Now, More Than Ever

Lee Rosen, President, Trams, Inc.

I start my Mondays off with a 7:00 AM conference call with all the Trams sales reps – I have done it every week for years and years.

This week I have to admit going into the call I was not feeling all that excited. Everywhere I looked things seemed down. The stock market was off 40% with no end in sight. Our economy seems to be falling apart right in front of my eyes – who would be the next big financial company to go under or be government subsidized. And, of course, travel was not escaping the downturn. Suppliers everywhere were singing the blues and even Sabre which had increased US market share to over 58% was still down worldwide – not a good sign for my year-end bonus.

So I was prepared for more of the same with the Trams reps. Tough times, no one has any money, etc. etc.

But what I got surprised me. We had a great week for Trams Back Office sales and in fact are on pace to set yet another calendar year sales record. Reps were upbeat, “In this economic environment how does an agency get by without tracking commissions, managing preferred suppliers, taking care of their agents and otherwise having an efficient back office? So even though things were tough, it was actually driving agencies to do the right thing,” they reported.

Next check was the ClientBase sales response. And yet again - more good news: Forty-three new agency sales for the week – over 300 new agent users. Again the reps explained, “With a soft economy, knowing one’s client and being able to segment and provide them pertinent promotions is more important. And agencies are realizing this and adopting CRM at the faster rate than ever before.”

Well I am starting to feel better now. Sure things are tough, but agents are getting it - now, more than ever, it is important to manage our businesses and know our clients.

One last check and that is how were sales results the last week and looking forward for ClientBase Marketing Service (CBMS, formerly called TMA.) Again, great news as over 45 new agency installations and many in the sales queue getting ready to move to CBMS. “In tough times, agencies that know their clients and can promote to them with pertinent promotions are the agencies that will do the best in the marketplace.”

Suppliers are down, yet those agencies with the right marketing programs can turn into a positive as there are more deals – and yes in tough times our clients are looking for those more deals.

I would go as far as to say that through these tough times – or future times whatever cycle we are in – those agencies with the right CRM-driven marketing programs will be the most successful in generating client business and hence be the most profitable.

I certainly am not happy many of us are going through tough times, but the silver lining in it is the even greater incentive to do things right – and thus benefit in both the current tough times and future times – whatever the cycle may be.

Thanks for reading.

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