You know what your problem is, Pumpkins? Time. Selling travel is probably the biggest time suck on the planet.
That’s why you don’t have any. Explaining and encouraging, in great detail, how, where, why, when and which way – for hours - is an arduous business. (Reminds me of Phyllis Diller describing sex to her husband Fang.)
Over the past weeks, presidents of travel companies, sales reps, brochures, booths and retailers have flown to shows around the country in order to sell trips – which means face-to-face talking with consumers. Because, ultimately, that’s what it takes. To convince a couple to entrust 10 days of their life to you is a complicated business. (God knows, the last time a couple entrusted themselves to me for just 10 hours ended with me in handcuffs – and not the pink fluffy kind.)
As you well know, darhlings, it’s not like selling a coffee pot. Online has tried to make the process “scalable” – taking your knowledge and cramming it into a program. But when you watch a consumer leave a seminar glowing with the possibilities of floating through Venice, eating in Paris or driving through Ireland, you know that human intervention is the only way to get that 5k per person with a non-refundable deposit out of their pockets. I guess we'll have to suck it up until we find a better way.
