How to Handle a... Client

By Scott Koepf

After an eight year absence from being onstage, I was able to play one of my dream roles recently in a local production. For years, I wanted to play the role of Lancelot in the musical Camelot, but when the show was finally a possibility, my advanced age forced my dream to shift slightly. I was cast as King Arthur. In truth, it is a much meatier and fun , so in this instance, I was glad for my slightly grey hair (and a beard which I actually had to dye so that I wouldn't look like King Santa Claus)... (continue)

Clients For Life Stick to the Basics!

By Mitchel J. Schlesinger

I spoke to a travel agent who expressed some level of contentment with the notion that his agency was retaining approximately 35% of their customers. I immediately asked some questions including:
• Don't you think that figure is low?
• Do you have any idea why some or all of the other 65% didn't use the agency again?
• Do you have any idea where or from whom the other
65% purchased travel?
• Do you have any idea how much referral business you
have received from current clients?...(continue)

Girls Getaways
to London and the Cotswolds

By Paull Tickner

When returning home from North American sales trips, I used to while away the time immersed in a good book or walking from one end of the terminal to the other before being incarcerated in a flying metal tube for eight hours or so.

That changed after the 2010 ASTA Trade Show in Orlando, when I took a much closer look at the business cards I'd collected and discovered that over 70% of them were for female travel agents. It happened again after the Ensemble Travel Group conference and it has been repeated at every travel trade event since, sometimes with the ratio exceeding 80%.

Returning home, I spoke to a number of my more creative suppliers and have found that there's an Aladdin's Cave of eye-catching bright ideas for all-woman tour groups... (continue)

BIGGER is Not Always Better

At the end of 2011, I was reflecting on experiences that I truly enjoyed. Yes, I have been on the big, gigantic cruise ships that are getting all the attention.

I remember my first visit to the Oasis of the Seas. I couldn't believe it took 90 people to check in in everyone. (I also couldn't believe the shelves and shelves filled with items taken away from passengers when they were boarding — irons, liquor and steamers were among the forbidden goods that passengers thought they could not live without for one week.)... (continue)