The sinking of the Costa Concordia off the tiny Italian island of Giglio was a terrible tragedy. I hope the families of the victims are in your prayers as they are in mine.
However, I think it’s important that we keep this terrible event in perspective. Here is what I believe we know:
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All inclusive (AI) resorts are a great product to sell and for many of the same reasons that cruises are a great product to sell.
They have brand recognition. They offer terrific support to their travel agent partners. There a fewer additional expenses to keep track of, making budgeting much easier. They offer a wide range of activities. They offer the traveler the reassurance that they know what they will be getting, no surprises. Most are located in the Caribbean, making things a little easier for the travel agent, since getting to know the islands of the Caribbean is a relatively simple, not to mention highly enjoyable task. The list goes on.
In fact, one of the students of The Home-Based Travel Agent Success Course specialized in selling Sandals, with a concentration on the honeymoon market. She became Sandals top producer and made a very nice living indeed.
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Fams are sometimes thought of as one of the great perks of being a travel agent, and no doubt about it, fams can be fun, especially when you have a chance to meet and compare notes with other agents. But make no mistake, fams are also work.
I suppose there are some circumstances – a trip offered by a supplier as a reward for outstanding production, for example – when you can afford to just relax, go with the flow, and just enjoy yourself. But even in that kind of setting there is still work to be done.
Here are just a few of the things an agent should be attempting to accomplish on a fam.
One of my goals at the Home-Based Travel Agent Forum in Boston (which was a lot of fun, by the way!) was to educate travel agents on the value of remembering clients with inexpensive gifts, either as bon voyage presents or as holiday or birthday gifts.
I don’t know if there are any studies to back me up on this, but I’d be willing to bet that travel agents get more positive results from giving small, thoughtful gifts than they do by rebating (kicking back some of their commission in the hope of competing on price, which is never a good idea).
On a fam I took with OSSN a few months ago our group leader proved to be an expert in this ploy. I still remember how she swooped into a shop in Juneau (it was an Alaskan cruise) and, because ours was the last ship the port would see t hat season, cut a deal to buy the entire remaining stock of dish towels. They were dirt cheap, but because they had an Alaskan motif they made excellent (and useful) gifts for her frequent cruisers while promoting Alaska as a destination!
My company, the same one that publishes the Home-Based Travel Agent Success Course, also publishes a range of travel books, some of which are “naturals” for travel agents to use as promotional gifts, bon voyage presents, or holiday remembrances.
A few weeks ago, I notified those of you who have invested in the Home-Based Travel Agent Success Course, that the latest update has been posted to the password-protected section of HomeTravelAgency.com.
I am repeating the news here because a good number of the emails we sent out “bounced.” That is, the email address we had on file was either bod or had changed.
The new version contains a complete overhaul and update of the Host Agency Directory, which contains information on over 300 hosts, all cross referenced by location, cost, commission rates, and other factors. There have also been important changes in the area of those “unique industry identifiers” that allow you to take the step of transitioning from travel agent to travel agency.
Delivering travel documents to your clients offers a great opportunity for travel agents to win share of mind with their clients. Many agents do a little something to make the occasion special. They hand deliver them. They add a nice gift. They take the client out for lunch.
Here’s a challenge for all of you: Try to top this.
Have clients heading for New York? If so, a visit to the Ground Zero memorial in lower Manhattan will no doubt be high on their list. Unfortunately, they are likely to be disappointed.
You see, while there is no admission fee and the memorial is open to all, access is being limited for security reasons and timed tickets are required. The demand has been so great that tickets need to be booked months in advance. So if your hapless clients show up, they will be turned away. Fortunately, you can help them. You might even be able to make some money while you’re at it.
It is conventional wisdom that the last sailing of the Alaska season (roughly mid-September) is not the ideal time to head into the Inside Passage and many travel agents will reflexively steer clients to earlier dates.
However, there are reasons some of your clients may be interested in sailing then. They may want to celebrate a birthday or anniversary or maybe they know that there are some great deals to be had at this time. Or perhaps this is simply the time they can get away from work or other obligations at home.
So don’t dismiss late-season Alaska out of hand. Remember, too, that there are some definite pluses to going at this time.
You’ve probably seen a QR code, even if you have no idea what it is. QR codes are those funny looking square symbols that look like miniature examples of black and white “op art.” You’ve probably seen them in newspaper or magazine ads or on signs in malls. They are sort of like bar codes except that QR codes are designed to be read by cell phones and not check out scanners.
QR stands for “quick response” and as smart phones catch on in the United States (they’ve been around forever in Japan!) QR codes are becoming more and more common.
So how do they work and why should you, a travel agent, be interested?
I received this question from a potential home-based agent:
I emailed a potential host agency and they just emailed me back. They said that I had to be “bondable” and submit to a credit check.
I don’t own anything and I have bad credit. Does this preclude me from doing this at all? Is that the industry standard or just their rule?
Well, first of all, blindly emailing host agencies before you really understand the business is not the best strategy. Host agencies have their own agendas and their own interests which are not identical with yours. Once you have the Home-Based Travel Agent Success Course, this will not be a problem; you will have a firm understanding of the wide array of different types of host agencies and how they differ as well as more than 300 host agencies to start investigating.
But is having bad credit really something that will get you “blacklisted” in the travel agent community?
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