Timothy O'Neil Dunne, Managing Partner, T2 Impact, who ran a workshop at WIT Ideas Lab on cutting fat in distribution shares a summary of his session; The premise of the workshop was to talk about cutting distribution costs.

We had an eclectic mix of players from all parts of the distribution chain. From Myanmar to Australia, from China to India and I suspect many points in between.

We started with

Kill The Fact
Educate The Dumb
Awake The Lazy

And this represented the keys to a successful solution. From here the workshop looked at how this could be applied to their respective sectors and geographies.

We discussed the top possible solutions and strategies to improving your distribution. It wasn't just about cutting. Here are our top 10 strategies

• Metric and know your markets and your business's metrics
• Know your distribution mix so you can reduce the wasted efforts in one area and boost the efforts in another. This affects both Direct and Indirect Distribution
• Differentiate and be Explicit about the value proposition in all channels
• Raise revenue - know how and where to do that focus the revenue on those channels of distribution that have current and long term value. Don't miss out though on being tactical
• Know which costs to cut require that you know what your costs are. Again part of being able to metric your business.
• Educate - yourself, your staff, your suppliers and most importantly your customers. Don't forget there are additional stakeholders who have influence over you. Make sure you include them.
• Generate ancillary revenue. Do you want fries with that! The airlines and the GDSs have become past masters at generating additional revenue from an existing customer during the purchase process and during and even after service delivery.
• Boost your category. Benefit not just yourself but your Category, Sector and Geography. A rising tide can float a lot of boats. New revenue is easier than switched revenue
• Build long term customer relationships. Tie your customer (happily) to you. Keep him informed and keep yourself in his mind for top of mind recall.
• Leverage media. In a world where media is coming from every sector - the legacy media is but one influence. Don't forget the bloggers and tweeters. Engage and embrace them.

And don't forget,lean forward. Lean forward people are never fat, dumb or lazy.

4Hoteliers was the "Official Daily News" of WIT09 - www.webintravel.com