Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (October 29, 2013) – CruiseOne®, the nation’s leading cruise retailer as part of World Travel Holdings, has been named a Top 100 Champion in the 2013 Small Business Influencer Awards.
The Small Business Influencer Awards honor those who are influential to small businesses in North America, through the products, services, knowledge, information or support they provide to the small business market.
The Awards are designed to recognize the unsung heroes of small businesses – those who support and encourage entrepreneurs and small business owners, and help them achieve success and stay successful. The Champions are chosen based on a combination of voting by the small business community and a panel of judges steeped in the small business market, who considered the contributions of the nominees over the past year toward:
- advocating on behalf of small businesses,
- providing products or services that address the unique challenges faced by small businesses,
- revolutionizing how small businesses do business or how they solve business challenges,
- helping small businesses grow
- or otherwise impacting small businesses in a significant way.
Says Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends and one of the co-founders of the Awards, "Influencers are those who play crucial roles in the small business ecosystem, but who often are in the background. The Top 100 Champions have distinguished themselves in some way. We’re delighted to see the wide range of Champions and Honorable Mentions this year – including non-profits, academia, journalists who’ve spent decades covering small business issues, corporate leaders whose names may not be widely recognized but who impact small businesses by influencing the offerings within their companies , vendors large and small that support small businesses, analysts who aid our understanding of this market and entrepreneurs who have a strong voice among their small business peers."
CruiseOne, a home-based travel franchise, was recognized for its support of 825 small business owners through its training, marketing and web-based business tools. Training includes national and regional conferences, which are proven to increase sales, and a robust learning management system with on-demand training for continuing education. Marketing initiatives supporting business owners include corporately-funded promotions and lead generating programs, and field marketers who develop local outreach programs. Web-based tools include at-home access to CruiseControl, a state-of-the-art customer relationship manager, sales reporting and reservation system with up-to-the-minute inventory from cruise lines. In addition, CruiseOne business owners receive personalized, mobile-friendly websites.
“CruiseOne franchisees are small business owners who have the resources of large corporations as a result of the support we provide them,” said Dwain Wall, senior vice president and general manager of CruiseOne. “It is an honor to be named a Top 100 Champion and we will continue to advocate on behalf of small businesses and support them in their growth.”
To start a new career as a vacation specialist with CruiseOne and take advantage of the support it offers small business owners, please visit www.CruiseOneFranchise.com.
About CruiseOne®
A member of the International Franchise Association (IFA),
CruiseOne® is the nation's leading home-based travel agent
franchise and is consistently ranked as a franchise leader by
Entrepreneur and Forbes. As part of World Travel Holdings,
one of the nation’s top travel retail networks, CruiseOne offers
consumers the lowest possible pricing on cruise and land vacations
through its relationships with every major cruise line and many
tour operators. In operation since 1992, CruiseOne has received
numerous awards and a top-ranking status by all the major cruise
lines including Norwegian Cruise Line®, Royal Caribbean
International®, Celebrity Cruises® and Carnival® Cruise Line.
For more information, visit www.CruiseOneFranchise.com
About the Small Business Influencer
Awards
The Small Business Influencer Awards, now in its third year, enable
the small business community to nominate and show their support for
those that influence and support them. The Awards have an open
nomination period, followed by community voting, and then a judging
period by a group of industry-knowledgeable judges.
