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Trust is at the foundation of any relationship, personal and professional. This week, we had the opportunity to hear from a client about what's most important to her from her media rep.

Gretchen Winters, director of marketing, Bursch Travel, was our guest on this week's Radio Works for Tourism live presentation. (If you missed it, RAB members can watch the on-demand version here.) Gretchen has had a 20+-year relationship with Leighto n Broadcasting in Minnesota. (Congrats to Kelli Frieler for once again showing us how to cultivate and manage great relationships with clients.)

Gretchen was sharing the challenges of being a travel agent. "There's not a lot of profit margin in the business, so we have to be great at taking care of the travelers by being available 24/7 when travel interruptions happen, and they will." When it comes to her relationship with media partners, because of the low margins, she must rely heavily on co-op from her vendors. She shared some key things she needs from her advertising partners:

Be creative and bring me ideas.

Know your audience and their lifestyle so we can market specific products. When I use co-op, I need the paperwork done correctly and on time, or I don't get paid.

Ideas, knowledge and handling the details. At RAB, we teach being a source of business intelligence and a resource to your clients. Gretchen confirmed that teaching and gave us a great example of it in action with our friends at Leighton.

Kimberly Vince-Cruz, senior vice president at Destination Analysts, provided a presentation rich with research that was just conducted last month about travelers' wants, needs and desires. Any of the slides would position you to travel prospects as a source of business intelligence and resource. RAB members, we encourage you to watch the on-demand version, and download the slide deck. If you do, you'll be better prepared than 90% of sellers on the streets today.

Knowledge/expertise, ideas and service is what develops and maintains client relationships. We would also encourage you to go here and sign up for all our Radio Works for... category presentations this year. Our goal is to provide the information you need to be even more successful.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. You can also connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.