“We can’t quite believe it! We’re still in a state of shock I think!”
It has been just 5 weeks since Karen and Kelly, 2 sisters from Inverness graduated from their induction training week at our Head Office in Bournemouth. Already they have managed to confirm a booking for an unbelievable value of £75,916!
An important part of our training programme is helping consultants to expand their customer base by leverege existing relationships. This was exactly what Kelly had in mind when she approached her local Judo club. Her 2 oldest children have been members of the club for 8 years, and Kelly has been involved with helping out with events for a large part of that. “She has a great relationship with the committee, coaches and other members and families of the club” said Karen when we caught up with her. “Before we went on training we knew that the Club were looking to book a large group to Japan for a training and culture trip, to capitalise on the effects of the Olympics being held in Tokyo next year.”
We recently published a story about sending a customer to the final – another example of the opportunities that can present themselves with real world events.
“We attended committee and club meetings about the trip”
Kelly was keen to reach out even before she and Karen had attended training. “I spoke to the head coach before we went on training advising about our business and how we could assist them with the planning, booking, ongoing care and service. We kept in touch with them on our training week to keep them up to date on where we were and just really to remind them what we were doing. Once we came back from training we got in touch and took full details on the trip, what they wanted specifically and any specific needs they had for training etc. We attended committee meetings and club meetings about the trip and built on the connection with them from there.”
“We got the support and positive encouragement we needed”
During this period, they had extensive support from their Personal Travel Coach. Karen was very pleased with the support they both received. “When we were on training we did mention we had an enquiry we hoped to provide quotes too and our trainer helped us with this, assisted us with how to promote our service and was there to answer our questions at all times of day and night and talk us through it all. Being just a month out of training, her help has been invaluable as we are still so new to it all it that we were not too confident on the presenting such a big quote and we got the support and positive encouragement we needed.” The supplier was also on hand to offer support with securing the booking. “Suzanna at Travelpack was fantastic. Very patient and guided us through the quote. She was very helpful especially as we have never done a group booking.”
It doesn’t stop there though! Now that this booking is secured they will continue to manage the relationship and look for new opportunities with the club. “Our next steps are to continue to keep in communication with the club and answer any questions they may have as they get closer to their trip. We have also been round to the head coach and other committee members house for a chat and a cuppa and just discuss the trip, general travel and holiday chat and just get to know each other better. We have already discussed PIT with the club and they are very eager to sign up. They have also referred other clubs to us, clubs who do regular overseas travel for training and competitions as they have been so impressed with the one on one service and the personal touch we have given the booking. They also like that we understand the Judo training processes, etiquettes, values and traditions and have respected this during our booking process with them.”
“I think we are both just delighted to have achieved and secured such a large booking. We feel it has really boosted our confidence and given us a great foundation to build our business on. The support we have received from the community has been amazing, so many encouraging words and it just really cements in our minds that we have made the best choice in The Travel Franchise.”
