In Their Shoes

By Terri Maldonado, ACC, MCC

This isn’t my usual article. It’s a travel journal of an amazing trip. It wasn’t your usual trip either. You see, I spent three and one-half days in two brick-and-mortar agencies. The sights I saw, the people I met and the customs encaountered made this as much like a foreign land as any I’ve ever been in. Even the language was strange! Both visits were voluntary. In each case, a friend who owned the agency needed help. It never crossed my mind that I might not have all the skills needed. I just wanted to help.
Before I chronicle these amazing times, let me refresh your memory about my history in the travel industry. I’ve worked as an Independent Contractor for two hosts; one was solely selling cheap airline tickets using Sabre and the other was selling cruises to Internet leads. After less than a year at these jobs, I became a stand-alone, Home Based agency and then a Host Agency. I have never worked anywhere but at home and haven’t used a GDS system in over 10 years. Still, I wanted to help.
Both offices had stacks and stacks of paper — brochures, ticket jackets, brochures, faxes, brochures. Brochures were in racks, stacks and boxes. In my whole Home Based office structure, including all drawers, files and closets, I may have a dozen brochures, mostly insurance ones.
You see, a big difference in the way we do business at home is that we use the Internet for our research and not a brochure. We often assist our clients in looking at a supplier’s Web site and rarely hand a customer a brochure. Both offices had Internet access and could easily eliminate lots of paper. Suppliers could reduce marketing costs significantly by educating brick-and-mortar agencies to use their Web sites. Clients could take a visual journey right there in the office.
One office was a family business with mom, dad and two grown daughters working together. Every one of them was devoted to the business and to the success of the office. Clients who came in knew them all by name and were interested in where they were and what they were doing. Sitting down to chat was as important as their travel business. I was only in this office a half day. One of the daughters was there and her desk was like a magnet for everyone who came through the door. I answered two phone calls, both were sales reps who left messages ... not difficult to handle and it lured me into a false sense of security!
The second office was smaller. The owner was the only full-time person. She was available to me by E-mail but was only able to check it infrequently. I had spent a couple hours with her, before she left, finding out what I might expect. Three part-time workers would be there, one on each day. Two had been with the company a long time and one was brand new to the office but experienced as an agent. The office had a big corporate account that had been told that the owner would be gone. My plan was to stay primarily in the background, answering phones when the other person in the office was busy and giving “boss-like” advice when needed.
This office was located in a busy strip mall and drop-in traffic began as soon as we unlocked the door. Some of the traffic was just looking for other offices. A couple wanted to ask general travel questions. And, there were real travel shoppers. And, they were not at all like the ones who E-mail or call me at my Home Based business. These walk-in, face-to-face shoppers wanted — make that expected — answers and prices right then and there. They didn’t want me to ask questions, do research and call them back with the best match for them. They wanted me to have the answer immediately — and, they wanted to talk to me the whole time I was working to find them the best deal. The pressure was amazing and the sense of failure when they didn’t buy was crushing. It’s a lot harder to have someone sitting across the desk from you get up and walk out than it is to have a phone client become non-responsive or an Internet client evaporate.
But, I’ve saved the most awesome creature for last ... the corporate client. Even though they knew the owner (who was the only one in the office who served them) was going to be gone, they never stopped calling until they got so angry with my incompetence they began calling the owner on her cell phone. Folks, I retained nothing from my GDS days. I couldn’t think in the order of a PNR, the airline and city codes had become a foreign language and my fingers would not cooperate with the screamed instructions from the client on the phone. Yes, he actually screamed. Because he was calling me from an airport with changes he wanted on his next trip, he did not want to be called back. Service had to be immediate ... and, he was checking my prices and connections by calling the airlines on his other phone or his laptop computer.
The part-time agents tried to help me. They would enter the GDS information while I was talking and I’d try to read what they found to the client. That didn’t work for long as the client kept asking for other things and I couldn’t keep up. I was reduced to a bumbling idiot in record time and he hung up on me. It’s a good thing, because with my skills, he might have wound up half way around the world from where he wanted to go. What a humbling experience.
There were some notable similarities between these offices and my business. Past customers were looking for the person they had come to trust and the same level of service they had experienced before. New customers had already done some research and wanted confirmation of what they had found and expertise beyond the coldness of the Internet. Even the corporate client just wanted his problem solved and didn’t trust a stranger to do it. In both worlds, it’s very important to make the customer comfortable. Trust is vital when folks are spending large sums of money.
I’m having a hard time ending this story. It was painful to be as lost as I felt outside the competency of my own business model. When you’re trying to work without the tools you understand, your self-assurance waivers. Maybe the real lesson in all this is that all of us need to step outside our personal comfort zone and walk a mile in someone else’s shoes in order to really appreciate what’s needed to succeed in other worlds ... whether they are foreign lands, different cultures or just a different way of doing business.
And so, I’d like to extend an invitation to all of you who work outside of your home. Come visit me whether it’s by phone or E-mail, asking questions, or actually dropping in to see how things are done in my office. We shouldn’t be strangers. After all, we’re in the same boat ... serving those who need travel expertise. I think I’ll extend this same invitation to my supplier reps. They don’t really understand how Home Based agents work. Guess I’ll invite them in, too! See you soon.

Terri Maldonado is owner of CruiseGal, LLC, a Home Based host agency.