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Helen Padget-Smith cruise manager
Thomson Superstore, Hull Agent makes waves after becoming a cruise expert
Helen Padget-Smith hadn’t planned a career in travel. She was all set on finding a job in the world of advertising and even studied a degree in the subject, while working part-time at a Thomson travel agency. But when it came to it, leaving the industry was too much of a wrench, and Helen decided to continue working for Thomson. “I had planned to go into advertising, but I loved my job and was enjoying it more and more,” admits Helen. The move paid off, with Helen rising up through the ranks to become a cruise specialist and then a cruise manager at the Thomson Superstore in Hull. She is now the top seller of Royal Caribbean cruises at Thomson and is also one of the company’s top 10 retailers of Thomson Cruises. Helen credits her success with, among other things, keeping up to date and learning about cruise companies’ products, and listening and learning from customers. She also ensures that she matches each client with the right cruise. “I found it hard selling cruise at first because customers know so much more than
you,” she says. “You really have to listen to them and pick up tips from them. I hadn’t been on any cruise ships when I started selling cruise – now I am up to 15 cruises. “I love selling cruise and I am constantly learning. If I have not been on a ship, I
make sure I study what the cruise line offers.” With a high proportion of customers new to cruising, Helen says the challenge is to
overturn perceptions. “They think people on board will be stuffy and that men will have to wear dinner suits or that the cost will be way out of their budget,” she says. “Often I get a quote ready for a cruise, so I can show them how it compares with the price of their land-based package holiday. They are usually surprised that the price is comparable to a four or five-star all-inclusive hotel stay.”
Once a customer realises they can Helen’s CV
●2012 to date: cruise manager, Thomson Superstore, Hull
●2005-12: full-time sales consultant then cruise specialist, Thomson, Beverley
●2002-05: part-time sales consultant, Thomson, Cheltenham, while a student
●2001-02: part-time sales consultant, Thomson, Hull
afford a cruise, they can easily be converted because of all the extras it offers, from the entertainment and activities to the range of destinations and excursions, adds Helen. Helen is noticing more young customers taking an interest in cruising. “The ships have a younger feel to them than they used to, which makes it easier for us to sell them to people in their 20s,” she says. “Once you have got a customer into cruising, you have got them for life.”
Would you like to be profiled on Readers’ Lives? Tell us why it should be you! Email:
juliet.dennis@
travelweekly.co.uk
52 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 15 January 2015
✪ Get to know your cruise sales reps: Establish strong working relationships with the cruise lines’ representatives so that you can contact them quickly to ask questions or to help out with tricky bookings.
✪ Match the right cruise ship to your customer: If you get it wrong, they won’t go back on a cruise. There is no point selling a cruise if it doesn’t offer what they want. So listen carefully to their holiday requirements.
HELEN’S SALES TIPS
✪ Be passionate: If you really believe in what you sell, it will come across and help you close the transaction.
✪ Know your stuff: Do the training offered by the cruise lines, so that you know their product inside and out. We even keep ship photos from our visits, examples of cruise event programmes that you get in your cabins and boarding cards, so clients know what they will get on board.
L CRUISE
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