Become a Home Based Travel Agent

Do you ever find it difficult to promote yourself? I know this sounds like a crazy question when in fact you are in the business of selling. Why does it seem easier sometimes to sell a dream vacation to a customer then it is to talk about ourselves and promote our expertise? Learning to sell a cruise and learning to sell YOU are two different things altogether. The fact is, if you really care about to whom you sell travel experiences; you need to get comfortable with promoting yourself as part of the package.

Let’s delve into this a bit more and put yourself in this make-believe situation and think about how you might normally react. Then think about how you should react to build your business and your notoriety.

You are at a holiday party. Some of the partygoers are friends and others friends of friends that you have not met before. There are three or four of you just casually chatting about the weather, sports, or whatever non-travel focused subject that comes up. One of the friends of a friend asks what do you do? You answer, I am a travel consultant. Perhaps they gaze at you with a look of confusion because they really wanted more. A five-word answer is simply a teaser to them. Do we not say more because we are afraid to be pushy or too self-interested? Maybe we think it is inappropriate to promote ourselves? What would you do if you had the opportunity to do a do-over?

Certainly, we have only the most sincere reasons for not wanting to push ourselves on strangers. However, they asked? The conversation is expected to flow about you at that point because they want to know what you do. Not just what you do, but who you are perhaps why you love what you do.

I am guilty as charged with having difficulty promoting myself and what I do in certain situations. The thing is, I absolutely know and am internally aware when I am in this holding-back mode, but I cannot seem to push forward. I say sometimes because there are those situations where I feel really comfortable and confident that I will get the result I am hoping for if I stretch myself and reach out. However, if I am feeling a bit unsure of myself, I will shrink back and just lay low. That being said, I am working on it and writing this is helping!

The fear of being denied what you are hoping for is really not the same as the fear of rejection at all. If I never even share what I might be able to do for a potential customer, I will never know if I had a chance at winning or not.

Program your internal monitor to set off your personal alarm if you find yourself shying away instead of moving toward a self-promotion situation. Don't try to change anything yet, just notice. Make a mental note of the thoughts that run through your head at these moments.

Just noticing and being aware of the feelings, will give you the chance to understand how your current fear of self-promotion might be hindering your business growth. As you become more aware of how avoiding sales or promotion keeps you from authentic engagement with current and potential customers, your reluctance to sell or self-promote will become front of mind. This should allow you to shift your current reactions to the situation to actions toward the continued growth of your travel business.

Joanie Ogg CTC MCC
Joanie Ogg Marketing Group
Editor

Joanie Ogg is a thirty-five year veteran of the travel industry and has been involved with the independent contractor evolution since 1988. She is the principal of Joanie Ogg Marketing Group, which specializes in consulting and speaking on the topic of Home-Based Travel. She also provides marketing and sales for wide variety of products under the umbrella HomeBasedTravelAgent.com.

A demonstrated industry leader, Joanie most recently served as the President of the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA) and TravelSellers. She and her husband Tom acquired NACTA in 1996 and sold it to The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) in 2000. Joanie’s tenure in the travel industry includes owning and operating one of the first successful host agency models. She has owned and operated several storefront travel agencies (both commercial and leisure), as well as a Hawaii wholesale tour company.

Her decades of success have garnered her numerous accolades over the years. Her accomplishments have been recognized by receipt of two Lifetime Achievement Awards from major trade groups, being named as one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in Travel” by Travel Agent magazine on several occasions, voted as “Travel Agent of the Year” by the readers of Travel Trade magazine, and has been recognized by many other industry organizations throughout her tenure in the industry. In 2008 Joanie Ogg was inducted into the CLIA Hall of Fame, an honor held by some of the most influential executives in the travel industry.

Joanie is a Master Cruise Counselor (MCC) and a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC). Joanie has co-authored two popular travel industry books for cruise specialists and home-based travel agents and has authored hundreds of travel trade articles. She has inspired tens of thousands of travel agents attending her presentations at trade events, cruise seminars, international trade gatherings and numerous local educational venues throughout the United States. With a time-honored background and forward-looking vision, she is often featured as a speaker at many of the travel industry’s major conferences and events. Joanie’s speaking talents are widely sought as a travel industry emcee by the most recognized travel organizations. She has emceed such events as Cruise-A-Thons, ASTA’s CruiseFest, The Trade Show, The Travel Institute Forum and all of NACTA’s National and International Conferences.


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