Opening up the local rag the other day Barbara pointed me to an article with the headline:
“Personal Agent – Individuals’ travel needs catered for”
It went on…
Travel agent Brad Thomas and Roseville agent John Gazal scooped the pool at the recent TravelManagers Australia National Conference.
[…] Mr Thomas, who recently returned from his second trip to Siberia, specialises in travel for the music industry. "I've organised the tours for Yothu Yindi, Bjorn Again. The Jezebels, Architecture in Helsinki and Sisters of Mercy," Mr Thomas said.
John Gazal specialises in corporate, business, family, rail and sport/special interest group holidays and has been in the industry for over 20 years.
"I mostly look after self-funded retirees, small corporates and special interest groups who like walking and cycling, for example." "…Personally I have a great love for Turkey, Lebanon and Bali." TravelManagers agents visit clients personally.
Interesting – a travel agent who comes to you? Now that’s an interesting point of difference in a crowded market.
If you’ve followed my teachings over the years you’ll know how much I expound the necessity of differentiating yourself and carving out a niche in a crowded marketplace. And then telling your prospects about it!
A few weeks ago I wrote about how a major Swiss travel agency, Kuoni defied predictions that the internet would kill the travel agency business and carved out a niche with their Concierge Service aimed at high end travellers who want a unique travel experience. And they’re doing very well, thank you!
Looks like TravelManager is following suit, with a twist.
Consumers today look for specialist knowledge and convenience.
The company aims squarely at people who don’t have either the time or inclination to visit a travel agent in their local shopping centre. Nor do they want to trawl through the web looking for deals.
So they offer Australia’s largest network of “mobile” travel agents who offer you a personalised service where and when you want it.
Forget walking into your local travel agent and having to wait in line. These “specialist mobile travel agents” come to you at a time and place that’s convenient. Or you can deal with them over the phone, email etc.
The individual agents all have particular specialities and travel interests, so rather than dealing with a generalist travel agent who may never have been to the location you’re interested in, you pick and deal with someone with local knowledge who knows the in’s and out’s of the destination. Someone who can tailor the package specifically for you.
Now you would be forgiven for thinking, “Besides the home visits, surely this is what any good travel agent would do?” And you’d be right.
But most travel agents don’t showcase their expertise, tell prospects and clients about the depth of knowledge they have and the lengths they go to, ensuring you have a great trip.
They mainly sell themselves on getting you the cheapest price.
Don’t believe me? Do a Google search for “travel agent” and look at the first page of results most of which immediately shout about their lowest price deals.
Visit the sites and they all have the same functionality that allows you to search for flight/accommodation packages with the latest specials. There’s nothing that differentiates one from the next. So as a consumer, why would I come to you over the next guy offering a similar deal?
The TravelManager site is quite different. There are no deals to be seen. You can’t search for flights or prices. So effectively you can’t compare them to the competition.
What you can search for is a Travel Manager with expertise in a particular destination or category such as cruises, shopping, culinary, golf… you name it. And you can read individual bios of Travel Managers to see if you relate. It’s all about personalisation and building up a sense of familiarity and trust.
And as their pricing is competitive why wouldn’t you use them as you get a superior level of service?
Which once again proves a point. In an industry which the pundits have doomed to failure given the ease of using the internet to make travel plans, here’s a company that has found a market within a market and carved out a niche.
And there is something else. You may have noticed the similarity to the mortgage broking industry where specialist brokers come to you. Jay Abraham, one of the most brilliant marketers of our time always expounds the virtues of looking at other industries to see what’s working and then applying it to your own.
So the obvious next step is how could you go about carving out a niche in your industry if you haven’t already done so?
To get your thinking started here are examples of our clients and their narrow specialities within a broader market.
Shukri Barbara is a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) who realised he needed to differentiate himself from the general accounting population. He decided to specialise in Property Tax Accounting and is now considered to one of Australia’s top property tax specialists. Carving out a niche means he can get a steady flow of good quality clients who know exactly what he can deliver.
John Walker is a Certified Financial Planner. John used to be a generalist until we discovered he had specialist knowledge in Aged Care Financial Planning. We niched his business down this track and marketed it to old clients, centres of influence and new prospects using a White Paper and other marketing material. Niching the business gives John a major point of differentiation and has led to new clients.
And finally in our own case we went from general business consultants and coaches to becoming experts in a narrow area of direct marketing. Our clients get the benefit of our specific expertise in creating lead generation systems that bring prospects into their organisations without the hassles of telemarketing, cold calling, door knocking and other unpleasant activities.
Using our systems prospects are pre-qualified and are more likely to becoming clients.
So if you’d like our help to define your specialisation and/or create a marketing system that brings in a steady stream of new clients, give me a call on (02) 9499-7958.
Rashid.
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