OSSN’s Goals for 2007
by Melody Fee

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OSSN has been working longer hours this past month, working directly with our Allied Supplier partners, who are "beefing up" their marketing plans to really be sure they are reaching you, their home-based partners! Cruise lines -- including Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line -- have already committed to reaching you and teaching you, and they are developing tools right and left to support your needs. Several other very prestigious cruise lines are also getting ready to begin reaching out to OSSN members with additional marketing support to assist you in 2007.

Tour operators around the world know how valuable the home-based partner is in our industry, and they are letting OSSN know that they are committed to supporting our members. Many of our Allied Supplier Tour Operators have committed to reaching you with ongoing advertising so that you may be kept "in the know" of all they have to offer to you and your clients.

OSSN's advertising executive, Sal Donato, has let us know that suppliers are really excited to develop unique advertising campaigns for OSSN this year. And, John Hawks (OSSN’s editor) is extra busy working on the organization of our very special online "webinar" training agenda for the year ahead.

Last November, OSSN turned "sweet 16" -- 16 years of this "labor of love!" And honestly, I can speak for both Gary Fee and myself when I say "We love being able to help OSSN members succeed." Every success story you send us is one more reason to work harder. This year, we want to be sure that the success stories are coming from both our agent members AND from our Allied Supplier members! We want to hear from our Allied Supplier members that they are REALLY getting your attention and your BUSINESS!

Just as we ask you to define your goals for the year ahead, OSSN would just like to give you a few very important goals of our own! So, here they are:

Goal # 1: OSSN will continue to put MORE emphasis on technology and training in the year ahead for our members. This will be evident at the upcoming Home Based Agent Show in Charlotte, N.C., on April 13-14. (Go to www.HomeBasedAgentShow.com for more information!)

Goal # 2: OSSN will continue to work hard to teach suppliers about the various needs of the home-based professional. And that means right from the beginning, when you are trying to establish your first business account with a supplier. It should not be difficult for you to begin to do business with any supplier, whether you are using an IATA-based TRUE code, a CLIA number, or a TSI IATAN code. ALL three are major codes in our travel industry.

Goal # 3: OSSN will work harder to support our active chapters across the USA! We are very proud of our GREAT directors who are always busy trying to support our members in their local metropolitan areas. Some of our directors have a lot of obstacles to overcome. They have a lot of territory to cover as they try to bring members together on a regional basis. They do a great job, and we are really honored to have their talents and their energy to support our goals each year!

Goal # 4: This year, OSSN will host two major international conferences instead of one! Yes, this is unusual, but we know both trips will be exciting and will offer you more choices for international education. Both destinations (India and Greece) are just fabulous, and we are so excited to have the support of India Tourism and Air India in May! Our organizers, including Henry Kartagener of the Kai Collection and Eastbound Tours, have been so very supportive of this program, assisting us for over a year in the organization and support of our 2007 conference in India. And the same goes for the great support we are also receiving from Homeric Tours and Louis Cruise Lines, along with the Tourist Office of Greece, for our fall event in Greece! We applaud our supplier partners for stepping up to the plate in support of OSSN.

Goal # 5: Regarding other familiarization opportunities in 2007, I personally am working on some great opportunities for you. After all, we just released a survey that verified how WELL home-based agents are doing selling cruises, so we want to continue to help them learn about many great products to sell and promote in the travel industry marketplace! We know that learning more about a product's BRAND is important. The brand DOES set them apart, in so many ways. So, the opportunity to experience a new "brand" will make you a better sales person in the year ahead.

I have a positive challenge for our supplier members for the year ahead: Make space available for OSSN to continue to teach our members about your brands, so that we can do what we do best -- teach OSSN members nationwide to be better sales associates for your brand! I am not just referring to cruise lines, but also to our tour operator partners. We want to work with you to organize training opportunities and will make it as easy as possible for you to facilitate this destination training! We really look forward to incorporating your goals into our OBJECTIVES!

We know that we are a cornerstone in support of a GREAT sales force -- the home-based travel agent community. It is a privilege to get to know and work with such great agents as those whom we deal with on a weekly and monthly basis through our work at OSSN. Every day, I am in awe of so many of our members' accomplishments. And, if we offer you just a hint of inspiration to make it a better year, then I look forward to hearing more and more about your success in 2007!