My Fair Travel Agent
by Scott Koepf /Performers on stage during a My Fair Lady production. Photo:
I have spent a good part of my career in travel as an educator, and I sometimes even fancy myself as a professor of retail travel. I read everything I can about our business, which is what I think professors do, and I even have the stereotypical grey in my hair. So with my pipe and the patches on the elbows of my blazer I envision myself changing the industry through my enlightened pontifications, one agent at a time.
Now I know this is wrong on many levels, but work with me as I take on the persona of one of the most beloved yet annoying characters from the musical My Fair Lady (or for those of you professors out there who consider musicals lowbrow, then reference Pygmalion).
Professor Higgins, who takes the professor stereotype to the ultimate level, believes he can change a common street urchin into a proper English woman. Just like in My Fair Lady, I can easily see myself taking a struggling travel agent and turning him or her into a sales superstar. With a bit of liberty to the lyrics, I passionately would sing,
I’m an ordinary man
Even-tempered and good-natured who you never hear complain
Who has the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein.
But let an agent in my life and they haven’t got a chance!
I will lead them, I will show them how to market and to sell, and I will show the errors of their ways.
I would believe that by sharing my experiences and knowledge in articles like this I could indeed change an average travel agent into a sales rock star. However, My Fair Lady is not the story of the professor but the lady, Eliza Doolittle. Watching her transformation into a proper lady makes two things abundantly clear. First is an honest and deep desire to change, which is evident from her first song…
All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air…
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly.
She knew there was more to life and was willing to try to change to get there. After giving and attending hundreds of seminars I have wondered just how many agents have the full intention of changing to become more successful. I see all the heads nod, but the same agents are back next year still wondering why they are not reaching their goals.
In other words, while I appreciate that you are reading this, if you do not really want to change then all of my professorial advice and the excellent advice of the other writers in this publication are wasting your time.
However, the desire for change and willingness to be open-minded is only the first step, as Eliza shows us that change is hard! You have to practice, try again, fail, try again, practice some more, and simply not give up. Remember….
The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.
With the magic of theatre the representation of time jumps quickly but after many weeks of painful exercises and techniques we finally hear…
By George, she’s got it!
By George, she’s got it!
The best advice, direction, and ideas are all worthless unless you are open to improvement, want to change with all your heart, and then are willing to persevere through the pain to get to the results you deserve! Again with slight liberty to the lyrics, like Eliza you too could end up singing…
I could have sold all day, I could have sold all day
And still have sold some more.
I simply used my lips and sold a thousand trips, I’ve never sold before.
I never knew that sales was so exciting, why all at once my sales took flight
I only know when I began to sell, I could have sold, sold, sold all day!
Scott Koepf is senior vice president of sales at Avoya Travel.
