Jamie Biesiada
For Danny Genung, owner of Harr Travel in Redlands, Calif., keeping his eye on a firm objective has led to success in group bookings.
Genung recently addressed the subject at CoNexion 2018, Nexion's annual conference, in his talk called "Using Backwards Planning: Plan the Perfect Group by Solving the Pain Points of Travel."
Genung has been a Nexion affiliate for 13 years. He's been to more than 100 countries and has sailed on over 100 cruises; he estimated CoNexion, held aboard the Harmony of the Seas, was his 40th cruise with Royal Caribbean (his first was also with the
cruise line, aboard the Nordic Empress when he was 9).
Before he was an agent, Genung was a teacher for 10 years. He loved his profession but decided to move to travel as his sole career before his daughter was born. The decision came from something he learned while teaching: Figure out your objective and
recalibrate as necessary when teaching to reach it.
"Make sure that you're on point and you're following that objective," he said.
Before his daughter was born, his objective was to present her with "endless opportunities," something a career in travel has helped fulfill. Now almost 3, she has been on seven cruises and has already been to Europe three times.
Genung realized that another objective of his was to sell luxury travel.
"That objective was put into place, but what I found out as I was doing it, the same level of service goes into every product level," he said.
Last year, his most successful trip was a group aboard Royal Caribbean. That trip led him to the realization that fixing a problem in the moment is one of the most valuable things an agent can do for his or her client.
"I realized my objective at the end of the day was, of course, to make money," he said. "But it was [also] to create experiences for people and to do it with them while they're traveling, so that I can create a relationship with them that you can't replicate
no matter how many client dinners you take, no matter how many gifts you send."