Investing Time Now to Create Time in the Future
Investing time is different than saving or spending time.
Investing time is the deliberate practice of slowing things down, to speed things up in the future.
An obvious example of this is investing in your health. When you exercise, eat and sleep well you potentially add years to your life.
The surprising thing about investing time is that knowing and doing are two very different things.
In fact, consider a study of patients suffering from heart disease who were asked
to change their eating habits.
Even when altering their eating habits would save their lives,
only one out of seven made the changes.
Kegan and Lahey, Immunity to Change.
It’s a staggering statistic!
These results clearly show that change is hard.
When it comes to your travel business, we see the same kind of resistance.
For example,
Our head says “automate”. Our watch says, get to the next urgent thing on the list.
Our head says to “no more cheap air tickets”. Our heart says I’ll just do this one ticket for a friend. (Famous last words).
Our head says “It is hard to charge fees”. Then we get frustrated with clients who don’t value our time.
Why do we find it hard to invest, even when we know it would be in our best interest?
There are countless forces working against our ability to make change happen in our travel business.
The first step is to decide which area to invest in. The next is to commit to doing it.
Here are the five important areas to invest in now, to create time in the future. (Join our 30 on Thursdays Webinar for a deep dive!)
1. Plan. Invest time to map out your travel business journey using long-range, mid-term and short-term planning.
a) Long Range: Goals inspire us to look forward a year, two years, or three years ahead. Use your possibility mindset to imagine your ideal travel business in vivid detail. The more detail you add, the more your brain can begin to start figuring out how to make it happen.
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
- Abraham Lincoln
Investment required: One to two days per year. If you lead a team, be sure to set aside enough time to meet with each team member on their goals.
*If you lead a team click HERE for a copy of my Team Goal Setting Workbook.
b) Mid-Term Goal: A good plan should be refreshed every 90 days. The benefit of planning your year in quarters is that it allows you to stay connected to your bigger goals. It’s like having the swim lanes at the pool. Quarterly check-ins make sure that you’re not swimming hard but actually losing time going diagonally across the pool instead of end to end.
You can celebrate, look up, make adjustments, and keep going!
Investment required: ½ day per quarter
c) Short-Term Goals: Every day needs a purpose. A single driving priority for the day. That priority should also be linked to your long-term goal. Instead of an endless “to-do” list, create a high-impact “do list.” Ask yourself every single day, what do I want? At the end of the day, measure your progress toward what matters most.
Investment time: 30 minutes a day
2. Skill Up. Investing in your ability to attract, convert, and retain high-value customers is the single greatest investment that you can make in growing your revenue.
Sales skills are the cornerstone to growing your business. For every hour you invest in getting better at sales you will see a 2x to 10x return on your investment. In both books Flying Colours and 10X My Travel Business there are chapters dedicated to professional selling skills.
Top Tips:
Keep your sales pipeline TOP OF MIND and in plain view.
Identify your highest potential customers. Invest in simple sales actions every day – something to keep the relationship momentum moving.
Consistency in connection is key.
Evaluate every sales conversation for continuous improvement. (Yes, please send me a copy of the Scorecard!)
3. Replicate. Do it once, and use it often. Take a little longer to create a well-crafted template or checklist, and use it over and over again.
From emails, to thank you gifts, to bon voyage checklists, once you’ve created something that works well, use it again and again. Says travel advisor, Lori Iacoviello
“Using templates saves so much time.
They give you the framework to send information
without reinventing the wheel every time.”
Investment: Block one hour each week to identify and create efficiencies in your business. For every sales communication, you create, try to send it to at least five other people. Create template emails in a draft folder for easy access. Keep updating and sending your FAQ document.
4. Estimate. Everything takes longer and zaps more energy than we anticipate (or are willing to admit.)
Adding time estimates to your list gives you a much more realistic view of what needs to get done, and by when.
Investment Required: Break priorities into 30-minute blocks, deciding how many blocks to allocate to each. Raising your awareness of how long things actually take is a game-changer.
5. Automate. Use applications that were created to save you time, specifically in the pursuit of creating and keeping customers.
Invest time mapping out how you create customers, from start to finish. Then review applications that help you where you need it most.
Break the customer journey into three segments.
Attraction Apps for marketing, lead, generation and sales.
Servicing Apps for workflow, invoicing, and itinerary planning.
Retention Apps for customer CRM, and referrals.
These classic, time-saving investments, applied to your business will help you squeeze every bit of goodness out of travel’s biggest comeback, without leaving you exhausted.
Which of these investments will you make in your travel business?
If you feel inspired to make these changes and seek an accountability partner to help, let's talk! Either join a group coaching program or work with me one on one! Change is hard. You don't have to do it alone!
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Join me on Thursday, February 16th for our next 30 on Thursdays.
30 on Thursdays is a business-building webinar to help you grow a business you love in the travel industry!
Register HERE
Geraldine Ree is a bestselling author, business coach and travel industry strategist. She helps leaders and their teams elevate their performance and joy in the travel industry. www.geraldineree.com
PS
Register HERE for our 30 on Thursdays, on February 16th at 9:00 am PST, 12 Noon ET!
Order 10X My Travel Business here.
Get my Team Goal Setting Workbook HERE!
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If you are interested in knowing more about my 2023 programs check out: geraldine@geraldineree.com
