By Mary Brutscher

What a title for an article in a travel magazine! You just never know what I am going to throw out there next, do you? Actually, this is the perfect title for the subject of this article because many of us go through our travel careers wishing we had more business, and in particular group business, yet we pass by opportunities on a daily basis. Here’s an example of what I am talking about.
While teaching a travel class this fall, I went to a local deli to pick up a sandwich for lunch. As I was waiting for my order, I saw a healthy lifestyle magazine which is published locally and knew it was a perfect tool for the day’s marketing lesson. Most people pick up that little magazine and look at all of the local companies and associations advertised in it and see nothing but just that — advertisements.
I look at the same magazine and each ad and article is a GROUP SALES OPPORTUNITY! The local chiropractor who has an advertisement for adjustments and massages could conduct a seminar at sea on how to live healthier by altering the way we sit at work, sleep at night and so on. The dietician could do a seminar on learning how to eat a more balanced and nutritious diet. The list goes on and on.
When you sit down and read your local newspaper, look at who is making the news in your area. What business are they in? Are they a local celebrity? Are there yearly fundraisers in your area? Get them onboard a ship and take advantage of a fundraising program offered by one of your suppliers.
Even an emergency can prove to be a marketing opportunity! One year I was doing an early spring cleaning and as I sat down to dust some of my knick-knacks, I forgot I had a glass door open above my head. When I stood, the end of the door slammed into the top of my head. After a couple of hours had passed, it was clear to my mother-in-law that I had injured myself enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room.
While there I realized I didn’t know how many fingers I had and couldn’t tell how much time had passed on the clock unless I counted by two’s. But, one thing that I could do was talk cruises. The nurse who first attended me had been talking with her family about possibly taking a cruise when her son-in-law came back from Iraq. She just happened to mention her family and how they were anticipating his return. One thing led to another and I found that although I may have knocked myself silly, by gosh, I could still sell a cruise!
One year I attended an out-of-state function for an industry not travel related. The trade show was huge and many companies were represented at this show. I walked around and looked at each company represented and tried to imagine what type of event I could promote with each company. Due to the nature of the business, it was a little hard to imagine what proposals I could present to which company until we sat down at dinner. While dining, I listened with rapt attention to the different employees from different companies. Pretty soon we were all discussing one of my favorite subjects, company incentive trips for all employees! I made it my personal business to get the name of the person at the company who had the responsibility for making decisions about these incentive groups. This person and I, along with the company president, got to know one another very, very well.
My husband Franz and I were fortunate enough to attend the overnight festivities for the Carnival Miracle in Jacksonville a few years ago. I had a business meeting with a prospective incentive group so we made reservations at a Jacksonville hotel for the following night. As we were dining at the hotel, I looked up just as an older couple was being escorted to their table. I didn’t want to be rude, so I called the waitress over and asked her if the person who was just seated was Rudy Boesch from the television reality show, “Survivor”. She wasn’t sure but said she’d check with another waitress. Then she decided to just walk over to the table and ask the man himself.
It was Rudy and he invited us to come and sit and talk with him and his wife. Very, very nice people. I apologized if I was disturbing them and was assured that I wasn’t. After a few minutes, I decided to bite the bullet and try and talk him into cruising with fans. Unfortunately, he was under contract with the television network and couldn’t commit to anything until the contract was no longer in effect. I had to ask though and just think what a wonderful opportunity I would have missed if his contract had not been in effect and he said yes!
Do you attend church services? If so, what ministries does your church offer or participate in? One of my favorite events to help plan and work with are marriage seminars at sea. The minister I’ve worked with who does these seminars decided that Valentine’s Day would be a wonderful time of year to conduct these seminars. He was absolutely correct! Valentine’s Day cruises are popular with couples, but throw in a seminar for both couples and good friends and the cruise will sell itself.
Recently, an E-mail was sent out from a local luxury resort listing a women’s weekend getaway complete with special speakers who just happened to be artists and authors. I asked another agent, a new agency owner, what she thought about the weekend and was hoping she saw what I saw. She said that she did notice something — that the weekend was expensive. I too looked at the pricing, but that’s not what caught my attention — it was the fact that the weekend offered the opportunity to speak one on one with these artists and authors without having to go through their agents, and present the idea of them cruising with their fans!
Give yourselves a challenge. Decide to go through this next week with your eyes wide open to finding a new group to market. Read everything with a new purpose. Pay attention to people you meet and what they say and what types of work they do. Read those local ads and see if you can come up with a creative new promotion. Get those creative juices flowing and have some fun with new ideas. The more you deliberately look at things with a “marketing eye,” the more you will eventually do it automatically.

Happy sales!