Who should you trust?

When everyone claims to be an expert, who should you trust? I have seen travel agents who barely know the difference between a hotel and a motel start social media groups, and suddenly have a following of thousands eagerly embracing their every word as it were the gospel.
 
Social media has given anyone with something to say a platform to share their opinion. While I can appreciate their passion, some of these forums are loaded with misinformation and unsubstantiated claims. It’s like the blind leading the blind.
 
I follow a number of online travel agent forums from around the world. Most are very good and offer travel professionals solid advice and networking opportunities. However, there are several that keep popping up on my radar.
 
The moderators use inflammatory rhetoric to whip their followers into an “us against them” frenzy. They attract anyone who will listen, in their pursuit against the OTAs, suppliers, and pretty much anyone who disagrees or does business differently. I have written about this in the past, but lately I feel like we have taken a huge step back in time to when the internet first became a tool that changed the travel landscape as we knew it forever.
 
If you have followed me for any length of time, you know I am one of the biggest advocates for the professional travel agent anywhere in the world. More importantly - I have the chops to back it up. There are many of us who have enjoyed success, and give back to the profession in our own ways.  Tom and Joanie Ogg, Scott Koepf, Mary Pat Sullivan, Mike Marchev, Richard Earls, and Jim Smith just to name a few. While we have may have different philosophies and areas of expertise, we are united in one single purpose – growing the travel trade as a professional, ethical, and credible sales distribution channel.
 
So when I hear travel agents and moderators posturing in their forums about how “they” can’t deliver service like a real travel agent – I cringe.  Who is this “they” and who’s to say all travel agents give great service?  Most I hear "they" described as “anyone with the ability for a client to book online without any assistance of a travel agent.”
 
Seriously? There are so many entities who fit this description. Starting with the OTAS, but also any supplier or travel agency with a booking engine. In other words, virtually the entire industry falls under this definition. The ability to book online unassisted, is here to stay. It is a tool to be embraced, not shunned or ostracized.
 
No one owns the customer. If a prospect chooses to complete their booking without a human ever touching it – it’s their choice. Most travel agents do not realize that it is not the Expedia’s of the world who are your biggest competitors, it’s the suppliers themselves.
 
I have always advocated that if we, as a distribution channel, were filling their ships, buses, and beds there would not be a need for the supplier to take direct business. But we are not, and it is their fiduciary responsibility to make this process as efficient as possible.
 
Something else you probably didn’t know. While a large number of customers do book online, it is rare for a cruise or vacation booking to go untouched by a human hand. In fact, most customers will call (often multiple times) to service the booking and at the other end of the line are  well trained service representatives waiting to take care of their customers.
 
Here’s my thought. There are people well above our paygrade looking out for our best interest to maintain a level playing field as well as influencing legislative outcomes on a daily basis.  If you are not a member of ASTA, CLIA, NACTA, ACTA (Canada), or some other advocacy organization, it might be time to consider joining.
 
One of my all-time favorite quotes is from Teddy Roosevelt, “Complaining without a solution is called whining.”
 
It’s easy to bully your suppliers and fellow travel professionals online.  Rather than be a divider complaining about how travel agents have been slighted, disrespected, or offended in some way, be a professional.  Focus on what you can do – not what you can’t and channel that energy into your own business, you should quickly see results.
 
My advice, if you are going to participate in online forums, please make sure the message is more substantial than someone of questionable credentials repeatedly telling you how great you are simply because you are a travel agent.
 
By the way, the Oxford Dictionary defines a “Pied Piper” as “a person who entices people to follow them, especially to their doom.”

If you really want to know what makes you great, just ask your customers.

Dan Chappelle is a professional business advisor, sales coach, author, and speaker. His training and consulting firm helps develop sales oriented business leaders and entrepreneurs. His best-selling book, Get Your S.H.I.P. Together: The Wealthy Travel Agent Guide to Sales, is available on Amazon.com.  For information on Dan’s Sales Acceleration programs, visit: www.DanChappelle.com

©2017 Dan Chappelle, CCI Inc.