By Sherrie Funk

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to talk. Just ask my husband Charlie if you don’t believe me. He can definitely verify that I do love to talk. People would say that I have the “gift of gab.” Maybe that’s why I’m a good salesperson.
When I was in high school and college, I used to dread those terrifying oral book reports that we all had to do, primarily because I didn’t know my subject matter that well or had just skimmed a book in which I wasn’t interested. However, when it came to debating an issue on the forensics team as a teenager during the ‘60s, I definitely had my opinions and could argue my side with the best of them. I knew my subject well, and had no fear of communicating this information to others.
So, what does this have to do with you and developing your “gift of gab”?
A very effective marketing tool that we have found is developing informational seminars. About six years ago, we decided to incorporate a couple of seminars for first-time cruisers into the schedule at our cruise and vacation show.
I wrote a basic “How to Choose the Right Cruise for You” seminar to answer the myriad of questions that first-time cruisers have. Since that first seminar, I have added a section called “Hurricane Season” and “Noro-Viruses on Cruise Ships”. Whenever one of these slides comes up, you can just see the expressions on people’s faces change.
I will always say, “I know someone is going to ask this question, so I thought I’d just answer it for you.” We have had as few as 30 people and as many as 100 attend each of these seminars. People are hungry for information — and not information from a computer screen, but information from a real, live human being who has experienced the vacation that they are considering.
This seminar led to a second seminar on Alaska. All of us know that Alaska can be complicated and confusing to the general public when they see the number of cruise/tours available. They want reassurance that they are choosing the right cruise or cruise/tour for their particular wants.
I discuss the difference in doing only an Alaska cruise (even down to the difference in an Inside Passage and Gulf or Glacier Route cruise) to deciding which cruise/tour would meet the majority of their expectations, to why they should start at the farthest point north because they are flying from the Southeast to begin their Alaska adventure.
At our show this year, we decided that I would drop the first-time cruiser seminar and do three destination seminars — Alaska, the Caribbean and Europe. I had seating for 50 in each of my sessions. I did Alaska twice, the Caribbean once, and Europe twice during the show. Each session lasted about 45 minutes.
I had standing room only with people outside in the hall during four of the five sessions. Next year, the room I’ll have will seat 125. Hopefully, this one will have standing room only also. All I did was convey information that is readily available on the Internet, but for some reason, it just sounds better coming from someone who has been to these places.
We have done group leader seminars in the past where we literally train people to become group leaders. There is no end to the types of seminars you can do to set you and your agency apart from the others in your area. However, there are some things that you must do to implement a series of seminars.

1. Determine the purpose of the seminar.
a. Is it to attract new prospects? (Like our first-time cruiser seminars)
b. Is it to get current and past customers to buy from you again? (Like the destination seminars)
2. Determine the day, time and place.
a. Is Tuesday night the best time, or is a Sunday afternoon better?
b. Should you have the seminar at a hotel, or would a meeting room at your local library or at a restaurant be better?
c. Will the attendees be primarily senior citizens who most likely won’t come out at night, or will they be families and working adults?
3. Get a sponsor (endorsement by a third party).
a. Would one of your preferred suppliers be willing to help underwrite the cost of your seminar if they could do a brief “commercial” for their products?
b. Will you offer to do your seminar for a specific group or professional organization?
4. Promote the seminar.
a. How will you promote your seminars?
i. Postcard mailer with numerous dates and seminars listed
ii. E-mail
iii. Newspaper advertisement
5. Follow up.
a. What will you do to collect names and addresses of those who attend?
b. How will you contact them the week following your seminar?
6. Get the most from your seminar.
a. Are you going to record your seminar to send to potential groups asking to become a speaker for them?

All of us love what we do, or we wouldn’t be in this business. And, all of us love to talk to people about taking the best vacation they’ve ever had. Why not use that talent in promoting your agency to current customers as well as prospects?
Use your “gift of gab.” You’ll be glad you did.

Sherrie Funk and husband Charlie own Just Cruisin! Plus, Nashville. They founded the Travel Agent Management Academy to educate owners and managers about the techniques that have been instrumental to their agency’s success.