Whether you're having a conversation with a colleague, co-founder or another decision-maker within your company, disagreements will happen. This is inevitable. It can also be a good thing.
Having people who are willing to passionately make their case for different ideas, approaches and strategies is the foundation of a dynamic organization. It's important, though, to make sure that agreement is ultimately reached so that action can result and progress be made.
Based on our experience, I recommend you consider the following approaches to make the most out of your disagreements.
From paying someone to pack their kids' bags to being chauffeured in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, take a look in the gallery above for a few other perks of ultra-luxury travel.
Slide 7: NEVER CARRY LUGGAGE: Luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent's Luggage Forward program provides door-to-door luggage pick-up and delivery so you don't even have to tote your bags to the airport or pick them up at baggage claim.
Here are eight tactics for making it all — well, some of it — better.
2. Lose your bags before the airlines do. It's hard enough to manage a flight disruption when you're only worried about getting yourself from place to place. Add the complexity of checked bags and heartache is sure to follow. Do whatever you can to fly only with carry-on bags. Rather than check bags with airlines, ship via a third party service such as Luggage Forward. And if you can't start your trip without checked bags, be ready to jettison them when a serious flight disruption occurs. Virtually all airports have FedEx and/or UPS stations on or near the grounds. Let the courier services get those bags to your destination while you worry about your alternate flight plans.
Luggage Forward co-founder Zeke Adkins has attended the past two Inner City 100 Symposium and Awards events and he plans to attend this year. He said he finds the educational component particularly useful and is excited to have access to high-caliber professors from Harvard Business School and experienced executives from successful companies.
His downtown Boston-based company, which started in 2004 and provides door-to-door luggage and sports equipment delivery to about 200 countries around the world, has been on the Inner City 100 list for the last two years.
New enhancements to Luggage Forward's travel agent and affiliate portal will enable travel professionals to add door-to-door luggage and sports equipment delivery to their clients’ itineraries, while earning commission for every booking, co-founder Zeke Adkins told Travel Agent.
"With the rise of checked baggage fees, and continuing concern about airlines losing luggage, this is a growing trend. We have agents join our commission program and refer their clients to us on a daily basis as travelers are looking for an better way to get their luggage to their vacation destination," Adkins says.
Zeke Adkins, co-founder and sales manager at Luggage Forward - a luggage-delivery service in Boston - weighs in on this case study regarding managing a sales team. “Mr. Bellows has built a successful company with a popular product, but his track record of running the sales team is not as good. Therefore, he should hire a vice president of sales and commit to handing over the appropriate autonomy to allow the new hire to build the team. But first, Mr. Bellows should decide what metric or metrics would define success after six months. Agreeing on one or two metrics as the primary measure of success will minimize any temptation for Mr. Bellows to micromanage.“
Luggage Forward® Named to Inc. 500|5000 List for Fourth Consecutive Year
Luggage Forward, the leading provider of doorstep to destination luggage delivery service worldwide, was again recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America. This is the fourth year in a row that Luggage Forward has been named to the exclusive Inc. 500|5000 list, proving that luggage shipping is essential to the travel industry.
Luggage Forward, a 10-year old company that provides door-to-door shipping services, recently enhanced its travel agent program, allowing agents access to real-time client bookings and commissions, the opportunity for customized booking portals and a service to develop and track marketing campaigns. New features also allow travel agencies – including host agencies – to track and distribute commissions for individual travel agents and agency offices.
As a business owner, a large part of your strategy is to outshine competitors but savvy entrepreneurs know that it is also smart to create and maintain relationships with them.
