Advisor Insights: Beverley Edgar on Finding Your Niche

Beverley Edgar loved to travel but knew nothing about becoming a travel advisor and her timing to become one was impeccable; she graduated from The Travel Agent Next Door in March 2020.

“I had called TICO to find out how to become an agent and they gave me a list of host agencies,” she told Travel Market Report. “The TTAND name just sort of stuck with me and I reached out to Rhonda (Friisdahl) and started the process. And then I graduated right when COVID hit,” she ends with a laugh.

Edgar says she took the down time during the pandemic to really build her skills and knowledge as an advisor.

“I was able to learn about so many suppliers, and it helped sort of shape where I wanted to be. I didn’t know a niche market at first, but I knew I wanted to be more in the adventure travel area and what really solidified that for me, was my first TTAND conference in Jamaica.

At that conference I connected with David (Green) at G Adventures and Kristen (Erz) at Hurtigruten and I just knew. I knew I wanted my focus to be on adventure travel that’s sustainable. I obviously sell all kinds of travel because that’s what advisors do, but what I really love to sell is the adventure.”

As adventurous as Edgar is, she’s also part of a chorus organization called Sweet Adelines International, a group dedicated to barbershop-style harmony sung by women. Expanding her niche, she’s leading her first group tour of chorus members on a music-focused river cruise this coming June.

“I started thinking about a musical kind of river cruise, and on the Danube is Salzburg of course, where the Sound of Music took place. I told my chorus members that I was thinking of putting together a river cruise group.

What I’m hoping is that this one is going to fuel something that I can build on, I’m hoping that I can continue to do this with more Sweet Adelines members, or even the same ones if they’d like to do another one.”

Edgar says having a niche can be important to advisors’ success, as it helps track clientele, but really, it’s more about the advisor’s passion.

“If you’re into a niche market and it’s something you truly love, you’re just going to enjoy your job that much more. Of course I book travel for all-inclusives and such, but when I can book travel for what I love, it makes all the difference.”

Being a travel advisor also means representing all advisors in a sense, something Edgar strongly believes in.

“It’s important when you start getting clients, that you realize how you work with them and what you do for them as a whole, matters greatly. In the end it’s a reflection on all of us as travel agents. Bad reviews can spread like wildfire and then leave others wondering why they would work with an agent in the first place.

We need to maintain that we offer a valuable service.”