10 Tips to Increase Productivity in Your Travel Agency 

Running a successful travel agency requires you to be productive and efficient. Whether you are planning trips for customers or managing your business, there are plenty of ways to maximize your time and increase productivity. Here is a list of 10 useful tips for travel agencies who are looking to improve their workflow in preparation for the new year. 

1. Start each week by writing down your plan: 

 The best way to start the week is by creating daily priorities that will help guide each work day. This will give you a clear understanding of what needs to get done and help you stay organized during your work hours. Make sure to schedule this time at the beginning of each week to keep yourself accountable to your goals and prime you for a productive week. 

2. Start Your Day with Your Least Favorite Task “Eat the Frog”: 

While it may seem daunting, starting with the task that you dread the most can help increase your focus and productivity for the rest of the day. Knowing that you have already accomplished one of your least favorite tasks can motivate you to keep going and finish strong!

One simple way to begin implementing this concept is to accomplish one of your least favorite tasks early on Monday, so that you can start your week with a quick win. This gives you more time during the rest of your week to focus on tasks that you do enjoy.

3. Schedule Work Breaks: 

Taking planned short breaks throughout the day can help refocus your attention on the tasks at hand as well as provide an opportunity to refresh your creativity and problem-solving skills. This helps ensure that no matter how busy things get, there is still time for rest in between tasks. 

4. Consider Batching Your Work: 

By grouping similar tasks together, such as email, research or customer calls, you can save time throughout your day by reducing the time wasted switching back and forth between different types of tasks. Not only will you feel less overwhelmed by your list of action items, but this strategy will help you avoid distraction as you work on one particular task. 

5. Limit Distractions During Work Hours:  

That means putting away phones, turning off notifications while working on important tasks, and taking quick walks outside when energy levels dip low during the day— these strategies and more can help limit distractions while working on one of your work batches.

There are many free tools online to help you block or limit your browser while working online including the free browser extensions StayFocused and Focus available on Chrome. Using tools like these while your working can dramatically limit the amount of distractions available to you while you work on your business. 

6. Create a Productive Space: 

Taking some time before each workday starts to create an environment conducive to productivity will pay off in spades throughout the week ahead! Whether it’s making sure all necessary tools are within reach or organizing workspaces in an aesthetically pleasing way—it all adds up when it comes time to actually put in those hours of hard work! Consider adding a plant to your office space to add some life or removing distractions from your line of vision to get started. 

7. Combine Your Travel Agency Software: 

Instead of using multiple tools to manage your customers, payments, and travel programs, consider using an all-in-one software. This allows employees to access all relevant information quickly so they don’t have to waste valuable time searching several different programs for customer contact information or other necessary information. TripMatrix, a software developed by travel agents, solves this problem by creating a one-stop solution to manage sales, customer details, payments, and more.  

Reach out to the TripMatrix team for a free personalized demo to see the tool in action.

8. Automate Processes:  

As technology continues to improve, so do the automation tools available to you to save precious time that would otherwise be wasted manually filling out forms or calculating details needed by customers when booking trips through your agency. Free up your time with the TripMatrix software when building your available travel packages, the smart search feature will automatically pull information from the web to fill out parts of the form such as photos and addresses.  

Learn more about How to Digitally Transform you Travel Agency.  

9. Create SMART Goals:  

Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Timely) goals helps make sure everyone within the agency understands what needs to be achieved as well as ensuring deadlines are met efficiently. Setting SMART goals also helps ensure that objectives are realistic and attainable within a certain timeframe.

You can use these goals to map out your weekly goals and again at the end of the week to review if you are on track to hit your personal and agency goals. If you work with a larger team, keeping SMART goals helps each individual visualize exactly how their actions are impacting the agency’s bottom line. 

 10. Schedule Time To Review & Adjust Goals: 

Regularly reviewing progress towards goals helps identify any issues early on so they can be addressed quickly before they become bigger problems down the line. It also helps teams re-evaluate goals if necessary based on changes in customer demand or as new programs become available.

Depending on the needs and size of your agency, you can set aside a quick block every Friday to review your weekly progress. It is also good practice to schedule goal reviews at the end of each month or quarter. 

Conclusion 

With these 10 useful tips for productivity, you can build your week with intention and take control of your workload – which will ultimately free up more time for you to spend building unique travel programs and providing excellent customer experience.

In addition to the planning benefits that come from these tips, when implemented and documented they also create a catalog of your accomplishments throughout the year and allow you to plan better for the following year. 

Want to pair these strategies with TripMatrix? Contact us and learn how we can get you prepared for a productive year!