I have explored the idea that the travelling public still value a good travel agent but what about those agents that really stand out from the crowd, the superstars, what makes them so special?
The best people to ask are of course the clients of such agents but let me put forward some suggestions and let me know in the Comments section whether you agree or not.
The superstar travel agent is a specialist
To start I would say that the superstar travel agent is a specialist: they know their product inside out, whether that be a destination or perhaps a type of holiday. For me, cruising lends itself especially well to the specialist treatment.
The travel agent will have been there and done that whether on a FAM trip or under their own arrangements. And the superstar agent will have completed every relevant elearning programme available and attended every training event possible.
Requesting those little extras that really make a difference
The superstar agent will have visited every room type in their favourite hotel or walked every deck on board their favourite cruise ship. And along the way they will have collected business cards and developed relationships with key people from a concierge to a General Manager. Not only will they be able to make spot-on recommendations to their clients but they will also be able to request (and get) those little extras that can really make a difference to a client’s holiday.
Well-connected virtually
Also the outstanding agent will have taken the potential threat of the internet and turned it to their advantage. Among other things they will be even better connected virtually than they are in the real world. They will have followers salivating at the Facebook posts of their latest travels, sharing their Instagram images and re-tweeting their holiday recommendations.
The superstar travel agent does not work a rigid 9 – 5 routine: they will be available, at the end of an email or phone or on social media, when their affluent time-poor clients need them.
Know their clients better than they know themselves
Those time-poor clients do not have the time to wade through the hundreds of thousands of pages on the inter-web: they need the good travel agent to curate all of that information for them, to make sense of what can really be quite a confusing place. Yes, a good travel agent can help with that but the superstar will go further. The superstar will have honed their questioning skills to discover what the client really wants from their holiday as opposed to what they think they want. They will transfer this information to their database capturing more than just a name, address and email, and even more than a birthday. They will know their clients’ dietary requirements, their seat preferences, the ‘must-haves’ for their hotel choices, their children’s favourite sports, in fact they know their clients better than they know themselves!
Top Sellers
Being a superstar travel agent is a way of life and of course the point is to make a very good living at it; and the superstars do and they are often top sellers. There might be those who disagree but I suggest you do not need to be a good salesperson in the traditional sense of over-coming objections, and selling to someone. Instead, with all of the knowledge, experience and skills outlined above, the superstar agent is in prime position to excel at consultative selling, working with the client to effect a sale.
Are superstar travel agents made or born?
If this, and more, is what it takes to be a superstar travel agent can anyone become one I wonder. Are Superstar travel agents made or born? I believe the answer is of course, a little of both. The most important part though is surely to be born with (or acquire!) passion. Passion for the industry, passion of course for travel and passion to serve clients. With this passion the rest is easy: hard-work perhaps but the FAMS, the elearning programmes, the training events and everything else become part of the journey to superstardom.
Now tell us what you believe makes a superstar travel agent.
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