Selling Travel September 2014 by SMP Training Co

THE HOW-TO MAGAZINE FOR TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS

SEPTEMBER 2014

THE HOW-TO MAGAZINE FOR TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS 4

EDITORIAL

THE WAY OF COURTESY

THE WILL TO SKILL UP

PARTIAL LIST OF SKILLS FOUND IN THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY

WISE UP AND SKILL UP ON SPECIALTY COURSES

SELLING SKILLS & SELLING UP

YES YOU CAN, AND SHOULD… By Jill Wykes

CUT TO THE CHASE & UPGRADE YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS

HITTING THE BOOKS OLD STYLE

ADVENTURE EDUCATION COMES ALIVE! By Steve Gillick

NEW TOOL – THE RETICAM FOR YOUR SMARTPHONE

TANGLED FX APP

TANGLED FX MARKETING

HOST AGENCY CAN BE… By Jill Wykes

PAY WITH A TWEET

BROCHURE MARKETING

THE TRAVEL INSTITUTE BOOKSTORE

ENOUGH! TEACH ME THE TAKEAWAY CLOSE. NOW!

WHAT ABOUT YOUR OWN TRAVEL SCHOOL?

THE TRAVEL AGENT’S STORE – NEW ARRIVALS

CLASSIFIEDS

The DESIRE to travel starts early and continues throughout one’s life – are you marketing to Generation Z?

Share your money making ideas in SELLING TRAVEL. CONTACT Steve Crowhurst steve@sellingtravel.net 250-738-0064 www.sellingtravel.net Publisher: SMP Training Co. www.smptraining.com Contributors Steve Crowhurst

Attention Suppliers: Advertising in SELLING TRAVEL reaches the serious business-minded travel agent. Promote your products and services using Selling Travel’s unique promotional formula – you write the articles on how to sell your own products offering step-by-step selling tips, tools and techniques that you know have worked for your agency accounts. Full page rates range from $300 to $425 based on number of insertions. Remember, if you can’t sell it to them, they can’t sell it for you! Please note that Selling Travel, owned and published by SMP Training Co, is not connected in any way to Selling Travel magazine published by BMI Publishing Ltd., and based in the UK. The latter publication focuses entirely on destination and travel/tourism product training and is circulated solely to the UK and Ireland travel industries. To benefit from this resource visit www.sellingtravel.co.uk and be sure to subscribe.

SELLING TRAVEL is owned and published by Steve Crowhurst, SMP Training Co. All Rights Reserved. Protected by International Copyright Law. IC TRAVEL AGENT can be shared, forwarded, cut and pasted but not sold, resold or in any way monetized. Using any images or content from IC TRAVEL AGENT must be sourced as follows: “Copyright SMP Training Co. www.smptraining.com” SMP Training Co. 568 Country Club Drive, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada, V9K-1G1 Note: Steve Crowhurst is not responsible for outcomes based on how you interpret or use the ideas in SELLING TRAVEL. T: 250-738-0064.

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10/29/13 2:18 PM

The How-To Magazine for Travel Trade Professionals

The WILL to

Steve Crowhurst, Publisher

The WILL to SKILL…UP How’s that learning curve going? Tough to sell and study at the same time? Yes I know. It’s a tough business selling travel when you have to skill up to sell more, to sell higher, to sell better, faster, sooner. Not only that, but you must maintain your edge in so many areas, too. The world is changing as you sit and sip your morning coffee. Countries are changing names and “ownership”, more wars breaking out, new websites coming on line… YOWZER! As the cover image shows, you could try dipping your toe in the educational pond, and be sure to carry your floatation device just in case, or you could develop the will to succeed, the will to know more about your world, the will to skill UP and set a time and place to do it. So in this issue we explore the things you might want to know more about, where you can find this information and what you can do with it if you wish to sell more travel. And of course, there’s a host of tips, tools and techniques to boost your marketing activities. There’s also a magazine in the UK that has the same name as Selling Travel – nothing to do with my magazine but there is a nice story inside about the company that publishes it. When you get the chance, click to their website and subscribe as the information is ex UK and that’s information you can add to your skilling up. Here’s to your continued success in SELLING TRAVEL. Best regards. Steve Crowhurst, CTC, CTM Hon. steve@sellingtravel.net www.sellingtravel.net

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Thought I’d mention a recent phone call I received as it was so refreshing. It seems that a UK based publishing company was about to change the title of its magazine from Selling Long Haul to Selling Travel. BMI’s Managing Director Martin Steady called me to introduce himself and advise me of their plans. He wanted to know if there was any challenge to BMI using the Selling Travel name and how we could proceed. I always prefer collaboration to confrontation and so we agreed to mention the fact in our respective magazines that ownership etc., is separate and apart from the other. Job done. I mention the word refreshing as most often than not in this type of same name situation one party just steamrolls ahead, calls in all lawyers and simply does more damage than good. Based on the courtesy that Martin Steady awarded me in reaching out tells you a lot about the BMI culture, team and BMI Publishing Ltd., as a company – and to that end, I urge you to subscribe to the digital version of Selling Travel UK and especially if you arrange travel out of the UK to points forward. The information is first class and there’ll be plenty of UK based supplier contacts for you to make, too. The cover of BMIs fist issue of Selling Travel is shown below. Click the cover to access the link.

THE

WILL TO SKILL UP

Having the will to skill UP, is a dedication that comes with the inner need to be better. Be best. To truly know that when it comes to selling travel, you are at the very peak of knowledge according to your niche and the tools you use during the sales & marketing and customer service process.

When you are new to selling travel the learning curve can seem daunting at best and to be honest, it is. Although some travel agents make it through on limited knowledge – the best of the best are simply in a different league. The difference in most cases is this Will to Skill trait and then making it happen. If you work for a travel trade company, meaning you are not self-employed then one of your skill-up sessions would be focused purely on learning about the company you work for. Start with the CEO. Who is this person? What’s their background? How about the entire executive team… who are they, what do they do, what is their background? So it’s a matter of self-study, clicking around your company website, clicking on the Our Team link, reading the company press, knowing and being able to repeat the company values, mission statement etc. These actions would be a start. Now you can talk about your employer from a position of strength. Your next step is to find out what you don’t know and fill in the blanks.

What DON’T You Know? Give yourself a chance to gain the knowledge you need by sitting down with someone you trust and respect starting with your manager or team lead or someone in the HR department. What you are going to request is a thorough review of your knowledge base as your management team see it. We all have an opinion of how we walk the talk, and many times what we see in ourselves is not what others see and know only too well what your deficiencies are. So be willing to receive the opinions of others and grow from it. If selling travel was a sport, then you would readily accept criticism to better your shot, the follow through, the takeoff, the landing, the distance, the speed… all targeting the end purpose of scoring that goal, hitting the target, being on the winning team. There’s no difference to honing a sport related skill and sharpening your selling technique. Create a grid like the one below and work with your manager to write in the topics that are related to the skill sets required to do the job. Each of the topics listed below could break out into many more sub headings, so be sure you do list all the various sub headings related to the job you do. The measurement is simple… 1: is translated as very poor; 2: as poor; 3: as average / mediocre; 4: as good: 5: as best / excellent. TOPIC Air fares Closing Communication Destinations Email Marketing World affairs

You can change the topics and the measurement scale to whatever works for you. The key is to follow through on this activity and then once the results are in, start working your plan to upgrade your skills. Larger companies would usually have a readymade process for this type of skill

inventory and measurement. Check with your HR department and find out.

World Knowledge This information is as close as your favourite gadget – smartphone, tablet, TV, laptop, desktop or good old fashioned radio and or newspapers and magazines. You cannot be successful without a dedicated understanding of world affairs and world geography. Try this with your agency team: catch everyone by surprise… could be timed just before the agency opens for business which means coffee is flowing in their veins… make sure no maps are visible – ask your team to sketch a rough map of the world and name the continents, major islands and the world’s oceans. Time limit: 5 minutes. The ensuing maps will differ!

World Affairs At this very moment in time, we are in more than a few dire straits with Eastern Europe, the Middle East, West Africa… suffering from terror attacks, famine, war, Ebola, genocide… and more. You just cannot afford to bury your head when it comes to world affairs for fear that to mention any of the above situations might scare your clients away. Fact is your well-travelled clients are way ahead of the game and would already know about the destination they are planning to visit. The not-so-well-travelled client is the one at risk and so for these clients alone, your level of knowledge MUST be the very best it can be and that means you are watching the BBC, CNN and your local news stations PLUS catching the headlines of international newspapers online. Repeat the process at 6pm and or 9pm so that your knowledge is minutes to a few hours old. Believe it or not, your entire career is actually based on world affairs, the price of oil and worldwide climatic conditions.

World Weather How are you doing with regard to ocean currents, seasons and seasonal changes?

How about volcanic activity? Earthquakes and hurricanes? Sounds over the top I know, but it’s just the way it is. You have to know what’s popping where and be ready to work around it. You don’t want to send a client into a raging volcanic cloud without an exit strategy unless they can afford a $1,500 taxi fare to the next country and fly from there.

Travel Insurance & Travel Safety Let’s move on to one of my favourite topics – keeping your clients alive and well and so well that they return to book again and again. How’s your knowledge of travel insurance coverage, the premiums, what’s included in the packages and the pricing structure? How about safety requirements, needs by niche, gadgets and tools and what to do when splat happens? Cruising as you well know is a huge market and with it comes what you have already experienced firsthand regarding cruise ships floundering, capsizing and being bashed by massive waves. Your personal safety at sea when on a Fam is very important in fact it is crucial that you know what to do as and when and if your cruise ship is caught in a freak storm or by a rogue wave. Make it a point to find out how to operate those life rafts that are nicely encased in those rows of cylinders along the deck in various locations. Test your sense of direction and work your way from various areas of the ship to your lifeboat station. Now you can advise your clients from your own experience how to travel a little more safely when cruising. You’ll also want to download the Cruise Director app to your smartphone and learn how to use it – then advise your clients.

Sales and Marketing To be a success in retail travel you just have to be best at selling yourself first and then the products you represent and behind that statement as you well know is product knowledge which must be cutting edge.

In other words, you have to know what you know and be able to articulate it clearly to your paying customers. The skill in selling yourself starts with how you look, how you stand, what you are wearing, your handshake… and then comes your tone of voice when greeting your client, and after that it’s the words you use to express yourself. That’s in person, face-to-face. How about online, email and by telephone where there’s no visual aspect or clues when meeting your client? Ask your colleagues how you ‘come across’ via email and also ask how you sound when speaking on the telephone. These insights are very important and once again, you may have to step back and work hard to upgrade your speech for instance, perhaps control an accent if you have one, remove the word traps and repetitive phrases we all have such as, “…you know…”, “yeah…”, “okay then…” and “absolutely…” Upgrading your communication skills will simply add to your confidence and customer service presence and it will attract more clients too. Every travel agent should know how to market themselves. Naturally if you work for a corporation there will be rules to follow and that’s fine. Work within the rules but be best. If you are independent then you can market yourself as you see fit – only be sure to learn from the masters and you must most certainly upgrade your social media marketing activities, too and go beyond engagement and social chatter to selling and closing.

Customer Service You know all too well the value of excellent customer service. It’s what you demand when you are the customer and you know all too well when you receive lousy customer service. So the education has already happened and as long as you learn from what happens to you, add your own flair, upgrade to excellence and you are skilled to the max. Always good to ask your clients however and let them be the judge – then you’ll have firsthand validations to market with.

PARTIAL LIST OF SKILLS FOUND IN THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY As you will discover some of the skills listed below are repetitive based on the word combination. It is important to know a required skill set could be presented to you in more than one way. There are many more skills to list and some of these skills have sub-skills / sub headings of their own. Once you eyeball this list, make a note of the skill/s you feel you need to upgrade then research online for the additional sub headings – for instance marketing might be a skill you need to upgrade, and a sub heading would be social media marketing which in itself, fans out with its own collection of sub-skill sets.                                            

Ability to work under pressure Accuracy Achieving consensus Adaptability Adapting to change Administrative skills Advising people Analytical skills Analyzing data Analyzing problems Assembling equipment Attention to detail Attention to detail Attitude Auditing financial data Being thorough Brainstorming Budgeting Building new business Business etiquette Business management skills Calculating data Calming upset customers Caring Categorizing records Checking for accuracy Cleaning your work area Clearing a photocopier jam Closing skills Coaching for development Coaching skills Collaborating ideas Common sense Communicating with young or old people Communication skills Company image improvement Comparing results Comprehending ideas Concentration skills Conducting interviews Conflict resolution Confronting others Cooperation Counseling clients

                                           

Creative decision making Creative thinking skills Creativity Critical thinking skills Curiosity Customer service Customer satisfaction Dealing with complaints Decision making skills Defining problems Delegating Determination Developing plans for projects Diplomacy skills Direct mail Editing Effective listening skills Effective study skills Effort E-mail Empowerment Encouraging people Enforcing rules Entertaining others Envisioning solutions or ideas Estimating project workload Ethics Evaluating products Expressing feelings Expressing ideas Extracting information Facilitation skills Financial analysis Finding missing information Flexibility Following instructions Forecasting Friendship Gathering information Generating accounts Goal setting Group sales Handling money Humour – making it work

                                 

Identifying problems Imagining innovative solutions Information management Initiative Integrity Interacting with various people Internet – best practices Intra office communication skills Interpreting languages Interviewing Interviewing & hiring skills Inventing tour products/ideas Investigating solutions Knowledge of community Knowledge of concepts and principles Knowledge of government affairs Knowledge of company Leadership skills Leading teams Listening to people Maintain focus with interruptions Maintaining a high level of production Maintaining accurate files / records Maintaining emotional control under stress Maintaining schedules or times Making important decisions Management excellence Managing change Managing organizations Managing meetings Managing people Managing performance Managing quality customer service Marketing skills & strategies

                                                 

Mediating between people Meeting deadlines Meeting new people Mentoring Motivating others Motivational skills Multi-tasking Navigating politics Negotiating skills Networking Operating office equipment Organizational change Organizational development Organizing files Organizing tasks Patience People management skills Performing clerical work Performing numerical analysis Perseverance Persuading others Planning – business, marketing… Planning organizational needs Predicting future travel trends Preparing written communications Presentation skills Prioritization skills Problem analysis skills Problem solving Product promotion Productivity improvement Project management basics Promoting events Proposals & report writing skills Proposing ideas Prospecting for business Providing customer service Providing discipline Public speaking Publicity & pr Questioning others Quick learning skills Raising funds Reading Recognizing problems Recruiting Relating to others Reliability Remembering information Repairing office equipment

Reporting data Researching  Resolving conflicts  Resourcefulness  Responsibility  Results orientated  Risk taking  Sales ability  Sales management  Screening telephone calls  Self-empowerment  Self-motivated  Selling ideas  Selling products or services  Sense of humor  Serving people  Setting performance standards  Setting up demonstrations  Sketching charts or diagrams  Social media marketing  Strategic thinking  Suggesting courses of action  Summarizing data  Supervising employees  Supervising operations  Supervisory skills  Supporting others  Taking decisive action  Taking initiative  Taking personal responsibility  Teaching skills  Team building & development skills  Technical work  Telephone skills  Thinking logically  Time management skills  Time, self & stress management  Training skills  Translating words  Computer / GDS systems  Software programs  Verbal communication skills  Understanding Vision, Values & Mission statements  Working effectively  Writing skills general clearly and concisely Social media  Ad campaigns  Adwords 



                                             

Analytics Applications Audience development Authenticity Best practices Blogging / vlogging Brand awareness Brand marketing Branding Budgeting Campaign creation Campaign management Campaign tracking Communication Communities Community building Community management Competitive analysis Content creation Content management / systems Creativity Customer relations Data analysis Design Detail oriented Digital marketing Directing traffic Editing / editorial Email marketing Emerging trends Engagement Ethics Execution Facebook Facebook ads / posts Flickr Google Google analytics Google+ Graphic design Instagram Pinterest Podcasting Twitter Video production Vimeo YouTube

Anything jump out at you as a skill to upgrade… which one?

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WISE UP AND SKILL UP ON SPECIALTY COURSES As you may know there are literally dozens and dozens of niche markets and in many cases there’s a specialty course to go with them. If each country was a niche market, which it is, you have, right there, about 210 niche opportunities to explore. You’ll be familiar with such programs as the Aussie Specialist, and then there’s the Switzerland Travel Academy offering its Certified Switzerland Specialist course and Scotland will welcome you to their Specialist Counsellor On Travel to Scotland - the SCOTSagent program. Then you have Hong Kong, Fiji, Hawaii, UK, India and Singapore… all offering their Certified / Specialist programs for travel agents. Not all specialty courses are free. One or two of them will cost you a few dollars up to a few hundred dollars. Well worth the investment if you are truly focused on a specific destination as in addition to the training, you are often listed as a specialty agent for that destination and you will receive leads based on people in your area who have inquired about travelling to the destination featured in the course. Based on travel habits and activities that your clients like to engage in there many more niche market opportunities to learn about, too. In fact any travel activity or type of travel can become a niche market to specialize in. So to be honest, the world is your niche market and every possible niche is a spin-off of the globe itself.

You’ll know about cruising naturally, and escorted tours… both are niche markets. However there is also what I have termed the niche within the niche markets. To identify them requires a small amount of investigation into the various branches, types, levels and styles that for instance a cruise customer can enjoy and you can focus on. The generic cruise niche can then offer you cruises by destination such as the Caribbean. You can sell by price level, size of ship, coastal and river, adventure to luxury and super dooper luxury! The same applies to escorted tours – you can specialize in one country, a certain supplier, adventure and 18-35 groups. Family travel, romance, religious, hiking, bird watching, photography, art… once again each of these would represent the generic niche and from there each will break down into those niches within the niche. When you think on it, there is no end of opportunity in selling travel as long as you know which niche you intend to focus on and then skill up in the process in order to market it, attract the customer and then close them. So it’s all down to which niche of the many you should study. Once you receive your certification you should be sure to use it to support your marketing and also make your certification the focus of your marketing. So which of the niches holds your riches? Time to skill up and sell more. 

So the phone rang and the voice on the other end said, “Hi this is Tom from Electrolux and this isn’t a sales call, I’m not trying to sell you anything…” - of course that’s a red flag to most people and especially someone in sales like yours truly. Dear ole Tom wasn’t aware of his fatal error which would cause most people he contacts to hang up or listen politely and say no at the end of his “…free service for your vacuum… because we’re in the area…” spiel. Selling is a special skill and the process has not changed in centuries. That said we can always learn more.

The skill in selling is to have the will to sell at the very top end of your game. So be the best in every aspect of the sales process. Although the following is often put down by some salespeople you should always be closing (ABC) which of course is the very reason you are selling. It’s the desired and required outcome of the sales process. There is a certain amount of confidence and flair required to be a top and sought after travel agent. It does not always come easy – it does take practice and in order to get to the next level, takes commitment to put in the time to study and to read, take courses, mix and mingle with other travel agents who are the epitome of sales success.

“So happy to have made those arrangements for you…pricey but you’ll appreciate the value once you stand on that lanai and look out at the view I know is waiting for you…”

Many travel agents I chat with are wanting to increase their sales in order to increase their commission and one way to do that is to sell UP and when selling up most travel agents start at the lowest price and then try to sell the value of the next category in order to move the client to the next price point. That doesn’t work. The only way to sell up is to sell down.

There is no way you can go from $999 up to $3,500 – the difference in both price and value is too much for your client to take in. The difference however from $3,500 to $3,300 is easily understood and the difference between $3,300 and $999 is so far apart that dropping to a tour, cabin or seat worth $999 is out of the question. What comes to mind in this scenario is the old adage of “you get what you pay for” and most clients will understand this. You can use the Sell Down to Sell Up method in almost any selling situation – even when selling a world cruise or a section of a world cruise. The top cabin is $300,000 and the bottom comes in at $29,000. That’s quite a spread to overcome if you start at the $29,000 rate – not only that you may be embarrassing your clients. They will not want to be labeled cheap. The skill in selling down to sell up is to be aware of your client’s body language if you are selling face to face, the pitch of their voice when selling by phone, and the words they use if communication is by email or text messaging. “Welcome back, nice to see you both again… so tell me, what’s my budget for this cruise?” // “Excellent, $75,000 is going to buy you a wonderful cruise – now, have you chosen your cruise line and itinerary or would you like me to make a recommendation?” // “Good choice, so I’m assuming you’ve done your homework and reviewed everything there is to know before you commit?” // “Not sure, no problem, let’s review everything together and you stop me when you are satisfied with your choice. Now, first things first let’s go through each category (starting at the top down to the client’s choice and price point) and compare…”

You can apply the same process to the selling of hotel and resort rooms, tours, train travel, spa packages and any form or type of travel where there are choices to be had and levels of quality to be considered. The Lower Category Hotel Room View

The Better Quality Hotel Room View

The difference in cost is always outweighed by the client’s final experience and that old and tired phrase, “Hotel rooms, we don’t need anything special, we’ll only be sleeping in it…” needs to be capped as soon as it is uttered as it generally means: travelling 2 hours through nasty areas to get downtown, looking into a brick wall or window… versus being located in a nice area of the town, city and looking out over the cityscape or ocean. These are the finer points you’ll need to work into your selling up script.

Keep in mind that each and every trip is supposed to be the best vacation memory ever and your name and reputation is attached to each of those memories especially the bad ones. So, if you treasure your name and what it stands for, always, repeat, always sell up and make sure your clients understand why you are making such recommendations and be sure to use the ‘take away’ close to remove yourself from any cheap sales that will come back to haunt you more than you know. 

Yes You Can, and Should - still email your clients, just know the rules.

By Jill Wykes

In this space I have been writing about the importance of using different channels to reach all your customers….this column will address email…yes , don’t panic…you can still email your customers provided you’ve got their permission. The introduction of the new Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation, or CASL, threw terror into the travel industry this spring as the industry became aware of the impact it would have. To make matters worse, the legislation is subject to considerable interpretation and even lawyers who specialize in the field are still trying to get to the bottom of it. It reminds me of when GST was introduced…even the federal departments responsible for explaining it didn’t have a clue as to how it applied to many, many scenarios. And so it is with CASL. I am no expert in this legislation and that is not the purpose of this column….you should get the right advice from an expert. But I am here to tell you that email remains an important channel to reach some of your customers, and is one that you should not abandon. There are a few simple rules about email that I’ve always felt are critical to getting them read instead of deleted and effective as a sales tool.    

Create a subject line that’s clear, concise and enticing. Would you open this up? Don’t use attachments…embed your message right in the email. Keep your message short, simple and with a call to action. Don’t send “heavy” files that may get rejected.

Check to see how your host agency can help you…do they have an email marketing system…do they handle it for you? Is there a limit to the number of names you can provide on Brought to you by: The Travel Agent Next Door

your customer list? Does your host agency provide regular promotions that can be emailed to customers? And very important, does your host agency target market your customers according to their interests and activities? This will also ensure your emails are read and not discarded. Email marketing can be very cost effective, so long as you can find ways to ensure you don’t end up in Junk Mail or Spam….your host agency should have solutions for this. And always remember, when it comes to marketing…..if you are out of sight, you are out of mind.

CUT TO THE CHASE & UPGRADE YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS If it

If it’s one thing every travel agency can boast about, it’s their customer service. Every agency has it and they promote it too. But how well is it promoted? How can every travel agency have the best-of-best customer service? Some travel agents forego the word service and strive for customer satisfaction. When you think about your customer service program, is there anything that needs upgrading? Does everyone on the team share the customer satisfaction mission statement? Perhaps one or two service skills need to be checked, managed and upgraded.

After interacting with me, a client will say “WOW!” because… _____________________________________________________

There is your first test. Complete the sentence yourself based on your own desired outcomes and or think company / agency wide and decide what follows as a matter of course. Once you know what you want the outcome to be, make it law and train your team to make this happen each time every time a customer interacts with a member of the agency team. Today you need a customer service plan that covers all things online, offline, in person, in print, and socially too. There is etiquette, formats, styles, words and of course delivering on the customer service promise. The Customer Service Promise Few travel agencies have a customer service promise that is visible to the client. A service statement is different from the usual vision and mission statement as they are both for the benefit of the agency. What you need if you do not yet have one is a customer service statement front and center by which you and your team can measure the level of service you just delivered to your client.

As the graphic below asks: Are YOU delivering DAZZLING customer service? This is the only level other than 100% and both should be the same – Dazzle = 100%. Where would you need to make changes, upgrade, increase, decrease, add-to in order for your customer service delivery to dazzle your clients? Rather than a snip here and there, better to cut to the chase and do it. If you truly wish to make your

mark the best thing to do is to involve your clients – as they know what they need and want. You might just be surprised as to what you need to do to offer them the service level they would appreciate. 

Please note that Selling Travel, owned and published by SMP Training Co, is not connected in any way to Selling Travel magazine published by BMI Publishing Ltd., and based in the UK. The latter publication focuses entirely on destination and travel/tourism product training and is circulated solely to the UK and Ireland travel industries. To benefit from this resource visit www.sellingtravel.co.uk and be sure to subscribe.

The first thing to ask of course is whether or not you make time to read? It is a very difficult thing to do for so many travel agents what with work and then family, home, leisure and personal activities of all types, times, dates and durations. But read you must and it has to include trade news and gossip as well as the how-to books and magazines such as this one. How about travel guides both current and historical? What about those huge coffee table books that you can find at the local bookstore, on sale for twenty-bucks or less? Now there’s a bargain and one that will keep you informed and healthy too as you lift it off the table!

Another challenge is the current level of technology and the move away from hard copy, printed books to digital versions read online, and via a hand held device. That’s a good thing however the “feel” of the book is not the same, the smell of the musty covers and pages, is not the same. The romance of the read is not the same and the connection to the information is not the same. If you’ve grown up on digital then it may just be time for you to emerse yourself in the printed

works of those long lost explorers and until you do, and until you hold an eighteenth century first edition in your hands you’ll be forever missing that glorious feeling of being ‘there’ with the explorer-writer, the photo-journalist and the scribe of the expedition. Old books always had end covers of marbled paper and when found in original editions these were handmade pages – paper laid on water laced with oil based inks that have been stirred to create the pattern.

The Attraction of Old Books I’m sure you’ve visited a restaurant or a cozy pub in a hotel that sports a library as a backdrop. Those leather and gold book bindings just add a flare to the room, don’t they. Same thing for your travel agency. Line your walls with some old travel books, a few ancient National Geographics and you have the makings of a very fine and attractive décor. It would be a good thing for you to have read or at least leafed through the books that you place on your agency shelves, just in case a client shows an interest.

Here’s a sample page and how Nellie started the record of her trip. She has a nice way of describing what she was experiencing in 1929.

You know you can even market the fact that in your agency’s waiting area, lobby or perhaps a dedicated reading room there are maps, an atlas, a globe and fresh coffee for your clients to come visit and dream their travel dream as they leaf through these 19th century books. Books like these also cause a person to want to travel, escape their routine and go. Such books will also attract clients who travel just for the books themselves, as collectors perhaps or just a wish to see and experience ancient books and there you have the makings of a custom tour of the worlds ancient libraries.

The cover of the book shown here (just aquired) is suede, gold stamped and the title just grabbed me. Had to buy it there and then for the massive sum of… $22! That’s right. Just twenty-two dollars and it was in the bag and leaving the old book store with me. The book is signed by the author and inscribed to a Mr & Mrs Weiland and dated December 1929. Page count 63 with black and white photographs here and there. As it turns out Nellie Hurlburt Whitney is a onebook author, although I found a poem of hers in an old Literary Digest magazine.

I’ve mentioned American photographer and travel writer Burton Holmes before, that master of travel images and verse. So eloquent and a style not lost on certain members of your client list. Despite the age of Generation Y and all things SMS, most people have a deep seated need to be able to write well, communicate much better and speak so as to hold an audience in awe of their oratory skills. Reading Burton Holmes books can help. Reading any of the 19th century travelogues can help. Yes, there are more current books written by present day intrepid travellers and that can work too – however the romance of the old book is still missing.

The Old and New Test Here’s a test you can try. Find an old leather bound, gold stamped travel book and lay that on the agency coffee table in the lobby and then lay a present day guide beside it. Watch to see how

your clients react and which one they pick up to leaf through more than the other.

The Poetry of Flowers Tour Try this one. Here’s a lovely and very unique book, sized at 4¾ x by 3½ inches. Printed in 1877 this book is now 137 years old. Cost £25 when I purchased it in 2001 in the UK.

basis of a tour there. This particular book was published in 1934 and I bought it in 1966 – two years before I stepped on Japanese soil for the first time in 1968. The inside covers are shown below and just add to the books appeal.

Here’s Your Mission Check out the local antique to second hand book stores and start looking for old travel guides and other books that pretty much tie into travel and or could be the basis of a tour idea.

This small book, the poems and the floral images could be the theme for a tour and along the way, sitting by selected flowers of famous gardens of the world, you have members of your tour recite the poems.

If there are several copies of whatever it is you find, and the price is right, buy them all and use them as final payment giveaways, or as a lure like this: “The first 5 clients to join this tour will receive a copy of…”

The Lure of Japan Tour

For more on the concept of using old books to travel with in the present day you might want to check into: Great British Railway Journeys a BBC history travelogue documentary television series presented by Michael Portillo. Portillo travels around the British railway network, referring to a Victorian guidebook written by George Bradshaw, and he describes how the destinations have changed between Victorian and modern times.

Japan is on so many travellers wish list and as we know the resurgence has been huge especially from the US. Fall colours in Japan is a visual delight and old books like this one can offer an insight into ‘old Japan’ and once again form the

Believe it or not I was standing face to face with a Bradshaw’s guide just yesterday. Price was $250… hmm, still thinking about it. But guess what, if you wanted to re-enact what Michael

It’s this type of interpretation of what the old books have between their covers that is the creative role that you play. You’ll need a touch of romance and be able to ‘go back in time’ to get the feel of what you could bring forward.

Portillo has done, that would be you leading your tour group around Europe, using the Bradshaw’s guide, well – the book has been reprinted and only costs around $35… PLUS, there is a Kindle edition – the eCover shown below.

Travelling Through The Eyes of Others And finally, a book that’s not so old, 1987 First Edition of The Norton Book of Travel and in this book are, well, I’ll let the inside flap tell the story: Veteran traveller and prize-winning author Paul Fussell has brought together some of the best travel writing from the past two thousand years.

Here’s where hitting the books old style connects with present day technology. Walk this path with me… your new tour of Europe will be by train, staying at hotels as per the Bradshaw’s guide, touring local sites according to the guide and here’s the marketing angle you can use, each member of your tour group is holding a Kindle and checking out their digital copy of their Bradshaw’s guide. You could buy everyone a digital copy of the Bradshaw’s guide using a gift certificate once they have paid a non-refundable deposit and or final payment. Your choice. Think about the marketing opportunities, the radio talk shows you could be on, the press release in your local newspaper… so many ways to get the message out that you are touring with a Victorian Kindle e-book edition. And don’t forget to mention that as the tour guide you no longer wave a white flag – your tour members all follow you using the tour guide App. Now that’s news worthy and bloggable, too.

What you learn from reading books like this one, is that not much has changed for the traveller – and they would be the people you send out there into what today is a war torn world just as it was back when these writers where travelling. There are bright moments that filter through such as the Tobias Smollet (1721-1771) page: “…constantly swindled by innkeepers and let down by overpublicized sights…” There are travel writers who try to right the wrongs written by their fellow travel writers, too. Very funny. The point is, you can learn so much by reading these old travel books and texts and even the back of old postcards you find in antique and second hand stores can tell a decent story. So hit the books old style. Build a library if that’s something that you would like to do. Turn the contents into something doable in the present day, just like the Kindle edition of Bradshaw’s Guide. Behind all of this is the art and skill to notice an opportunity to market yourself, your agency, your niche. Being aware or learning to be aware of your world, what’s going on, where it is going on and how you can generate a new travel dollar is a skill that you will, or I should say must, develop. So it is a combination of old books and today’s CNN or BBC news hour and between them you’ll fathom one or two tours filled with interesting sites, scenes and historical facts that stretch beyond the usual fare. Bon chance!

By Steve Gillick You too can become a Franistan specialist! Read through the material —all 2 pages of it—check out the photos and the tourist attractions, answer ten questions, identify five photos (and yes you can go back to the actual course material if you need to review your answers) and then, poof! After no more than 20 minutes of ‘study’, you will become a Certified Franistan Specialist, able to market and promote the destination to your clients with confidence and competence. Your self-typed, printable certificate can be framed for display or posted on your website, and best yet, there are absolutely no re-qualification requirements. It’s yours forever! Some people take good advice too literally. With the trend for travel agents to specialize; to differentiate themselves from their colleagues and the competition, there are many out there who have gone a bit overboard and started to ‘collect’ specialty certificates. It mattered not who was hosting the certificate, or the relevance of the certificate to the travel consultant’s practice or client needs. It mattered not whether the study material was put together conscientiously and in the spirit of learning or whether the material consisted of what we used to call in University “a Mickey Mouse” course: easy, useless, unstructured information that was sure to generate at least a B grade. And what was the rationale for all this collection? Well, to prove to your clients (and yourself) that you possess credentials that attest to your learning

skills; to show your peers, your employers, the suppliers with whom you work and everyone on the worldwide web that you are a somebody. Really! Now let me say right off the bat there is nothing wrong with being a generalist—a travel consultant who has broad knowledge of the world and the major travel destinations. In fact today, many ‘one-element’ specialists (e.g. Someone who only does ski tours to Zermatt or someone who only deals with clients interested in sub-orbital travel) admit that at times they too must take on the role of a generalist to provide their client base with travel advice that complements whatever specialty they practice. So again, long live the travel generalist.

However travellers today tend to go to a travel consultant for specialized holidays. The emphasis is on Time and Value: The time it would take to properly research the ideal holiday in order to maximize the precious time that the client has available, along with the value that the client wants, needs, expects and deserves for their precious vacation time. The ‘will to skill-up’ goes hand-in-hand with the will to exceed all expectations of the client, as well as generate future business prospects, grow revenue, expand supplier contacts and personally realize career satisfaction. But, as with everything else in business, skilling-up requires a business plan all its own. You need to sit down and have a talk with yourself in order to answer a few basic questions. In other words, drill down before you skill up!            

What do you want to accomplish? Who is your audience? What do they want? What else do they want? What do you want? Do you really have the passion to skill-up; to learn about a new product or service or destination? Do you have the resources to enhance your skills in specific areas? Do you have the ambition to upgrade your skills? How will you use these upgraded skills? How will you promote yourself? What KPI (Key Performance Indicators) can you establish to ensure that your skilling up was worth it? What ROSI (Return on Skill Investment) can you record to prove that your business goals and personal goals were accomplished? What’s next?

Robert did not make a great impression. When I met the Fam trip attendees at the airport, the first thing he asked was if I had a copy of the itinerary (something that had been emailed to all the participants a week ago). He then proceeded to tell as many of the other participants as possible, how busy he had been and how he had no idea where in India we were going so “if you can send me copies of the photos you take, I’d appreciate it as I didn’t even pack a camera”. Then without realizing that the tour operator were standing right behind him, he greeted

another agent and told her that he was looking forward to this “holiday”. “I’ve been to India a dozen times so I just want to follow the group and not think too much”. Fam trips are one of the tried and true methods for imparting specialized skills to travel consultants. While some hosts will provide participation certificates, many do not, as the experiential nature of the trip and the consultants participation, photos, videos, anecdotes, situations and business-cards collected, serve the purpose of ‘proving’ their enhanced knowledge in the destination. Skill development comes in all shapes and sizes and aside from Fam trips, can include:          

Workshops and breakouts at conferences DIY Online courses and programs Online or over-the-phone webinars In-person seminars Hard copy (usually PDF-based) programs that are either downloaded or mailed to you Travel-Press-based programs Trade Shows Product Launches/ Destination show-cases Networking Self-initiated, personally researched projects.

So the opportunities are there. The choices are there. Your clients are there to interview and survey about their needs. The suppliers are there to provide support. But where’s the will to skill-up? It has to start with the individual. You know what adventure travel is all about. Now you can embark on ‘adventure education’. After surveying your clients (or reviewing answers to questions about travel lifestyle that you recorded in your CRM files), choose something that you know nothing about. Your goal is to turn that ‘nothing’ into a business opportunity. A good example is culinary travel. You may say you know nothing about it so here’s a formula to make you feel better   

Multiply 3 meals per day By 7 days per week By 52 weeks of the year



By your age.

You will arrive at a figure in the thousands or tens of thousands. These are the meals you have eaten! So don’t tell me you know nothing about culinary travel. Now the adventure is to expand your personal knowledge to areas that benefit your clients’ travels. Wine? Foods of a certain country or a certain variety (e.g. seafood, Japanese food, Spanish, Mexican, French etc.). Then when you learn the ingredients and terminology, find out about restaurants (and yes you are allowed to check out Trip Advisor—all your clients are doing it so you should too). You can also check out apps that deal with ‘food and drink’. Put your knowledge to practice by having a meal at a local ethnic restaurant. Deliberately order some dishes that are not that familiar to you. Now you are getting some practical experience. So when your clients ask about empanadas or papusas or burritos or tamales or ceviche, you can speak intelligently about the dishes. Or when your clients are seriously excited about that upcoming trip to Japan, you

can duck into the back room and subject to local liquor laws, return with a nice chilled bottle of Koshino Homare Sake and suggest that they can enjoy a taste of Japanese cuisine right here and now—in the office—to get their taste buds ready to travel and subliminally “be” in Japan for a few minutes. The adventure component of willing to skill-up comes with the thrills of learning new things on your own, and then sharing these with your clients. You are happy, they are happy. Let’s face it—this is ‘smile-on-the-face-of-your-client” material and it leads to nothing but 1) testimonials from satisfied clients, 2) referrals to family and friends, 3) repeat business, 4) requests to explore further and 5) career accomplishment and satisfaction. The thrill of the will to skill is contagious. But exercise some discretion. The goal is not to wallpaper your office with every certificate out there. It is to fine-tune your education with specific goals in mind. Leave the wallpapering to your competition. 

Check out Steve’s website Talking Travel here.

This well-engineered, strong, sturdy and simple looking gadget is all is meant to be. It will hold your expensive smartphone rock solid in its grip atop your tripod, or extension arm. That ‘rock steady’ comment refers to your video and also for your Selfie shots. There are two versions – standard and XL. If you encase your phone, go for the XL. American agents can purchase from Amazon.com here. Canadian agents can purchase direct here.

Believe it or not I’ve been searching for such a clamp like the RetiCam for some time. I had purchased the spring loaded clamp sold by Photojojo, but my smartphone is encased in the Griffin Survivor case which adds some bulk to the phone. As I spend a lot of time outdoors and use my iPhone more for photography and video than I do as a phone (!) - I needed a clamp that would hold my smartphone tight as it dangled over cliffs on the end of an extension arm. A came across the RetiCam by chance as it was s small ad on a website that a friend sent – content unrelated to smartphone tripod mounts. The clamp itself stands flat by itself, so you can video from your desk or any other flat surface. For Canadian travel agents note that Amazon.com does not ship this item to Canada. I contacted RetiCam directly and the owner Hart was kind enough to sell direct and ship north. Great service. Shipping cost was $20 UPS. Job done.

RetiCAM® Smartphone Tripod Mount

Tangled FX

Tangled FX Marketing It might show just a tad that I have fallen in love with the Tangled FX app. If this app ever becomes a desktop software, I’ll take one! There are many filters you can apply to your image however the one that I’m hooked on is Cartoon. The image changes in style, not so much cartoonish, more enhanced details. More artistic, almost watercolour’ish. Here’s an example:

The image above has been FX’d – here’s the original: The outcome is just so unique that if you start shooting now, using Tangled FX to convert your original images, you’ll be way ahead of the local competition as they try to determine what it is you are using. Here’s a few of the filter choices with my #1 choice highlighted: Original

Fibers

Swirls

Brush Strokes

Pencil Strokes

B&W Etching

Cartoon

High Contrast

Bloom

Small Details

Blurred

The Light Side

Webbed

After shooting the shot, and rendering it with your preferred Tangled FX filter, you can add your slogan or text to it – example shown on the next page.

You can make excellent use of your locally shot scenes that ‘look the part’ to promote overseas destinations or activities. The image above was shot locally where I live, however when enhanced using the Tangled FX app, the image takes on a different ‘look’ and can then be used to support tours of Europe for instance and as shown here, the push is to the artistic community, hoping to attract photographers and artists. Photographers are a safe bet as so many clients, probably 99% carry a camera when they travel and perhaps 20% are serious photographers. Amateur artists are also in abundance with the majority in the Baby Boomer generation who belong to local art clubs. So hook one client and chances are they might bring members of the art club with them. This applies to your photography loving clients too. In either case you are using the unique imagery of Tangled FX to attract your niche clients to travel with you. So now over to you. It may be Tangled FX or one of the many other FX apps that you can use on your smartphone. You also have various filters in your photo editing software such as Elements or Aperture (for Mac users) that will add a certain look to the image you would like to use. You might even find a special look or style that becomes your signature image and then use that to the point where the travelling consumer in your area knows just by looking at it, that it represents your travel agency.

Host Agency Can Be

By Jill Wykes

A SOLUTION FOR SMALL AGENCIES TOO Although we have focused this column on what to look for in a host agency for home based agents, there is a new model now available where small agencies can also enjoy all the benefits of having a host agency to rely on.

If you own an agency and you’ve maybe thought about an exit strategy….or you are just tired of all the behind the scenes work associated with owning a business and would like to concentrate on selling travel, then you will want to learn more about this option.

There are many other benefits to this arrangement. Your costs will decrease. You will have the opportunity to maximize your earnings by being part of a group, and you will have access to great marketing and other tools to help you attract and retain customers.

Most agents enjoy selling travel, dealing with customers, helping make their dreams come true and providing good service. You don’t often hear agency owners or managers say how much they enjoy invoicing, or marketing, or accounting or payroll.

As well, you will be part of a larger community for networking and sharing ideas. Before you sell your agency, or close it, be sure to look at this option. The Travel Agent Next Door has a program that could be just what you’ve been looking for.

Well, all the benefits that the right host agency can offer home based agents are now available to agencies too. This solution is perfect for agency owners who would like to slow down a bit, be relieved of some of the grind of operating their own business, but who really don’t want to retire and who enjoy the travel business. Let’s face it, we all enjoy the business, that’s why once it gets in our blood, few of us ever leave. So imagine owning a travel agency …but without most of the paperwork! And giving you support for your supplier, marketing and administrative needs. Brought to you by: The Travel Agent Next Door

Here’s a neat idea. In fact it’s a neat Tweet idea. As I was reading through my emails and as you might expect I subscribe to all sorts of marketing sites, well this email from PressPad caught my attention so I clicked for more. What attracted me was the slogan PAY WITH A TWEET. The concept here was to offer a set of free templates in return for sending the offer viral – i.e. click to retweet the Tweet created by PressPad to your friends. You update the Tweet as you would like it to read and then select your social media outlet and click.

Now the question: what you offer and not always for free, could be one heck of a deal, an upgrade, a value add… something that a traveller would like to get for themselves and at the same time tell their friends?

I’m thinking you could let your clients know in advance about an upcoming special and that would indicate a discount. You might be able to offer a seat or seats on a hard-to-book tour of some kind. Whatever it is you can offer, it should be something the customer would be only too pleased to tell their friends about. Look to your suppliers who are offering EBBs or dollar discounts or value add if booked by a certain date. You might want to take the idea to a preferred supplier and work an exclusive to your agency

deal and then deliver your Pay With a Tweet promotion. Let’s think about a resort stay and this could become your Suite Tweet promotion. A Suite for a Tweet perhaps. Within reason you can have your own Twitter looking bird designed as so many companies have done. Just head to Google Images and type in Twitter logo… there’s an entire flock of the little twitteroos out there. 

Is it that time of year! Might be. Could be. Thing is, in my email inbox I’m receiving a heads up re 2015 brochures and whenever that happens, the bell rings. It’s time to start marketing the brochures just like those auto dealerships do. The 2015s are in is what they tell us and this is a superb marketing technique to emulate. Here’s one ad that’s kinda nice. Not pushy. Just

cute and letting “you” know and letting your clients know too, that, as the ad says “New Brochures are OUT NOW.” Here’s one more from Goway – the covers are doing the selling.

Make a note: always use your supplier’s new brochures as a marketing tool. Request hi-res images of the covers and add them to your website, send out in a social media post… link to them in your emails and if you have agency glass – use a poster sized image with a slogan right across it: FREE 2015 COLOUR DREAM CATALOGS click, call or come in to get your personal copy.

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Teach me the Take Away Close. NOW!

The Take Away Close is relatively simple and used when you do not wish to conduct business with the person in front of you, on the phone or emailing. Of course your refusal of their business must be handled with kid gloves otherwise you must start something that goes viral and out of your control. The Take Away Close is also used to remove you from any responsibility for when the client requests a cheap room, cheap tour and anything else that’s cheap and from your experience will only cause your clients more hassles then they bargained for. What you are trying to say to them is that your reputation is worth more than their booking.

You are well aware of the low cost travel that clients like to book and, all things considered, most of the time the low cost to el-cheapo trip works out okay. And “okay” is a good enough return on their money for some clients. The question is, is it good enough for you? There comes a time when you just do not wish to handle another cheap, best deal, save 75% type of trip and especially those low cost motel rooms that clients like to believe will be very close to a suite at the 5 star hotel across the street. You have been in the trade long enough to sense what’s coming and by the customer’s manner, speech, words, body language you know this is going to be a request for a champagne trip on a beer budget.

… however I must decline to book this trip as I know what the outcome will be…” … however it’s not what I do, and by that I mean the arrangements I book are generally not deals and if they are they are backed by a preferred supplier that will support me should something not go as planned.” … but frankly, to know that I booked you on that trip would give me nightmares! If you can increase your budget for this trip I will be able to recommend a tour company that I know will deliver on their promise.” … but chances are I’m not the travel agent to book this trip for you as I deal mostly with specific suppliers and do not sell outside that list.”

Here are the words you need to extricate yourself and your reputation for when things go terribly wrong for this client. “I appreciate the opportunity to make these arrangements for you… …however chances are you can do much better by booking this yourself online…” … however, from experience I have learned not to book my clients into any hotel room, tour package, low cost deal that I know will cause us both headaches in the future… you when you are on vacation and me when you return with numerous complaints… if you would like me to recommend what I feel will deliver the travel experience you really want versus travelling on the cheap… tell me now…”

You’ve got the idea I’m sure. So many things can go wrong with a cheap trip and mostly it’s wrapped up in the client’s perception of what they thought they would be receiving for their money. When the accommodation is shabby, overlooking the ally etc., the walls are thin… then reality sets in and it will be, have no fear, your fault! Select your own selling levels and preferences and never sell below them. It’s your reputation and you are allowed to refuse any business that might tarnish it. Use the Take Away close and sell safe.

Would you like to put your well-earned skills to practice and set up a new profit center for your agency? If the answer is yes, then you might want to explore opening a travel school in your agency or an adjacent building. If there’s a low rent retail store vacant near your agency then you might just think about the opportunity to build a walk-in and stay for 3 months clientele. Having general managed a huge travel school with 10 classrooms, a large computer area etc., I can tell you the route to profits and also total devastation if you set up your school the wrong way. The best and most profitable program would be accommodated by a one to three room

school with morning, afternoon, evening and part-time weekend programs. The best arrangement for you as a travel agency owner is to start with your own agency as the teaching venue. If you have a boardroom even better. You need space, so the number one activity is to work out where that’s coming from. And it has to be low cost. The clients you’ll be attracting to your hands-on school will be adults with cash. Not going anywhere near students and student loans. Leave that segment to the generic travel and tourism schools already in the business. You will of course have to check with local laws and make sure you can operate a travel school in your area.

The Training Course

Specialty Courses

As you may know there’s a glut in the market place for talented people to enter the industry as travel agents. Many travel schools are targeting the young person and offering programs ranging from travel & tourism to flight attendant to adventure tourism and tour guiding.

You are well aware of existing specialty courses that various suppliers and tourism offices offer. These are usually free to travel agents so you cannot charge for them, however you can advise your students to study these courses and your fees are based on the overall cost of your mentoring the student to better understand the content of these online, specialty programs. The Aussie Speciality program is well known in the trade, however a newcomer would need some guidance as to how to put the information to use.

You are in the position to teach what you know hands-on to a more adult audience with existing life skills and very likely a travel history too. This combination is crucial to your success. Create your own training program and keep it real and present day… meaning make use of everything online, teach social media marketing skills, how to use apps and mobile marketing too. In other words, your course is going to be cutting edge and with a sales and marketing focus. Product knowledge as always is delivered by suppliers to the travel trade community. When those events come to town, escort your “students” to the show and manage them well.

The Challenge The main challenge for you is that to teach others about the travel industry is more fun than managing the agency. This can tend to sway your loyalties to the point of losing your front end travel business. If, on the other hand, travel sales are hard to come by, perhaps the opening of a travel school is the profit center you need until the retail travel market in your area returns.

Putting The Team Together The essence of your program would be to deliver to your students the very best of selling travel in the present day and that includes war, terror, and extreme weather and as you well know, much more. This in turn means you must educate your students about travel insurance and travel safety. There is the chance that you can use, for a fee, the training course of an existing travel school. You can ask and negotiate a fee. Then you would have a basic program to adapt to the specific program you have in mind. The outcome of your school should be at least three or four people who get it and who can do it. You can offer them a home-based agent role and set them free to make money for themselves and for your agency. As your travel school grows in size you may want to hire in a teaching team or offer the role to members of your agency team for after 5pm courses.

Chances are you’ll know more than a few travel agents and agency owners who have given up their street front agency to go home-based. Some of these travel agents may be in the mood to teach what they know under your banner allowing you to maintain your core business. Your home-based travel agent team could also teach online or at least be there for your students who need online support.

This is just a glimpse at the opportunity. Of course there’s a thousand things to think about and action before making the leap. The keywords here are “adults with cash” – do not venture near younger people, foreign students and student loans. If you do, that’s an entirely different ball game with many rules and regulations and let me tell you – challenges. You might even create the buyer of your agency when you wish to sell it. Hmm? 

Yes you can move from travel counselor to agency owner. You can quit and start your own business. You can sell your agency and go home-based. You can go for the VP position. You can go from home-based to supplier BDM. You can open a string of boutique hotels, teach, train, consult and lead adventure groups. It all starts with managing your career, going with your passion and doing what you were meant to do. Get more from your career by applying the ideas, tips, tools and techniques in the eGuide that covers your travel trade role. Be warned â&#x20AC;&#x201C; once you make the change, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nowhere to go but UP!

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