Travel expertise is in great demand, and it's where the money is, but many travel agents don't do a good job of promoting their expertise, says Meredith Hill, CEO and founder of Global Institute for Travel Entrepreneurs (GIFTE), a 5-year-old company that operates an online institute for travel professionals.
That's one reason that specialization is so important: focusing on doing one thing well means providing the kind of detailed information on travel that clients are looking for, Hill said.
"The internet has given billions of people immediate access to so much information that it's now difficult to ascertain what's what," she said. "This information overload further increases demand for travel expertise, wisdom and opinion."
Hill said that she believes that the growth in home-based independent contractors has led to sellers who aren't making money from their businesses because they aren't effectively promoting their expertise. One of the issues: they are stuck in an mindset from the days when agents were all things to all people, she said.
"They know how to sell travel," she said. :They love their clients. They are fantastic at what they do. But they don't know how to run a profitable business in today's environment."
She urged agents to market their best tips, wisdom and expertise.
Simply putting an agency logo on a supplier email and sending it to clients, she said, "makes you look like an extension of the supplier, and you are perceived by the public as a traditional, old-fashioned travel agent."
Next week: How Hill coaches agents in choosing a specialty.