OK so Patti Page was singing about doggies, and we are talking about clients. But wouldn’t it be nice to window shop and cherry-pick our clients? Unfortunately, that is not the case and we need to get them the old-fashioned way—we need to earn them.  But at what cost?

Have you ever stopped to think how much it costs to get that client to walk in your door, click on your website or react to that…

Do you know why your clients do business with your travel agency? Do they have a clear picture in their minds of what your travel practice represents? What type of relationship do you try to develop with your clients? How are your relationships reflected in the conversations you have with clients, your advertisements, your website and your other marketing efforts?
The answers to these questions go to the heart of your company’s reason for being. When you can answer these questions easily, you are farther down the path to authentic marketing. This means business conducted from a principle set of core values and client relationships built on…

Here is another major lesson stemming from my days working with Maritz, while pursuing the Ricoh Copier account. This lesson involves a separate division of Ricoh, but I also consider this to be another life lesson.

After months of trying to schedule an appointment with Ricoh’s sales trainer, I managed to set a day and time to finally meet. Due to the importance of this meeting, my boss thought it best if he joined me for this ice-breaking introductory session.

We arrived on time and were escorted to a meeting room where we were to wait for Dan Piccoli. There was a large cake in the middle of the conference table surrounded by a full bouquet of colorful balloons. Our first thought was a birthday was being…