Thursday, June 18, 2009

Timeshare Professionals During The Recession - A Solution To The Drama?

I have been a professional timeshare-rep for more than 5 years now. Never have I experienced what we are experiencing right now. The irony is this: Our resort is breaking every record. Hard to believe, right? We know that in the U.S. Vacation Ownership Sales-reps are moaning and groaning and suspecting, the world is coming to an end. Yes, word travels fast. And by the way, my company is in Mexico. But this article has still been written with you in mind.
The success the company is experiencing is for a variety of reasons. New products, higher price-points, and a company that has a marketing-machine working on it's behalf. So is that a good thing? Hardly.
Let me explain...
Things have changed down here in beautiful Mexico. This used to be our bubble. We have our own economy. Real-estate goes up no matter what happens in other parts of the world. Swine-flue will just be a temporary bump in the road. Tourism still goes super-strong down here.
But it's only one company dominating the market and you basically can't work anywhere else anymore. And this company's rules have just changed....
What happened to our bubble, our niche? I used to be proud of making good money, simply because I dared what nobody else dared. Leaving it all behind, and working from a beautiful Resort.
But this is the problem:
You have no idea, how many top-closers there are down here. There sure are enough tours for everyone most of the time (there are about 160 reps working here). However, because management knows about the "bubble-status" we have down here, they also understand: they have the power. Staff can't go anywhere, because: where to? Basically, it's a love-line. People down here who used to make 6 Figures, have to sell their cars. The ones in bed with management make 30K a month. I know this might be a bit hard to believe from where you're reading, but it's true. But don't come down here.....the best spots are taken. 80 percent of us suffer just like you do. We are as trapped, as we used to be when we still lived in our respective countries. Just that there are palm-trees outside.
The solution for myself?
I have only about a year ago opened other venues for myself. It's only a coincidence that my new business deals with vacations also. Back then, I had no idea about a bad economy coming up. Imagine you had a vacation-product that would only cost 3K, that it really (really really) offered superior value and that you made 1K commission for every sale online. Could you sell it? Would you want to?

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