AVC Adds Exec Forums Published on: March 4, 2007 (EDITOR’S NOTE: Brad Anderson, co-president of San Diego-based America’s Vacation Center (AVC), and Jeff Anderson, vice president of marketing, detailed a series of initiatives in this interview with Travel Trade editor Nick Verrastro and senior editor George Dooley at the recent New York Times Travel Show in New York City.) Travel Trade: Why is AVC launching the Travel Executive Forum teleconference series? Brad Anderson: The series of monthly Travel Executive Forums featuring top industry executives is our way of giving back to the industry that has provided so much to us and our affiliates. The teleconference is open to all agents, not just AVC affiliates, who are among the first 1,000 to register at www.TravelExecutiveForum.com. The forums will be at 9 a.m. Pacific time. We are going to start March 20 with Bob Dickinson, CTC, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines. The next Forum in April will feature Adam Goldstein, Royal Caribbean’s president, and Lisa Bauer, senior vice president, sales, making a live presentation from Europe aboard Liberty of the Seas. We will follow up with Steve Gorga, CTC, president and CEO of Travel Impressions, at the May forum. As an American Express Travel representative, we are very pleased that American Express is sponsoring the forums. TT: Does AVC plan to adapt its very successful cruise sales programs to tour sales? Brad Anderson: Yes, but very carefully. We have a task force looking into tours and expect to integrate tours into our Agent Power 5.0 system. AVC sees tremendous sales and marketing opportunities in this segment. But it will take time to provide our agents with the expertise and product knowledge they need, as well as the necessary support in Agent Power. Expand Tour Sales We worked with Travel Impressions to integrate their booking engine with Agent Power at the end of 2006 and as a result, our bookings with them were up over 200% through mid-February. We plan to add 10 tour companies by the end of the year — most of the industry’s major brands – and we intend to match in tours what we do in cruise sales. Jeff Anderson: All our affiliates specialize in certain products and destinations. We plan to adopt that model for tour sales, as well. We do specialist training on ships and destinations — with the Alaska destination marketing organization in conjunction with Alaska cruises and now with the Hawaii Convention and Visitors Bureau. We recently began the Hawaii destination training program and they are very excited about it. TT: How important is branding to AVC and your affiliates? Brad Anderson: The American Express brand is tremendously important to us and to AVC’s agents. We are now marking our 20th year as a member of the American Express Representative Network and have consistently won awards for our performance. American Express is very supportive and our agents benefit from the power and credibility of the American Express brand. Jeff Anderson: American Express has 2,200 offices worldwide and that is a huge help for us, because we can tell our customers that we provide them with an extensive support network. Our clients have confidence in the American Express brand and have access to resources. TT: What do the agency of the year awards AVC has garnered from several lines mean to the agency and your customers? Brad Anderson: They are an indication of our performance. Awards not only underscore sales volume but also the quality of the relationship between AVC and our supplier partners. Both are needed to deliver quality customer services. Jeff Anderson: The awards give our agents a lot of credibility with their customers. We have a very comfortable feeling about our business model and our vendors are happy with our performance. The awards indicate that. We feel that going forward, our model is sustainable and profitable. And vendors have a lot of confidence in us. TT: What challenges does AVC face? Brad Anderson: It’s less a question of challenges than one of opportunities. The travel industry is growing and we want AVC to be positioned to grow with it. We have invested heavily in technology to give AVC agents the tools they need for success. We invest in education and training. We help agents by providing sales leads. We want AVC to attract and retain quality travel agents and to offer independent agents an exceptional program that rewards and encourages them. Look to Quality of Support Our average agent earns $750,000 gross. The independent agent must look beyond commission splits to the quality of support they receive. At the same time, we want to be able to deliver quality services to clients. We want our agents to be competitive in pricing, services and skills: to be the ‘gold standard’ among Host agencies. Jeff Anderson: We also invest a lot in education and training. You can’t just pay a $250 fee and call yourself a travel agent. The industry has to realize that consumers are going to use the Internet before they come to us. We think we do better in an educated environment than in a naïve environment. The sales cycle is much shorter because of the research consumers do online.