With her recent NTIA win for Most Outstanding Sales Executive Touring, TTC’s Carla Dabit has much to celebrate – and even more to share. Balancing the roles of a high-achieving sales manager and a dedicated mum, Carla’s journey reveals the grit behind her glow. Here, she opens up about what fuels her passion, the strategies that lead to her success and the excitement she feels about the future of travel.
Congratulations on the win – what does this award mean to you personally & professionally?
This year has been a year of transformation, self-development and service.
A lot of time and energy went into identifying what I needed to change and focus on what was going to move the needle. I made the decision to focus on me and in turn, by filling my cup everyone around me benefited.
To be recognised with this award proves to me I am just as worthy to win as the next person. But what made this win so special is that I achieved the success not only as a dedicated, hardworking and passionate sales manager with a great strategy in place, but also as a working mum juggling to succeed in my career whilst trying to be apresent mum with a young family at home.
As mums we are so hard on ourselves; all we do is give, but this year I was able to find success in my work, while self-developing and being a present mum to my 3 year old – and that’s why winning this award this year means everything to me.
To what do you attribute your success?
As mentioned, my success this year was down to taking a chance to put myself first for the first time since having my daughter. I made the decision to focus on my health and professional development.
The first step was joining a mentorship program through TTC, where I was allocated Gavin Tollman, the Global CEO of TTC Tour Brands. Together, we addressed what was holding me back and we focused on monthly tasks where I learnt to develop my business acumen, focus on strategy and even learn how to manage stress.
His leadership kept me accountable, and I made sure I turned up to every session with an action plan and details of what I achieved that month whether it be completing a strategy course, reading books and interviewing people in business to learn different perspectives – and for this type of mentoring, I am eternally grateful and what I attribute my success to this past year.
Any advice for anyone looking to follow in your footsteps?
I’m a strong believer that when preparation meets opportunity you will find success, and I believe in having patience – things happen when the time is right and the stars align.
So, my advice is as passionate and dedicated you are to your work – and I am one to push for a strong work ethic, put your hand up to help out, go above and beyond to build a strong reputation and personal brand for yourself – you must set boundaries.
You need to make the conscious effort to do something for you; to put aside an hour a week or 15 minutes a day to learn something new or do some sort of self-development. It could be as simple as reading a book, doing a short course or sitting with someone you admire and learning from them.
It’s so easy to work hard all day, every day trying to get it all done… and before you know it, 10 years go by, and you realise you haven’t done anything professionally to progress yourself. So, to avoid this you really need to incorporate time for evolution into your routine.
What are you most excited about that’s coming up for TTC & the touring sector?
You may have heard TTC has changed ownership recently, so I am excited about the change and to learn from a different business perspective.
Apollo, our new owners, have a strong background in evolving businesses and a focus on advancing technology, which is a space where I feel I need more work, so I will take advantage of these opportunities to learn.
I believe the touring sector will continue to grow. Clients really see the value in what a tour has to offer; they understand it doesn’t have to be their whole trip but one component, and with this message being more prevalent, I can only see growth in our future.
I am very lucky to look after five incredible touring brands that are so different from the next; this keeps me on my toes – from youth to luxury, I am always challenged.
I’m incredibly proud to represent brands that are so well known and continually evolving with the clients’ and agents’ needs. We never get complacent. Therefore I can only see success in our future as we continue to work so closely with our agent partners.
What does the future look like for you & your role at TTC?
A good question… perhaps one for my boss! Jokes aside, I love TTC – I’ve been a loyal sales manager for them for 10 years. I love the territory and agents I service, so I am keen to continue on my path.
TTC is so diverse with many travel categories such as river cruising to tailormade brands, so there is potential to move around the categories within TTC, but ultimately I would like to progress to a key account manager or a state manager position. But for now, it’s about patience, doing my job well and waiting for the new ownership to settle in.
What do you love most about your job & the travel industry?
I love the strong relationships I have built in my territory. I enjoy meeting with business owners and managers to discuss how we can grow their business, through marketing strategies, events and incentives.
I love seeing my agents hit their goals and get rewarded, whether it be financially, with status or on famils.
Of course, being able to work for a company that allows me to experience the product and travel around the world is definitely the highlight. And most would agree the reason we all love the travel industry is that it’s exciting, whether it be the people we meet, the place we visit or the food and culture of the place we travel to.
There is always something new and exciting to experience; we’re not selling washing machines, we are selling life-long memories – and what’s not to love about that!
Care to share a fun travel tip that you swear by when exploring new places?
I collect travel pins from every country I visit. I started this on my first Contiki tour in 2006 and have over 40 pins – they are pinned to my first travel backpack. It’s cheaper than souvenirs, requires less storage space and is great to show the grandkids one day.
Read our wrap of NTIA 2024 including all the winners here.
For more information on TTC, click here.
