First impressions count. I think we can all agree on that one. Just like when someone walks into your store, or perhaps meets you for the first time at the local Starbucks—you are being judged. Will there be another meeting? Do I like this person? Do they seem trustworthy? All of these thoughts go through your prospect’s head when they first meet you. Today, many of the first “meetings” happen over email. And a good portion (if not the majority) will be from your mailing list. Are you making the right impression with that first contact? Or are you making some mistakes right out of the gate with your welcome email?

The open rate for the average welcome email is between 50% and 60%.

According to MailChimp,…

Matt's career in travel began as a hobby. After returning from the Peace Corps in 2006, he began to help family and friends with their own travel plans. By sharing his experiences abroad he inspired and assisted them as they created their own trips and memories. In 2014, by chance, he got the opportunity to turn his passion into a career, and never looked back. In 2017, Matt left his full-time Silicon Valley career to devote 100% of his time to building his travel business.

Matt has been nominated by Carnival Cruise Lines as CLIA’s Rising Star of the Year and is an active participant in many travel industry associations and boards.

In addition to his thriving travel advising…

Most travel agencies pay a great deal of attention to the brand image they project in their advertising. An advertisement printed in a magazine or newspaper gets a rare amount of attention from everyone involved. The agency owner, the marketing department, the ad designer, all get involved looking closely at the details to ensure that it projects the appropriate image for the agency. After all, the advertisement will be seen by hundreds, even thousands of potential travel agency clients.

If only that much attention were paid to every travel agency point of contact. As we have discussed in the past, points of contact are those places where clients encounter your branding. Advertising is one, but so are business…

Regardless of how many years I have experienced, and how many times I have fallen and managed to get up again, I amaze myself at just how much I still don’t know, and how much I have forgotten along the way.

Today’s message (lesson) is one you can benefit from at once. Learn from my oversight. It is the painless way to go.

The setting is a conference room; the place where I have been making my living for the past 35 years when not sharing my business-related experiences on stage at various industry…