Cindy Jabbour Locke, owner of Seize the Sea Travel, was no stranger to honors when American Express named her a Representative Pacesetter for 2012.
It was Locke's second such honor, having received the award in 2009, in recognition of her “superior customer service, sales performance, involvement in the agency community and commitment to delivering extraordinary travel experiences,” according to American Express.
Locke, who operates the South Florida agency with her husband, David, has been an independent agent with Avoya Travel, an American Express representative, since 2004. In addition to the American Express honors, she has received Avoya’s “Best of the Best” award every year since its inception.
How does Locke do it? It comes down to a lot of hard work, careful attention and a solid repeat customer base, she said.
“Basically, I’ve taken my leads from Avoya and then I generated a lot of repeat business from those leads,” Locke said. “I've worked really hard at it.”
Before starting her own agency, Locke worked in accounting and computer work for major corporations. “It was totally different, and I knew I wanted to travel. I loved geography.”
Several years ago she left corporate work and started as a res agent for a call center company, working from home. Among the company's clients was Oceania Cruises.
Locke fell in love with the work: “I had started cruising as a child with my parents and had a taste of it when I took it on.”
That love of cruises moved Locke to start her own agency, deciding to join Avoya (then known as America’s Vacation Center) because of its Live Leads program that routes customer requests to agents based on specialty.
She had such success that within a few months her husband quit his job as a manager at a local law school and joined her. David has a degree in biblical archaeology and a master's in business, an educational background that is useful both for planning international FITs and managing their business, which is expected to generate $3.5 million in sales this year. The couple works out of separate offices in their home.
Locke specializes in luxury cruises, sailing on fam trips several times a year to stay on top of the latest in the industry. When the couple is away they rely on Avoya's My Colleague System, a “buddy” program offering agents backup when they are out of the office.
Still, usually even when she's traveling, her clients usually have access to her services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“I'm always working,” she said. Because she handles affluent clientele, they expect superior customer service, and it could mean a call in the middle of the night.
“Basically, you have to be available to them and provide good service. And you have to have no problems talking with them and not to be intimidated.”
One of the advantages of handling affluent clientele is that they travel regardless of economic conditions, considering it part of their lifestyle. “2011 and 2012 were fantastic years for us,” she said. “We did not feel a slowdown at all. It's a priority for the affluent to travel, especially older and retired people.”
Her biggest challenge is carving personal time for herself and her husband. “I can work 12 hours a day nonstop. That's a challenge, to stop working. But we look at it as a lifestyle and not work. It's not a clock-in-and-clock-out job when you love it. We're just always clocked in.”