Many people who take my Home-Based Travel Agent Success Course are immigrants to the United States. Many of them want to service their own community. That’s a worthy goal. But is it a sound basis for a business plan?

What we are talking about here is something known in the travel trade as “the ethnic market.” The good news is that it is a large market. The bad news is that the competition is fierce and the margins are slim.

Most of the business is in international airline tickets for people visiting relatives back home and they are looking for the absolute lowest price. Bottom line: There’s not a lot of money to be made.

That’s why I encourage those who find themselves in this situation to think outside the ethnic box. (more…)

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Richard Earls of TRO gave a fascinating presentation in the waning hours of the OSSN Home-Based Travel Agent Show here in Atlantic City. He cited seven key characteristics based on interviews with travel agents rated the best in the biz by a variety of sources.

Here they are:

Passion. Kinda goes without saying. You need to love this industry.

Niche. Even if it wasn’t all they did, top agents developed a specialty in a niche that gave them a local or national reputation for their expertise.

Relationships. Top agents get to know their clients; they are people not just names on an account folder.

Sell Yourself. Top agents realize that they are the product. Customers desire a satisfying experience when dealing with any service provider.

Train Your Clients. Top travel agents are not intimidated by their clients. They have a way of doing business and they explain both the whats and the whys to their clients. Do they lose some clients? Yep, the pains in the neck.

Value ≠ Cost. Top agents know the difference between value and cost. They will discuss value, but they never sell on cost.

Research Fees. Top performing travel agents use fees as gateway mechanisms. They might be “plan-to-go” fees that will be applied to the finished booking, or they might be pure travel planning fees in addition to commissions. Either way, they serve to qualify serious customers and avoid time-wasting tirekickers.

Then he added an eighth characteristic.

Authentic. The very best travel agents live out their core values in everything they do. The result is that clients recognize them as “the real deal” and not merely as someone trying to sell them something, anything.

Maybe I enjoyed Richard’s presentation so much, because it mirrors exactly what I teach in my course.

But, seriously, he’s right on the money and, if you truly want to succeed as a home-based travel agent, you will be wise to heed Richard’s wise words.

For more information on how to jump start your home-based travel career and chart a course to the ranks of the top performers, CLICK HERE.

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From now until October 31st, I am offering a free, downloadable copy of my guidebook, “Universal Orlando: The Ultimate Guide To The Ultimate Theme Park Adventure,” to everyone who follows me on Twitter. This is the complete text of the 264-page book, sold in bookstores for $15.95.

To get your free gift and follow me on Twitter, simply CLICK HERE.

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Republic Airways Holdings beat out Southwest Airlines in bidding for bankrupt Frontier Airlines, even though Southwest had the higher bid. Here’s how that happened:

Southwest said its $170 million bid was deemed unacceptable because the carrier would not back down from a requirement that its pilots and Frontier’s work out their integration before the deal would close.

Frontier said Republic made several improvements to its original June bid and has already received federal antitrust approval for the deal. A bankruptcy judge had approved Republic’s earlier bid but left open the door for another bidder.

Great news for Republic which will now be operating another airline (as opposed to running regionals for the big guys). Not so good news for passengers who have found Southwest to be the one bright spot in the increasingly cloudy world of cattle cars air travel.

Frequent flyers of Midwest Airlines pine for the good old days before Republic bought the airline and brought its once industry-best levels of service down several notches to its own level. Of course, Frontier was never a high-service airline, so perhaps passengers won’t notice much difference. What’s certain is that they will not enjoy Southwest’s saner policies on things like checked baggage.

With news like this, it’s no wonder more and more storefront travel agents are becoming home-based travel agents!

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Whew! It’s been a long time coming and the job isn’t complete yet, but The Home-Based Travel Agent Resource Center has a new look and an exciting future.

The site’s new look ushers in a new version of my home study course on how to become a successful home-based travel agent. Not only has the course been completely updated and considerably expanded, but it is now offered in electronic form for instant download.

This means that I will be able to update the course whenever new information becomes available! It also means that travel agent trainees will have lifetime access to every new version of the course!

I think that’s a pretty good deal, considering that I am still offering the course at the same super discount (at least for now).

I hope you will join the thousands of people I have helped create their own travel agent job, but please look around the site first and take your time. Remember, being a home-based travel agent is not for everyone.

If you haven’t done so already, take a moment to sign up for the Special Report, Secrets of Successful Home-Based Travel Agents (on the right). After reading that, you should know if you have what it takes.

There have been more than a few glitches in bringing the new version of the site “live” and if you were caught up in them, my apologies. Everything seems to be working okay now and what’s left to be done is mostly cosmetic.

But if you have any problems or notice anything amiss on the site, please let me know.

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