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“I’ve never been happier to be able to say, ‘That’s the way it is,'” Jackie Friedman, president of Nixon Travel Group, told the 600 or so travel consultants and supplier partners at this year’s Connexion annual conference at the Disneyland Resort Hotel. in Anaheim, California. Friedman was referring to last year’s conference — the first since Covid-19 upended the travel industry — that predicted the golden age of travel was just around the corner.
Based on the number of Circle of Excellence winners (140), the host agency saw this year – more than any other in the company’s history – that the Golden Age of Travel has arrived. (Club of Excellence winners are recognized for achieving high sales goals using Nexion Travel Group’s preferred suppliers.)
“We all went through a very difficult time and I’m not going to talk about that because we agreed not to,” Friedman said in her keynote address on the second day of the conference. “But we’ve learned something, haven’t we? We’ve learned that this industry can’t stop.
“The travel advisor is here to stay,” she told a small group of reporters at the executive round table. “Over the last several years, even with the pandemic, we haven’t really seen a slowdown in people wanting to get into this industry.”
Just in the year In 2022 alone, Nexion has brought on nearly 600 new consultants, 60 to 65 percent of whom are new to the travel industry. Many others joined in 2020 and 2021.
“This year, we’re on track to bring in the largest number of advisors we’ve brought in in a long time,” Friedman said.
And despite the difficult start, many are thriving. This year’s Circle of Excellence winners joined the industry during the pandemic, said Robi Hamida, Nexion’s senior vice president of agency operations. Even long-time advisors at Nexion are selling more than they ever did before.
“We were looking at our best producers, and we saw what we hadn’t seen there before,” Friedman said. And it’s really rewarding for me to see new people come into the network or people get to that level of recognition.
Three days packed with jam
With no new major technology or program launches announced, this year’s Connexion focuses on what consultants need to be more profitable – six information-packed plenary sessions, three keynotes, 48 educational workshops, a vendor roundup and a trade show.
During her reception, Friedman challenged attendees to make the most of the show by meeting 10 new people.
“We didn’t create the name CoNexion in a vacuum,” she told Travel Market Report in a one-on-one sit-down. “It’s really a connection. And you see it. You see the bonds they’ve formed with other consultants, with suppliers. And they’ve built businesses around some relationships. At the risk of sounding cliché, it’s really a family. And every year more and more people come into that family… even though these consultants are technically Although they are competitors, they don’t act like that.
Nixon Canada President Mike Foster encouraged attendees to make the most of the show.
“Have a plan, have some goals, find and meet those partners, who you’re really going to work with, but look for new companies that you haven’t worked with before.”
They define what success means.
One of the most important lessons Friedman imparted to the audience was during her keynote address.
“Success is different for all of us. Please don’t compare yourself to other travel advisors. You are the one who defines the direction you want to take. Before you can pursue success, you have to know what it means to you. And, most importantly, you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe in your ability to succeed.”
In her seminal memoir, Friedman compares becoming a successful consultant—whatever that may be to each individual—to writing your own story—one 10 chapters.
Chapter One is about first having a vision.
“You need to know what you want your business to look like three to five years into the future. It’s your vision. It defines your company’s purpose, what you’re fighting for, and what you want to achieve.”
Now is the time to build a plan for the second phase.
“Your plan is the roadmap for your business. It guides you in the direction you want to take it. Start by setting goals and defining what success looks like to you. They should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable and Relevant, with a time-bound list of what you need to do and when you will do it.”
Examples of goals offered by Friedman include earning a certain amount of commission within 12 months, systematically adding destination expertise to your agency, or obtaining certification within a certain time frame.
The third phase is getting tactical.
“This is where you develop a tactical marketing plan that outlines the specific steps you will take to grow your business.”
Part of that, she says, is defining your target customer.
“These are the people who are most likely to take the types of trips you want to focus on.”
Other chapters in the “story” of every consulting business: Retaining your client, Qualifying your client, Building partnerships, Career in Learn your business, engage and have fun.
“Remember why you chose to work in this industry. For many of us, it was the love of travel. For some, it was the love of working with people…whatever your reason, we’re in an amazing industry and most of us couldn’t imagine doing anything else. The travel industry runs in your blood, right? Nothing.” There is no medicine and that is a good thing.
Road map to success
At the executive conference table held for the media at the show, Nexion Travel Group’s Senior Vice President of Agency Operations, Robi Hamida, presented an update on Nexion University’s Success Improvement Pathway, one of the initiatives launched last year.
It launched last year with 691 documents, which Hamida says helps advisers “know everything from A to B to D that they need to know to run their business.” A year later and the wealth has grown to more than 1,000 documents.
In addition to mentoring, Hamida also helped lead Nexion to success.
“It’s helped us cut down on our phone calls, cut down on the amount of emails we get because you can get answers at a glance.”
Hamida also said Nexion has no plans to slow down its success roadmap.
“We are happy with what we have now. We just have to take it where it wants to go next… Agents have been giving us a lot of feedback about what’s missing and we’re taking all of that into consideration. But it has become a real super tool for agent learning.”
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