Do Travel Agents

Introduction If you know that business travel is not without its risk and the potential for crisis, then you need to read this article. In this article we are going to talk about the management and containment of crisis as it relates to travellers and travel managers. The objective of this article is to share with you the collective knowledge on managing crisis and significantly improve your ability to identify and manage a crisis but also improve your business travel efficiency.During this article I am going to discuss travel risk myths, crisis management, plans and options so you can immediately compare or improve your own travel risk management system for your travellers or travel management department.Crisis by definition is something you didn’t have a plan for or something in which you are unprepared. Additionally, it can be a series of events that in concert create a crisis. Events or issues that occur, to which you have a plan and strategy, is merely an incident.Crisis Management/Leadership The first thing is to clarify what is the difference between crisis management and leadership. More importantly, which one is the more important?Crisis management relates to the response to event/s that threaten your business, travellers or travel activity. The event leads and you follow with plans, decisions and actions.Crisis leadership, on the other hand, is more about getting ahead of the events and issues to prevent, management and even contain the impact to your business or business travel activities. While management is a portion of the leadership demand, your actions and involvement lead the outcomes rather than a more passive wait and act approach with pure crisis management.Crisis leadership is the less practiced of the two, but the most significant in terms of results and reduction in risk and impact. If you take nothing else away from this session, it should be that your focus should always be on Crisis Leadership, not crisis management.Myths There are many myths and half-truths about crisis, disruption and threats within the travel management sector. Much of this misinformation has originated from travellers themselves, media, travel managers, friends and family or so called “experts”.For example, many travellers and planners are focused on terrorism. The reality is, you have a very, very small chance of being exposed or affected directly by a terrorist act. It doesn’t mean you should discount it as a threat altogether but it shouldn’t dominate your plans or processes if not a proportional threat to you and your travellers. Conversely, almost everyone overlooks motor vehicle accidents. Yet, they happen far more frequently, can have devastating affect on travellers and are the least common plan contained within company travel management departments.Travellers and travel managers must be prepared, educated and have supporting plans for any event that has the potential to delay, disrupt or harm the traveller or the business.The most common events include:
Motor vehicle accidents
Airline delays or cancellations
Airport closures or disruptions
Transport delays
Bad weather
Sickness and illness
Petty crimes
Hotel fires
Political disputes
Demonstrations and gatherings
Motor vehicle accidents within your own country can be stressful and dangerous but on an overseas business trip they can be 100 times more challenging and dangerous. Consider language, local authorities, first responder, standard of healthcare, families and support in your plans and initial response.Airline delays and cancelations. They happen all the time but they are not just an administrative response. You may need to consider safety, transport, quarantines, security threats, government response and wide spread suspension of services to overcome the issue and maintain safety of your travellers.Airport closures or disruptions. Failed systems, electrical problems, threats, weather, construction and so on can prevent you even getting to your flight. Consider the impact this has on your plans and how your traveller will need to possibly extend stay, move to alternate airport or find accommodation.All other transport delays and disruptions can create crisis when everyone no longer has access to trains, buses, key roads or even water transport. Have a plan and add it to your immediate decision making process.2010 and the commencement of 2011 has seen travel of all kind affected by natural disasters and weather. Weather and natural forces have and always will impact travellers. It does and will continue to occur. It is highly concerning how unprepared travellers and companies are for volcanic eruptions, typhoons, floods, earthquakes and general bad weather.People get sick or feel unwell all the time. This is compounded significantly when travelling. Standard of care, language, access, cost, complications, choice and numerous other location based concerns will determine just how at risk your traveller will be. A single, “one-size-fits-all” plan or solution will fail and you need to be aware of these issues immediately with the onset of an affected traveller.Crimes are a reality of any city in the world. However, travellers seldom know the risks and may be preyed upon by thieves and criminals. The loss of phones, money, and other items may seem less likely to constitute a crisis but when overseas, injured or not able to speak the local language, all these simple events can create a major concern for your business travellers. This can be amplified if you have a senior executive or a group of executives affected.Hotel fires and emergencies are more common than most people think. The immediate threat to an individual is fairly obvious but the impact that the lack of accommodation choices can create from the temporary or permanent closure of a hotel is a much bigger concern. This was graphically displayed during the Mumbai terror attacks (as extra ordinary as the event was) when most of the best/preferred hotels were now unavailable in a key part of the city. This removed thousands of rooms for business travellers and forced many to cancel or significantly alter travel plans just because there were a lack of suitable accommodation options, whether affected by the events or not.Any event that alters the political stability of a location or region or results in thousands of people out on the streets constitutes a risk to your business travel plans and travellers. They can happen spontaneously or take time to develop. The immediate dangers and the ongoing disruption can have a major impact on your business or traveller.Again, plans, preparation and thought to these issues will greatly reduce the impact and improve your business too.Now that we have removed the most common misconceptions, let’s focus on the management and containment of a crisis.Crisis management The key to successful crisis management is planning, training, plans, decision-making and adaptability.Planning Given the issues previously covered, you now have a better insight into how and why planning is important to remove the more emotive issues from the realities of real business threats and events.Planning needs to include multiple departments and perspectives to be truly effective. One of the greatest weaknesses I see regularly is that departments continue to manage the risk of travel through multiple departments with multiple plans. The input and plan needs to be unified. Depending on the company, it may include travel managers, security, HR, finance, marketing, C-suite and operations.All plans need to be continuously updated, location specific, aide in the decision-making process and modular enough have elements extracted quickly and effectively. Modern, effective plans embrace technology. Rapid, efficient access to information, along with running updates is the hallmarks of a modern sustainable plan, regardless of the size of the issue or the company.Training No plan is effective without training and rehearsal. Training, whether through simulations, drills or live, full-scale exercises are vital to the success of any crisis situation. Such sessions don’t need to be boring or overly complicated but must include travel managers and planners along with the more common crisis and emergency managers.Increasingly, training is becoming a mandatory requirement for key positions and roles. It can be linked to internal HR processes but must support the business objectives and measurable on how it reduces the risk to people, business, brand and travel demands.While the plan creates the framework for crisis decision-making, teams can learn a lot from training on how and when to adapt their plans. How the team interacts, strength, weakness, leaders, followers, limitations, tools and many more planned and surprise outcomes are possible with effective training.Adaptations No plan will completely script all the events, issues and options available for every plausible travel delay, disruption or crisis. You need to be able to adapt and evolve from the original plan and intention. This can only be achieved with planning, plans and training.Solutions So what do I need in my plan?Here is the best travel risk management content for your plan:
Objective(the single most important part of any travel policy)
References
Scope
Legal
Insurance
Finance
Reimbursements
Limits
Priority/precedence
Management Authority/ies
Situations
Procedure will likely cover:
Planning
Resources
Tools
Authority
Executive Decision making
Limits
Budgets
Training
Compliance
Pre-trip admin
Providers
Booking
Accommodation
Airlines
Ground Transport
Safety and Security
Health and wellness
Emergency
SOP/Actions on
Insurance
Travel Monitoring /tracking
Reporting
HR
Entitlements
Threat/risk levels
Shelter in Place
Relocations/evacuations
Management Authority
Review
Don’t forget your risk assessment will need to include the key elements:
Traveller
Location
Activity
Support/Resources
Response
ConclusionThere you have it. Now you know what is required, how do you rate your current plans and preparedness?You now have the most relevant issues and areas to focus upon that will reduce or contain the majority of incidents you may face your travellers will be safer, your business more profitable and your costs will be contained by reducing your exposure to expensive crisis events.We have debunked popular travel threat myths, identified the difference between crisis management and leadership, outlined plans and options so you can immediately compare or improve your own travel risk management system for your travellers or travel management department. Review your plans and make the immediate improvements.You will know when you have an effective crisis management system for your travel risk management strategy when you have little to no crisis.You may have numerous events or incidents but you have a plan, you’re prepared and your decision making is fast and consistent. If not, you have failed and you will run from crisis to crisis on a regular basis.

Content, Content, Content… it’s the new buzz word in marketing circles these days. Since Social Media isn’t living up to its claims for many companies, they are looking for the new “silver bullet”… which now happens to be “Content Marketing or Content Management.” Is it the new found Promised Land for marketing?I would encourage you to think a bit broader and deeper when it comes to a discussion about Content Marketing. We have to remind ourselves that “Content Marketing” is actually just a “TOOL” with a Bigger Purpose if used correctly. Like many of the other traditional, digital, and social media “tools” already being used, this one can fit into the same category… unless you THINK DIFFERENTLY.Start with the concept that generally, “Marketing ruins everything.” OK, I know this will get some people’s feathers ruffled and for others of you, you will say Amen, it is completely accurate. The point I want to make is that when marketing gets a hold of “a new thing (tool)” they tend to do two things to it… over use it and use it incorrectly. Content Marketing probably won’t be any different so it will follow the same path at some point in the future… unless you treat it differently.If you think of Content Marketing as a “tool” you are missing the point and its value.There are two concepts in marketing… “PUSH” and “PULL” marketing. All traditional marketing was designed as “Push”… shoving out lots of ads and other information to the audience. This worked amazingly well in the Industrial Revolution when there weren’t any other options for the consumer to hear about products and services. Ad agencies were born and raked in millions of dollars on the backs of this approach. It has essentially died when we left the Industrial Revolution behind and entered into the Internet/Digital Revolution.Unfortunately, many people in marketing didn’t get this was happening right under their nose. Instead, they saw a whole bunch of new “tools” called Social Media show up that they thought were simply a new and improved way to “push” their information to the customer. They were wrong. The customer initially thought this was pretty cool and welcomed the new way of getting information… then marketing ruined it. They started shoving everything they could… faster and in more volume… than they ever had before. They thought this would work… it didn’t. It was still “push marketing” only using a different tool called Social Media instead of direct mail, TV, radio, magazines, billboards, and a host of other traditional media tools.The audience grew up and learned how they wanted to receive information and it wasn’t by having billions of pieces thrown at them through every channel they were on… they learned where the “off switch” was and turned off this barrage of messaging. The numbers have been declining steadily and marketing is wondering why their audience doesn’t want to see their valuable ads and self-promotional information. They really never did…Enter Content Marketing as a new way to “push” more information to the customer. It is new because it actually involves content… something of substance (written, video, podcast, etc.). The consumer is asking for this… they want to learn more but invest less time in consuming the information. Once again we are seeing most marketing groups seeing the next “Promised Land” and as such are shoving more and more “content” to their audience. The right concept… wrong execution.The content isn’t RELEVANT, HELPFUL, or TIMELY for their audience… it is just once again voluminous amounts of information… much of what we can already get by doing a search. This is where marketing stands to “ruin content marketing” as they have done for so many other forms of media.But there is a solution… “PULL MARKETING.”Pull Marketing is all about the “customer WANTING the information you have because it is relevant, helpful, and timely and so they PULL it to them… when they want and how they want.” This is an entirely different way to think about marketing. It is marketing the customer actually wants in their life because it is VALUABLE to them.CONTENT MARKETING is an absolutely amazing way to create an effective PULL MARKETING strategy and execute it in a way the customer will love. Now companies have the opportunity to truly understand their customers wants and needs and anticipate what will be helpful and relevant in their lives and then give this to them in a timely manner. When marketing adopts this mindset, they have crossed over from the old traditional “push” process and adopted a completely different strategy of “pull” into their strategy.THIS WORKS… AND THE CUSTOMER IS BEGGING YOU FOR IT.Content Marketing can be the next PROMISED LAND for your marketing and company efforts… if you adopt a “PULL MARKETING” strategy and erase the “PUSH” strategy from your brain. Content marketing is absolutely something that your audience will love and reward you for when developed with a PULL MARKETING STRATEGY. It is what they want… marketing just has to understand this and not screw it up again.What will you do as the leader of your company… the business owner and CEO? Will you allow your marketing to be done the old traditional way and lose the immense value in front of you that you could benefit from by using a “PULL CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY?” I believe the leadership team needs to direct the marketing function to be more OBSESSED with their CUSTOMERS and give them the ability to create a powerful PULL MARKETING strategy… using CONTENT as the core. Today leadership teams need to be more involved in marketing than ever before.Today it can help to significantly solidify your brand, create true differentiation, and endear your customers to you in ways your competition can’t… this is where marketing and customer obsession can become your true competitive advantage. When this happens, Content Marketing can become the new PROMISED LAND for your company… and your customers will reward you both with business and much more WORD-OF-MOUTH… and we all know this is the ultimate success for marketing and the organization overall.Will you adopt and drive a PUSH or PULL strategy as a leader of your company? This is an excellent time and opportunity to put your company in front of the pack of competitors.

In these difficult financial times that we find ourselves, many people are looking for ways to create additional income for themselves. Yet they don’t know where to go to find the necessary information. These simple 7 steps will hopefully help you decide which type of home business is right for you at this stage of your life and career and where to begin to turn your dream business into reality.A HOME BUSINESS is simply a small business that operates from the business owner’s home office, lounge or kitchen. It is usually operated in one’s spare time and is often based around the interests of the business owner.Here are 7 simple steps to help you choose the Home Business that is right for you.Step 1: What is your Passion?Some of the most successful home businesses have been built around the owner’s passion for something. Catering businesses are built around a passion for cooking and seeing people enjoy your food. Network Marketing businesses are often built around a passion for talking to people, one’s love for the products and helping people develop their own home businesses as part of the team.So the first thing you need to do is look for something that you are passionate about, that you love doing in your spare time, and see if there is a business opportunity there. One of the fastest growing hobbies worldwide is Scrapbooking and many small business opportunities are being born out of this recent trend to turn a photo album into a vivid and colorful experience.So whether it is woodworking or baking or writing short stories or whatever, your degree of success is likely to be higher if the home business is based on something that you love doing.Have you heard the statement “Follow your Bliss”? Well, what is your Bliss? Because if you can link your home business to your Bliss, or Passion, you will be ahead of the game already.Step 2: How much Free Time can you dedicate to your home business?For most of us, our home business will be started and operated in our spare time. So now you need to decide how much time you will be able to devote to your new business. And for those of you who say “but I have no spare time for anything new”, I say, “look at how you spend your days and nights and you will see how much time you waste on non-productive stuff”. A good, and useful, exercise is to keep track of what you do over the period of a week, in the 6 basic categories of Work, Family Time, TV, Entertainment Out, Lazing Around and Sleep. All you will need to do is find some 8 to 10 hours a week that you can redirect, and you will have enough time to develop and grow and successful home based business.Step 3: How Much Money is available to invest in your Home Business?This is often another obstacle that people find to starting up a home based business. It is important to realize that some $$ will be required to make a go of anything, but some types of home based businesses require a lot more $$ than others. Often where less $$ are needed, more time is needed, but this is not always the case. And for most of us, the reason for starting up a home based business is to generate additional income because there is never enough money left over at the end of the month, or as they say “the money runs out before the month does”.A Network Marketing business, for example, will often be able to be started for a couple of hundred dollars and a commitment to spend another $50 to $100 a month on training material, conferences and the like. But these sorts of businesses, if you follow the system properly, can start to deliver income within a few months. An Internet based home business may require a larger outlay in the beginning, maybe a few thousand dollars for the training program and software required and can become cashflow positive within 6 to 9 months. Buying into a Franchise on the other hand may require many tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. So look at your cash flow and decide what expenses you can give up temporarily, so as to free up some money to invest into your business. No business can be truly successful, if you are not prepared to invest some money into it from the beginning.Step 4: What are your Specific Skills – what are you good at?The next step is for you to decide how you can use your personal skills in your new business venture. What are you good at? This is linked to the first step, identifying your passion – but it is more about what you can do well and are confident about. So, if you are great with people and love to meet new people and can chat easily to strangers, then a Network Marketing business may be right for you. You will be given training on how to approach people, depending on which company you decide to work with, but your people skills will put you in a strong position to succeed.If you are good with words, are a good writer and can put complex ideas into simple terms, of if you are creative and can think outside the box, or if you are good at getting other people to do things for you (a good delegator) then an internet based business may be perfect for you. In this modern age, more and more people are searching for information on any number of topics and are prepared to pay someone to provide that specific information for them.If you are more business focused, a numbers person and can look at a balance sheet and see the clear picture, then maybe buying an existing small business and running it “hands off” may be a good option. This is also good for people with less free time, although some time will be required to make sure the business goes in the direction you want it to.Step 5: Look at the Options that fit your profileThis is where you will start to narrow down the options that fit in with your Passion, your available Time, the Money you can free up to invest and your specific Skill Set. There are many hundreds of websites available that will be able to offer you the introductions to the various businesses available to you. You can go to http://www.google.com and enter one of the four sets of words as a starting point to find out what options are available. The four main categories are Network Marketing Business Opportunities, Internet Based Marketing Opportunities, Franchise Business Opportunities and Small Businesses for Sale. In each of these categories, add the city or area where you live to limit the options presented to those ones that are more suitable for you.Step 6: Do your more detailed research.Once you have identified 2 or 3 business options or ideas that look good for you, then you need to do some more detailed research into those options. Is there a market need for your Product? Is the Network Marketing Company growing strongly in your area and does it have good leadership? Is the small business you are looking to buy producing a positive cash flow with a good client base? Talk to friends or find someone who is doing something similar and discuss with them. Speak to a business broker if this is the direction you are going in. Once you have whittled your choice down and are confident you can make a go of it, now you are ready to start your business.Step 7: Take the First Step and Do ItThere is nothing more exciting, when starting to develop a new business, than to get going, so now you are ready to do something to implement your business. Find out where meetings are being held to do with the Network marketing business you have chosen. Go to a seminar on Internet Marketing if that is your chosen direction and take the plunge. Most of these sort of home based businesses offer a cooling off period, or a money back guarantee, so you will have a month or maybe longer to decide if the direction is right for you. But the longer you put off doing something, putting your dream business idea into action, the less likely you are to actually get it up and running.If you would like to know more about this subject, or have any questions about Home Based Businesses, log onto http://stuartfish.biz You will find a number of articles on internet marketing there.