Turn Over a New Leaf: 5 Ways to Organize Your Business this Fall
Autumn leaves are falling, but that doesn’t mean your business should, too. Peak season is upon us, and organizing day-to-day operations will be the key to ensure your work environment will allow you to be as productive as possible.
Luckily, there are many tools and ways to help you clean up this fall season and prepare for the busiest stretch of the year, and Trisept Solutions has some recommendations. Here are our top five ways to organize your business effectively and make it the most productive peak season yet.
1. Hire an assistant. You probably have been thinking about it, but never took action because you have been too busy, or felt you didn’t need the help. Peak season, more than ever, is the best time to consider hiring an assistant. Taking those quick phone calls and email inquiries may seem like ‘effortless work’. These ‘simple’-tasks, however, begin to take away from the most important responsibilities of your business that lead to a greater return on your time and energy.
If you are worried about hiring someone full-time, the good news is that you don’t have to! Opening up a seasonal position is a great alternative to alleviating the smaller tasks from your workload. Travel Planners International’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing Jen Lee recommends that you “give yourself a 90-day budget and hire a seasonal assistant to do the little things that you can easily reassign. Paperwork, follow-up cards, emails, etc.” Opening up a seasonal position is a great alternative to alleviating the smaller tasks from your workload.
It is in good practice to prioritize and take control of the projects that need the most of your attention to take advantage of every opportunity and ultimately make your life easier during peak season.
Travel Pro Tip: In these times where technology has taken over the business world, you might also consider hiring a “virtual assistant”. There are plenty of online platforms that can help organize your daily business activities and keep it all in one place. Xcelerator is an online- platform that integrates everything you need and do on a daily basis. It is designed so you can easily organize and manage key activities that are important to you, giving you more time to focus on growing your business. Having that extra help to take on smaller tasks and to stay organized can go a long way when it comes to ramping up your revenue. Xcelerator is just $20 a month per user, a lot more affordable than hiring someone full-time.
2. Make the most of your “shelf space”. Have you ever felt the frustration of not finding information when you needed it the most? Whether it is the desktop on your computer or the filing cabinets in your office, it is crucial to only store the things that are necessary for daily business functions. Too much of anything is a bad idea, so don’t be afraid to clean out your shelf space and get rid of things you don’t need. This will help you stay organized and minimize the potential of losing anything important because your desk is too cluttered.
Travel Pro Tip: Ditch the scattered papers, sticky notes and large filing cabinets. Modern tools have made it more efficient than ever to move all your relevant information online in one convenient location. Create follow-ups on trip statuses and payments or even add birthday greeting tasks. Be done with cutting and pasting itineraries into a word document and send a neatly consolidated e-mail to your clients. Xcelerator is designed exclusively for travel professionals to help you manage your tasks, payments, commissions, itineraries and client information all in one place, so you never have to worry about cluttered information again.
3. Set clear sales goals. Having a plan to achieve your desired sales goals is necessary for any growing business. But making sure these goals are clearly defined is key to ensuring you are on the right track to succeed. Do more than just write your goals down on paper – set a time frame to achieve them. This will make it easy to measure your performance along with specifying your expectations from your team, if you have one.
Travel Pro Tip: Using a tool to set goals, track sales commissions and performance is a great way to provide visual results. Xcelerator tracks not only your performance, but your team members’ as well. The customized reports and performance charts created for you by Xcelerator will help you make any necessary adjustments to get back on track.
4. Keep in touch with your clients. Reaching out to your clients indicates that you value their business. You can’t run an organized travel business without a loyal client base, so setting reminders to keep in touch with each client you work with is an essential business practice. When you reach out to your clients, you are more likely to create ‘repeat customers’ and, therefore, repeat sales and commission.
Travel Pro Tip: Using an online client-database can help you track what clients you work with, their travel preferences and their repeat business. With Xcelerator, you can create personalized profiles for each of your clients, and set reminders to reach out to them before they’ve traveled and even reached out a few months after their last trip to see if they are ready for their next adventure. Xcelerator also allows you to ‘unclutter’ your client-database by removing any clients who no longer bring you their business.
5. Every second of your time is important. Planning ahead is the best way to prevent any wasted time. Start your week off by scheduling time for the things that need your immediate attention, then taper off all other tasks from there. Scheduling is your best friend when you’re trudging through peak season, so keeping track of where your time will be spent ahead of time is a great way to stay organized.
Travel Pro Tip: Even the best travel professionals need an assistant. That’s why Trisept Solutions created Xcelerator. The online platform was designed exclusively for travel agents to help you manage day-to-day tasks, simplify your workflow, and empower you to stay organized and succeed.
View in our eMagazine: https://www.travelprofessionalnews.com/Magazine/2017/October/