By Kristin O'Meara
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. -- When Ronnie Liadis was punted -- and not
very willingly -- onto the Internet bandwagon in 1998, she had no
idea how much her business would change ... for the better.
At the outset of her Internet odyssey, Liadis knew travel,
particularly to Greece, like the back of her hand.
But, of course, she knew zilch about technology.
"If you ask any of my staff, they dragged me into 20th century
kicking and screaming, because I'm not computer savvy at all," said
Liadis, owner of Liadis Travel here.
The punter in question, office manager Vicki O'Connell, gave her
an unsubtle kick in the pants that got the site rolling back in
1998.
"Vicki once worked for a computer company, so she knew how to
handle the technical aspect. She just said, 'Write an article about
the company,'" Liadis said.
O'Connell simply transferred Liadis' promotional spiel about the
agency into Web-speak, and the Web site, at www.liadis.com, was off
and running.
The site offers an overview of the services provided by Liadis
and her staff, focuses on target markets -- especially Greece --
and features special pricing offered by preferred suppliers.
The agency began to accept bookings from Internet clients in
1999, and as a result, Liadis said, "man, it's taken off."
In the past year, the agency saw a 20% jump in revenues in sales
to Greece.
"We do three bookings a week from clients all over the world,"
she said, adding that Greece now represents 40% to 45% of the
agency's business.
At first, she admitted, the response was a bit overwhelming. The
agency received so many requests for Greece that Liadis said she
couldn't respond to them all on her own, as she had in the
past.
To keep up with the volume, Liadis trained two staff members to
help her plan these FITs.
Both agents recently returned from a fam trip that took them
through 35 hotel inspections.
The agents, she said, came back with plenty of fresh insights on
the destination as well as a host of digital photographs which will
grace the agency's Web site.
As for the booking process, Liadis said it is still a highly
personalized endeavor. All customers are contacted individually to
follow up on inquiries.
To wade through the sea of requests pouring into her agency,
Liadis created a type of triage system to prioritize requests.
Each potential Web customer is e-mailed a form letter that
outlines the agency's services, asks for basic information on the
desired trip and requests that the client call the agency's
toll-free line.
"We give enough information so that the [prospective client] is
interested in what we have to offer, but we explain that it's best
to talk person-to-person."
Liadis said about nine out of 10 Web prospects respond by
calling the agency "within minutes" of receiving the form letter,
and most of those calls turn into bookings, with an average
purchase of $5,000.
What is the reason for her high sales-to-conversion rate? Liadis
said it all comes down to offering good rates, good service and
gobs of knowledge.
"These are probably the type of travelers who don't want a tour
but are looking for unique places and destinations," she said.
Liadis, a second-generation travel agent who is of Greek
descent, gained her knowledge of the destination through years of
planning trips for the affluent Greek community in her wealthy
suburb of Philadelphia.
As a result, she said, the agency has "fabulous" rates as the
top producer for Athens-based Traveline as well as with Olympic
Airways.
The close relationships have "benefited me greatly, because it's
like an extension of my office right there," she said.
"They go out of their way for us, and as a result, I get a
better level of service for my customers."
The operator has helped Liadis' agents check out small hotels
and book trips to out-of the-way places that the average agent just
can't find independently, she said.
With Traveline's help, she said, the agency recently sent a
group of 11 Internet clients from London to Zakynthos, a beautiful
but lesser-known island off the west coast of Greece.
In addition to luring clients from around the world, the Web
site has enabled Liadis Travel to reach younger, more affluent
clients.
"I've noticed that respondents have been people from their
mid-20s to mid-40s, and about 80% of those trips to Greece have
been honeymoons," Liadis said.
In addition to marketing Greece FITs, the Liadis Travel site
targets single travelers who aren't looking to "drink 'til [they]
drop at Club Med."
These clients are not necessarily single, she said, but are
traveling without their partners and seeking soft adventure in a
congenial atmosphere.
"We found with our business travelers that the last thing they
want to do is go away on vacation, but their spouses are always
looking for interesting vacations," Liadis said.
To keep things both affordable and fresh, the agency favors
suppliers that offer attractive single supplements; specials are
changed every two weeks, featuring such unusual trips as a culinary
bike tour through Italy and a Black Sea cruise.
Liadis admitted that the singles trips still need refinement;
they attract plenty of inquiries but don't convert to sales as
easily as the Greece vacations have.
The agency plans to create group vacations for solo travelers,
making bookings for concurrent land arrangements along with three
agencies in New York, Los Angeles and Washington.
With all the talk of growth and change, Liadis is trying to keep
her priorities straight. Being connected to the Internet enables
her to work from home two days a week, and her plan is to keep her
agency manageable.
"I'd rather be the best little agency than a bad big agency. My
clients have grown accustomed to my service, and I don't want
things to get too out of hand," she said. "I'm comfortable with the
way things are now."