Three-and-a-half years ago when Debbie Lanham pitched her services
as a dive travel specialist to Argo World Travel in Palos Verdes,
Calif., the full-service agency had never before gone near the
market niche. Today the small agency earns about 25% of its
revenues from scuba vacations, thanks largely to Lanham's efforts
as manager of dive travel.
Lanham says it is her extensive experience in the dive world --
she's been diving since 1976 and worked for a dive wholesaler and a
dive certification agency before joining Argo World Travel -- that
fuels her success in retail sales. Her advice to other retail
agents considering the specialized niche is simple -- learn to
dive.
"You definitely need to be a diver yourself to get a feel for
this, [otherwise] you don't know the questions to ask," she says.
"You could do homework to get into this, but I think to be
knowledgeable about a specialty you have to be doing that
specialty."
Like Lanham, Vickie Coker believes that agents who want to get
into the dive business need to become certified divers. "The
biggest problem with agents trying to sell dive travel is that they
don't know what divers are looking for," says Coker, who is owner
of Travel Masters, a full-service agency in Austin, Texas, that
earns about 40% of its revenues from dive travel.
Once certified as a diver, an agent can use his or her
first-hand experience to bring in new business. "I'd advertise
myself as a diver so people know you know about diving and where to
go. Read every publication, talk to divers, go to dive shops and
get them to tell you where they go and what they like about it,"
Coker advises.
Destination knowledge is essential, says Coker, who takes three
or four trips a year so she can assess a destination through the
eyes of a diver. "When I look at hotels, I think, 'If I were diving
from here would it be convenient?' Some hotels are very
dive-friendly and some aren't."
Another source of information are the many travel articles found
in dive magazines. But Coker cautions agents to read such articles
with a discerning eye. "If an inexperienced diver reads those, take
it with a huge grain of salt. All those articles are is
advertising."
Coker, who opened her small agency five years ago, says that one
key to selling dive travel is establishing a relationship with area
dive shops. "You would want to market to dive shops," she says. But
agents have to be prepared to share their commissions with the
shops, since many have been earning commissions from dive travel
wholesalers on their own dive trips. "It's well worth it," Coker
says of her own commission-sharing arrangement with a local dive
shop whose group business she handles.
Agents also need to offer something of value to the dive shops,
she says. "You're going to have to provide something they're not
getting on their own, whether it's sending out mailers or flyers or
doing an evening where people learn about different places.''
In addition to arranging dive trips for pre-formed groups, Coker
puts together her own group trips that she markets through dive
shops and advertises in the newspaper. Travel Masters also
positions itself as a dive specialist in its Yellow Pages ads and
promotes itself on a Web site maintained by the dive shop with
which it works.
Word of mouth can be the most powerful conduit of business in
the dive travel arena, Coker says. "If you do one good dive trip
for a group, or if even one couple goes on a dive trip and it's a
great trip, they're going to start telling everybody."