Our Goal Is To Help Your Success
with Mike Marchev
I am glad you’re here. Stay a while. Be sure to come back often. New and meaningful sales and marketing materials and information will be added often to help you become more successful.Remember as you move forward in your business you will only come in contact with two types of people: Those you can help … and the other kind. Spend the majority of your waking hours looking for type “A.” Allow the others to eliminate themselves from your business world.
Most of your competitors will quit too soon. You are in this for the long haul. Keep on keeping on.
AmaWaterways sincerely cares about your success.
This is “your” site. Take your time. Browse around. Learn. Laugh. Enjoy.
Be sure to bookmark this site since it will be a work in progress. More ideas … more informational articles … more sales training … and more fun will be posted right here on a regular basis. Remember that it was Louis Pasteur who first reminded us that “Chance Favors The Prepared Mind.”
It is at the AmaWaterways Travel Agent Training Portal that you will begin to prepare to become very lucky indeed. And at this particular site, I will be here to help you.
Below you will find categories for articles, videos, sales tips, webinars and client interviews. Don’t allow yourself to become overwhelmed. One click at a time, listen, watch, internalize the information and implement what you personally connect with. Stimulating and thought-provoking information will be here waiting for you each time you return.
Chance Favors The Prepared Mind!
Most salespeople fail for lack of trying.
ARTICLES
Short, on-target reminders to help you become exceptional at what you do. Keep checking back. This list will continue to grow.
- Marketing Works… If You Do
- Elephants Don’t Bite: The Devil Is In The Details
- The Travel Institute Friday Five (River Cruising)
- Five Home-Based Mistakes NEW
Travel Research Online Series
- Likeability: People do business with people they like
- Reciprocity: If you like me … I like you.
3rd Thursday Business Development Programs
- January: The Wealthy Travel Agent with Guest Dan Chappelle
- February: Putting The Fun Back Into Sales With Scott Koepf
- March: Stuart Cohen
- April: Ralph Grizzle
- May:
- June: James Shillinglaw
- July: Kathie DeVincenzo
- August: Talking Travel With Roger Block
VIDEOS
Business basics will be shared here in a light and entertaining fashion.
- Speed Wins: Be The First To Respond When You Can
- Selling Skills Workshop: Session 1 – Target Marketing
- Follow Up & Follow Through
- Shoppers Are Good Things
- Eye Contact
- Motivation (NEW)
AUDIOS
- Twenty Audio Lessons. Easy To Listen To … Easy To Internalize
- Facts & Rules
- How Do You Feel About Your Progress Right Now?
- The Absolute Necessity of Making a Difference
- Email Mechanics: The All-Important Subject Line
- It Is Easy. All You Have To Do Is To Work Half 1/2 a Day
- Your Hobby? Or a Business?
INTERVIEWS
Client interviews will be placed here for you to use as testimonials which will help sell your next river cruise. These audio links will be unedited and will share true experiences and memories with your prospects. The first interview recorded my personal feelings after my first river cruise.
- The Stuart Cohen Radio Show With Kristin Karst
- Fresh off a Danube Cruise, Mike interviews another happy River Cruiser.
WEBINARS
Instructional “How-To” Webinars will be positioned here for your review. In most cases, these will be recorded PowerPoint Presentations coupled with an audio sound track.
SELLING MISTAKES
- Sales Mistake #1: Trying To Up-Sell
- Sales Mistake #2: Not being obsessed with helping people
- Sales Mistake #3: Not listening to the prospect …is a mistake
- Sales Mistake #4: Not empathizing with the prospect
- Sales Mistake #5: Seeing the prospect as an adversary
- Sales Mistake #6: Becoming distracted
- Sales Mistake #7: Not taking detailed notes
- Sales Mistake #8: Failing to follow through
- Sales Mistake #9: Focus
- Sales Mistake #10: Not planning the day efficiently
MARKETING MISTAKES
Mistake #1: You don’t know to whom you are marketing
Mistake #2: You don’t know why your customers buy
Mistake #3: You are not client centered
Mistake #4: You have no marketing plan
Mistake #5: You are not persistent.
Mistake #6: You expect the prospect to do too much work.
Mistake #7: You don’t ask for the business
Mistake #8: You are boring people
Mistake #9: You fail to connect with your clients and prospects sufficiently often
Mistake #10: You let past customers and prospects get away
SALES TIPS
Effective and appreciated sales expertise does not come by accident. Stop by this section often to enhance your personal professionalism while learning from Mike’s 25 plus years in the business.
- Sales Tip: Proper Eye Contact Infers Confidence
- Repetition Works. Just Don’t Become Obnoxious
- Speed Wins
- Selling Tip Postcards
1-MINUTE RIVER KNOWLEDGE
You can’t know too much about your subject matter. This section was designed to share interesting and important information as it pertains to each individual river. Small bites of information in an easy-to-remember writing style. This information will be added regularly. Stay tuned.
ABOUT YOUR TRAINER – MIKE MARCHEV
Mike has been actively involved in the travel industry since 1984. This means he knows a lot about travel, or maybe just that he is very old. You be the judge.
Do you really care about his accomplishments, where he has been, who he knows, and how high he can jump? I didn’t think so. What you do care about, and what you should be caring about is you, and how you can become more successful at what you do. That is where Mike enters the picture. Make no mistake about it, this web site is all about you.
Mike has a unique and refreshing way of delivering useful information in a way that is easy to listen to, easy to understand, easy to connect with and easy to implement. He has made it a point over the last 30-years to tell travel professionals what they “need” to hear, and not just wha they “want” to hear. So if you are up to the task, start browsing around this AmaWaterways-supported website and begin enjoying your career once again.