Advice from a Travel Advisor Lifetime Achiever

After 43 years as a travel advisor, 14 consecutive years of winning Host agency Nexion’s highest awards, winning Nexion’s Ambassador Award three times, and now being the first-ever recipient of the agency’s Advisor Lifetime Achievement Award, Steve Lincoln said he’s far from done.

“I know that this is being called a lifetime achievement award, but I made very sure to let them know. I’m not at the end of my career,” he told TMR. “I look forward to a very bright future.”

Lincoln joined Nexion in 2004, but his time in the industry dates back even further to 1982. For his first 20 years, he worked for someone else. Then, in 2002 he took the leap and started his own agency.

He never thought he’d achieve the levels of success he has. To reach this point, Lincoln has followed his own path.

TMR got to sit down with Lincoln at Nexion’s recent annual conference in Orlando to talk about what he attributes his success to, what advice he has for newer advisors, and what he’s so proud of.

Relationships > Transactions

While Lincoln told TMR he attributes much of his success to a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, what it really comes down to is his strong relationships with his clients.

“When I started in my business, I made the very conscious decision to nurture relationships and not look at transactions,” Lincoln told TMR. “I genuinely focus on the relationship. I believe that if you give good service, the money will follow.”

Rather than individual transactions, Lincoln said he tries to look at the big picture.

“There are times when people will come in and ask for a trip that I know is not going to be a major profitable trip for me to work but you have to look at the big picture. Is their next trip going to be a 45-day cruise around the South Pacific? Is their previous trip a 30-day cruise around South America?”

Additionally, Lincoln said he doesn’t expect to get paid for everything he does for someone. Some tasks are all part of the big picture, and some are part of relationship building.

“If there’s an event in their life that you can drop what you’re doing and go help the 85-year-old lady change her tire because she has a flat, you’re not doing that for money. You’re doing that because you care about that person,” he said.

He added that with many clients, he’s met their families and they’ve met his. They’ve traveled together, as well.

“A lot of my clients I regard to be friends and they regard me as a friend as well.”

With all that said, Lincoln emphasized he’s not ignoring the money side of things.

“Obviously, I have a business to run… I’m not bankrupting myself but it doesn’t cost anything to nurture a relationship.”

Staying Connected

TMR asked Lincoln for his advice on how to nurture client relationships, especially in between trips.

“Advisors need to focus a little bit more on special events in people’s lives,” he said.

Reach out to them on their birthday, on their anniversary.

“I’m not saying you have to go out and buy a $5 Hallmark card and put a dollar postage on it. But maybe send them a quick email saying happy birthday, I’m thinking of you… Just something to keep you involved in their lives.”

Another “anniversary” you can help your clients celebrate is the anniversary of a big trip they took.

“A year ago today, you were here. Happy anniversary. Just something to keep your name at the forefront of their minds when they’re thinking of travel helps quite a bit.”

It is appropriate to send a card if you find out that your client has had a death in the family.

“That is an appropriate time to buy a literal card and mail it and say I’m thinking of you.”

Lincoln also picks up the phone, always when the client comes back from the trip and from time to time in between trips.

“I can’t do that for every single trip, but if it’s a big trip or if it’s a big trip to them, yes, I will do that. Or, if it’s something that I personally recommended to them and sold them on, then, yes, I will do that.  If this is their 15th Royal Caribbean cruise out of Miami to the Caribbean, I’m probably not going to.”

Not Your Usual Advice

Some of Lincoln’s advice goes a bit against the grain of what we usually hear.  

For instance, he rarely charges his leisure clients service fees, and when he does, he applies the money towards the client’s final payment (and only after the final payment is non-refundable) if they choose to book with him. (For his corporate clients he charges a fee for every transaction.)

Lincoln also isn’t a fan of giving clients thank you gifts.            

“I have never thanked my lawyer. I have never thanked my hairdresser, my dentist. I don’t think that’s something that should be expected from the consumer or by the advisor.”

This is doubly true if the client is wealthy.

“Buying a millionaire a $15 photo album isn’t going to cut it. It’s a nice gesture, but do they want a $15 photo album? No, they don’t.”

When he does send something, it’s not a thank you gift, but more of a thinking-of-you gift. He told TMR about one client who collects cans of beer wherever they go. On a trip to Cuba, they were intimidated into not bringing anything back into the U.S. but they were disappointed, so when he happened to go to Cuba several months later, he brought a can back and mailed it to them.

“They were so appreciative of that,” he said. “You have to do it in a thoughtful manner or else it becomes robotic and you’ve lost the genuine-ness to it. And, people can tell. You cannot feign genuine appreciation. And just saying, thanks for booking that trip with me, I appreciate it, you helped me pay my electric bill, that’s not going to cut it.”

To Niche or Not to Niche

Another piece of advice Lincoln has for new advisors that you won’t often hear: Be careful about becoming too niche.

“I know that in today’s travel environment, everybody is encouraging new agents to find a niche. And I say, don’t let your niche limit you.”

In other words, don’t go so far down the path of specialization that you can’t pivot if what you’ve specialized in hits a rough patch.

It starts, he said, with what you call your agency.

“If you’re going to call it Gina’s Caribbean Cruises, is a client going to come to you when they want to go to Europe? Probably not.”

Having something you specialize in is fine, he said, but make sure you know something about the rest of the travel business.

“You cannot ignore the rest of the industry because you may need the other components of the industry. As we learned from COVID and 9/11 and other events throughout history, your business can change overnight.”

Lincoln, who works out of a storefront location – another uncommon characteristic for a travel advisor these days – is a generalist.

“When I started in this business, I had no formal training at all. It was work by the seat of my pants and I learned everything I could about every aspect of this business.”

Succeeding Against the Odds

After more than four decades as a travel advisor, Lincoln has a lot to be proud of but it’s his own resiliency and tenacity that he takes the most pride in.

“When I left my previous employment and decided 23 years ago to open my own agency, all bets were on me to fail,” he said, adding that the only people to encourage him were his wife, his parents, and his in-laws.

“It was a very rough opening. It took two to three years before I felt like I was established.”

He added, “To have overcome that mindset and to have proven them wrong and to be able to look back in retrospect and say, I should have done this 43 years ago, not 23 years ago. I’m very proud of that.”