by John Frenaye
Monday April 04, 2022

I was reading Richard Earls’ article about learning some good examples of bad examples and he rightly called out the cable companies, doctors and pharmacists, airlines, software companies, and yes, online travel agencies. He said the customer service bar is pretty low and that it doesn’t take too much to stand above the crowd. And it got me thinking about what keeps a customer coming back for more.  I came up with nine things. Do you have some to add? Please leave them in a…

Next week I have the opportunity to travel for pleasure and, as always, small apprehensions about all of the work I have to do at the office shadow my travel plans. I thought it might an opportunity to re-focus on a few critical issues- like why I do what I do, how to do it better, and what to do more often.  As I wrote down my thoughts, it occurred to me that we far too often lose sight of the reasons we are in the travel business. So I developed the following suggestions for myself. At first I called them commandments, but they really are suggestions more than commandments. The real commandments, the ones from the burning bush, were mostly about what not to do.  The ones…

If positioned properly, losing can become a positive launching point.

It might not have been my first failure, nor should it be considered my greatest failure; but I clearly remember the first time I began feeling like a loser. I was maybe 10 or 11 at the time, playing for a Major League Little League Team. These were the big boys and supposedly very good at our trade. I was a proud member of The Hawks.

When opening day came and went that year, we were 0-1. Nineteen games later, when the last out of the game was recorded at the season’s end, we were 0-20. Putting on a pair of rose-colored glasses, that single feat was almost impossible to duplicate. Very few teams…