During the economic recession, the concept of growth seems to have taken a backseat to the reality of survival. Perhaps no industry has faced more challenges than travel, and within that subset, travel agencies have it the worst. The internet, with its wealth of information and constant availability of online deals, has struck a major blow to agencies worldwide, rendering many of them extraneous. The devastating tragedy of 9/11 led to mass trepidation for travel. Now, the economic recession has caused even further cutbacks in travel related expenses for many individuals and organizations. With all of these devastating factors working against them, it is amazing that the word “travel agency” even exists in our modern vocabulary.

However, Anthony Travel has managed to not only survive all of those adverse conditions, but to thrive. Of course, savvy business acumen is responsible for this success. Though the portfolio of techniques that Anthony Travel uses is no doubt incredibly diverse, their use of the two following time management techniques has helped them avoid unnecessary pitfalls and make intelligent decisions.

Track Time to Projects

Anthony Travel initially tracked time simply for payroll, using a relatively unsophisticated system that did not give much insight into anything but employee hours worked. However, once they made the decision to switch to an automated solution, the opportunity to track time on a per-person, per-project basis opened up, and it allowed many benefits that were impossible with their previous solution. For one thing, they were able to get specific insight into where and when employees were completing assigned tasks and compare those to ultimate profitability. They were then able to reallocate resources and people in ways that made sense for their business. In addition, they could determine if employees were being put on too many projects, or if they were available for a new venture. This level of clarity allowed for precise decisions that increased the efficiency of everything from project completion to time-off requests.

Fire Problem Customers

Anthony Travel does business with several reputable college athletics teams in the United States, helping players get where they need to go. They track time to schools and even by team, approaching each as a separate project. With this information, they began to see some trends in the profitability of each of these, and eventually reached a somewhat surprising conclusion: some projects were tying up too many resources to maintain profitability.  This insight allowed them to focus on the most profitable customers and projects. Insight into the time and resources spent on customers allowed them to make intelligent -- and profitable -- decisions.

These strategies worked well for Anthony Travel, but what tools do you use to protect yourself from unforeseen circumstances and to increase profits?