Archive for November, 2006

Exciting News…

Sundance is growing once more! Our sales division is expanding again with the addition of our seventh office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  Veterans Mike and Barbara Kasper accepted the positions of Sales Director and Assistant Sales Director (respectively).

Location

The office is conveniently located near Interstates 81 and 83 and the Colonial Park Mall, in the northeast section of Harrisburg’s metropolitan area.

When 

We are keeping our fingers crossed that construction is complete by the projected date of December 15^th, 2006.  If all goes as planned, the doors will be open for clients beginning the first week of January, 2007.

Joining the Community

ARCA racecar drivers Angela and Amber Cope enjoyed kicking off the company’s presence in the Harrisburg market when they rode the Sundance float in the downtown Thanksgiving parade on November 18^th.  Sundance Vacations will be at various venues and events in Harrisburg and its surrounding areas including the Giant Center and the Farm Show Complex.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments.

Kathy O’Mara

Communications Director

Sundance Vacations

komara@vacmail.com

Sundance Vacations and some of their employees were named as Finalists in various categories in The 2006 Selling Power Sales Excellence Awards to be presented on December 4, 2006 in Las Vegas.

The new awards are jointly presented by Selling Power magazine, the leading sales management publication with 145,000 subscribers in 67 countries, and The Stevie® Awards, which have been hailed as "the business world’s own Oscars" by the New York Post (April 27, 2005).

Several employees will represent Sundance Vacations during a gala banquet for finalists on Monday, December 4 at the Westin Casuarina Hotel, Spa & Casino in Las Vegas. Nominated sales executives from around the world are expected to attend the gala for the unveiling of the winners.

More than 300 entries from companies of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted for consideration in more than 40 categories. Sundance Vacations is a finalist in four categories including, Timeshare Sales Organization of the year (the category that most closely matches our business type). Roger Johnson is a Finalist as Sales Representative of the Year. Roger works in the King of Prussia division of Sundance Vacations. In addition, Sundance Vacations’ Chicago Sales Team received Finalist recognition for Sales Team of the Year and manager Steve Decker is a Finalist in the Sales Director of the Year category.

Members of the Awards’ Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors and their staffs will select Stevie Award winners this week from among the Finalists. Business professionals worldwide chose the finalists during preliminary judging.

The elegant Stevie trophy was designed by R. S. Owens, the same company that makes the Oscar and the Emmy.

"Being named a Finalist in The Selling Power Sales Excellence Awards is an important achievement," said Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and publisher of Selling Power. "It means that independent business executives have agreed that the nominee is worthy of international recognition. We congratulate all of the Finalists on their achievement and wish them well in the competition."

"We strive to maintain high standards in every division of our company. In addition to the 2006 Stevie Award nominations, Sundance Vacations was honored to be the recipient of the 2005 Northeast Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau Torch Award for our business practices and marketplace ethics. To be publicly recognized two years in a row for our commitment to excellence is especially gratifying," adds John Dowd, President of Sundance Vacations.

Details about The Selling Power Sales Excellence Awards and the list of Finalists in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/sales.

Two or three Internet posters mistakenly insist that our clients must request three different dates of travel, and/or three different vacation areas in order to book a vacation. The truth is that in our effort to provide our travelers with quality condominium vacations at affordable rates, the Sunsational Guarantee was created. We offer three absolute service guarantees, called Sunsations. These posters are referring to Sunsation #3, Guaranteed Vacations.

These posters assert that Sundance Vacations dictates when and where our clients travel, and they are absolutely wrong.  We book many clients who request one area and/or one date for their vacation.  Of the eight weeks of vacation I have used, six were for specific dates and locations.  Visit the official Travel Advantage Network site to see locations our clients visit.

Please forward your thoughts and comments.

Kathy O’Mara

Communications Director

Sundance Vacations

komara@vacmail.com

Why Do We Call You?

In today’s competitive markets, companies use a variety of advertising tools to attract new customers.  Sundance Vacations has display booths and kiosks located in shopping centers, sports arenas, festivals, etc…, where you enter to win our sweepstakes and register your contact information. We call you because we want your business!  When we call, we ask you to attend an informative and hopefully fun 60-minute presentation to learn about (and we hope purchase) our vacation program. In exchange for your time and attention, you receive a promotional gift.   Attending a presentation does not increase your chances of winning the sweepstakes.

Why Do We Keep Calling?

Some Internet posters accuse us of harassing potential clients. Why, they want to know, do we continue phoning if there has been no response to our calls and messages?  The answer is, our marketing goal is just one live contact.  If the result of our call is no answer, or an answering machine, we call you back.  Once we have the opportunity to speak with you directly, it’s easy for you to accept or decline our offer, effectively completing the direct marketing portion of our program.

We do, of course, telephone our clients in order to provide service.  As a courtesy, we call to remind and confirm appointment dates and times; we call to reschedule missed appointments. 

Hopefully, this clarifies how our call process works.  For sweepstakes details and registration, visit the official site of Sundance Vacations and check out our giveaways.  We’re interested in your comments, thoughts and suggestions.

Thank you!

Kathy O’Mara

komara@vacmail.com