Jamie Biesiada
This year, Moms at Sea, a Dream Vacations franchise, is poised to achieve $20 million in sales after being in business for just two years.
Owner Jamie Margolis said that success comes down to a simple thing: relationships.
Margolis was a guest on a recent episode of the "Trade Secrets" podcast that I co-host with TravelAge West's Emma Weissmann. She was joined by Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean's senior vice president of sales, trade support and service.
Margolis, who started her agency after running a wildly successful Facebook group about cruising on Royal Caribbean with children, offered some advice to other advisors.
"Reach out," she said. "Make those connections. I don't think that you have to be a top seller to make those connections — they are there to work with you and help you meet your goals."
Indeed, it was Freed who encouraged Margolis to start her agency.
She had been building a community on her Facebook page for years and was wondering if an agency was a logical next step. She reached out to Royal and got an email back from Freed.
That email, which Margolis still has, read, "Hi Jamie, I'm Vicki Freed. I'm the senior vice president of sales at Royal Caribbean. How can I help you?"
"That's really Vicky's role, is 'How can I help you?'" Margolis said. "'How can I help you, the travel partner, accomplish your goals?' And we were able to get in touch, and she just walked me through the process."
Freed said it was a no-brainer to encourage Margolis to start an agency. She had been giving away information for free, and it made sense for her to build an agency and capitalize on that.
Now, Moms at Sea is poised to do $20 million in sales in 2024.
"There you go, travel partners," Freed said. "You know what, two years in the business, $20 million in sales. And I think you rely on the support of the suppliers, particularly Royal Caribbean, but you also are really good at what you do. You really help people make the right decisions."
Margolis encouraged other advisors to reach out to suppliers and their business development managers. There are often good opportunities to reach out when something is going on with the brand; it's about finding something to connect about. At that point, she said, it's a great time to ask for feedback.
"They've been doing this a long time," Margolis said. "They've seen multiple different business models out there. And they can look at what you're doing and they can say, 'Hey, you might want to lean into this, or are you participating in direct mail, or I see that you're doing this.' They can give fantastic feedback. Ask for it. They will give it."
She also had another important point: Don't exhaust people.
It's a conversation Freed has often within the industry, Margolis pointed out, encouraging advisors to not just have a single mentor but employ a "board of directors."
I hope you'll check out the episode of "Trade Secrets" featuring Margolis and Freed. It's chock full of advice, and Margolis' knowledge of "unicorn cabins" on Royal Caribbean around the 37-minute mark is truly remarkable.