What do General Electric, Microsoft, Netflix and Disney all have in common?
Besides being powerhouse names, they were all founded during economic downturns. When faced with unprecedented challenges, smart and savvy business owners learn how to adapt to survive, and in turn thrive.
As the return of travel brings out even more questions for the future of travel businesses, you may be wondering if this is an ideal time to be an entrepreneur. But as history shows us, successful companies can overcome tough times.
If you've been wondering whether now is the best time to own a travel business, here are three reasons why you should consider it.
1. More resources available than ever before
As a society, the way we've operated for decades came to a halt seemingly overnight. With these changes came an increased demand to pivot as quickly as possible. Large-scale travel companies devoted their resources to creating new technologies, opportunities and assets that were never available before to meet the current industry demands.
So what does that mean for you? This influx of new resources is now laid out on the table for you to take advantage of to pivot your own business' needs. Utilizing these can help you conserve money now, while focusing on future sales without expending your own time and resources.
Avoya Insight: Using free or low-cost marketing resources, tuning in to educational webinars and attending virtual learning events are just some of the ways that Independent Agencies in the Avoya Network™ have capitalized on these new offerings to keep their business moving forward.
2. New opportunities to reshape the way business is done
There’s no doubt we faced many obstacles as an industry this last year and a half. But the idea of a "new normal" doesn't have to hinder the growth of your business. In fact, new opportunities provide an advantage in serving your clients in the new ways they’re now looking to be served.
With the ebb and flow of changing travel policies, 2020 placed a new emphasis on the importance of vacation planners. Travelers were left to (often unsuccessfully) navigate these changes on their own. This provides new opportunities to reach new clients who weren't interested in using a travel professional before, but who may be looking for that comfort in planning and booking travel moving forward after such unpredictable times.
Consumers are shopping around, looking for new businesses to engage with that can cater to their "new normal" too. As that critical source of trust and knowledge of where it's safe to travel, how to rebook cruise credits and the best future deals, you'll be able to pinpoint specific consumer concerns as booking behavior begins to normalize.
3. Stand out in a recovering landscape
We're all familiar with the saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade". Throughout these times, this has been elevated to levels we hadn't even thought possible. Entrepreneurs are about innovation, resiliency and seizing opportunity when it appears. Don't miss an opportunity to rise where others may be stepping down.
Other entrepreneurs may be hesitant and are playing it safe right now, backing out of the digital space. Jump on this advantage to become one of the few voices reaching out to potential clients; you'll face less competition with clients who are ready to start booking again.
We know you work tirelessly to grow your business, even in the face of adversity this year. That's why at Avoya Travel®, we work seven days a week to help your business continue to grow and succeed. Unlike others, we've embraced change with reinvigoration and a renewed sense of energy and excitement for the travel industry in a post-pandemic world.
Where others saw challenges, we saw opportunities. In 2020 and 2021, we continued to forge new ways of working, collaborating and reimagining the future of travel to ensure that Independent Agencies in the Avoya Network come out on top. Take a look at some of the innovations and updates to our technology and offerings we've made designed to help keep your business moving forward:
Marketing Resource Center™ – Keeping clients engaged has never been easier with a library of turnkey, customizable marketing flyers, social media posts, emails and more, accessible at no additional cost to you.
Avoya Smart Leads™ – Expanding on the successful Avoya Live Leads™ system, new Smart Leads use artificial intelligence to rank your past travelers to ensure your time is spent on the right client at the right time to best convert future sales.
Avoya Conversations™ – Launching soon, this new feature allows you to communicate seamlessly with clients via SMS text messages through our SaaS technology platform, Agent Power™. Messages are drafted from your computer, eliminating inconveniences from working on multiple devices, and conversation records will help track client interactions to create even more efficiencies.
Virtual Offerings – We increased our virtual event roster, including moving our Avoya Travel Mastermind Land Forum and Avoya Travel Conferences to completely virtual settings, so interested Network members could continue to connect, learn and grow, all from the comfort of their home.
Uplift Partnership – Book more sales and make travel more accessible, affordable and rewarding by providing your clients the freedom to finance their trip and pay in installments over time through our new Uplift partnership.
Avoya Cares – When the global situation started to shift, we rallied to make sure travel professionals had the additional support they need. This new, optional service was launched to help Independent Agencies in the Avoya Network better navigate the changing industry and business landscape with access to legal, accounting and even more supplier resources.
Supplier Resources – To streamline your business operations, we overhauled our supplier resources center to ensure you have access to the most up-to-date contact information, COVID-19 policies, commission information, FAQs and more.
If you're hesitant about running a business during this time, look for the reasons why it will work, instead of why it won’t. We're here to talk it through with you, just give us a call.
