It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time for a little agent love. Agent Insights is all about helping hardworking Travel Agents – just like you – level up and be as successful as possible in their job.
In case you don’t know, Agent Insights is a regular feature here on KarryOn where we get under the skin of the top performing agents in the country.
This week we speak to Shaun (same name as me, woo!) Caratozzolo from Miami Plaza, in WA – not Florida.
He’s been a Travel Agent for Flight Centre for around 14 years, and boy does he have a lot of wisdom to bestow to loyal KarryOn readers.
So are you ready to level up?
What exactly do you do and how long have you done it?
I have been a Travel Agent for Flight Centre Travel Group for 14 years having multiple leadership roles, from looking after one team to looking after a whole brand in WA.
My role as an agent is to make sure that the picture that my clients have in their minds of the experience they want on this trip happens every time and within their budget.
My goal and my team’s goal is to make sure that our clients RAVE about us and have the trip they want.
Pretend I’m a potential client for a moment. What do you do that separates you from the pack?
Great question! (Thanks Shaun!)
First thing I do is I greet my client with a good morning or a good afternoon and always ask where I can send them.
Every client gets offered a glass of water while they sit with me and my main aim in that first part of our time together is to get a clear picture of what my client has in mind for their up coming trip and what need it is meeting for them as an individual or family.
When a client books a holiday with me, I can’t guarantee everything, but what I can guarantee is that what I have booked will meet the need they have and the idea they have in their minds of what kind of holiday they want.
I say to my clients I cannot control the weather or silly people, but I can make sure that the products they purchase are what they need and the time spent with me will be valued and worth their while.
Let’s travel back in time. What do you wish you knew back when you started working as a Travel Agent? And what do you think some of the common mistakes Travel Agents make when starting off?
The common mistake that agents make early on is they think they need to know everything about every country to be a successful sales consultant in Travel.
This is just not true.
Although knowledge is great, what is integral early on is that your clients know without any doubt you are there for them and that you tell them your main role is to make their idea in their mind come true.
And with that in mind, it’s your ability to connect with people that is important early on, not your knowledge. Connect with people and you will be successful.
Have you ever managed to turn a customer complaint into something positive? If so, how did you do it?
Of course!
One of the greatest opportunities you will ever have to show someone just how amazing you are as a consultant is when they have something negative to talk about or to bring to your attention.
If you book someone what they want, they will think to themselves, “well, so you should, it’s your job.”
But when you fix something that has happened after your client brings it to your attention, and do so by listening to why it’s an issue – putting yourself in their shoes and going into bat for them until its 100% fixed – you show them that you’re not just there in the good times, but you’re also there in the bad times, too.
This builds trust, and if you have amazing trust then you will have a client for life.
People will buy a product from anyone, but they will only continue to buy products from you every time when they trust you.
When a complaint is brought to me or my team our thoughts are to be :
– What does the customer need me to do?
– What would be a fix for the customer
– How do I need to respond to build trust with my client
– How can I make sure my client walks away from this RAVING about how I dealt with it?
And that’s it.
We don’t think or ever mention who is at fault because it just doesn’t matter. What matters is our client’s holiday and getting it fixed so they can have a great experience.
If all you’re worried about is letting them know which party is at fault, there is no way you can build trust with that client.
What are your biggest challenges at the moment?
When it comes to running a sales team, and if it’s an experienced one at that, your biggest challenges are hidden in the small things not the big stuff.
Making sure that the team’s vision is always being lived with each consultation, making sure that every client is being offered a glass of water is a good example of something small.
But to be honest, it’s normally drive! Making sure that each day you bring something fresh and motivating to make sure your people stay engaged and fresh and always have their focus on our clients and what we are setting out to achieve.
What are you doing to turn that around?
It’s not necessarily something I need to turn around but I do need to keep myself fresh and inspired.
If I do that then I allow for my team to feed off that and be inspired themselves to make sure we continue to help our clients have the ability to RAVE about our team’s ability to make their holiday ideas happen.
Ok, last but not least: how do you see the industry evolving in 2016?
The industry has evolved so much in the past 5 years with heavy online competition, but I must admit what I have found over the past 12 months is that people are realising they need people.
The Internet used to live by the ethos that it was cheaper and therefore not having a person to speak to didn’t matter. If I’m saving money then I don’t need a personal touch, people would say.
Now with our new contracts that is just not true. We are more than competitive on price, if not always cheaper, and we can deliver a personal touch that no online competitor can compete with.
People need people, and when you have an agent that can connect with you on a deeper level than just product, and will fight for you when things are not perfect, and will give you a cost that’s better than anywhere online, then the evolution I see over the next 12 months in our field is the quality of the Travel Agent experience will be so good that Internet sales will continue to decline.
We may be in direct competition, but there is room for all players and I know for a fact after seeing the past 14 years of evolution happen in our field that it has never been a better time to be a Travel Agent: sales have never been better and our clients have never been happier.
Bring on 2016-2017! We can not wait to see what amazing travel experiences we will be able to create.
Where can people find you if they’d like to make contact?
I am currently the team leader of Flight Centre Miami Plaza in WA just south of Mandurah. You can reach me on shaun.caratozzolo@flightcentre.com.au or call me anytime on 08 9534 4855.
Like what you’ve read?
Check out some of the other agents we’ve interviewed on Agent Insights, such as Peter Fiske from Clayfield Travel, Lorie Raymundo from Travel Counsellors, Ez Yiap from Student Flights, Sean Baldwin from STA Travel and Laurice Burke from helloworld.
*If you’d like to be be featured on Agent Insights, then email shaun@karryon.com.au – I’d be happy to interview you!