Jamie Biesiada
Last year, Travel Weekly's CruiseWorld introduced TW Talks, short presentations from industry leaders reminiscent of TED Talks. (To view the TW Talks, click here.)
This year, TW Talks returned to the stage, but with a twist: executives were asked to share a favorite quote with agents and talk about it. The talks were sponsored by Tom Botts, chief commercial officer of Uplift.
First up was Nexion president Jackie Friedman. Her quote: "Dream it! Believe it! Achieve it!"
Friedman used the quote to help illustrate how advisers can achieve their dreams. First comes figuring out what, exactly, they want.
"You may know what you want to do," she said. "Many of you know where you want to do it, who you want to do it with and when you want to do it, but how many of you know why you want to do it? The question is, 'What is your why?'"
The "why" is a person's underlying purpose that drives them, she said. It could be something like earning a good living to send your children to college, or it could be giving back to your community. For travel specifically, she urged advisers to look
to their passions as a foundation for their travel business. It could be something like culinary travel, wine travel or wellness.
Once you have a vision, Friedman said, you have to set goals, then check your progress, and recalibrate to reach goals if necessary. Then comes believing in yourself. She encouraged advisers to visualize their success.
Finally comes executing, or the achieve part of her quote: creating and executing a tactical plan laying out how to achieve your 'why.' Friedman said the plan should regularly be reviewed and, again, be recalibrated if necessary. And, importantly, have
fun and celebrate successes along the way when goals are met.
Michelle Fee, founder and CEO of Cruise Planners, shared a quote from the late Ted Arison, founder of Carnival Corp.: "If you're not making waves, you're standing still."
Fee talked about making waves, or progressing. Times change, she said. Cruise ships went from shuffleboard to massive waterparks and Broadway productions, clients have evolved and want to be wowed, and advisers have changed, too. In 2004, travel agent
was considered a dead-end job by some, Fee said, but it's been 14 years.
"We haven't just survived, we've thrived, haven't we?" she said.
She encouraged agents to continue keeping up with technology.
"You have to embrace technology, and I'm not talking about technology that you have to work, I'm talking about technology that works for you," she said, listing things like turnkey marketing programs and automated emails like thank-you's and bon voyages.
Technology saves time and money, Fee said, but she also encouraged agents to keep a high touch.
"You know what? The internet can't replace that, because searches cannot replace service," she said. "Your clients aren't booking offline because their computer froze. They're booking offline because they want to talk to you."
Debbie Fiorino, senior vice president of CruiseOne, Dream Vacations and Cruises Inc., spoke about teamwork, sharing a proverb: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
Fiorino said both the franchisor and travel advisers are dependent upon each other for success.
"We hold each other up," she said.
She encouraged agents to build relationships based on trust.
"People want to do business with people they like and people they trust," she said. "You really can go further together."
Next week, I'll share some more of CruiseWorld 2018's TW Talks. Look for words of wisdom from several other industry executives: Meredith Hill, CEO and co-founder, Gifted Travel Network; Jenn Lee, vice president of sales and marketing, Travel Planners
International; and James Bovino, general manager, Independent by Liberty Travel.