The all day event held at the South Conference Center of Mandalay Bay Resort Casino was hosted by Jo

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- It s not every day you find a room full of young professionals in the travel industry, but roughly 110 industry representatives cheap car rental in cape town under the age of 40 flocked Monday cheap car rental in cape town afternoon to the first Young Leaders Conference hosted by The Travel + Hospitality Group as part of the annual Luxury Travel Expo tradeshow .
The all day event held at the South Conference Center of Mandalay Bay Resort Casino was hosted by Jose Barreiro , group director of sales for The Travel + Hospitality cheap car rental in cape town Group, and was deemed by many in attendance a refreshing alternative to education and networking for young business leaders.
I m usually the youngest one at all these events and conferences, so it's great to be able to trade advice with people my own age for a change, says Aimee Leon, manager of leisure services for Travel Dynamics Group in La Jolla, California. It s very beneficial.
The conference got off and running with the first topic of discussion, Rapid Fire Ideas: 100 Ways to Soar in Luxury Sales and Marketing, spearheaded by Andy Stuart , executive vice president of global sales and passenger services cheap car rental in cape town for Norwegian Cruise Line.
Stuart was also joined by Michael Distler, destination specialist for Africa for Admiral Travel International; Jill Taylor , luxury travel consultant cheap car rental in cape town for Jet Set World Trave l and Monika Weinsoft , luxury travel cheap car rental in cape town consultant for Jet Set World Travel.
Here s a good chunk of some of the most interesting and some of the most quirky tips Stuart and company preached to the young leaders in attendance: Ask your dentist if you can put up a cruise poster; attend and promote at high school or college reunions; give your clients a video or some resource they can show off to friends and family; cheap car rental in cape town call three customers every day before 11 a.m.; send Thanksgiving cards to your clients; become a notary public and blog as much as you can.
Among the other notable tips: Do not be afraid to advertise your own popularity; ask open-ended questions in the qualifying process and be sure business phone voice recording reflects what you want it to. To avoid shoppers, ask for an up-front cheap car rental in cape town deposit. Talk for an hour or two, tell clients about the ins and outs and then ask for money.
Other tips included attending as many fam trips as possible; cheap car rental in cape town learn and master new technology and social media ( Twitter , Facebook ), take part in local partnerships; use your business card everywhere; create an advisory board with customers; don t limit yourself to just couples travel, take advantage of large families as well; have a marketing plan; add cruise to your company s name; never be afraid to sell up; take a public speaking class at local community cheap car rental in cape town college; get together cheap car rental in cape town with a local band that has a big following; take part in education programs and attend travel cheap car rental in cape town shows.
Armed with 100 tips on selling travel, industry representatives then took part in a networking exercise, Mingle for Success: Young Leaders Business Card Exchange, the networking version of speed dating that gives industry representatives the opportunity to network for two minutes, cheap car rental in cape town exchange business cards before moving one seat to the left and doing it all over.
Its great for people starting cheap car rental in cape town out in this industry, looking to network and just really relate to a lot of people who are in the same age group, says home-based cheap car rental in cape town agent Szymon Krasucki, of TravelbySimon.
The afternoon session of the conference got jump started with a presentation by Ralph Iantosca , owner of GoGirl Travel , titled $1 Million and Counting: A Young Leader Shares Strategies and Secrets. Iantosca spoke to the young leaders in the room about successful strategies, lessons learned and how to tailor your career journey to fit your personal passions.
I m here to talk to you about my mistakes, Iantosca says. Not enough people tell you about what not to do, about their mistakes. cheap car rental in cape town You ll always hear, 'I just opened up a million dollar business, but never about what not to do.
Well there are two things you are not going to get back and that s your time and your money. Tell your clients that, Iantosca says. It s done and done, so all you can do is apologize and tell your clients you screwed up, its always your fault and not theirs. Say, 'I don t want to lose your business, can you give me a second chance, cheap car rental in cape town how can I get to know you better so its better the next around.
During the portion, Fooling Mother Nature: Tackling the Generational Gap in Luxury cheap car rental in cape town Sales by Talula cheap car rental in cape town A. Gunter , assistant dean and professor in travel and tourism at Northern Virginia Community College spoke about how to attract and land older, experienced travelers as permanent clients. How do you overcome perceptions about your young age being a detriment to their experience and needs?
For me it was just great to see people my age and get pointers from people who are in the same position as I am, says Etken of The Inn at Entrada in St. George, Utah . I think a lot of people we need to market to are much older than us, so it s great to get some advice from other professionals on how to be successful with these older clients.
Start networking and let people know you are in the business and have cards ready and get a friend to write you up, she says. Start with friends cheap car rental in cape town and family, sometimes they can be very difficult to work with but that s how you get started. And remember: they don t have to know they are your first client.
As the second half of the conference cheap car rental in cape town got into full gear, Michelle Mangio , owner of Magical Escapes , kept the momentum of the day going with her presentation, Working the Niche: An Entrepreneurial Case Study.
If you have 100 other people saying you are luxury travel advisor, well, there are 100 other people saying the same thing, so how are you different, how do you stand out?, Mangio asked the attendees.
Mangio says, in order to sell niche markets, an agent must be focused on these categories: research, training and certifications, organizations, marketing and public relations, and brand and presence.
Peterson focused on how clients will communicate with your agency in the future, how they and will they plan their vacation, and how all of us will conduct our personal and professional business via futuristic hardware, software and social networking options.
The inaugural conference concluded with a panel discussion, titled Best Practices from the Pros Our Skilled Experts Tell All featuring Jack E. Mannix , of Jack E. Mannix Associates along with Nancy Strong , CEO of Strong Travel Services and Kathryn W. Sudeikis , vice president cheap car rental in cape town of corporate relations for All About Travel.
Jack E. Mannix, of Jack E. Mannix Associates, along with Kathryn W. Sudeikis, vice president of corporate relations for All About Travel and Nancy Strong, CEO of Strong Travel Services present at the Young Leaders Conference
This is a business, ladies and gentlemen, be a great business person who happens to sell travel, says Mannix. If you don t have the passion for what you do, I promise you that customer is going to feel that passion or the lack thereof. This is a dream come true for most of them. If it doesn t feel like a dream come true in their eyes, you won't have the selling effectiveness.
Everyone I get to speak to one on one today just makes me really delighted about the industry, Sudeikis says. Go to industry events like this and seekk out (industry representatives). I think they will be flattered cheap car rental in cape town so share advice.
If you want the best tip I can give you, it is develop a relationship with your supplier, says Strong. You ve been told to develop relationships with your clients. It is equally as important to develop cheap car rental in cape town a relationship with your supplier cause he is in charge cheap car rental in cape town of your client after they are on their vacation.
The energy throughout the day was exciting and innovative, says Barreiro. It was so wonderful to see some of the travel industry s brightest young professionals interacting with longstanding industry icons. It made all of us hopeful about the future of the travel agent.
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