Archives

December / January, 2006

WHERE DOES TIME FLY TO?

Does time seem to slip by you these days ... do you start the day with a ‘million’ things to get done ... and suddenly your tummy rumbles, your thoughts start to wander and night descends once more?

Wasn’t it just a couple of years ago the we fumed and fussed over the arrival of the ‘New Millennium’?

Instant food, instant information, instant media, even instant Christmas trees ! AND .. more and more apparently, a demand for - instant gratification.

I don’t think ‘Father Time’ is happy about this, I know I’m not.

With the ‘Holiday Season’ in full swing, business coming and going ( hopefully! ) ... just maybe it’s time to pause, although I admit that I seem to pause more than act these days.

May I wish you all an enjoyable season and suggest quietly that - if you can - slow time down, appreciate your friends, savor time spent with your loved ones, for as we well know in the Travel Biz .. very few things are guaranteed.

Times are different now, but they have been for every generation.

There was a time when any company worth its salt had a ‘Five Year Plan’ in place, then it was reduced to ‘3’, now we go to McDonald’s grab a napkin and plan our ‘Instant’ future .. inexpensive .. but not necessarily good!

Do you remember when stores didn’t put up Christmas decorations ’till ‘ ’Thanksgiving’ was over? Do you remember when store ‘SALES’ only happened two or three times a year?

Well, fact is that everything is being ’fast forwarded’ and as you are in the ’Retail Biz’ as well, perhaps it’s time to join ’em. You may or may not like ’Wal-Mart’ or ’Target’, but you have to admit .. they make $$’s.

Time to get back to that ’Napkin Plan’ of yours ! You promised your self to spend more time on ’Marketing’, on really knowing where your business comes from, to staff sales training, checking out alternate sources for your ’Health Program’, having reps come in to talk to the staff .... how many of these things have you done this year?

Knowledgeable observers of the retail travel industry have long since said “the trouble is they get caught up in the small details which takes time away from them selling and developing more profitable things”. Is that true?

I know it’s easy for ’experts’ to tell you these things, they don’t have to pay the rent, pay for computers, pay the agents, worry about losing accounts etc. HOWEVER, don’t dismiss what they say ’out of hand’, try to step back now and then to see if there are better ways to operate ... not to mention hopefully allowing you a little slow time’ ... that alone may help your business, not to mention your health.

Truth is, from my thirty-five year involvement and observation of the ’Biz’, the quality of the remaining travel agencies ( only speaking for the Northwest! ) is better than ever, particularly on the business end. Remaining agencies by and large have adapted to the conditions under which they have to operate, the trick will be not to ’throw the baby out with the bath water!

Certain things remain constant, and gung ho ’Business Managers’ should not lose sight of these things. A travel agents strengths are still their knowledge, their experience AND AND their opportunity to present a ’FRIENDLY’ face or voice to all regular and potential clients. No doubt that having ’Preferred Vendors’ makes life easier and profitable for agencies .. BUT .. don ’t get so caught up in the details that you are not truly aware of what other vendors are offering, it does happen.

‘Precious time ...
You are so fluid
So fleeting ...
Oft’ times embraced
.... yet never captured.’

David (Napkin Planner) Bond

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