The Start of the Adventure
We’re about to find out!
Without wanting to sound like a winner at every awards ceremony ever held, I’d like to start by thanking you all. My business succeeds or fails based on all of you. No pressure!
Liking a post on Facebook, sharing, telling a mate, referrals, clicking on an image, whatever it is, it all mounts up. Social media companies respond to posts that get interaction so it may seem insignificant to you, but that one ‘like’ could show it to another 10 accounts & it can snowball from there. Personal referrals are absolutely massive in the human buying psyche as well. If anybody ever so much as hints at looking for a holiday then please keep name dropping me. Half of all the experiences I’ve booked since starting out have been from referrals so you’re doing a great job already.
To set the scene – Travel Counsellors (TCs) are self-employed & it’s a franchise model. For people new to travel, there’s a not so insignificant buy-in, but you get the support of a business that is celebrating it’s 30th year & over £1bn in annual sales across 2000+ TCs in 6 different countries. So, for those of you that are still wary that I’m a dodgy old chancer that’s going to take your money & do a runner then rest assured, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
That does present the first main challenge. I don’t receive any commission until you’ve been on your holiday. Funds are held in trust that myself & Travel Counsellors HQ can’t access until we’ve supplied what we promised. In reality, that means I left a wage, had to buy-in to the franchise, book holidays & then wait weeks/months/years to see a return. As the years progress, this becomes less & less of a thing as you have the historic booking kicking in but for now, it means I’m even tighter than usual! And although it’s a challenge, I do count my blessings that I’m in a position to follow my dream with all the support of my family. It was quite humbling this week when I read that less than 20% of the world’s population can even afford a holiday.
What I’ve found the most difficult so far is getting people to understand what I do & how it works. In the first few weeks I should have been a lot more clear & concise. Travel Counsellors can do just about anything. I have access to more suppliers than I’ll ever be able to remember but in my excitement I think I gave a confused & mixed message. “Do you only do fancy holidays?” Although I’d argue all holidays are fancy & what you do & enjoy should not be judged against others, it’s a question I had A LOT. But the reality is that I will suggest whatever it is that works best for you. If that’s a week all-inclusive, a 3-night riverboat cruise, a multi-continental month long bucket list trip, it doesn’t matter. Horses for courses.
The kicker is that if you’re after the cheapest of the cheap then I won’t be able to compete. I may not even try, but please don’t take that to heart. Some places offer no service but low cost & I’ve booked with them before & for some that’s the best option. It’s just not what I can or want to compete with. I have to factor in my time, service, advice, knowledge, being on the end of the phone whenever you need me, sorting everything for you when (as happens in travel) things go wrong. You can’t provide all of that & be as cheap as something that’s ‘just a website’. In a world where technology & AI is taking over, not quite like in Terminator yet, I offer something that’s a bit more old-school & personable.
This leads on to something I think you could call a bit of a business identity crisis that I’ve been battling with. HQ really encourage you to be your own person, be your own business, do things your way & run your own race. Which I think is great, but has caused a bit head scratching about how to be on social media. I’m sure you all know that our data is harvested on an industrial scale & you just have to think about going to the toilet before an advert for loo roll pops up on your feed. So, you can all imagine what mine looks like with travel profiles & posts &, for the most part, they all look the same. That’s fine for them & that works for them & those businesses. It’s the ‘Great Deal’ posts, the ones that follow the same format, have the plane, hotel, palm tree & sun emojis. I posted loads of those to start with but they never felt like they were ‘me’. I mean, I’ll still do the odd one when I think it’s something particularly worth promoting, but I’ve decided to go down a different path & try to be more laid back, more conversational, more human & more educational. It’s really hard to tell if it’s working as well because social media algorithms are a massive PITA! You’ll put something together one week & it’ll take off, you’ll do something similar a few weeks later & it’ll tank. That battle is probably a full blog post on its own.
Overall, things are going brilliantly & far better than I’d planned. The business has just about hit its year 1 projections in just 6 months & all the other KPIs are heading in the right direction. Most importantly, I love putting things together for people if it’s a bespoke offering, or finding the right package etc. It’s a buzz that’s equal parts pride, excitement & fulfilment. If I can, in some small way, contribute towards all of you having the best experiences, get you places where you’ll create memories that will last a lifetime & form core memories for your kids, then that’s good enough for me. It feels almost altruistic & I’m so confident in the process & how I work that it isn’t by chance that feedback has been universally brilliant. It takes time, it takes a phone call or messages back & forth to understand you & your travel partners & what makes you all tick. It also breeds insane jealousy & FOMO as I wish I could go on all of the things I book for you!
The next few months see the arrival of the peak booking period, so if you’ve made it this far, thank you, & I have one final request. Whenever a potential trip idea pops up, for you or a friend or family member - please consider getting in touch. Worst case, it costs you nowt.
Cheers
Phil
