Three Tips for Travel Agent Success from One Industry Veteran

Tisha Spencer’s profession began when she was in faculty. After serving time within the U.S. Military, Spencer attended Johnson & Wales College in South Carolina, majoring in hospitality and minoring in occasion planning, two majors that might finally lend themselves rather well to her future profession. Whereas on campus, she joined a sorority (Zeta Phi Beta), which had a brother fraternity. 

“I’m a planner by nature,” she mentioned, so when the sorority was planning occasions, together with exhibits and conferences, she took the lead. She began with smaller, native journeys and finally graduated to reserving out complete accommodations for conferences. It gave her an introduction to the issues she would want to earn success as a journey advisor.

When she bought out of college, she discovered reserving journey as a “method to make more money for issues I used to be going to do anyway,” serving to family and friends within the native space guide some regional journey. Principally, she mentioned, it was weekend cruises out of Florida from mates or household she had in driving distance, together with South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

Since then, Spencer has spent 20 years as a working journey advisor. Her company, Platinum Life Travels in San Antonio, an InteleTravel affiliate, makes a speciality of teams and cruises. She spoke to TMR just lately about her profession and the developments she sees within the business. Right here is simply a few of what she mentioned: 

1. Discover Your Place on Social Media
It isn’t for everybody, however Spencer is without doubt one of the journey advisors who have been capable of construct a enterprise via social media—she estimates that 40% of her bookings come via social media a technique or one other.

“I don’t use it as an promoting house,” she mentioned, “As a substitute, I’m posting data. I would like them to know that I’m very properly educated within the areas that I cope with. With COVID, shoppers needed somebody they knew was knowledgeable about all of the adjustments.”

“I make sure that I introduce myself to them as an individual,” she added.

That features her journey teams, which is one thing that she encourages different brokers to do, too. Making a closed group, an area the place shoppers solely see one another, permits individuals to be extra snug each sharing data and being themselves.

Social media can be a spot the place she will be able to get results in add to her extra conventional advertising and marketing lists.

“All I would like is your title and electronic mail deal with and I’ll put you in my CRM and also you’ll get communications from me,” she mentioned.

Social media, notably Fb, is a simple place to get began as a result of making a presence there doesn’t require the form of time, effort, or, in some circumstances, cash that placing collectively knowledgeable web site may.

For people who need to transcend that, Spencer suggests utilizing a advertising and marketing touchdown web page, like Linktree, that may put all the pieces in a single place—contact information, social media accounts, and so forth.—for advisors to ship potential shoppers.

2. Keep Organized
Spencer’s profession as a journey advisor has shifted into twin roles—except for promoting journey, she additionally serves as the primary licensed ambassador and Elite Coach with InteleTravel, the host company she works with. Via her position as a coach, she is ready to talk the teachings she’s discovered all through her profession, together with one thing she considers paramount—staying organized.

“Once I first bought began, it wasn’t one thing I used to be doing. However as soon as I bought with InteleTravel and was with a bunch company who was critical about reserving journey, it was one thing I thought of,” she mentioned.

“I needed to get organized with how I communicated, how I despatched out invoices, how I tracked fee and revenue, as a result of

She talked about watching a digital coaching and seeing the agent who was working the webinar wrestle to search out an electronic mail for 20 minutes as a kind of a-ha moments. For her, one of many keys is Journey Pleasure, the CRM she makes use of, which takes care of a ton of these duties.

“As soon as I’ve their electronic mail, I put them into my CRM,” she instructed TMR, and all the pieces, from advertising and marketing to gross sales to interactions with shoppers, stays updated there.

“Once I began to get organized, my complete enterprise modified,” she mentioned “I didn’t understand what number of shoppers I really had till I bought organized or gross sales or the truth that I used to be sending individuals to the identical locations as a result of I used to be capable of grasp all that by retaining observe,” she mentioned.

She additionally makes use of Google Calendars, that are linked to her shoppers, in an effort to hold observe of journey, fee dates, and so forth. And, to make advertising and marketing and speaking to her shoppers as simple and seamless as doable, she shops all supplies in separate folders, by provider, on her desktop.

“I can simply go into the folder and get what I would like and do what I do,” she mentioned.

Finally, Spencer sees a robust sense of group as the important thing not solely to her enterprise however to different journey advisors who’ve simply began their careers.

“With so many home-based brokers, particularly some beginning out who even have full-time jobs, or are full-time mother and father, we have now to learn to set up ourselves and our time to be environment friendly,” she mentioned.

3. Consider Your Job Otherwise than Merely Reserving Journey
The journey business is one thing that “has at all times been round me,” Spencer mentioned. 

“We’ve got to get out of our neighborhood and go to another person in an effort to increase our minds,” she mentioned, including that a few of her earliest recollections revolve round holidays she took together with her household rising up. 

Fascinated with these recollections, these experiences that make a mark on you or your loved ones or mates helps outline the job of an advisor—to assist individuals, whether or not households or {couples} or teams or solo vacationers, make recollections. 

A part of that’s becoming your consumer in the proper vacation spot and to the proper provider, however one other half is including the touches they wouldn’t get by reserving on-line. 

“I like stunning our friends, I actually love doing that,” she mentioned, mentioning that she organized for a latest consumer, on a honeymoon journey, to not solely get a honeymoon cake mid-way via their journey but additionally have their resort room embellished upon arrival. 

Spencer added that an increasing number of of the advisors she is aware of are making {that a} essential a part of their job, not simply servicing shoppers, however connecting with them on a private degree via these little touches. That proves simply how a lot they love what they’re doing. 

“I like the business and the place it’s going – there are plenty of brokers going on the market who’re actually captivated with doing it,” she mentioned.