Jamie Biesiada
Attending in-person events, like training sessions, can provide travel advisors with not only knowledge, but better relationships with supplier partners.
"This industry is built on our relationships, so any time we can get out and get in front of our advisor partners, it helps us strengthen that bond," said Isaac Cymrot, vice president of industry relations for Travel Insured International.
The company this year began hosting live training sessions for agents in different locations around the country. The insurer started holding training events at its office in Glastonbury, Conn., last year, Cymrot said, but decided to take them on the road this year.
The first was held in Dallas and the second two weeks ago on Long Island.
"With all of the changes taking place in our industry, this is an opportunity for us to reach out in the local areas," Cymrot said.
Travel Insured International broke its single-day training session into two parts, an owner-manager meeting in the morning and front-line agent training in the afternoon, in order to better focus on the individual needs of the two groups.
Cymrot finds it particularly helpful to agents when they can attend an in-person event.
"Stepping outside the office, putting themselves in an environment where they're solely focused on this one topic, they take away a lot more than they do when they're in an office setting with all the distractions that go along with that," he said.
He encouraged agents to attend events like Travel Insured International's whenever possible. Supplier-hosted trainings can be particularly valuable, no matter who the supplier is, he said.
"The consumers are coming to the advisors for a reason," Cymrot said. "They expect them to be an expert, and in order to be an expert you have to invest your time in education. I don't think there's any better way to do that than picking and choosing the right events, and definitely [taking advantage of] face-to-face, local events like this."
Travel Insured International is planning more events through the fall of 2019 and into 2020.