(The Margie’s Travel Goes Online series tells the story of how Margie, John, Delores and their fictitious travel company use Microsoft Office Live Small Business to overcome everyday business challenges.)
Margie had always had a nice rapport with older folks, which is how she happened to start leading tours for senior citizens. After doing them for several years, she realized she had acquired a lot of knowledge about senior travel. She kept notes and eventually created a series of travel guides on destinations with strong appeal for older travelers.
At first she thought she’d simply use them as “freebies” to entice her tour groups to book a trip the following year. For example, after a theater tour in London she might send everyone home with a copy of her guide to wine tours in France’s Loire Valley. Loaded with pictures and practical tips – plus notes on places that offer the best senior discounts – the guides were always well-received. So much so that Margie’s Travel often got calls or e-mails from people who happened to see one and wanted to purchase a copy. So they started selling them.
One day as John was reviewing their quarterly sales, he noticed they were selling more and more of the guides every month. “You know Margie,” he told her later that day, “I think you’re really onto something with these senior guides. I can’t believe how fast we sell out of them.”
Delores, a sprightly senior herself, overheard John’s comment. “I bet you could sell a whole lot more of them on our Web site,” she said.
“I'm thinking the same thing,” John said.
Margie looked surprised. “Well, you two are way ahead of me. I never thought about that. How would we do it?” she asked.
John told her about Store Manager, the e-commerce tool that Microsoft Office Live Small Business offers. “I watched the video on how it works, and I’m sure I can do it,” he told her. “The Web site wasn’t hard to build once I got started, so I’m guessing Store Manager is pretty easy too.”
“Could we link the guides available for purchase next to the tour write-ups we already have on the site?” Margie asked.
“That would be the way to do it,” John said.
“You ought to think about selling them on eBay, too,” Delores piped in. “A lot of people head straight for eBay when they want to buy something.”
“Mom’s right,” John said. “And with Store Manager, I could set up a store on our Web site and sell on eBay too.”
“Sounds like it could be expensive,” Margie said. “We don’t charge that much for the guides. I’d hate to end up losing money.”
“Actually, it looks super affordable. I bet we’d come out ahead if we just sold a few a month,” he told her. “Anyway, we could try it for a few months and see what happens.”
“And you can put me in charge of fulfilling orders,” Delores said. “That way I can earn my trip to Rio sooner. Cha cha cha …”
Margie laughed. “What would we do without Delores around here?”
“And,” John added, “What would we do without Office Live Small Business?”
Next episode: It didn’t take long to figure out that the travel guides were going to be a hot seller online. But success brought new challenges. Find out how Margie’s Travel is finally able to consolidate all of its business contacts in one convenient place, for free.
Margie’s Travel Goes Online series