Why read this section? Marketing and sales are sometimes considered the sexy part of the business. They deliver bookings which need to be delivered to the customers. Obviously you will also need to understand how your business will fulfil the sale ie deliver the holiday to the customer and be paid. This section describes this, with the options for delivering each covered in travel business network.
What you need to know before you read this section: Nothing!
As a new business you will be keen to get moving without creating the perfect set of operations. The basic operations to consider are divided into
All of this assumes that you have the basics of an office – which might be part of your home or a specific workplace. A few items to consider:
Just when you thought it was complex enough, you are going to need management information to understand where the business is. Just how many sales did I make last month? Which supplier payments are due today? Think about the core questions you will need to answer and look for how you will answer them with the minimum of effort.
Finally, I need to raise the exciting subject of software. In my opinion it is becoming harder to operate without good software in this industry. Consumers want more choice and higher levels of service. The complexity that comes with that usually requires software that you use day in day out to keep on top of the business.
Travel business network describes some of your options ie which bits you need to do for yourself and which you can get other companies to do.
At TTA we provide our members with web facilities to help you or your customers search for the package you want, and book that with your suppliers. We also have a back office system called profit2 which helps keep on top of all that complexity and the operations I have described above.
We have 200 approved business partners. Each of these have negotiated preferential terms that members get on day 1.