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July 2007
Supplement to Travel Trade

We work in an unusual industry — an industry that uses three or four letter codes and acronyms for everything. We live in BNA (Nashville). We just got back from MSY (New Orleans). And, this month, we’re going to LGW (London). We are members of CLIA, ASTA, ARC and IATA. We use EFTs (Electronic Funds Transfers) to pay for cruises and tours. We are considered a POS (point of sale).
BTW (by the way), text messaging has brought another entire language into existence. As an English major, I’m not sure that I’m LOL (laughing out loud) about this one. In the travel industry, we seem to have CUOA (compulsive use of acronyms).
I’m convinced that there is nothing that we can’t find on the Internet, and to prove my point, I looked up a number of acronyms that we use in our daily lives. All of us know about KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid. But, did you know that POSH is Port Out, Starboard Home? This was a printed on P & O’s documents that denoted the more expensive cabins on sailings from England to India.
Just when we thought demographic acronyms had become a thing of the past, we now find ourselves sitting in a sea of commuter traffic, surrounded by enormous SUVs (sport utility vehicles) and HUMVEEs (high mobility multipurpose vehicles) bearing vanity plates and cell phone wielding drivers behind every steering wheel. These are the DISTINCTIVEs (dual income striving to impress neighbors and co-workers yet tormented by increasing vexation and emptiness).
First, there were YUPPIEs (young, urban professionals). Next came the DINKYs (dual income, no kids yet), who were followed by the SITCOMs (single income, two children, oppressive mortgage). Now we have the OPALs (older people, active lifestyles), the OINKYs (one income, no kids yet), the ORCHIDs (one recent child, heavily in debt), the GLAMs (graying, leisured, affluent, married), the GOFERs (genial old folks enjoying retirement), the HEWs (high earning workers), the WOOPs (well-off older people), the SNAGs (sensitive new age guys or gals), the SINBADs (single income, no boyfriend and desperate), the MUPPIEs (middle-aged urban professionals), and of course, my favorite, the GRITS (girls raised in the South).

Some of the acronyms all of us can use in our agencies are:
ASK — Attitude, Skills, Knowledge
AFTO — Ask for the Order
AIDA — Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. (If your sales, advertising, direct mail, Web site or any effort designed to motivate others to buy from you doesn’t follow this sequence, it won’t work)
ALF — Always Listen First
BEER — Behavior, Effect, Expectation, Results
BID — Break It Down (When dealing with customers, break it down into digestible parts)
BOCCA — Belief, Optimism, Courage, Conviction, Action
BOOSTER — Balanced, Observant, Objective, Specific, Timely, Enhancing, Relevant (good for giving feedback)
BRAN — Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, Nothing. (This is a decision making act. What are the benefits and risks from a particular course of action or option? What are the alternatives considering the benefits and risks? Always remember that there is the option to do nothing which, on occasion, can be the best thing.)
CAP — Cover All Possibilities
DRIVE — Define, Review, Identify, Verify, Execute
FOCUS — Futuristic Observation Creates Unique Solutions
FORCE — Focus On Reducing Costs Everywhere (Perhaps not the most progressive strategy ever invented, but sometimes necessary and helpful, provided the cost-cutting does not prevent activities that would otherwise bring good and fast returns on investment)
GIGO — Garbage In, Garbage Out
GOSPA — Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Plans, Activities (simple blueprint and order of thinking for business planning)
GROW — Goals, Reality, Options, Will (Relevant to any situation that requires realistic objectives and the planning and determination to achieve them)
IDEA — Identify, Design, Execute, Augment (Process for changing anything. Identify the issues, priorities, constraints, resources. Design the plan; execute the plan; augment, refine, adjust and improve activities)
KASH — Knowledge, Attitude, Skills, Habits (For people to succeed at what they do. Knowledge and skills can be acquired with training — attitude can’t. Skills and knowledge are easier to develop and change than attitudes and habits)
KEY — Keep Extending Yourself (Importance of striving to improve yourself and always seeking new challenges).
SWOT — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (used in analyzing any business)
TAPES — Technique and Practice Equal Skills
TRIP — Transaction, Relationship, Information, Partnership (sequential development of a successful customer-supplier co-operation)
And finally, LAST — Listen, Advise, Solve, Thank.
If all of us take just one thing away from this article, the LAST thing is what we need. These are the ultimate traits of good travel agent sales people.
This is just TMI (too much information). Putting my BOHOF (back of hand on forehead) and FEARing (forgetting everything and running) because I CRAFT (can’t remember a flipping thing), I think I’ll just DUTCHIE (defer until the Christmas holiday is ended). Until next month.....

Sherrie Funk and husband Charlie own Just Cruisin! Plus, Nashville. They founded the Travel Agent Management Academy to educate owners and managers about the techniques that have been instrumental to their agency’s success.
This month’s article is excerpted from the Funks’ latest book, “A Recipe for Success.” The Funks have authored two other books, “Planning and Implementing Events” and “Creating a Blueprint for Growing Your Agency.” Each costs $20 or 2/$30 and can be ordered by calling (800) 888-0922.