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Your 2026 Business Dashboard: The KPIs Every Travel Advisor Needs

Ros: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Travel Agent Achievers podcast, our first one of 2026 I am so excited that you are here. I cannot believe that we are already in a new year. This is going to be a great one. I can absolutely feel it. It's the first time in a few years that I haven't actually traveled over the Christmas break. There were a few things that happened in my personal life prior to Christmas that I am really glad that earlier in the year I set the intention with my husband to say when we're just going to be at home. This year, my son, on his first day of school holidays, broke his arm, which has meant that even though we live on the beach, he is not going to be swimming until one or two weeks prior to the end of the school holidays. So we've spent a lot of time indoors. We have started getting out and exploring spending time with loved ones, because one thing that I know 100% for sure is that life is way too short. We had, you know, some horrible news for close family friends. Prior to Christmas, I was very fortunate and so glad that I was here in Australia that I could go and be with my best friend. You know, I've got friends around me that are going through really tough times at the moment, and prior to Christmas, I was reflecting on the gear that we've had, even amongst our achievers, mastermind members, and everybody that I connected with, and I know that a number of people had incredible years, but I also know that a number of people that are close to me also had really tough years, either tough years in business, not understanding direction, wanting clarity, feeling overwhelmed, but also in their personal lives as well, with the loss of family and friends, and it really reminded me, as we came into Christmas that life is short, and I want to make the absolute most of my time here. And one of the biggest things that I am very grateful for is to be able to have travel agent achievers as a platform and podcast, and to be able to work with incredible advisors all across the world, to be able to help in raising the level of business acumen amongst travel professionals, to be gifted with The opportunity that I work incredibly hard for as well, to be able to speak on stages around the world and educate and encourage and empower travel business owners to really build the business that they desire and that they have always wanted to have coming back to why they've even done it in the first place, when the messaging or when the the world gets really challenging and really tough, to being able to have live and in person events where we can come together and celebrate and reflect and re nourish ourselves as well. There are so many things as business owners that are challenging, and I get it. You know, I'm also a travel business owner myself. And as we came towards the end of the year, I was looking at how we'd done, what did we need to do differently? How was our team, all of the different things, being able to reflect on it. And so over the Christmas period, I have really taken the opportunity to reset, to reflect, to just sit with the year that we've had and really look at what I want to get out of 2026 we'd already done a lot of our planning, but for me, it was, Is this right? And how can I make all of these goals and dreams come true? What sort of planning did we need to do? What are the extra, you know, layers of opportunity that we needed to put in for our businesses? And when are the times that I am going to reset myself? So if this is your first podcast, welcome to travel agent achievers. I am ROS I'm the host, and I am really excited for 2026 now, January always brings for me a little mix of excitement, but a little bit of pressure, and I really wanted to start the year off by taking a bit of that pressure off. For you. Cool. So this episode isn't about reinventing your business or setting goals. It's about creating clarity, because this year isn't about doing more, it's about knowing what's working and how to reflect on that and gain clarity and have some fun with it. Have some fun remember that so I see many travel advisers and travel business owners working incredibly hard. I was so thrilled to receive emails towards the end of the year from members and listeners just telling me how the work that they've done, because we can all learn, right? We can learn. We can listen, but it's about implementing and taking action. And when I was receiving these emails, and the messages telling me about goals that had been exceeded, about sales targets that had been doubled since working together about opportunities that have been presented, about new things that had been undertaken throughout the year. I was I was so thrilled, but I also saw the hard work that people had been putting in. And at this time of the year, I have seen advisors traveling and having incredible trips. There are other advisors that I know that are leading huge group trips, and you know, that's something that we do in our travel business. So I get how hard it is. It's not actually a holiday, but wherever you're at right now, if you are having a holiday, keep sharing those social media images, because I am super jealous and have a lot of FOMO, but also, if you are taking this time just to nurture yourself and spend the time with family and reflect, then whatever it is for you, and I know you've been working hard, take that time for yourself, because for all of us as travel professionals, we are booking trips, we're responding to inquiries. We are posting content, we are following up with clients. Yet, I've also felt there's this underlying feeling of 2025 being really busy, but also uncertainty. So uncertainty, if the effort is going to pay off, uncertainty where the growth is potentially going to come from, or where is it really coming from now, then advisors that I work with, majority of them, they do track their sales, but advisors that I don't work with, or that may be listening to this podcast, and if this is you, it's okay 2026. Is a new year. I really want you to track your sales, but I also want you to track your business health. When we don't have visibility of what our business health looks like, everything can feel heavier. Decisions become emotional, and we end up reacting instead of actually leaving leading our business. And when I say leading our business, I mean making smarter business decisions. So even good sales months can feel uncertain, like, how do we get there? And if we don't measure it, we can't actually lead with intention. And I will often say as well, that if you don't have sales, you don't have a business, and that can sit heavy with some people, but it's the reality right now, if I was to say KPI, I know that by listening to this, you will either be saying KPI will key performance indicator. That's what I had when I was an employee. Why do I need to have that now as a business owner, some people will be even feeling a little bit tense about it. Some people will be like, I don't even know what it is. So let me reframe this straight away, KPIs or key performance indicators. They are not targets to beat yourself up over. They're not about perfection or even comparison, they are simply indicators, KPI key performance indicator. They don't tell you if you're good or if you're bad at business. They simply tell you what's happening. They're like the health check, right? So you could think of a KPI like the dashboard in your car for you, you may not be looking at the dashboard all the time. You might be looking at your speed and then looking out at the road. Well, I hope you are right, so whilst you're driving, they're going to help you make better decisions. Your goal isn't to stare at KPI or your dashboard all the time, constantly. It's a regular check in so that you can stay in control. So if you were speeding, you're going above the speed limit, you will look at your dashboard and slow down.

I hope you're checking your dashboard to look at the numbers. Is to see if it's still in line with what you're supposed to be doing right now. You don't also need dozens of numbers. In fact, if you were tracking too many things, this can create overwhelm, not clarity. So what we need is a small set of numbers that tell the real story of our business. So let's talk about what actually matters. The first place that I always start is revenue and profit, health, the total sales, right? So if you don't have sales, you don't have a business. This is the number one. Now total sales are important, but they're only a part of the picture. The pictures that we look at is the commissioned earned and the average commission per booking, because they tell us far more about sustainability of a business, rather than the money coming in. So for me, I look at the amount of a sale and how much is actually going into the bank. Now I know, and I am very realistic, that if a client is booking a $10,000 or $100,000 holiday, that money isn't going to me, that is potentially going to the supplier, and a portion of that will be the commission that comes to me for managing that booking, right? So being the coordinator, the orchestra conductor, the person that is responsible for curating that trip and also managing it, and I take that responsibility, you know, deeply in my life, it's not something that I take lightly. I want to ensure that my clients have a great experience working with me, and for that, I will then get paid exactly like you. So when I talk about sales, for me, I track the amount of money that goes into the bank as a TTV or the GSB, the gross sales volume, but I also track the commission. So the commission earned, and the average Commission, as I said, they tell me far more about my business. So two advisors can sell the same amount, right, the same amount of travel. Let's say they're both selling a million dollars, but they have completely different businesses. One of those advisors might be stretched, they might be underpaid and they might be exhausted. The other might be profitable, calm and building capacity. $2 million businesses can look very, very differently. One of those million dollar businesses might have an average sale of, say, $10,000 and that could be because they're booking groups, or they're booking smaller cruises, or, you know, they did, they're just doing different, different things. So a $10,000 out, that is a lot of processing. That is where the exhaustion can come from, but also why you need to be really smart with your hires as well. What are you actually working on? The other business selling a million dollars might be selling 50,000 or $100,000 experiences. Now, two very different businesses. They are also managing different client capacities and loads as well. And so when I say that one might be stretched and underpaid and exhausted, doesn't necessarily have to be that way. They could be quite profitable, they could be very calm, but they might be really stretched, and they may be exhausted because of the amount of things that they're trying to do, whereas the one that is a million dollars and selling maybe 50 or $100,000 trips, and managing 20 clients versus 100 clients, then they may be looking at, how can they increase their capacity, or how can they be spending more time with those clients, because they require more attention two totally different businesses, right? But this is where the yield matters, or the commission matters, because if you're thinking about hiring or scaling or even protecting your energy, you need to know your numbers, so understanding the sales that come in the commission and the yield. So the yield is the percentage, and that is something that I certainly track every one to three months to see if we are staying the same. Are we earning more per booking? What are we doing differently? Have we, you know, adjusted things? Do we need to increase our booking management fee? Do we need to be selling more insurance? Do we need to be looking at higher volume trips, understanding the yield? Do we need to be working with different suppliers? See, that's another thing. There are so many ways that we can shift and adjust, but the fact that we are. Just going to track and measure it, that is the first thing. So from there, I look at client behavior. How many clients are we actually supporting? How many are new? How many are repeat? How many are referral or how many come from referrals, understanding where your clients are coming from are quiet indicators of a healthy business. Now repeat and referral clients, they can help with reducing marketing pressure, improving confidence in our messaging and create predictability because repeat and referral clients, you might know that they are going to be traveling once a year, twice a year, five or 10 times a year, that predictability is what then creates strong businesses. So when those numbers are strong, you can then get a sense of ease. I feel like everything else feels a lot easier. But then we move into conversion and workflow. How many inquiries are coming in? How many are turning into bookings? If the inquiries are there, but the bookings aren't actually following. The issue is really about your marketing. I will tell you that now it's usually about the process that you have. So we have our 67 steps to processing a booking that you guys get access to as well and you can download, but it's usually about this process. It's the follow up or the systems. Now, sometimes it's not more about, you know, it's not about the leads or the marketing at all. It's about smoother workflows. It's about the clear next step for a client, and then finally, it's the marketing signals. This from a KPI perspective, I keep very simple, because I'm not chasing vanity metrics, and vanity metrics are the likes and the follows and the shares. I'm not necessarily chasing that. What I am looking for is what's landing with the clients and what means something to me. I don't need 10,000 50,000 a million followers on my social media, because I'm not looking to go viral. I am looking for a certain amount of clients that I can comfortably take care of, that are going to give me the business that I desire. So what I'm looking at is my email list. Side size. You know, how many people are on my email list? How many people can I connect with on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis? The inquiry trends, so what bookings are coming in, when, and the social media engagement, of course, over time. Now, these are not success measures. They are simply signals. They help me notice the direction. They're not judging my performance. And I really feel as though, from a marketing perspective, these numbers should be looked at monthly, not daily, because I'm not chasing the vanity. But here's the most important part, tracking numbers only works if we use it properly. This isn't about checking our stats every day. It's about definitely one intentional check in per month, one very calm review where you're asking yourself a series of questions, but then you're asking yourself a single question at the end. Based on this information, what would I do differently next month? That's it. The one decision at the end of tracking all of those numbers, one adjustment, and this is where I suggest that is then CEO thinking. That is where you are, then the travel business owner. You are making clear decisions based on information that is fact, not guessing, not what ifs what might be that is based on fact, because you can track and measure this every single month. Now, to make this super easy and simple for you, as I always love to do, we've created a KPI dashboard that you can download for free with this episode. It is designed for real travel businesses just like yours and mine. There is no fancy technology. There is nothing complicated with formulas. It is just clarity. And the reason why I have this as a PDF download is because I want you every month to schedule in your calendar a co hour or take yourself out for lunch with your laptop, yes, but without emails and those sorts of things. But to track and measure your numbers, I recommend starting with January, because each and every month you can come back to it and you can see the difference. In your business. Now, if you're part of the achievers in our mastermind, this style of review is going to feel very familiar. It's the kind of thinking that we build on together inside the membership. It is something that we do quarterly by having our quarterly planning session where we review what's happened, but we've also look at planning what is next over the next quarter. And I also recommend, and I share sales tracking templates, commission tracking templates are there inside that as well now, and we have the data and dashboards to help you even just track your marketing. But I wanted to create one very simple KPI dashboard for everyone to allow you to track 2026 in the easiest way possible. So I'm going to leave you with this clarity creates confidence and confident travel business owners build sustainable businesses.

So for now, I want you to go to travelagentachievers.com/107 download the dashboard. Share this episode with your travel business bestie or another advisor who needs clarity that wants to be able to look at 2026, in a way that is going to work for them, because it's going to be a great year. But I want you to commit to leading your business this year, instead of chasing it. It's about doing things with intention. It is about leading from a place of business owner, not always trying to chase everything, not trying to catch up. I want 2026, for you to be strong, to be steady and intentional, because you started this business for a reason. Let's come back to it and treat it like a business. Let's have a look at the way that you're going to run your business this year with confirmation of how things are working for you by understanding your numbers and being able to make those smart decisions to help you move forward easily, with clarity, with connection with people around you.

So for now, thank you for listening. Thank you for being here and being part of the Travel Agent Achievers community. If you have questions, please reach out to us info at travel agent achievers.com I want to celebrate your success. I want to work with you to help increase your level of business acumen and really see you soar in 2026 I am so excited for all of the things that will be happening for myself and traveling around the world, seeing a lot of you in person and and speaking at different events. So reach out, say hi, and let's catch up. Let's make sure that 2026, is a strong, steady and intentional year for you. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you soon. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to the travel agent achievers podcast. I hope that today's episode gave you some more ideas and inspiration to grow your travel business with confidence. Don't forget to subscribe so that you never miss an episode, and if you've loved what you've heard, share it with another travel professional who could also benefit now for resources and links from today's show, head over to travel agent achievers.com Until next time, keep building a business and a life that you love in an industry we love together foreign.