Become a Home Based Travel Agent

Bad Times or Good Times
What are Travel Professionals Saying?
By Joanie Ogg CTC, MCC

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of NACTA Members here in my hometown of San Diego at their Chapter meeting. As I was preparing for the meeting and what I would speak about, it dawned on me that I really wanted to hear from them. I was initially going to share my thoughts on how to deal with some of the current issues facing agents when I realized that it would be far more interesting to have them share what they are doing and how they deal with it.

I love to hear success stories from agents and often do a seminar entitled “Ideas for Prizes” where agents share things they have done with success to build their businesses. However, we rarely talk about the other side of the coin. How does one deal with lousy leads, low priced cruises earning perhaps $25 dollars in commission if that, and the list goes on. So, I approached this group of agents and asked them to share their thoughts on the good, bad and how they are doing and what works and what does not.  This will be a two or more part series of articles beginning with two agents who were the first volunteers to share.

Let me introduce you now to the following travel professionals who shared their thoughts with the group at the meeting.

Donna Baker Olson

Our first agent to share was Donna Baker Olson with Escape to Travel. Donnas’ business card lists her specialties as honeymoons, destination weddings, small ship cruises and girlfriend get-a-ways. Donna has been in the business since 2000 and is attempting to make this her full-time job but feels she is only getting part-time results. She wanted to know what she was doing wrong and why it just isn’t coming together for her.

She has a host she uses for leads and they send her leads every day on the South Pacific and Tahiti. She is not having any luck at all turning these leads into sales. She feels that the clients are simply shopping numerous agencies for best prices and then either doing it on their own on the Internet or choosing whomever discounts enough to get their business. Frustrated would be the word I would use to describe Donnas feelings about her business right now. She is spending about 50% of her time working these leads with no real results.

I asked Donna if she had tried some other things to build business such as visiting local businesses, talking to the local press, joining clubs, etc. She is home-based and my feeling was that perhaps she was spending too much time on these leads and could better use her time reaching out for business locally. She is a lovely woman with a great personality. It made sense to me that getting out of her home and embracing the local community would serve her better then sitting behind the computer giving free advise and tips to Lookie Lous who are out of state.

Donna has spent much of her down time taking online classes and building her travel knowledge in hopes that when things start to pick up for her, she will be armed with the best knowledge possible.  It is not always easy to share the “not so great news” with your peers and Donnas willingness to do so was understood and appreciated by all.

Shirley Fleig

Our next agent to share was Shirley Fleig who is a CTC and the owner of Group Advantage. Shirley has been an agent since 1985 and became home-based in 1996. She thinks she may have been the first person to read our book “How to Start a Home Based Travel Agency” which was first published in 1996. I shudder to think of the typos she had to endure. However, typos or not, she said that it really helped her to start up her on business and she has one great business. All of us hearing her share her story were in awe of her success.

She chose her specialty early on due to her past agency experience. She likened it to planting a seed and watching it grow. She has really blossomed in her business. Her only focus is handling Christian Group Travel. She did have a terrific advantage when one of the past clients of the agency she worked for before, sought her out to continue to handle their business. They are not even located here in San Diego but instead in Los Angeles. They are the seed that has grown very large.

She had several tips that we all found very revealing and helpful.

• You do not have to be of a religious nature to specialize in Faith Based Travel. She herself is not religious and never has been. She does however, study and learn all she can about those religions that her groups believe in. That allows her to know what their preferences are and to better understand their needs.

• She feels that religious travel does not feel the drop that leisure travel does. Most of those traveling for religious purposes are on a mission and this is not something they are willing to give up. She has not seen a decline in her business during this recessionary period.

• She works directly with the airlines and their group departments and deals in net fares for her groups. She simply marks it up and the tickets are all electronic of course. She rarely uses a consolidator as she has a good relationship with her preferred two carriers and feels she gets terrific support and service.

• She either deals directly with suppliers in those countries where the travel will take place and again she does it net and marks it up. She works with a select few that she knows personally now and trusts. For those areas or things she feels she is not able to do on her own, she uses a tour operator that she has been using for years and again, the relationship is a mutually beneficial one.

• When asked what she thought agents should do to start to focus on this type of travel, she had some great thoughts.  She said to take any and all classes from the tourist boards, etc. on the subject. If possible, she suggested taking a trip with a good tour operator who offers an agent educational trip to learn the destination and the in’s and out’s that operators program.  Her other suggestion was to not be afraid to approach a church even if you are not a member of that church. If you know what you are doing and you have a good program to offer, you may be at the right place at the right time to secure the business. She feels this is a growing market and that many can succeed in it as she has.

Shirley was inspirational to the entire group. She was friendly, professional and knew her business cold. The group had lots of questions for Shirley and she openly shared her knowledge with everyone. I know I speak for the other attendees when I say thank-you Shirley for inspiring all of us and for being so open and honest about her steps to success.

The meeting was great fun and I want to thank Beth Taylor, my longtime friend and NACTA’s Chapter Director in San Diego for inviting me to her September meeting. Here are some words of wisdom from Beth Taylor an industry veteran and travel agency owner here in San Diego.

Beth Taylor

"This past year has reinforced the fact that things are always changing, and you have to adapt to those changes.  Whether it's the economy, or simply the way we do business, we have to roll with the punches!  I have been in the travel business for nearly 30 years.  A LOT has changed in that time.  I've gone from handwriting airline tickets to making bookings solely through e-mails and booking websites, and never speaking to anyone!  The industry and the marketplace are constantly changing and the only way you can succeed is to continue learning, and re-invent yourself if necessary.  My belief is that if you still have a passion for travel, you will find a way to make it work, despite whatever is thrown your way!"

In next months HBTA News I will share some more great moments with the San Diego Chapter of NACTA Members.