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The annual
WorldClass Travel Network Fall Product Meeting was held in
Bloomington, Minnesota on Thursday, Sept. 17th at the Park Plaza Bloomington. Over
50
Network Members and all of the WorldClass Travel Network staff
members attended the meeting. Julie Buchanan, President of
WorldClass Travel Network led the meeting. The entire staff
attended the meeting throughout the day: Bob Buchanan,
Julie Marie Vinkemeier, Margaret Carreras, Mikkel
Mikkelson, Phil Oleisky, Gary Benson and Sandy Owens.
The
WorldClass Travel Network Preferred Suppliers provided
very informative
presentations. A trade show event featuring
our Preferred Suppliers was set up during the lunch break.
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Jami H. won a
Galveston gift bag from Jenny, Carnival. |
Caryl H.
won
a Murano glass
paperweight from Fran Gellar. |
Teresa G. won
an AMA travel bag from Mary Margaret Reuter. |
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Our first featured speaker Jenny Halligan,
with Carnival Cruise Line gave an update
about product, then talked about the latest
free craze, online social networking;
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
A couple of
Facebook facts:
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The fastest growing
group is the 35-54 year old in over the
last six months.
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The 55+ is not far
behind.
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There are more females
(55.7%) than males (42.2%).
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Parents and
professionals are rapidly adopting
Facebook.
You can use
the online social networking tools to
promote your business. Keep your
personal account separate from the business
account - you want to present yourself as a
professional. Don't need to share your
personal family photos or family and friend
connections. This is just another
option to promote yourself and your
business.
Our second
speakers were Mary Margaret Reuter
and Fran Gellar, multi reps., talked
about vacation destinations; Mexico, Italy,
Greece, Canada, Africa, Australia, Real
Resorts and AMA Waterways.
After the
trade show and lunch break, Paul
Christianson, with Globus talked about
marketing, group travel and Globus, Monogram
and River Cruises. He stressed the
importance of having a marketing plan; short
term, one year and a five year plan.
Be forward thinking, who is the customer and
meet their demands. The way of
conducting business from being order takers
has changed to be more 'relationship'
driven. Paul discussed the theory of
'Be the purple cow." Be the one to
stand out and excel. Globus wants to
be the 'purple cow' to you the agent.
You should be the 'purple cow' to your
customers. Check the Globus site and
ASTA site for more marketing information and
support. Selling groups is one way to
build revenue quickly and receive higher
commissions. Paul talked about the
different types of groups to pursue, getting
a database ready, timeliness, customer
follow up and the hot trends for 2010.
The last
speaker of the day was Connie Gelhaus,
with Travel Guard. Connie talked about
their product, free software, ezTips booking
tool with Profit Plus. Co-branding is
available, it is linked to WorldClass Travel
at this time. |
Paul Christenson, our Globus representative pictured
with member, Florie P.
Globus provided two prizes, gift cards to Tajas.
WorldClass Travel
Network
would like to THANK our Preferred Suppliers
for sponsoring the continental breakfast and lunch!
   
   
       
Carnival Cruise Line
Mary Margaret Reuther & Fran Gellar
Globus
Travel Guard
Apple Vacations
Centrav
Celebrity Cruises
Travel Bound
Funjet Vacations
Icelandair
Jamaica Tourist Bureau
MLT WorryFree Vacations
SuperClubs
Sun Country Airlines
Princess Cruises
Walt Disney Attractions
Thank you very much!
Preferred Supplier Trade
Show
Some of our representatives...
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Apple
Vacations - Cindy |
Funjet
Vacations - Kathy |
MLT Worryfree
Vacations - Alyssa |
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Centrav - Greg |
Celebrity
Cruises - Bob |
Mary Margaret
& Fran |
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Jamaica
Tourist Board - Mark |
Sun Country -
BJ |
Disney
Destinations - Frank |
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