Become a Home Based Travel Agent

The Home Based Travel Agent Show
An Interview With Barry Krantz and Lorene Romero
By Tom Ogg

I had the pleasure of being interviewed a couple of times by Barry Kantz and Lorene Romero who produce the Home Based Travel Agent Show and have been doing so since 2005. Barry does the technical stuff and Lorene arranges the interviews and both participate in the interview, which are generally done over the telephone. When I asked Lorene to give me a one sentence description of the podcast's value proposition, she immediately said "It Gives Real Access to Real People". After listening to several of the podcasts, you will understand exactly what she means.

Here is the interview.

How long have you been producing podcasts?

Barry: We've been producing podcasts since February 26, 2005.  I believe we are the first travel related podcast.  Podcasting began sometime around October of 2004.

Lorene: I got involved with Barry in 2006. I was a listener and kind of a techie and started asking questions. The next thing you know, Barry asked me to join him as a co-host.

How many podcasts do you produce during a year?

Barry: We are a weekly show.  We produce approximately 52 podcasts per year.  We do miss a week or two throughout the year because of vacations (yes we travel).

How do agents access your podcasts?

Barry: We are available on Itunes.  Go to the podcast section of the Itunes store and search for "Travel Agent" and our podcast will appear.  In addition, you can listen to our show directly from our website at http://www.hometravelagent.net

Do they need any special equipment or software to enjoy them?

Barry: You can enjoy our show from any computer by going to our website at http://www.hometravelagent.net.  The website has a player built in so you can click on the "play" button and listen to the show. 

Do you charge a fee for the podcasts?

Barry: Everyone is a Platinum Member of our website.  All of our shows are free.  The website has archives of the shows going back to 2007.  We recently updated our website and we are adding archived shows back to show number one posted on February 26, 2005.  We expect to have all of the archived shows on the new website by the end of the year.

Can travel agents link to your podcasts from their websites?

Barry: Each podcast has a permalink that can be copied and linked on your website.  When you go to http://www.hometravelagent.net you can right click on the show's title and choose "copy link address."  This will copy the show's permalink into your clipboard and from their you can past the show's URL into your website.

How do you decide who will be a guest and what is the process?

Lorene: We think of people in the industry that we think our listeners would like to hear. We are also contacted by a good number of people that offer an interview. We usually set up an interview date about 2 to 4 weeks in advance and engage in a relationship building period before the interview so that the guest is comfortable and we understand what is going to be discussed.

What qualities make for the best guest interview?

Lorene: First, the guest must follow up on the interview. If the guest possesses personality with charm and a good sense of humor, the interviews always go well. We try to interview suppliers, Chambers and DVDs, as well as agents. The guest then becomes the local point for any of the listeners to obtain further information about the topic.

What were the most interesting podcasts that you have produced?

Barry: One of the most interesting was a sound seeing tour where I captured the sounds from a whale watching tour at the moment when an Orca Whale swam right up to the bow of our boat. 

Lorene: For me, I was attending a trade show and ran into a very interesting gentleman that had some vital information for our listeners. I called Barry and we interviewed him right in his trade show booth. It turned out to be a GREAT podcast.

What were the most challenging podcasts that you have produced?

Barry: The technical aspects of podcasting are most challenging.  All of the interviews on our show are conducted by telephone.  Every time we do an interview we are depending on the telephone line and several pieces of equipment between the telephone line and the actual recording.  We use  expensive equipment to connect the telephone to the recording equipment.  Nevertheless we run into bad connections, poor bandwidth, computers that lock up and guests who do heavy breathing exercises into their telephone's handset. 

Lorene: We once did a podcast on Google Voice and the guest would not give up the mic. He went on and on ignoring our attempts to conclude the interview. It was frustrating.

What podcasts are you most proud to have produced?

Barry: We have interviewed travel industry leaders on our shows.  These are people whose names are instantly recognized in the travel trade.  Quite often we have these industry leaders back on our shows for follow-up interviews.

Lorene: I am proud of all of our podcasts. They are unique and fun to listen to, as well as being informative. The listener gets the feeling as if they have a relationship with the person being interviewed when they are done listening.

What interesting podcasts do you have coming up?

Barry: Lorene is going on an European river boat cruise.  I'm looking forward to having her talk about her experiences, and her client's experiences, on this cruise.

Do you offer advice to travel agents on how to produce their own podcasts?

Barry: A podcast must offer value to your listeners.  You cannot produce a podcast that is an infomercial and expect the podcast to have a lasting appeal to listeners.  Give your listener valuable information and subtly incorporate your sales pitch.  I can't emphasize "subtly" enough.  Give your listeners 15 or 20 minutes of valuable information about cruising, or Europe, or adventure tours and devote the last 30 seconds to how your expertise can help them.

You must talk to your listeners as if they are your best friends sitting across the table from you.  Creating the personal connection is one of the most important things you can do in creating a podcast.  It's okay if you talk about your dog on your show.  It's okay if you complain about the fender bender you just had with your car.  This creates a personal connection with your listeners.  The personal connection creates trust and that leads to business.

How can travel agents successfully use podcasts in their business?

Barry: Podcasting can establish you as an expert in your specialty.  If you have specialize in Europe then a podcast can give you great credibility in that specialty. After all, you are talking about Europe for 15, 20 or 30 minutes every week on your podcast.  Your listeners are looking to you for that expert advice.  They will call you when they are ready to book their trip to Europe.

What software do travel agents need to produce podcasts?

Barry: The best piece of software is free.  It is a program called Audacity.  Audacity is an audio editing software.  You can use a simple microphone headset to record directly into Audacity from your computer.  When you finish recording you use Audacity to save your recording to MP3 format which is the podcasting format.  I highly recommend using Wordpress as your home page for your show.  There is a plugin for Wordpress called Powerpress that automates the process of taking your recorded show and publishing it on your Wordpress website and sending your show to Itunes.  Once your show is in Itunes you have millions of potential listeners who can subscribe to your show.

What qualities would a travel agent need to possess to produce podcasts?

Barry: You do have to have some technical skills.  But, the most important quality is tenacity.  You must dig in and learn the technical details, you have to research the content on a weekly basis and you have to take the details of the content and talk about your researched content for 15 or 20 minutes every week.  The rewards are, your sales will increase and you will make lifelong friends as a result of the personal connections you make from podcasting.

Lorene: One must develop effective interviewing techniques. I have learned from my mistakes and by listening to successful interviewers on other podcasts. Speaking slowly and clearly is mandatory for an effective podcast. I am always working to improve my personal performance.

If an agent wanted to be considered for an interview with you folks, who should they contact?

We like to talk about anything and everything related to travel on our show.  We love to interview everyone from the beginning travel agent to the CEO of the world's largest cruise line.  You can set up an interview by contacting Lorene Romero at sharptongued@mac.com.

Check out http://www.travecastnetwork.com if you create a travel related podcast.  TravelCastNetwork will list your travel related site for free and will give you exposure in the travel market to build your audience.