Ep 034 – Travel Agency Coaching and Future Travel

Suburban Folk 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 1:04
I don’t trust that most people will eat their vegetables. So our kind of standard is three servings of vegetables per

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meal. If you take something like a

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two by six and you cut it with a circular saw, that’s like a superpower those middle school years

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are not as fun, but at that age, they’re still willing to talk to you.

Suburban Folk 1:22
Welcome to the Suburban Folk podcast. I’m your host Greg. Today is one of my favorite topics travel. lately. Of course, there hasn’t been much to talk about due to the global lockdown because of COVID-19. At some point, those restrictions will be lifted, and we’ll have to figure out the best practices for our own safety as well as the safety across the world. We also discuss travel agencies both those that deal in the business as well as vacationers that are interacting with travel agents. My guest is Nicole O’Sullivan. She’s a dedicated business consultant, coach and mentor to travel agency business owners as a third year. Your veteran of the industry and former team leader within Australia’s biggest travel franchise Flight Center, Nicole has gone on to head up Business Development Strategies for the USA his fastest growing travel consulting firms. Her typical clients have experienced outstanding business transformations under her expert guidance with a rapidly growing team behind her. Nicole is truly motivated by connecting with clients on a personal level, exploring their motivators and helping them unlock new levels of personal and professional success. Nicole, thanks so much for joining the show today. I thought that we could kick it off by describing for everybody the scheduling process you and I went through specifically we were scheduling about a month ago, so put us into the beginning middle of March, you needed to cancel because that is right when all of the lockdown started to occur in particular in the US and of course you’re based in Australia. So can you describe for us what you had to go through? To get back home and get everything where it needed to be so you weren’t left stranded in the midst of all of the COVID issues that are going on.

Unknown Speaker 3:09
Yeah, absolutely. So right, you’re absolutely right Greg, it was I was really bummed that we had to change our diet but it all happened so fast it was I was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. I thought oh, you know, I’ve got a flight. Not till May I’ll be fine. It’ll blow over it’ll all be okay. And I guess I woke up one morning and I had about five missed calls and messages on my phone from my family and and travel friends in the in Australia saying, You literally need to get home now. I thought, Oh, okay. Maybe this is a little bit more serious than what it was. And so I was in Arizona, I was based in LA I was based in Northern California actually. And then I’d done a little side trip to a business in in Arizona. So I was actually in Arizona, but I had all of Things in Northern California. So literally within it was a like a 24 hour turnaround I packed my things in Arizona, I flew back to Santa Rosa and I grabbed my things and I was in LA x within that time frame and on a flight back home back to Melbourne and yeah, and then got locked down for two weeks because once you arrive arrive into Australia, you are then in quarantine single, like self self isolation. So yeah, it was definitely an interesting experience the, you know, the airport being completely ghost town, especially LA x if anyone’s been through la it’s no way you know, a buzz hustle and bustle airport and to have no one around was really weird and a bit of a reality check actually about what was really happening because I was hitting the sand a little bit feeling it was a little bit more hyped up than what it really was.

Unknown Speaker 4:59
But yeah, And now it now it is what it is, isn’t it? It’s a kind of a reality check.

Suburban Folk 5:05
Yeah, it’s becoming more real every single day. And I’m based in Virginia. So the other side of the country and California definitely seem to be one of the first to really, really locked down. So that just realization, I guess of it making its way to all the states. Yeah, I was maybe about a week or so afterwards. And like you said, I’ve been through LA x one time and it is a crazy place to be. So that’s got to be extra strange to just be going right to the airport. One other quick question. Before we get into some of the overall travel. Is it every single country that you would travel in from into Australia that you would be quarantine or were there particular countries that meant you would have to self isolate for 14 days? Look, Australia

Unknown Speaker 5:50
has taken a really strong stance. So any flight that you arrive into, no matter what country you’re visiting, you would need to be self isolating. I guess the challenge was was that it was a little bit non. They they didn’t really have a way of policing that that was what was happening. So, and I guess the virus spreading, and so, they put it down to international travelers arriving, which was the carriers. So now there is a new thing in place where if you now are arriving into Australia, you are self quarantining in a hotel that is under lockdown, so no going outside no mingling with other people. So I kind of was lucky that I’m, that, that strictness about I was, you know, I wanted to play my part in the community and I did the right thing. I stayed in my house for two weeks. I didn’t go outside didn’t even check the mailbox, you know, I did the right thing. So, you know, but we had to be sure that everyone else was doing that, which I felt that maybe it was a little hard to police if that was really happening, but I’m not sure if any I mean, I’m is America doing the same thing like

Suburban Folk 6:55
Oh, definitely that is the recommendation and gosh, it seems like the informations change. All the time. So I feel like I have started to read more requirements around depending on where you’re traveling from that you will be quarantined in a similar way that you’re describing. There’s no volunteering about it. That’s what’s going to happen. And then you would be released at some point afterwards. So for people listening, don’t quote me officially on that because it is definitely fluid, how the things are changing day over day, but it sounds very similar to what you’re describing. But at any rate, happy that you made it home safe and sound, like you said, Did the socially appropriate thing of staying away from everybody to do our part, like you said, So, let’s go back for your history. Can you tell us what your background is in travel and then some specifics about your Consulting Group and how you interact with travel agencies?

Unknown Speaker 7:49
Yeah, absolutely. So I have worked officially in the travel industry for going on 13 and a half years now. I i had a real passion for travel since I was able to get on an airplane and fly I guess so as soon as I turned 21 I was out of here I was like See ya, I’m going going so I I had my uni degree university degree of graphic design and I thought you know what I’m gonna go and live abroad and see how I go in the in the graphic space and I guess once I got the travel bug, I really loved it and felt that you know, this is a career that I really wanted to pursue. So when I eventually came back to Australia, I actually lived in Northern Ireland for a little while and tried to actually live with a graphic designer thought I really don’t want to have this life I really guide you every time people would say wow you from Australia and I used to talk about it so passionately and they said you should you’d be awesome in tourism, like you really are passionate about, you know, travel and I was like Oh, that’s a cool idea. never really thought of that. Yeah, maybe moved back home to Australia about a year after and got a job in in the travel industry as a travel agent and what industry really so I worked five years in Australia, within within a major organization in Australia called Flight Center. So they, you know, the dominating business in travel over here and also and so I worked there in Australia for five years. And what I did was I worked my way through being a consultant to becoming an assistant team leader to becoming a team leader. And when I became a team leader of a business I, it was a it was a fairly new business and it was very much around, you know, Flight Center is is like Starbucks is the best way I can describe in Australia, you go to a corner store and there’s a flight center on every corner basically. So we over saturate the market. So much so So what makes my agency stand out to the one that’s down the street. So I guess the answer to that is is how you treat your customer and how Treat your people in your business. And it took me a little while to get that actual concept. But I just, I just did it. And then within two years, I turn that business into $150,000 profit store. So that was that was a pretty awesome achievement. And then I had this burning passion of America. Every time I go on vacation, I would fly to a USA. And so I thought I need to move here. I don’t care how I’m gonna do it, but I don’t live here. So I’m very fortunate that flights and I had a business in the USA, so I asked to transfer cross and I then moved into the wholesale space. So now I’m not selling direct to the consumer, I’m now selling to the travel agent to sell to the consumer. So that I lived in actually moved to Las Vegas, which that was pretty cool. I became a working girl in Vegas if you get my job, and it was really awesome. It was great to live. But I always promised this team of five people that we were going to open up the West Coast branch, because it was primarily East Coast, which was the branding. And I, I moved to Vegas to open up that department, but only ended up being just myself. So I thought, Okay, well, I don’t have a team to run. So I just need a cell troll. So within six months of that, I became the number that in the top consultants of the brand, and everyone was saying, why how did how are you doing this? And I guess I just created a method of really listening to the travel agent and getting to understand their customer because at the end of the day, my job was to make them look like the superhero and get them to get the bookings. So without them getting the booking, then I was letting them down. So I just kind of took a different approach. And really just yeah, knuckled in got them to answer specific questions. For example, if you call my business, if you call me up, I need you to have these five questions. About your customer, if we don’t have these five things, at least knowing about your customer, then I’m not going to help you get this, we’re not going to ever get this booking. So my job is to get you the booking. So let’s get these things done and then call me back when you’ve got these and I promise you, we’ll we’ll you know really work towards getting that booking. So that was my that was my secret sauce to my Vegas adventure. And then I didn’t know this, but I guess I was being listened to all my calls. So people were listening in and figuring out what I was doing. And I got approached to become a sales coach, which meant that I had to move over to the east coast and work over there and do Yeah, sounds coaching. So I thought, oh my god, me. Are you serious? Okay. All right. So I packed up my little PT Cruiser and I drove from

Unknown Speaker 12:47
New Jersey, and which was pretty awesome. And I did sales coaching for two years. And that was that was my that was my aha moment. My my light bulb where I went, this is why I’m supposed to be doing what I’m doing. And I felt that, you know, the, the things that were able to do for people in terms of showing them how to connect to customers, it wasn’t about, you know, the commission that they were earning. It wasn’t about you know. Yeah focusing or down getting a great score on a call when you’re when you’re being listened to and getting coached. It was really about saying, did you get the booking? No, okay, well let’s let’s pull this back let’s listen let’s let’s listen to the language using what did you hear that Did you hear and the customer said this, let’s really listen to the words let’s let’s really dial it in and, and to fine tune the language and the tones and everything like that. That was we’re talking about with a customer, you know, either either face to face or over the phone or via email. So that was that was a pretty awesome job. And I really, really felt that I was making a difference. You know, I was I was talking to people who had been in in the travel industry for over 35 years. You know, they’re sitting there going, not only have you just opened my eyes to so many things, but you’ve actually impacted my life. And I’m like, really? No. Wow, that’s amazing. Thanks. So yeah, it was that was a pretty fulfilling role. And then I guess, yeah, I ended up being told that that department was going to be closed. And so I had a choice to go and look after a business that was probably the worst performing business in the in Liberty travel, which is the USA business that I was working with. And they were online only. So they only dealt with customers who were live chatting them or calling in, so they didn’t have any face to face customers. So within the organization, they were taking the most amount of inquiry per person per day, and converting the least. So it was a department that were questioning whether they kept open or not. And they said well, do you want to see what you can do with it? And I was like, okay, so I jumped in with both feet. I learned about the people in the business and why it was not doing, why, why it wasn’t performing. And it really came down to belief and that I felt that customers were just wasting their time. They weren’t serious. So just you know, shopping around and you know, why would they ever book with me and all that sort of thing. So I really worked on the belief system or really worked on changing our, our views on the customer. And so this was probably my pivotal moment of everything that I’d done in sales coaching, I thought, okay, if I don’t do well here, I’m going to look like a fraud stuff. So

Unknown Speaker 15:39
for all the elements in and I yeah, we turn that business around within six months. So that became the number one most improved in the whole of the country. So that was pretty epic, actually. And it was really down to the people. So I guess, really, the rest of my journey is you know, moving back to Australia doing different roles, and doing different different parts of the business. So I’ve done area leading I’ve done worked in crews I’ve worked in, you know, the the sales coaching, I’ve done consulting, I’ve done so many different things. But I guess this is why I’ve created the business that I have and, and what I specialize now is in, in really working with tribal businesses on how to manage and lead and communicate with their team and their customers. So that they can result in in growing their revenue and profits really, really quickly. And how I do that is I leverage off the five pillars of emotional intelligence. And that is really where we learn quickly to adapt, adjust and respond to times, especially right now in rapid change, that we can really move away all the guesswork that we have, it all comes down to our people in our business, and really discovering that 85% of our sales and leadership success comes down to empathy, and how 99% of the business problems can be realized. avoided. So that’s really what I’ve, I’ve mastered, honestly and coaching teams is is really important to me. It’s really about coaching leaders as well around how to get extraordinary results from your people. Every single day, it doesn’t matter who it is that you have in your business, you can turn that around. And so that’s really why I started that because I felt that with the experience that I’ve had, within the 13 years, it’s not just been selling travel to consumer, it’s it’s so many different areas. And I’ve had pretty good broad experience on how to see different areas of the business. And now how do I now make that as one whole offer that I can give people to to boost their self confidence to you know, work around listening to cues of customers, there’s so many different things around how to build a business. And yeah, that’s really Oh, long story. Sorry, but it’s true. I’m sorry. super passionate about how people can really make an amazing impact in their business and their life by applying the things that we talk about on a day to day basis.

Suburban Folk 18:10
That gives us a very good foundation, I think to work from, for the questions that I have. And to your point about empathy. I imagine in travel, it’s something that everybody probably assumes they can do on their own, maybe more so than other industries. So I would make sense that when you’re coaching people, they have to focus on the cues and empathize with the needs of the customer. Because I would assume, if you get too far to one side or the other, like you said, on the phone part, somebody may just hang up and say, Okay, I can go use fill in the blank online resource and just do it all myself. They’re really looking for convenience and you got to be able to convey that is that kind of on the right track of,

Unknown Speaker 18:57
well, especially these days, I mean, you know, with With technology as well that people can book a vacation with a click of a button on their cell phone, you know, it’s not, it’s not hard to to book travel. So you have to really understand and believe that the reason why people come to a travel expert is because they’re still unsure the doubt something you know, it’s about, it’s about us understanding that there is doubt with that customer. That’s the reason why they’ve actually even picked up the phone to call you or they’ve driven to your location and walked into your business. You know, no one wakes up in the morning and says, I’m just going to waste someone’s time today, and I’m just gonna wait, that’s a belief that I truly, you know, breathe, you know, no one does that. So it’s really about understanding the why and it’s not about going through the questions and saying, Yeah, I asked how many people yeah, I asked the dates of birth. Yeah, I asked, you know how long they’re going for, like, that’s the general basic stuff that you would have to fill out online anyway. But now it’s about buying, what does this What can I offer For the customer that is going to show trust, it’s going to, you know, create that bond You know, I’ve got I’ve got customer I mean, I haven’t sold in Australia for God, like nearly eight or eight or nine years. And the thing is, is that I still have clients today that are still my friends and still contact me even though I’m not their travel expert anymore. They still reach out and say, Hey, Nick, what what do you think about this, this is where we’re going to think of traveling next time any tips you know like that you become part of the journey in this story. And you know, I here’s the thing, Greg, it’s like, you know, you have a you have your hairdresser, you have your your tech guy you have you know, you have people on speed dial, your lawyer, your all these you doctor, all these things that you have on a speed dial and I say to my guys, I want you to be in this top speed dials, who’s the travel person that they call when they think of a vacation, I want them to think of you. So it’s not about the now it’s about the future of of becoming part of this country. His journey and I think that is something that the internet will never be able to do. And that is really what makes the difference of a, of a travel expert.

Suburban Folk 21:08
I think that also emphasizes trust, right? Of course making a good impression when you first have somebody there and then hopefully, you’re building that sense of trust so that when they’re ready for their next vacation, and the next and the next that your that starting point that they can go to Well, let me put you on the spot a little bit with your travel through the US because I always find this interesting. What would you say is the best places that you have been able to visit while either living here or just in your overall travels?

Unknown Speaker 21:38
I’ve been so lucky with the USA because of my job. I think I think I’m up to 26 states out of 50 so I think I’m doing all right. Like, oh god, there’s so many unique places. I mean, I’m a big fan of Nashville gonna say and just the southern states. I feel that, you know, I’m a big foodie as well. And I think the fun part About my travel from Jersey, from from Vegas to Jersey was that we downloaded the doubt, diners drive ins and dives up. And we and the rule was we couldn’t eat a chair at a chain restaurant, we had to eat off the app like so we had to find these spots. And that was the most coolest thing I’ve ever done and had some of the most incredible food I’ve ever had in my life by just following this off the beaten track, little places that were hidden gems along the way, so yeah, I would say doing the road trip was really awesome. Mike, I’m so glad I drove and didn’t do any other way. You know, so it was uh, yeah, and you could tell instantly you’re in a different state, you know, it’s like the scenery changes every single state you drive through. So it was really awesome.

Suburban Folk 22:51
That’s the way to go. I went from Salt Lake City, Utah, where I was living right out of college, back to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and I should You’d have done what you’re describing, but I basically just did you know, 10 to 15 hour drives for three days and made it on the interstate and really kind of squandered what could have been a bigger experience. I’m glad to hear that you took advantage of that trip and had something already planned because I definitely didn’t do that. So even getting us back into what’s going on now and the lock downs. And of course, the travel industry is going to be hit as hard as any other industry, I would imagine. Not necessarily good or bad. Although right now, it’s not good. What does that look like right now? And what do you foresee the landscape of travel looking like, let’s say six months or a year from now.

Unknown Speaker 23:43
So me, knowing what I know about emotional intelligence is that I try not to think too far ahead. To be honest, I think it’s day by day, week by week, but it’s clear that the travel industry is not going to be the same as it was a couple of months ago. But that’s okay, I feel that well is in the midst of change travel is the craziest of change industries as it is anyway. So, you know, we’ve undergone so many different things, you know, terror attacks to natural disasters to outbreaks already. I mean, remember Zika virus and all those things that happened not long ago. So I guess what what I can, you know, in my opinion, I guess is what I can see happening over the next few months is that just like 911 changed, the way we checked in for flights in security measures is that this is gonna probably bring a little bit more of a hygiene factor really, isn’t it? It’s gonna say, Have you had a checkup, you know, have you got any symptoms, have you you know, and that’s going to potentially influence how we are traveling now. So I feel like that’s gonna be something to keep in mind of extra things to be prepared about. When we are actually getting ready to travel again, when everything is up and running again, it’s not going to be the same. But there’s nothing to fear about that. I guess it’s just going to be an evolving of Where are we? What What have we learned over this outbreak? And how do we now move forward, and it will make us stronger, as it always does. It’s just, it’s just overwhelming right now. And it’s and it’s hard to understand what is going to happen. And I guess that where is where fear does come in because it is unknown, and it is uncertain. And as human beings, we need certainty. And when we don’t have it, we start to tell ourselves stories, and sometimes that can go down the fear path, and there’s no, there’s no good ending to fear. So it’s just about staying positive and just knowing that we can get through this and we will and yeah, it’s gonna be a little different, but we’ll adapt and more just and that’s what we have to just keep in mind, you know,

Suburban Folk 25:52
and you mentioned having experience in the cruise industry. So I have to ask you, if you have a perspective on How they will be impacted because, of course, they’ve been front and center in the news. We’ve heard of all these ships that have been docked basically, indefinitely in the water. Do you foresee similar iterations specifically for cruises? Or could it be a little more dire the changes they’re going to go through?

Unknown Speaker 26:20
Oh, look, you know, cruises is interesting. I feel that there’s so many different brands of cruise, and it’s almost like they’re getting a little bit of a bad rap out there. And it always seems to be the same brand, which tarnishes a lot of other brands with the same brush isn’t true. And I think that what this has shown is that those cruise lines that have 3000 plus passengers on board are gonna probably probably look at what is that gonna look like future when we’re out of this because there are other cruise lines that have less passengers, which means that you’ve got more space between you and the next passenger as you’re walking down. hallway, you know, these are the sort of things that I think they’re going to have to maybe adapt and learn from those other cruise lines that are smaller, but have a have a really good way of keeping that that social distancing as it was, anyway, some of them are actual features of that, you know, I remember being on a ship inspection and them saying, Hey, you know that one of our benefits of this is that, you know, our staff know you by name, because there’s enough people on there to know who you are, you know, but it means that you’re not squished into a dining hall with thousands of thousands of other people. So maybe it’s something like that, and maybe we will transform into how do we be on board a beautiful ship and seeing these beautiful places because cruise lines are phenomenal. It’s a great way to travel. You only have to unpack once you go to all these different destinations. It’s fabulous, the food’s generally fantastic. Everything’s great about cruising. So this is really just about their levels of of hygiene and how they’re going to uplift that even more, because I feel like that’s actually pretty clear, you know, ship inspections that everyone that I’ve been on, or been on a cruise is they are really adamant about hand sanitizing and keeping clean and oh, you know, like, I can’t tell you how many times you see a buffet getting changed over and over and over with different food, you know, they’re very, very on top of it. So I just think that it’s just a little bit of a bad press at the moment. And, you know, they’ve been through some some crazy times as it is, but they’ll bounce back and cruising is a phenomenal way to travel. And I just feel like maybe the bigger cruise lines can maybe take some ideas from the ones that are, you know, the 1500 to 2000 passenger, you know, cruisers and see what they do. Maybe that’s all they need to do is just downsize slightly, but we’ll see.

Suburban Folk 28:49
I was actually on a cruise in the beginning of February. We were on Disney and of course everything hadn’t unfolded as it hadn’t Well, about a couple weeks or so after that. But yeah, they in particular, more so than any other ship I’d ever been on had these crazy self washing hand washing machines in any of the kids areas to make it as easy as possible for them to stay clean. You were required to have these hand washing stations in the dining rooms. I can’t say I’ve seen that in any of the other ships that I’ve ever been on. So I’ll at least say kudos to Disney that it seemed like they were maybe a little bit ahead of some of the other experiences I have had. And also, like you mentioned, about a way to travel where you’re only unpacking once and you can see a lot of things within a particular vacation. My kids are age three and five. So that’s why that way of traveling for us right now is very attractive, because it’s hard to travel with kids that are that young. So you either stick with the local beach vacations, which there’s nothing wrong with that, certainly but if you’re trying to Go out and see some other cultures, places, things like that, then it is certainly an attractive way to go. So I am going to be interested to see how that all evolves in the next six months to a year.

Unknown Speaker 30:12
And like I said, I think that there’s so many brands out there and it only seems to be a similar brand that keeps getting mentioned. And it’s like the main old cruise lines promise there are out there that are very much not in that category. So yeah, I agree with you. I think that cruising is is one of the biggest growing travel sectors in the in the industry at the moment, and I can’t see that, deterring them too much. You know, once you’re a cruiser, it’s like, you’ll go back and you’ll do more and you’ll see other other cruise lines, etc. So yeah, I don’t see it crippling them too much. It’ll just be a little bit of a setback, but they’ll they’ll be okay.

Suburban Folk 30:48
I actually think I had read that. bookings for 2021. We’re already on the increase. Now I’m sure some of that is people having to rebook what they’ve already had. But it also seems to indicate that But it’s not going anywhere anytime soon

Unknown Speaker 31:02
yeah No way. And you know if you’re a savvy traveler I think it’s really right now is about talking to our travel experts get on get onto the phone to them because there is some incredible deals out there for 2021 travel and you know I can this is again my opinion and my prediction but I feel that the yield pricing so I don’t know if you can remember a little while back, Greg but I know from flying from Australia to New York was approximately 20 $500 minimum to fly York right now, before COVID-19 Kitt, you can fly to New York from Melbourne for you know, 1200 dollars, maybe sometimes even $980 or something like that. That is phenomenal. We’ve never seen process like that and that’s because you know, that travel industry sector was booming. Now with it not being you know, the all the flights being grounded, etc. They’re going to need to Make some of that back. So I can tell you now that that yield is going to go through the roof, we’re going to go back to those pricing those prices. So if you see prices now get onto it. Because once it’s all back up and running, you’re going to miss out on those on those fears. So you know, don’t cancel your trip, postpone your trips. And that way when you can have those deposits already done, and you just have to take advantage of what you’ve already booked.

Suburban Folk 32:22
When I know for some of the trips that we have already had to postpone. There are even incentives that are being put on them to make sure you don’t cancel some pretty nice incentives and to your point. So the theme is my wife is a big, big Disney fan. So not only did we do the Disney Cruise, but we were looking to do a long weekend at Disney World, actually this month, which obviously is not going to happen. So we just for fun, we’re checking what flights were looking like in the next three months, six months or so on. I don’t remember how much we originally booked for but one of the budget airlines called spirit they had a one way ticket for $17 at 1.00 Yeah, so I’m sure those will not stay at that price and we can’t just yet for something like that, but we’re I’m definitely seeing what you’re describing.

Unknown Speaker 33:14
Yeah, hundred percent and it’ll change it’ll it wants it’s all back up and running and it will, it will change because they all need to make that money back somehow. So they’ll they’ll yield the yield price will go through the roof, you just wait.

Suburban Folk 33:29
So we kicked it off with how you advise travel agents to get a rapport and of course, make sure that they are making the sale when they have a new client on the phone or in person. What do you tell the consumer the value is in using a travel agency as opposed to going and booking everything yourself?

Unknown Speaker 33:54
Well, I guess right now, you can see that having a travel expert is is key. Travel experts provide expertise, helping times of need. Absolutely. And it’s really about the experience like a lot of them have either been to the destination have, you know someone who has been if they haven’t been themselves I mean it’s physically impossible to have traveled to every single place on earth and said we think a hotel but it really is about the consumer understanding that it’s not about his travel expert gonna charge me more. It’s not about that they’ve got to look at value and I guess this is where it’s a catch 22 for the customer and the and the travel expert is about saying value is not a price, though it was a feeling and a feeling is it could mean that I could tell you Greg, that knowing what I just know now about you and your family with your kids and your wife and you’re into Disney. It’s really about me understanding that aspect of it. And so what it is Greg is about really understanding you as a customer. Your family as a customer, it’s about me emerging myself into your dreams about what you expect from this from this vacation, and it’s about me, then matching those expectations to be able to make the dream come true. So that when you’re on vacation, or you have to worry about is what you need to pack. We do everything else for you. And, again, like I said before, you could book it online yourself, you know enough about it, you could go and do it. But what if you went to an expert? What if they could tell you something that you might not have known? And I think that’s where the value lies. Like I said, value is not a price value is someone be willing to pay more even because it means the most to them. And that’s what travel experts need to really dive into is to understand the customer. More than surface level. You know, people come it’s like when you walk into a store and they say, Oh, hey, are you looking to buy a pair of jeans today? No, I am just browsing. Thanks. So, you know, are you walking around the shop like Oh, stop following me. Because I guess they come at you with that sale and it’s like, ah, do you want to buy this and this is what the ideal is and you’re like, Okay, cool, no worries. I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna go and have a look myself. But what it is is about going. Imagine if they came up to you and said, Hey, Greg, how are you today? Oh, so what? Is there anything that you’re looking for? in particular? Like what what brings you in today? Tell me a little bit about what what you’re looking for. And you’re like, Oh, I’m just looking for a pair of jeans. Awesome. Well, tell me a little about your jeans like do you want them to fit this and your if that was the consultation, it would feel more inviting it would feel more like it wasn’t about just getting the sale. It’s and I think that’s where customers can probably vouch for the fact that sometimes they just feel like a number they feel like Oh great, they took my money and then I’m and then I’m nothing to them. And that’s where that’s where the opportunity is from a from a travel experts perspective is to really show that it’s not just about getting the sale and I’m going to share something with you actually, where this is something that I talk about all the time and I think that with choice, we’ve all got a choice of how we book or purchase a vacation. And here’s the thing, I look at it from this perspective that because there is so much choice, essentially what your customer is doing is they’re interviewing you. So they’re interviewing you to say, Are you the right person for the job? Are you gonna satisfy my needs? Are you going to be the employer that I need or the employee that I need that’s going to actually shine bright when I need them shine bright. So when you think of it from that perspective, you think to yourself, when I go to a job interview, I don’t go with the job with the with the idea of going for a job and working for one day. I want to go and create a career in this in this job. So I want our travel experts to look at that to say your customers are interviewing you for a job for a lifetime, not for one off. So how are you going to be the employer employee sorry, that stands out the most for that person to keep fighting You and I keep hiring you and keep hiring you. And then it could mean sometimes that you work for voluntary work, it could mean that you work for minimum wage, but what you’re doing is, is that eventually, you’re going to get that massive vacation. And they’re going to end up telling people about you, because you become now they’re in their speed dial. So it’s like when they’re sitting down at a table with their family and friends at a family barbecue, and they talking about travel, imagine them telling all their family and friends about you. And now all of a sudden, you’re getting hired by other people. And I think that that’s the concept that I love to bring to travel experts to say, this is the impact that you can have on people when you just look at it from that perspective. Because Yeah, we want jobs forever. We don’t want a one day job,

Suburban Folk 38:41
also connecting something that you mentioned about, Hey, everybody can’t have traveled everywhere. The other snowball effect I imagine you would get in retaining your customers is the feedback after they’ve come back. Now, of course, if it’s bad feedback, that may mean they don’t trust you, but if it’s somewhere you haven’t gone in, there’s the trust going both ways, then you’ll know whether or not some of the recommendations you had are good for somebody else’s wanting to go somewhere. So it just makes that network that much bigger, which can increase your authority on a particular area or just travel in general.

Unknown Speaker 39:19
Oh, absolutely. It’s not. It’s not human human connection. I think that’s something that, especially during COVID-19, I don’t know about you, but I am definitely sick of talking to my cat. I really want a

Unknown Speaker 39:30
connection, you know, ordering things on Amazon just so I can have a delivery gotcha.

Unknown Speaker 39:37
I think that having that human human factor is is so important. So don’t fear that follow up call when they get back from vacation and calling them up and say, you know, I asked three questions, actually, my first question is, tell me everything I want to know what was your wow moment on your vacation? The second question I asked is, what is the next place? You’re thinking of traveling to now. And the third question I ask is, I hope that you enjoyed my services. I would love it if you could refer me to a family, family member or friend. And they’re the three questions that I would always ask a customer when they arrive back from their vacation, because it’s just creating that job. Yeah, feature

Transcribed by https://otter.ai