Hello dear readers! In past Travel Hi Five articles I have had the pleasure of interviewing some of our friends in the travel industry. This month, I am going to take a different path and share some thoughts about what it takes to be successful in your travel business. While this is a new way to share my travel insights, I assure you that I am all about celebrating good news, hard work and lessons learned for the benefit of YOU. I am on the road attending the Travel Leaders Network EDGE conference and I got some inspiration from Holland America’s “Attitude of Gratitude” campaign. So, let’s talk GRATITUDE and five reasons WHY it is important for your business.
- Let’s first examine the definition of gratitude from the Oxford Dictionary; the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. I purposefully underlined those last words so that they jump out to you as they did me. At its core, I think we understand that gratitude is about showing appreciation, but what about being ready to return kindness? For me, this definition turns gratitude from a state of showing or being into a state of active participation. So, we can have gratitude for our clients or customers but how do you return the kindness? There is no one answer, but I do hope it makes you think.
- When I work with business coaching clients I use a focus plan to set business goals and create an accountability process. Part of that plan is to jot down people in your life that you have gratitude for. These can be people in the industry or just the ones who are cheerleaders for you in your life. Be it a best friend, significant other, a mentor or a colleague. Having gratitude in your heart can keep you happy and healthy. When times are tough in this business the practice of gratitude helps you handle adversity in a positive way. It also helps you build relationships that are key in business.
- Let’s turn our attention to customer care. Can you take a guess where gratitude comes in? Oh, so many opportunities here, but I will focus on using gratitude as a strategy to build a referral-based business. We show gratitude to all our customers but there are those special ones who return to you time and time again. Can you imagine telling those elite clients how much you appreciate their business AND that you want more clients like them? Extending that kindness of gratitude to them can get you the kinds of clients you really want. Great clients refer other great clients.
- Being here at EDGE and seeing the networking going on is amazing to witness. I just left the trade show and I can tell you this; the quality of interaction has a lot to do with gratitude. One psychological impact of gratitude is to help you be authentic and positive. Business is top of mind of course, but networking is a human interaction between two people who may be able to help each other. Think about that for your next networking interaction large or small.
- I can’t overstate the “power of positivity” that gratitude brings. Just being mindful of having gratitude can change your mindset from one of negativity to positivity. There are enough negative things in life. So any positive energy will rub off on your business sales in an equally similar way. You can’t just wish it of course, you have to practice it. If this is harder for you to put into practice try keeping a gratitude journal. Since this is a digital format here is a tech savvy app to help you get started.
Personally, I have so much gratitude for this industry and being able to see it on full display this week. I hope this has helped you in some small way.
Have a topic you think should be considered for future editions of Travel Hi Five? Get in touch with me at mmussey@travelleaders.com. Until next time – here is to your success!
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