It's Always Nice To Have Options...
This will also be an excellent opportunity and tool for anyone with additional comments about each of the specific questions to get better clarification. Use the comments section to discuss each of the questions in greater detail. I remind you that I learned how to accomplish such a huge task from Brian Tracy and his courses, which teach that you focus on the each task one at a time, focus on the solution, break it down into manageable chunks, and before you know it, you’ve achieved your goal.
It should be a really fun debate, and for those of you in YTB, take this information and documentation and use it. Here are the questions we have gone over thus far.
Question #1 - Why a compensation plan takes 12 pages to define?
Question #2 - How YTB arrived at $226 Million in travel sold for 2006. (Still waiting.)
Question #3 - Why so little of the "training" at the annual convention was for travel. (OK, YTB only believes in training at other meetings. We can let this one go.)
Question #4 - How nearly 150,000 RTAs can pay in the course of 9 months $79 million dollars in website sales, fees, and training; and receive $9.3 million in return. (This is huge...anyone?)
Question #5 - And for those that say I don't get the math, I did not learn how nearly 150,000 people paid in $79 million dollars and only got $64 million in return. (Hello? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?)
Question #6 - Why it is a good thing to have your top executives selling off stock. (There were no takers on this one, so I am gonna assume that it probably is NOT a good thing as everyone initially thought.)
Question #7 - Why a 3:1 split was a good deal when two of the three shares are worthless. (Thanks to Doug for the most reasonable explanation of this. The split may have been a good deal but with the current value of the stock, it is anyone's guess.)
Question #8 - Why employees at YTB could not sell me a cruise on November 9th. (Still no answer on this one yet other than they don’t do anything till an RTA sells it. Well, the YTB site said to call them. Coach in an interview was touting how the res center is all staffed with professional agents. So, why is it that they cannot sell me a cruise, and how is it that they do not know that cruises do not depart from Phoenix?)
There seems to be a lot of confusion going on this past week, specifically concerning this particular question. I’m going to attempt to shed some light on this subject and the best way I can do that is by documenting what John is talking about.
If you recall YTB did a One day Sale back on November 8th and during the promotion of this sale YTB did offer a this Press Release for us to send out to clients. In the Press Release it does specify a Special Toll Free Number to book this cruise via phone, or to call the RTA directly. Coach also quoted that our Home Office does have a department of Professional Agents to help assist clients with bookings in a January 2007 interview with Travel Weekly.
Unfortunately, this is about as far as I can go with documentation either to support or refute the claims John is making concerning not being able book a cruise directly with us on November 8th. I have no idea why John would even want to book a cruise with YTB to begin with when he has his own Agency but that’s his choice.
My guess is that he was trying to see how effective we were in selling these cruises. We have a number of “Traditionalists” who are trying to find out “the truth” about our company, some have even joined our ranks in an attempt to find out what’s really going on. I’m finding however, that nothing could be further from the truth.
This other traditionalist who is so adamant about finding the truth either needs a new pair of glasses or his motives are a bit different than what he initially told everyone. Just this week this same “RTA” was updating the gang on the Travel Weekly Forum that our new Success from Home feature quoted that our ranking in Travel Weekly concerning “Travel Sales” also included “Networking Sales”.
When asked to verify what he was telling everyone he did attempt to provide both the page number and quote for me, but as he was soon shown, his quote mentioned nothing of the sort.
He did finally concede that the $226 Million is in fact Travel Sales, but all of the sudden his response changed to “Whoopee”. (This is one of those times that a Tom Coleman “LOL - Too funny . . .” needs to be inserted don’t you think?)
John has also been noted to look at numbers a little differently than the rest of us. John lumped together total expenses which included line items of depreciation, administrative, and marketing when comparing a Press Release to YTB SEC Filings.
Is it any wonder they get “You don’t understand” all the time? (Sorry, that’s yet ANOTHER question that I promised to answer.)
So back to point here.
I have to wonder how hard John actually tried to book a cruise with YTB on November 8th. In John’s defense, YTB did pull everyone at the home office together to help support the clients who where calling in via the special 800 number, and it’s entirely possible that he did have support staff on the other end of the line who was hired for IT, Associations, Rep Support, or Legal Support. With over 100,000 RTA’s at the time pushing people to web sites and phone, it was all hands on deck, and that may not have been such a smart move on YTB’s part. My guess is however that John’s call was more of a fact finding mission, rather than an attempt to actually book a cruise.
It was also noted this week on John’s Blog that all bookings need to go through an “Active RTA”. Not everyone who started with YTB since 2001 is still active with the company. (Big surprise there, huh?) YTB does not have what’s known as a “house account” for anyone to call the home office or a supplier and book with YTB directly. All bookings must go through an active RTA. There has been discussion from the other side how stupid it is to let revenue like this go, but it is what it is. With $226 Million in bookings in 2006, and an estimated $550 Million for 2007, we seem to be doing alright without a “house account” thank you.
Without knowing an Active RTA in the company and their RTA number, no John could not book with the home office. But John does know an active RTA…me. But how many Doug’s could their be in YTB at this point in time? Granted, the probability of two Doug Bauknight’s is slim, but what about Doug Smith, Doug Jones, Doug Miller, or Doug Bauknight Jr. or Sr.? (Both my son and my father are named Brain Bauknight.) In order for John to book directly with the home office staff, John would need to know my RTA Number, 24635.
In order to process the booking with YTB, it needs to be processed through an RTA, and the only way YTB can ensure it is with the proper RTA is through their RTA number. John was referred back to the RTA at that point, which if the RTA did their job properly, he did.
So John, if you wanted to support us during the one day sale, why didn’t you contact me here? I would have been more than happy to help you!
We are now finding the same scenario with our Olympic Packages with Spring Tours, offering a client an opportunity to contact either the RTA or Spring Tours directly. YTB has learned from the Cruise Sale and now inserts our RTA Number on new e-Brochures found in our back office, which does provide our RTA number is clients would like to book directly with their California office.
I’m going to postpone the comment about departing from Phoenix at this point. I have some special comments and have already documented several links in this post about how mud is just thrown around to see if it actually sticks. I’ve personally experienced pointed questions like “Can I depart from Phoenix?” and twisting a “Yes” without regard to having to fly out of Phoenix to a port first. It’s similar to a question asked of me if someone could book a cabin “on Promenade” rather than “along Promenade Way” on any Voyager Class ship.
It’s President’s Day today, and my kids are off of school today.
Got to go spend some time with them, and it’s nice to have the option.
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Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812
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RTA #24635
Labels: MLM Myths, One Day Sale, Travel MLM, Travel Weekly, YTB
