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She launched her website in 1998, and as the only agent, booked slightly more than $200K of gross sales in cruises. Today, she has a network of 16 independent travel ambassadors working with her. To date in 2002, they have collectively booked more than 20 groups and 500 individual vacations. From its inception, Cruisegal was intended to be a virtual entity. Terri and her network place a huge emphasis on personal interaction facilitated through the technology provided by OnlineAgency. From its inception, CruiseGal.com was intended to be a virtual entity. There's simply no other way to reach clients who are anywhere at any time with exactly the information they want. Because we're 100% online, we have to rely on building one-on-one relationships with our customers. It's our values that set us apart. We live them. They are: We behave with integrity and professionalism, we are ethical and courteous, and we sell travel because it's fun for customers & it's fun for us. There have been so many times that a client has told me that another agency was rude to them or didn't get back to them in a timely fashion. All of our Quote Requests are responded to immediately. If the prospect includes a phone number, they will receive a call within one hour or the start of the next business day. When we treat every customer with courtesy and an eye towards saving them time, the sales come. Although the sale may not happen at just that moment, everyone we talk to will remember us. And either they will return or they'll tell someone else about us. Either way, it's a success and we're continuing to grow our business. How has OnlineAgency saved you time? Before I integrated OnlineAgency's content into my website, I was collecting faxes all week, sorting them for new specials, entering them into html, and then ftp'ing them to my website. It took me an entire business day to do it every single week! It was an absolutely daunting task. Each week, I also had to review what was already up and eliminate the outdated ones. The time I was spending on my website was time that I should have been spending selling travel and building relationships with my clients. I've had OnlineAgency's content on my website since 2000. I was looking for someone who would load all of my supplier specials into my site while leaving my design integrity intact and be transparent to my users. Sort of like a silent partner. All of a sudden, my little home-based agency appeared as big and as sophisticated as any national conglomerate. Couple the data with the human-beings to put thought, knowledge and put all the pieces together for our clients and it's exactly what I had intended. The increased legitimacy it added was instant. Recently, I was invited by Carnival to be their guest on their new Conquest Ship. It was such a thrill for a small home-based agency to be invited by Carnival to be their guest. My website and the OnlineAgency content continue to help me grow my agency--and get a chance to play with the big boys! What is your most favorite feature of OnlineAgency? I absolutely love the Newsletter feature. Almost 2/3 of the people in my Guestbook are repeat customers. Every week, my Newsletter goes out and promotes the specials my agency is focusing on. And now that the Newsletter goes out in HTML format to those customers who can receive it, it helps to extend my brand legitimacy. There was a time that I would have learned how to send out my own HTML version, but now I'm just too busy. A lot of us agents asked for the HTML capability and OnlineAgency listened and delivered. After the Newsletter, hands down, it's the people who support it. I can't say enough about how helpful they are when I have a question or can't figure something out. I almost always get answers or solutions in less than a day. I know I can send in a support request and whatever I need will be taken care of. That personal attention means I'll be loyal forever.
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