You will undoubtedly be reading all sorts of advice for the New Year, so I will spare you the obvious and jump straight to my message. This may sound like a foolish question, but would you like to make more money in 2025? Of course you would. The truth is that most so-called “travel professionals” do not want to make more money. I know this to be true because if they did, they would be making more money.
There is a popular phrase that reminds us that “talk is cheap.” Another cogent reminder suggests, “After all is said and done, more is said than done.”
Let’s cut to the chase and get a few facts straight. First, you can make as much money as you like in the travel business. You can double your current income in the next 12 months. I say this without hesitation for three reasons:
1) You don’t have to buy any raw materials or carry any inventory. You have all the products, destinations, suppliers, and carriers you need to become incredibly successful.
2) Your marketplace is as large and defined as want it to be. With over 7 billion people scampering around our planet, you have plenty of audience to serve.
3) A number of these 7 billion people have a degree of travel on their mind. If not to a foreign country to a cruise, to Disney World, or a trip to a National Park.
If you stop to think about it, these three criteria could easily be referred to as a giant IO. “Ideal Opportunity.”
You say you want to make more money just as quickly as you say you want to shed a few pounds every December 31. This is where the “talk is cheap” phrase kicks into my message. You say one thing but, in reality, you really are not committed to it. If you were, you would adhere to the requirement of simply burning more calories than you ingest. If money was your true objective, you would be introducing yourself to a bunch of new people while driving that shiny new car today.
But there is another phrase worth mentioning here: “Nothing is ever easy.” And to many of you, losing weight and growing a business is the opposite of easy. With all due respect, I think you may be making things harder than they have to be. At the risk of sounding overly simplistic, I will say that it may not be easy but it definitely is not hard. It just happens to fall under the category of effort…consistent effort.
It’s Showtime For Your Travel Business
Okay. It is time that I put the rhetoric aside and tell you in no uncertain terms how you can make more money in the travel business. Are you ready?
You have to dig a hole. The co-author of In Search of Excellence, Tom Peters, introduced me to this term and I have come to appreciate its implication. Tommy P. said, “It is amazing to me how many people in the oil business fail to get the message that in order to strike oil you have to dig a hole.” Think about that. People talk about it, meet about it, sleep on it, write about it, think about it, dream about it, and do everything possible except dig a hole. And I am quick to remind you that there are only two types of holes—holes that have oil and holes that don’t. If you come up empty, dig another hole.
For those of you who require a little more clarity, the word I want to imbue in your memory bank is Visibility. If people do not know you are alive, how can they possibly decide to do business with you…or not? No new business … no more money.
So as not to leave you hanging, I will now introduce you to my embarrassingly simple 12-Word Marketing Plan. If you follow this advice for the next 12 months you are a shoe-in for Sales Rep of The Year. Here it is. Just 12 words:
Get up. Get out. And make more people glad they know you.
Count them. 12 words. The only 12 words you will need to start making more money.
And as a final thought, here is my 4-Word Sales Secret to your future success: Get other people talking.
Mike Marchev is always looking for a few more proactive travel professionals to join his Sales and Marketing Club, mike@mikemarchev.com.
*** You want more to think about? Check out my weekly podcast (Miked Up Marchev). Also listed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, and iHeartRadio.
