Hi to my home-based agent readers. Things change, new technologies must be used, so I have moved with both the times and the technology to product a full digital e-Magazine called SELLING TRAVEL. The EDGE is now a page within this magazine and you can read it right here.

The Home Based Adventure Centre! That's got a nice ring to it hasn't it. One thing you have going for you as a home based travel agent and independently confident to make your own business decisions is that whatever adventure you want to experience personally, can be packaged into a group tour that you lead and then if you wish, stay behind to enjoy some 'me' time.

The question then is What's Your Adventure? The next question would be, "When will you live it?" Do you have many personal journeys to complete? How many? Where would they take you? The answers to these questions are helping to set up your new and very exciting niche. 

As I mention many times, in this industry you could be persuaded that every every single type of travel is the fastest growing. There are stats and facts to support each category. Who knows whether it was the fastest growing for 30 seconds or just this week or compared to anything that even had a chance. Once thing is for sure - the adventure - has always been with us. Since earliest of man set off to find food. Since the first trading ships took to the ocean. As mountains were conquered. As rivers were traversed. As trains became normal and air travel took over from ships. The adventure has always been within mankind and every so often if you do it right - you can spark that hidden cell, gene and cause someone's DNA to do a little dance - the dance of adventure.

My adventures started back in the UK as a child, "hunting" rabbits with a spear... never did score a meal but the adventure was there. It was exciting to be outdoors and "hunting".  Today I hunt with a camera www.phartograpny.weebly.com and manage to get myself into a few situations that require a delicate exit. To do well in selling adventure travel you really should be doing it, living it and then selling it.

It doesn't matter if you don't know how to go about an adventure. As you are in the trade, you can and should join a tour and travel with one of your adventure travel suppliers. They will extend an agents rate to you no problem. Or you could wait for a FAM trip, but chances are they are going to travel agents who have sold the supplier's product. Whichever way you escape - just make it happen. Get out. Get some excitement happening and then record it - video and stills. Now you have what you need to create your adventure travel niche.

Get yourself a terrific website. Make is image rich. Learn how to build brochures. Study everything adventure travel related and then get back out there to build your credibility. 

So the question once again: "What is your adventure and when will you live it?"

If you are free on May 5th and can join me at 10 am Pacific time, attend my adventure travel webinar and then book in to chat with me after the event. I'll help you set up your adventure program.   


Believe me... your customers want and need something exciting. How about you?

Best regards
Steve 
www.smptraining.com

The more I think about it, a home-based travel agent is probably the closest to becoming the Next Generation Travel Agent, the Ng TA. I wonder if YOU will be one of the leaders in this new never-at-home home-based business model. It sounds fanciful but I did receive a few validations from people who are actually living this Ng TA lifestyle. In essence it means you are so well studied and well practiced in the art of technology as it befits the mobile travel agent that you could sell travel from anywhere you happen to be, to anyone and where they happen to be, to places somewhere in-between the two of you. 

Oh to have my career all over again, starting about now! Making good use of the tools available today, I would indeed be a nomadic travel agent. I would be on the road, living the travel experience that I am selling to my customers. I was going to write, customers 'back home' but then that doesn't fit the Ng TA's client base anymore. The world wide customer base that now becomes accessible allows you sell to anyone, anywhere at anytime to any place. You would in fact become an International Nomadic Ng TA.

When my wife was selling travel, she worked for an agency with a niche market called Japan. Based on this agency's expertise they would receive bookings from Florida for family travel to Japan. That was then - and it was happening. If you have a niche and you are best of best, people will find you. Today, 'find' is a slam dunk. You can pretty much find anyone, any company, any niche, any expert at the click of the mouse. So imagine once again, there you are out there somewhere, your mobile rings and it's one your international clients asking you: "Where are you now? What's it like? Would we like it? Could you book us for 10 days...?"  That would be my kinda lifestyle if I was back in the game.

So you move to a nice condo / apartment that you can lock and go. You have your travel plan and your business plan. Your plan right now is to head to Hawaii - you think a 2 month stay there would give you enough time to write a Travel Guide that you could sell from your website, and whilst there you will market the resort you are staying at. How will you arrange that? Well you might just chat with the manager and suggest that they assist you with agent rates or better for your two month stay and you will market their resort to your clients each day and every day. Don't worry, this is not new. It's been done before. You'll just need to find a resort that understands the concept - and if they have dabbled with social networking then they will 'get' your idea. 

From the resort you are Facebooking, Tweetering, YouTubing and using all your social connections to tell your world how wonderful this resort is. It's great for weddings and honeymoons, it is wonderful for birdwatchers and photographers and corporations who want to meet somewhere exotic and be close to home. 

After your two months in paradise, you either fly home to finish your eBook on Hawaii or you carry on to your next stop. So what are you into, island life and living... well no doubt you would have contacted the editor of Islands magazine and worked a deal for them to publish your island articles. Getting published is one step towards building that international client base.

Here's a few tools the Nomadic Ng TA would need to know about: 

• all things social, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn...
  
• mobile applications
• online presentations through SlideShare, ViVu.tv, Animoto, UStream...
• online publishing through Issuu.com 

And you would have practiced your negotiating skills to help you win agent rates wherever you go. 

So there's something for you to ponder into the wee hours of the morning. Let me know if you take up the nomadic Ng TA lifestyle. Or better yet, as I collect stamps, send me one of those old fashioned postcards from wherever you travel!

Steve Crowhurst.
www.smptraining.com  

If you've been in travel for some time there is a good chance that you have developed a 'crush' on a particular place, or a style of travel, perhaps a niche market of some kind or an activity that colours where and how you travel, an activity such as photography. If you are new to selling travel and have not yet built this affection then it's time you started to develop your Passion Plan! Now don't go round preaching these words just yet or you could be hauled off to some farm beginging with G and located in the Caribbean! 

The art of passion when it comes to travel should be based on a few key points - all of which would suggest you know what you are talking about, that you are in a sense fluent in every aspect of the destination's culture and perhaps the local language if you hail from there. If you do not have such a niche market let me suggest you go online and visit the website of  http://www.specialtytravel.com/index.shtml and click on the down arrow of the central seach image. What will drop down will be a few hundred 'ideas' that will or should, nudge you towards some type of travel or activity that appeals to you. You could also research any and all of the 192 - going on 210 - countries in the world and find out once again which one or two attract you. 

Your passion will come from a pure psychic attachement, dejavu or the simple fact that the words "Hey! I like it!" popped out of your mouth when you completed your due diligence. Here's an idea to help you find your passion.

Watch FRAME TV. Have you seen this channel yet? Well as you are home based, you might have a TV close to your office (ya think?) and if you have a Media type PC you'll be able to toggle onto your cable and watch TV on your computer screen. Where is all this going you ask. Well it's heading in the right direction. On this new channel you will watch, glorious HD images from around the world. That's it. They change every 30 seconds and the program changes every 30 minutes. No commercials. So what's in it for you? Well first of all you'll get to see more than a few glorious places every 30 minutes. Next this channel could help you say "I do!" as in I will - sell that place.

The Frame channel is similar to the National Geographic magazine. It's full of wonderful images. It is read or seen by millions of people. And, it gives you your lead to promote or at least talk about the following day or week. If your clients are not yet hooked on Frame, then you make sure they know about it and then you follow up the next day to query, "What did you think of (country)? Wasn't it fantastic... I'm thinking of packaging a tour there, would you be interested in joining the group?"

You are catching my drift I know. Find a niche to be passionate about, use the tools such as Frame TV or NG Magazine to help you promote your passion and then market it, sell it, close it and guide it! Ka Ching! What a life you lead, could lead, would like to lead. Get that passion set on high and do what you love and that money will follow.

Steve Crowhurst, CTC, NBG
steve@smptraining.com
250-752-0106   

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