By Sherri Funk

I don’t know anyone who enjoys the holidays more than I do. I want our house decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving, and don’t want to “undecorate” it until New Year’s. I love to have people over during this time — family, friends, and even some clients. I love the hustle and bustle of getting everything ready for that BIG day. Then, it comes and is over. And what do I have to look forward to?
It’s January; it’s cold out; our Cruise and Vacation Supermarket is only four weeks away. FOUR WEEKS. Oh, no, that can’t be right. We still don’t have commitments from all of our suppliers. We have to get brochures shipped and stamped. We don’t have our show specials that must be printed.
Our agency opened for business on Jan. 4, 1988. We were the first cruise-only agency in Tennessee. This was a totally new concept. We had done a good job in getting press for our agency. Television stations, The Nashville Business Journal and radio talk shows were anxious for interviews with us.
During our first month of operation, a local magazine, which catered to a very upscale clientele, contacted us. They were interested in sponsoring a cruise show and wanted us to help them with it. They knew that we had relationships built with all of the cruise lines, and they didn’t know where to begin.
The magazine wanted to charge for “table” space and require that each cruise line purchase ads, which were extremely expensive for the number of subscribers that they had. When we asked how many people they reasonably thought would attend, we were told around 200. Both of us knew that there was no way that the cruise lines would pay the amount the magazine wanted to charge, nor would they buy the ads at the rates that we had been quoted for that small number of attendees.
However, my husand Charlie and I both thought the idea of a cruise show was a good one — one that we thought we could pull off at a minimal cost to each supplier. We contacted a local radio station and recruited them as a co-sponsor, getting us free advertising. We convinced a hotel that since their ballroom was sitting empty on a Sunday afternoon, they should give us the space for the number of people we would draw to their hotel. We asked a local boutique store which sold swimwear to have a couple of fashion shows during the event. We even bought some small ads in our local newspaper to advertise the show.
Everything fell into place. And, on the first Sunday in March (well into Wave Season), we held our first cruise show. Over 1,000 people attended. We gave away door prizes by the dozens. The suppliers were delighted with the attendance. Just remember, there was only my husband Charlie and me and a lot of our family and friends to help out with the show.
But, there were a couple of small glitches. We had spent money to advertise the show, had people ready to book with us — and no place for them to do so. When we met with some of our suppliers after the show, their suggestions were for us to have a reservations area available, and decide why we were having the show. The fashion show was useless. It took people away from the suppliers’ booths, and we didn’t make a dime on anything they sold. Boy, did we learn a lot through trial and error.
Over the years, our show has grown to mammoth proportions becoming one of the largest in the Southeast. In 2005, 3,200 people attended and bookings made the DAY of the show exceeded $500,000. It took almost 50 people to pull this off smoothly.
So, now I guess you’re wondering why I’m writing about hosting a cruise/vacation show when you’re a one or two person operation. You don’t have to do a show the size of ours. You can host an “open house” at your home or hold a cruise night that’s co-op’ed by one of your suppliers. Maybe you promote and host a group leader seminar and invite ten potential group leaders to lunch, include a cruise supplier as a sponsor and have the supplier pay for lunch. Or what about a first-time cruiser seminar where you can help people determine which cruise line they should be sailing? Alaska and Europe are hot destinations this year, and destination seminars are a great way to talk to a lot of people at one time. Whatever you choose to do, make sure that at least one supplier will contribute co-op funds to your efforts.
The best-laid plans will be yours!! You’re no dummy, of course. You’re well aware that events play a growing part in the day-to-day business of travel agencies. Now you’re in the role of planning one, and you want to make sure you show your agency — and yourself — in the best possible light. Don’t surrender to self-doubt!
Get ready! Get set! GOAL!!!
Set your goals today. Start planning your event(s) and reaping the rewards for your agency tomorrow.