Earlier this month at Global Travel Collection's Arrive conference, president Angie Licea recorded an episode of Travel Weekly's "Trade Secrets" podcast with co-hosts Jamie Biesiada and Emma Weissmann. This is an excerpt from the episode.
Angie Licea
Q: In April, you consolidated travel brands Tzell and Protravel into the GTC umbrella. Can you talk about why that decision was made, and how it's going?
A: When we talk about unification, a lot of people think of it as just Protravel and Tzell. But actually, there were multiple brands ... we were talking, like, eight or nine brands. Before, when we would meet with partners, it caused so much confusion in the marketplace. We knew that the evolution, at some point in this journey, would require us to consolidate in order to get recognition of the volume that we bring to the table and the significance of what this entity is. The fact is, we're a $2.4 billion business. And that was lost on the industry. And it's no longer lost on the industry.
Q: The reality TV show, "1st Look presents -- Extra Mile Club" lets GTC advisors compete to win the business of celebrity clients. How did that come about?
A: Five years ago, the concept of this came from a conversation I was having with our head of marketing at the time. I said, "You know, all of these people are going on NBC's 'Today' show, but those should be my advisors on NBC. We have more insights than anybody else. Why are my advisors not there?' And we came upon this concept of showing the value of a travel advisor and these incredible experiences that an advisor can make happen for a consumer. This is good for Global Travel Collection, but this is also good for the industry. Because if we can win from an industry perspective, GTC will always win. I didn't want it to be trash TV; it always has to be respectful. The advisors need to complement each other. They need to, while they're competing, still be a team. The consumer always wins, without the drama. And NBC has captured that in this series.
Q: Last fall, you unveiled Legacy in Motion, an initiative to help advisors scale or sell their businesses. Why did you introduce this?
A: When I first came into this role, I was looking at all these incredible businesses. Advisors were saying, "I think I'm gonna retire." I'm like, "What happened to what you built, and those consumers you were serving?" Then, when [senior vice president of advisor success] Simon Brooks came in, he took it to the next level and really talked to advisors openly about what their plan was. And so many times, they didn't have a plan at all. Legacy in Motion came from that. We have different advisors in different stages. All we're asking them is, "What is your destination?" And then we help them figure out how to get there. It's a lot of coaching and development. In the end, it's their job to do the work; we just helped them build the plan.
Q: GTC's The Circle recognizes those who have $3 million in actualized sales. You recently announced that it has evolved into a growth accelerator.
A: The Circle became something that the advisors really embraced and started striving for. And it accelerated growth, because recognition is powerful. People who we saw limping along for a while, all of a sudden they were being very aggressive getting out there, asking their customers for referrals, maybe diversifying their business and taking on something a little bit different. We added 30 or so new advisors this year, and there are just a touch under 300 [in total]. We would love that number to double. We'll continue to support it, because that means that there's growth, and people are achieving. It's been a win-win.
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This interview was edited for length and clarity.