Tom Stieghorst
One nagging problem for many travel agents is finding time for technology and social media.
Learning the ins and outs of building websites, posting videos and being effective with Twitter and Facebook can be time consuming, and a chore.
“It takes time not only to get it up, but to run it,” said Gail Sinito, owner of GTS Vacations in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. “I’m already working over 40 hours a week as it is.”
Many advisors didn’t choose the travel field to be tech wizards. Experienced agents with plenty of travel savvy can find themselves lost in the ever-evolving world of technology.
Nonetheless, getting tech right has the twin benefits of making an agency more efficient and of reaching customers a travel seller might not find in other ways.
So how to make it easier? Here are a few suggestions:
- Shamelessly exploit the younger generation that swims naturally in the tech world. A daughter, a nephew or a babysitter can save you hours of learning on your own. Most young people love to be the one doing the instructing for a change.
- Hire a tutor to speed up your learning curve. If you can’t afford it, consider bartering your travel expertise with someone who knows technology.
- Along those lines, hire part-time help, or consider hiring someone on a project basis. Running social media can also be outsourced, but it requires some supervision.
- Turn the conversation to tech at clubs, social outings or your child’s ball game to pick up a few time-saving ideas. Share best practices with your friends in the business.
- Set a daily time to work on Twitter, Facebook or your blog. It can be outside normal business hours, when phone calls, face-to-face meetings and key priorities are out of the way. Make a standing appointment in your electronic calendar.
- Pick one social media to focus on, to make it less intimidating. Enjoy the brevity of Twitter? Start there first. Ease into Facebook once you’re comfortable tweeting.
- Buy a “For Dummies” primer on what you need to learn. They bring things down to a simple level and serve as a handy reference.
Keep your eyes on the prize: being more productive. Remember paper airline tickets and those pink “while you were out” message slips? How much time was wasted on those? Today agents can print tickets and access phone messages almost anywhere with a few keystrokes. Learning how takes some time upfront, but it is mostly gravy after that.