How Travel Advisors Can Use Their Own Story to Attract New Clients

“Who doesn’t love a good story? I’m going to share my story with you and hope by doing so you’ll walk away with lessons on how to share your own story. ”

That’s how Mary Jane Hiebert, the general manager of Canada One Travel, kicked off her session called “Involvement and Engagement” at Travel Market Place West in Vancouver last week. Hiebert told the audience about how she journeyed to where she is today and what lessons she learned along the way in hopes that they would learn how their own story can help them attract new clients and connect with current ones.

“I was involved in a variety of different things growing up…piano lessons, which I hated, and then we moved to voice which I grew to love,” Hiebert said. That love of singing would eventually lead Hiebert to an audition for CBC’s Hymn Sing, a nationally broadcast series that showcases music sun by a sixteen voice choir.

Hiebert landed a spot in Hymn Sing and got to travel all around Canada, taking in new cities and singing 18-times a year. During her time off, she applied for a job at the Steinbeck credit union, getting hired as a teller and eventually working her way to receptionist to the first woman’s loan officer in the company’s history. It was a great accomplishment, but it didn’t last.

“I got a little tired training men who were doing my job and getting paid double what I was getting paid,” she said. She would quit her job and then enroll in the music program at the University of Manitoba. After graduation she continued to pursue a singing career, using her connections made through Hymn Sing to book performances in all over Canada and in Europe. But she needed another income source.

“I decided that I was going to use my experience from the credit union to try and find out what else there is out there that I could do that I would enjoy that would complement my singing career,” she said.

In 1994, one year before Hymn Sing would go off the air, Hiebert purchased Harvest Travel Agency in Steinbeck.

“I knew nothing about selling travel but I was fortunate to work with two colleagues who were very eager to get me up to speed,” she said “Hymn Sing was cut and all I had was my travel agency but I knew nothing about it. I learned as much as I could from my colleagues but then both of them announced they were pregnant and going on leave.”

“I had to learn to admit that I didn’t know lots of stuff and learned to research so I could sell it. I poured myself into my job and built my confidence and not long after I became a business leader in my community. “

Hiebert kept traveling to Europe to sing and bringing her travel experience home because people would ask her where she went last and she would use that experience to sell it to potential clients. What she was doing was recognizing that she had a unique experience people wanted to hear about and using that to sell people travel.

“I used the benefits of travel to be a singer and the benefits of singing to be a travel agent,” she said. “We all take things for granted…I became fully aware of the magnitude of my story a few years ago.”

So how can agents use their own story?

“I think the message I want to send is that I haven’t had greater opportunities than anyone else. Try to work hard and gain from my experience in various areas. It’s about getting out there and not waiting for it to come to you.”

Sharing your story will help establish relationships going forward, she explained. Joining ACTA, sitting on regional councils, getting involved in the local chamber of commerce will all propel you to opportunities to share that story, and that story, no matter how compelling, will help establish relationships with potential clients.

“Get out there, be in front. The more you work, the more you volunteer, the more you’re visible and the more you comeback, it comes back to you, as well.”

It doesn’t matter what your story is. What’s important is relaying it in a way your clients can relate to, and give them a reason to come back to you over and over again. Travel is a relationship business, and forming those relationships starts with sharing what brought you to the place you occupy now.

“Don’t be afraid to share your story, that’s my story.”