As we count down the final days of 2024, travel advisors have the invaluable opportunity to reflect on their business strategies and prepare for the year ahead in this dynamic industry. Taking the time now to anticipate and plan for 2025 can make a significant difference in how your business thrives throughout the year.

Understanding how the market can shift and knowing how to adapt can not only set you apart as a travel advisor but can save you a lot of stress in the future, and this starts with a thoughtful approach to planning. It also allows you to focus on how to scale your business as you take on more clients. This could include finding opportunities for growth, identifying and addressing inefficiencies in order to streamline operations, and looking at how you could create more compelling and consistent client experiences overall. By putting actionable plans in place now, you ensure that you are prepared for whatever challenges—or exciting opportunities—the future may hold.

Creating and implementing success strategies is a common topic in coaching calls and discussions with our Travel Business University (TBU) team.  

Amy Pearson-Jensen, our TBU Mentor Manager, shared this tip for advisors who are in the process of setting business goals for the upcoming year:

Commit to leaning into the resources and professional development available to you. What does your host agency offer? What does your consortia offer? What do your preferred partners offer?

For Gifted Travel Network advisors, for example, this could look like setting goals to do the following:

•              Attend every weekly coaching call

•              Ask a question at one office hour per week

•              Engage in two partner trainings a month

•              Or complete one Virtuoso Training Academy course or webinar per month

The most successful advisors lean into the coaching, mentoring, and continued learning provided to them by their host agency and/or consortia - 2025 is the perfect time to commit to leveraging them.

We also reached out to our team of TBU Mentors to ask for some of their top success strategies for 2025 planning.

Amy Kaufman Relihan | Senior Travel MBA Mentor

Begin developing your 2025 Sales & Business Plan, outlining your specific sales goals and milestones based on your current sales trajectory. Once you have established your Sales & Business Plan, establish an actionable, clear, and concise marketing plan that targets your ideal prospects in order to meet - and exceed - your 2025 sales projections.

‍Deana King, King Travel Design | Travel MBA Mentor

Schedule half a day (uninterrupted) to take a step back to assess your success and pain points from 2024. Honestly assess every component, from marketing to finances to client satisfaction.  How can you leverage your successes to make them even greater? 

Develop solutions for your pain points, whether automation, improved processes, a virtual assistant, etc. You don't need to change the world - just determine two or three tangible things you will do differently in 2025. ‍

Carol McKee, McKee Travel | Business Operations Mentor

Use your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool to its full extent and take the time to learn how it works. Then, create a process in your CRM for trips and follow that process for each and every client. Being strict with yourself on this will give you the freedom of knowing that you have taken care of all the details, and the peace of mind that comes with that knowledge. ‍

Heather Parker, Bliss Travel Experiences | Accelerate Mentor

Set some goals down in writing. These can be financial, like "I want to increase sales by 10%," or other criteria like increasing your yield by 1%, fees by $3000, etc. Or they can be goals like "I want to work no more than 40 hours a week," or "I want to have a full weekend day when I don't look at the computer," or "I want to set boundaries with my clients."

While you are writing down the goals, be as specific as possible on how you'll both achieve them and how you will track them so that you will stay on target. ‍

Cathy Rowland, Amore Travel Designs | Accelerate Mentor

Have great workflows in place to manage success ahead of time. Set goals for sales and achievements that you want to hit within the first quarter of the year.  Be sure to have your newsletter/ezine in place to nurture your clients, as well as keep in contact with them. 

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