EXPORT MATTERS – INSIDE TOURISM Wed 14 November 2012

Is there a place for romance in business?  Absolutely, but with a few differences. Think of romance in a personal setting. Eyes meet across the room, a smile is exchanged and immediately your brain goes into overdrive wondering how you can arrange meeting or connecting without seeming too keen. You wait by the phone, check them out on Facebook and see who their friends are. If you are lucky the other person is doing exactly the same and before you know it, a relationship is formed.

In business the balance between the two parties is slightly different. One party (the seller or supplier) has access to information before the first ‘meet’ takes place so it is to their advantage to learn as much as possible about the other party (the buyer). The first meeting may be pre-organised, such as a trade workshop or consumer show, but often the seller is under-prepared and has higher expectations than the buyer, so could end up disappointed. The buyer is in the position of viewing several potential suppliers to have relationships with, so the seller initially needs to ‘woo’ the buyer. Once the buyer is hooked, both parties need to keep the business relationship working.  Regardless of what product or service you are selling, with all relationships, people are often investing in a ‘person they can trust’ ahead of the product.

Relationships that Tourism Export Council inbound tour operators have had with allied members have traditionally followed the process above. However, in recent years the balance has shifted with the supplier now in a position of selling their product direct via their own website, working with online travel agents (OTA’s) or having last minute FIT walk-ins. The relationship balance between inbound operator and supplier is more equal and both parties need to put the romance back into the relationship if they are to have a successful future.

The Tourism Export Council key networking events of the year are fantastic opportunities for these relationships to be kept alive and new ones forged. Having association memberships involves both sides of the relationship to keep working. The full advantages of being a member of the Tourism Export Council cannot be realised unless you participate in surveys, give feedback, ask questions and attend industry forums. Yes, sometimes this means further investment to sustain the relationship but the benefits are there if you choose to utilise all aspects of your association membership. We hope that it will certainly generate new business, but you also get to network with kindred industry professionals who are often facing the same challenges as yourself. And as if securing new business and learning from colleagues isn’t enough, you sustain lifelong professional friendships which in a country this size is very important.

So business and romance go hand in hand. Think about how you can keep the romance alive in your business relationships.