Selling Travel 101: Your 2007 Marketing Plan
by John Hawks

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You'll feel more secure and confident as a home-based travel seller when you think about -- and write down -- a marketing plan for your business.

Step # 1: Use the "3 on 3" method to plan your attacks next year.

From auto dealers to travel agents, most small businesses serve three types of prospective buyers: cold, warm, and hot. Hot prospects are repeat travelers who can't wait for you to plan their next trip or referrals from satisfied clients who contact you with a positive image of you in their heads already. Warm prospects know something about you, but they've never bought travel from you. And, cold prospects are just that -- they don't know you, and they don't know why they should know you.

Take a legal pad and pen, sit down, and think about these three types of prospects. Try to develop three different marketing messages or methods by which you can reach out to these potential customers. With your cold prospects, for example, you may be forced to rely on co-op newspaper ads, direct mail postcards, or other mass-market tactics, while you can choose personalized trip proposals or in-person sales calls for your hottest prospects.

That's the system for 2007: Pick three ways to target your three most common types of prospects.

Step # 2: Write it down.

Take the nine ideas above -- three marketing methods aimed at three different market segments -- and put them down on paper, with timelines and budgets.

You'll need this written plan to approach suppliers and destinations for co-op funds. And, more importantly, your commitment level will grow once you've promised yourself on paper that you'll take marketing seriously next year.

How can you stay on track with this marketing plan? Break down those nine big goals into increments, and write those pieces down in your 2007 calendar. For example, if one marketing goal is "Schedule presentations for three new groups," jot down a date on your 2007 calendar for researching local group leaders and finding their contact information to set up appointments. Then, write down the next date by which you plan to call and request the appointments. And, note the date by which you'll plan the presentations themselves. And so on...

Every business owner on Earth deals with the same 24 hours a day, and the same seven days every week. What matters is how we put that time to the best use. If you'll plan your marketing activities for 2007 this fall and winter, and commit those goals to paper, you'll find yourself farther down the road to success than your fellow home-based agents who simply fail to plan ahead at all. Good luck!