Thursday, December 18, 2008

Looking Ahead to 2009 by the President/CEO of (national) HSMAI 12-08

In a featured article in the HSMAI e-connect newsletter on Industry Trends, Bob Gilbert, President/CEO of HSMAI wrote the following(without the bold type):

“It was no surprise to see that the highest read articles this year were those relating to the economy and the constantly changing forecasts for hospitality and travel. In 2009 you can depend on HSMAI to continue to push to you relevant information on trends about your customer market segments and our industry. And we encourage you to leverage your membership by engaging in our chapters, special interest groups, online communities, webinars, trade shows, events and strategy conferences. Your investment in membership in HSMAI can pay huge dividends to you and your company by making sure you have the information you need to make the right decisions on how to retain and grow your business levels.

As we all wind down the year we certainly hope that you finally have an approved budget for 2009 and are ready to face what will likely be a challenging time in the hospitality and travel. Sales and marketing people by nature tend to be optimists and opportunistic. You need to seize this opportunity to be innovative and creative in all your strategies and tactics to grow your business and be a leader in your business, your team, and in your community. The case studies we'll write in 2010 are likely going to include those individuals who made "lemonade out of lemons" in 2009. I challenge you to be one of those. As you prepare your team for success in 2009, ask them why a sales and marketing person is like a teabag. It's because you never know how strong they are until you drop them in hot water.

HSMAI will be there throughout 2009 to support you and your team with trends, ideas, case studies, best practices, and strategies - all for you to contemplate while you're "brewing".

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