PHOTO: Jackie Friedman, president of Nexion and Kelly Bergin, president of Oasis.

Operating a home-based travel agency without a business plan is much like embarking on a journey without a road map. You may arrive at your final destination, but later than expected and with a series of missteps along the way.

Put another way, developing a business plan — and adhering to it — simply works toward ensuring optimal results. “A business plan is necessary to provide direction and a path to success — without a plan, agents can easily become disorganized and lose focus of the end game,” says Andi Mysza, president of MTravel, the hosting division of Montrose Travel.

And, like it or not, independent sales consultants wear two hats, functioning as business owners and frontline agents, notes Jackie Friedman, president of Nexion. “Running a successful business requires the discipline to dedicate time working on that business and not just on the day-to-day tasks associated with working in the business.”

With 2015 still in a nascent stage, now is as good a time as any to formulate a plan for this year. “One of my favorite sayings is, ‘If you really want something, you will find the time, if not, you will find an excuse,’ says Michelle Fee, CEO and co-founder of Cruise Planners. “This is the perfect time for agents to set their 2015 plan and work it.”

Following are 12 tips to help you get started.

Develop separate plans for client acquisition and retention. Scott Koepf recommends that agents create one plan for attracting new clients and another for retaining existing customers. “Agents need to determine how much of their time and money is going to be spent building up the pipeline of clients coming in and for keeping the ones they are already doing business with,” said Koepf, senior vice president of sales at Avoya Travel. “Each of these two types of customers needs a very specific business plan.”

Create goals with detailed action points. “A lot of people like to focus on setting goals, but goals without action plans are pretty much a waste of time,” says Koepf.

If, for instance, one of the components of the plan is to offer higher levels of customer service, Koepf recommends creating detailed consumer touch points. “You’ve got to set up how many times you’re going to touch a client and what you’re going to send that person,” he says. “What are you going to do — specifically — that makes you unique and special from the other 100,000 travel agents that exist out there?”

If agents set goals to produce $1 million in annual sales, the business plan must break down on how that will be achieved. “You have to determine how many sales it’s going to take and of those sales how many calls or leads it will take to get that sale,” says Koepf. “You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to do $1 million this year. You’ve got to determine what it is that you’ll do each day that’s going to lead to that number.”

All things considered, a solid marketing plan that incorporates how-to strategies can be used as guides that agents can follow throughout the year, says Mysza. “I like to see plans that are broken down into quarterly, monthly and weekly goals,” she says. “Key items that should be addressed are financials, client retention, new prospect/referrals, marketing and personal education.”

Map out a financial plan. “A financial plan or budget is a critical piece of the annual business plan and one that is often neglected,” says Mysza, adding that it should include a projected profit loss analysis using commissions/fees as income and categorizing and itemizing such key expenses as technology, marketing, education and travel.

“I recommend building the financial income projection from the ground up,” she says, weighing in such factors as number of bookings, average sales prices, commission percentages and splits with hosts to determine the total commission generated.

A subset of the financial plan is the financial portion of the marketing plan. “Agents should develop a marketing plan or grid detailing how they will market their business by month and by each marketing vehicle,” she says. “It needs to include specific costs that will roll up to the financial plan.”

First envision your goals. “Before you create a business plan you should write down what your vision is for your travel business,” says Kelly Bergin, president of Oasis. “Describe three things that a client will experience when working with you.” When writing their visions, Bergin suggests that agents include how much money they hope to earn in order to calculate a gross sales figure for the year. “Divide this by twelve to know what you need to sell each month,” says Bergin. “This dollar amount will also tell you what type of travel to sell and the type of client you need.”

Assess the competition. Chad Burt, co-owner of OutsideAgents.com, recommends evaluating the competition’s advertising and marketing strategies. “Look at what your local competitors are — and are not — doing to either emulate or avoid,” he says. “If none of your competitors are there, you have to ask yourself whether it was too expensive or whether it didn’t work,” says Burt. If the competition has advertised, Burt suggests spot-checking the publications, a process that can typically be conducted online, to assess the quality of their ads.

Target friends, family, neighbors and coworkers. Those agents fairly new to the business may want to build revenue and fine-tune sales skills by targeting those they already know. “Your friends, family, neighbors and coworkers are going to be much harder on you than a stranger ever will be, and they will give you their honest opinions,” says Burt. Selling to this audience will also enable agents to assess the level of their selling skills. “If can’t sell your cousin or your neighbor then you probably need to polish up a little bit on your product knowledge and presentation skills,” he says.

Track your progress. “Although it is extremely important to create a written plan, it is equally as important to take the time to assess progress and make any necessary adjustments as needed,” says Friedman. “An agent’s business plan should include interim milestones that can be celebrated along the way.”

Collaborate. As part of the business-planning process, Friedman believes it can be helpful for agents to establish a personal advisory board for brainstorming. “I often find that collaborating and brainstorming can generate different perspectives that can lead to unique business opportunities,” she says.

Use a calendar: “A quick and easy way for an independent travel professional to create a business plan is to use a calendar,” says Bergin. “I like Google because you can create a calendar for different types of marketing, i.e., social, email, print and switch between them easily.” Bergin suggests that agents map the times when they plan to post on social media, send email and direct-mail pieces, create blog posts and attend networking meetings. “Refer to your calendars every day so you know what you need to work on,” she says.

Create a database. Establish a database with in-depth client information. “This helps agents to further strengthen their ties to clients and to reap recurring revenue from the relationship,” says Sharon Fake, director of operations at Travel Experts. “Getting the details right, from names of the clients’ spouses, to their past itineraries to their dietary restrictions and travel interests, allows agents to customize new itineraries that are too good to pass up.”

Institute a revenue management system. “It is essential to have a clear pricing structure and invoice management system to ensure that work delivered is paid for in a timely manner,” says Fake. “Many of our agents charge handsomely for their concierge level of service and clients are willing to pay for the life-changing trips that are planned.” Fake adds that clearly setting up a price and payment structure enables “an ongoing exchange of income for effort with no time or money wasted.”

Keep it simple. “The one thing I see with agents is that they suffer from a condition that I refer to as paralysis by analysis,” says Burt, adding that he doesn’t believe that new agents require sophisticated business plans. “If you can’t fit it on an index card you’ve probably over-thought it — if this is your first stab at marketing.” Agents would be well served to incorporate simple, actionable items that can be achieved in the short term. “Then execute them,” says Burt. “The key here is to see how it goes and evaluate the actions taken — but don’t over analyze them. There is no golden plan.”

For her part, Fee counsels agents not to be discouraged. “Not everything is going to work the first time out of the gate, so don’t set a plan with only one direction, choose a few, which will ensure growth in 2015.”