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A Very Successfull National Conference
National Conference was great ! Preperation from conference caused me to miss some postings that I would have normally done to my blog, and I'm finally through most of the emails and phone messages....so once again I'm ready to focus.
Conference was an outstanding opportunity to meet many of our agents and franchisees, there were quite a few that I haven't met with in quite some time. The HQ staff had a great opportunity to discuss what's working and what isn't with all of our agents. I'm truly amazed at the diversity of our agent's marketing plans and the unique niches that they target.
The one theme I heard loud and clear from many different people was the increasing role that technology is playing in the sales process. Consumers have truly raised their expectations and now expect to read reviews, see virtual tours, be sent shore excursion info and perhaps even view videos prior to stepping aboard a cruise ship. The trick is integrating all of this technology in a relevant way that doesn't lose the personal touch. Blogs are a piece of this puzzle, but we'll be working on other innovative solutions as well... stay tuned.
Another key take-away from conference was the desire of our agents to learn more about the technology we use everyday. Agents want to become more tech savvy - even if they don't necessarily want to be Cruise Geeks. :-) We're working right now on increasing our tech training and have even proposed some advanced in-house training sessions to help our agents take their web & email skills to the next level....stay tuned for that as well.
Personally, One of my favorite parts of conference is the marketing panel. Many of our agents heard the Marketing Panel speak - and the ways each panel member grew their business was truly different. One of Marketing Panel's key points, and the one thing that the entire panel agreed upon was to focus on your marketing plan.
Now is the time to ask yourself, do you have a marketing plan ? A written plan will have goals, objectives, milestones and a media plan. Where do you want your business to go? Would you leave on a road trip without a map? Don't let your business get stuck driving in circles, let your marketing plan be your GPS.
Conference was an outstanding opportunity to meet many of our agents and franchisees, there were quite a few that I haven't met with in quite some time. The HQ staff had a great opportunity to discuss what's working and what isn't with all of our agents. I'm truly amazed at the diversity of our agent's marketing plans and the unique niches that they target.
The one theme I heard loud and clear from many different people was the increasing role that technology is playing in the sales process. Consumers have truly raised their expectations and now expect to read reviews, see virtual tours, be sent shore excursion info and perhaps even view videos prior to stepping aboard a cruise ship. The trick is integrating all of this technology in a relevant way that doesn't lose the personal touch. Blogs are a piece of this puzzle, but we'll be working on other innovative solutions as well... stay tuned.
Another key take-away from conference was the desire of our agents to learn more about the technology we use everyday. Agents want to become more tech savvy - even if they don't necessarily want to be Cruise Geeks. :-) We're working right now on increasing our tech training and have even proposed some advanced in-house training sessions to help our agents take their web & email skills to the next level....stay tuned for that as well.
Personally, One of my favorite parts of conference is the marketing panel. Many of our agents heard the Marketing Panel speak - and the ways each panel member grew their business was truly different. One of Marketing Panel's key points, and the one thing that the entire panel agreed upon was to focus on your marketing plan.
Now is the time to ask yourself, do you have a marketing plan ? A written plan will have goals, objectives, milestones and a media plan. Where do you want your business to go? Would you leave on a road trip without a map? Don't let your business get stuck driving in circles, let your marketing plan be your GPS.
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