Barbara Charlton
Regular columnist Barbara was voted Most Helpful Travel Counsellor of the Year for two consecutive years.
talking shop WISE COUNSEL Homeworkers can add sense of perspective I
have to start this month’s column by mentioning the terrible events in Japan. While I did not have any clients directly affected, I do know of people
who had business contacts out there that have suffered. Trade between our country and Japan,
as well as the stock markets and Japanese markets in which many of our investments are placed, will all be affected, but this is a time to think first of the people of Japan and my heart goes out to all those who are suffering from this latest, dreadful, natural disaster.
On a lighter matter, after writing last month about the success I had in winning a holiday to Saint Lucia, which I put down to my ‘lucky knickers’, I was stunned by the number of people who have asked me where they could get some of the same! Was it La Senza? Debenhams? Or perhaps Marks and Sparks? Well, I will now reveal all, just so long as
you promise not to tell EVERYONE in the retail travel business! It was actually, whisper it quietly,
Tesco’s! Of course, we all know that in reality we make our own luck in this world, but if I believe they work, who’s to say they don’t?
March was a month where I saw a mad flurry of business – and a remarkably large amount of it was short breaks. There were the usual destinations, like Rome, Paris and Lille, but also further flung long haul short breaks, such as New York and Las Vegas. The evolution of the stag and hen market
in recent years has been quite staggering, from a night down the pub the day before the wedding to full-blown breaks in Vegas and the Big Apple (for the men) to Spa and shopping long weekends abroad (for the ladies). It seems that the recession has not yet
hit the wedding and honeymoon sector and long may that continue.
I have mentioned it before, but I belong
to a local networking group (part of a large worldwide networking business) called BNI. I first became a Travel Counsellor over eight years ago, and as I started with precisely zero clients, starting from scratch was a very scary step. Enter BNI and the world of networking. I
joined an early-morning group that met at 06.45 once a week and, as this was my only form of promotion or marketing at that time, I soon came to love the sessions and the 40-odd members became trusted friends as well as clients. I stayed with that group for three years,
and even after my circumstances changed and I could no longer make the weekly get-together those members continued to book with me and, just as importantly, carried on referring me to their friends, family and colleagues. However, I missed the camaraderie and
business support of getting out of the house once a week to meet other local business people – so I began a campaign to get BNI Sussex to start a lunchtime meeting group. That was nearly two years ago and the
idea has paid off! We were the first lunchtime group in Sussex, and we have won four awards this year and are officially the best BNI group in Sussex! The reason I am telling you this is that recently I sat down with my abacus and worked out exactly what business value I am able to directly attribute to having been a BNI member. It took a while, because I included members, visitors to both groups, ex-members and all of their referrals and their onward referrals – basically any business I have had because I had been to a BNI meeting, and the total was a staggering £480,000! There will be a BNI meeting somewhere
near you, but as just ONE travel agent is allowed per group you will never be competing in the room with the agency down the road. If anyone would like more information, please email me and I will be happy to point you in the right direction.
April brings spring, with fresh life in the gardens, Easter bunnies and eggs, foolish pranks (in my house anyway) and extended weekends, which for many are the perfect chance to get
Main pic: Long Haul short breaks to Las Vegas are selling well for Barbara
Left: Any likeness or resemblance to knickers owned by Barbara is purely coincidental!
Comment... "Last month I booked a lady at 20.30 on a Saturday night, and then at 22.00 on the Sunday night she booked another holiday for later in the year! The next day there was also a 21.30 booking for another lady"
away, or in my case it’s usually filled with decorating as there is never enough time on a normal weekend.
Speaking of weekends, I am almost forgetting what they are like! Last month I booked a lady at 20.30 on a Saturday night, and then at 22.00 on the Sunday night she booked another holiday for later in the year! The next day there was also a 21.30 booking for another lady. My clients rarely trouble me out of hours,
but they all know that I am there whatever the time in the case of an emergency. Whether they are stranded overseas, or need to get back very quickly. ‘Being there’ is something that will always set me aside from websites and shops that operate between nine to five. I wish you all a very Happy Easter and
remember: a moment on the lips is a lifetime on the hips (or at least a while anyway)!
Barbara Charlton Travel Counsellors UK T 0845 0587 290 E
Barbara.charlton@
travelcounsellors.com W
www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/barbara.charlton
www.sellinglonghaul.com • April 2011 63
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