Using Ancient Principles for a Successful Tourism Business
May 2009
Not all successful business models come from advanced educational centers. Often some of the most creative ideas come from classical sources. One such source is the encyclopedic work called the “Talmud”. The Talmud is a mélange of classical wisdom in an unredacted format written over centuries. Below is a series of Talmudic principles that taken together can offer new insights for travel and tourism professionals.
- Knowledge is the wealth that you can take with you. The Talmud places great emphasis on experiential education. It teaches that the one thing that no one can take from you is your learning and your life experiences. This insight is essential for travel and tourism marketers. Travel and tourism, especially in down economies, is not about relaxation. We can all relax at home. What travel and tourism have to sell is the knowledge that comes from travel, the ability to work with others, the experiences that make life worth living. Talmudic wisdom then teaches us that we travel to other places to learn. It also means that destinations need to be authentic. Rather than mimic the competition, distinguish yourself from your competitors and develop opportunities for your visitors to get to know what makes your community, travel experience, or attraction unique.
- The way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers. Unfortunately the travel and tourism business has a long history of treating its employees poorly. Often people in travel and tourism are asked to work long hours for low pay. The result is often frustrated workers who in turn treat your guests with rudeness and distain. Instead, realize that the way that you treat your employees sets the corporate culture’s tone for everyone including your guests. One of the great frustrations of tourism and travel is businesses that are understaffed. This regrettable situation exists in hotels, restaurants and in the field of transportation.
- Successful tourism professionals are entrepreneurs who share their knowledge with their subordinates. Talmudic wisdom teaches us that we will never know a fraction of what we need to know. It emphasizes that successful people are those willing to take a risk and that organizations that do not permit their employees to be creative, in the end fail or at least become mediocre. Ask yourself if you micro-manage and if so, does this micro-management come about due to lack of confidence in your staff (if they are not competent, why have you not fired them?) or lack of confidence in yourself. Remember that those who are on the front lines often have the best ideas. Develop ways so that frontline personnel can make suggestions and offer criticism. See criticism as a sign of caring and concern rather than becoming defensive. Talmudic wisdom teaches that if you are afraid to take a chance, you will never succeed in your profession. Measure the risk and if it is doable, believe enough in yourself to take prudent risks.
- Verbal skills are essential to business success. Verbal confidence is more than having a large vocabulary and not making grammatical mistakes (both of which are important). Verbal confidence is the ability of stating what you believe in a non-combative manner. It is also the ability to take the “I” out of the discussion and to focus on the “you”. In reality this is the basis for customer service. Good customer service is letting the other person have his/her say, of listening attentively and in a caring manner, but refusing to take abuse. Verbal confidence is not taking yourself too seriously. The best way to deflect anger is by using creative humor. When doing so, never make fun of your customer or client, but instead make sure to be confident enough to get the other person (especially if he or she is angry) to laugh with you either at the situation or at you. It is hard to be angry at a person who is confident enough to laugh at him/herself. Remember, most things are not issues of life and death. The Talmud teaches us to take the world with a grain of salt.
- Do not waste money but do not be afraid to spend it either. This basic Talmudic principle is especially important during hard economic times. When people are spending less all too often tourism professionals cut back on the essentials. Stick by your employees during hard times and hopefully most of them will stick by you. Think through what is necessary and what is not. Every business wastes money, but do not wait for hard times to trim the fat. On the hand, do not cut back on essential services or you will lose your reputation. Keep your tourism business in tiptop order. Paint and repair when necessary; maintain an advertising budget. Downtimes need to be creative times, so find a way to fix, maintain, and market in the most frugal manner possible. It is essential however to spend some money in hard times if you are to make money in good economic times.
- Be yourself and celebrate your creative side. This essential Talmudic lesson is critical for tourism and travel professionals. One of the great problems in tourism is that too many products look, feel or taste the same. Visitors seek the unique and the special. That does not mean lessening standards or quality. It does mean that successful tourism and travel business know how to be creative, how to present old ideas with a fresh approach and how to make the visit or travel experience unique and fresh. Think about those airlines that have used creative approaches to the travel business versus those whose only memories created are negative. How are you distinguishing your business? What makes you special?
- Go out there with a will to succeed. Talmudic thought teaches us never to rest on our laurels and that it is our duty to approach each day as a new challenge. The Talmud teaches us to make long-range plans and to start implanting them today. Its message is that good is never good enough. That to be satisfied with one’s success is the beginning of failure. Never then accept the status quo but instead seek to see how you can change it, tweak it, and improve it. Look around you and try to determine what has become so mundane that you no longer see it. It is all too easy to accept the stain in the rug, the pothole in the parking lot, and the service provider who frowns rather than smiles. Talmudic thought teaches us that when we are too satisfied with our successes, then it is time to worry. Instead each of us needs to win our customers back every day. To be the best, tourism and travel professionals need to learn from others, take risks, and work for both monetary rewards and for the joy of success.
