Just Picture It Now

"Single your company out from the crowd by providing customers with a real person to talk to. Live phone support is an invaluable way to foster trust."

Giving your "customers" a supplier 800 number is NOT customer service!!

It's amzaing to me that you and YTB don't get that. LMAO

"Giving your "customers" a supplier 800 number is NOT customer service!!"

I agree 100%.

Please understand the full scope of my message.

“We as both Rep’s and RTA's can take responsibility on our own and how we can improve this art form.”

Which is exactly what I have done. Go to www.bandbvacations.com and look at the top browser bar. The “Customer Service Number” you see happens to be my own, not a suppliers.

I see too many times on both sides of the fence, (both YTB and Traditional Agents) that people tend to whine about what’s wrong instead of taking the responsibility on their own to fix it. That’s “Customer SELF Service” in my eyes.

Hey Doug, I've been on this site (and just checked it again). I don't see a "Customer Service Number". Not on the home page and clicking on the help page gives me the generic 'call the vendor' spiel. What am I missing?

And, really, that help page needs to be gone if YTB wants any credibility in the industry. I'm not being snarky, I'm just stating what I believe to be true. As long as that is there, the impression is that YTB is not going to take responsibility for "what's wrong", as you say. And if YTB is not going to take responsibility, then they shouldn't be accepting commissions from suppliers they haven't earned, because taking responsibility for what you've sold is part of the package.

Am I wrong?

I wouldn’t say that you are wrong Ann, but I would tell you that it’s simply your “opinion” which you are certainly entitled to.

Look again just above the URL http://www.bandbvacations.com.

“Welcome to BandBVacations.com! For Customer Service Call: 678-458-5811 – Windows Internet Explorer.”

Here’s the thing Ann, that number happens to be my wife’s. (My number ends in 5812.) But I happen to get the vast majority of the calls concerning travel bookings. That’s because my number happens to be on this web site (Blog), our business cards, our mailers, brochures and catalogs and all e-mail marketing campaigns and also on our YTB Marketing Site. We also happen to get a good number of phone calls on the house phone, which is probably programmed on someone’s speed dial.

What level of importance do you think having my wife’s phone number being available on the booking engine is to either of us?

While I am sure there are RTA’s who simply point people to the web site and let YTB take care of the “customer service issues”, they are the ones who are making the so called $9 a month that everyone likes to complain out. In that regard, I would have to agree with you that $9 in commissions a month is not a real business.

We use the term “Relationship Marketing” a lot in our industry, and we use that because the relationship is with us, not the company. If you’ve done your job properly, which is entirely your responsibility not the companies, you will grow and flourish in this industry.

PS – Is “snarky” some sort of Travel Agent lingo that I’ve never heard about in the last 3 years?

Honest, Doug, the phone is not there. I'm on IE7, XP Pro. In fact, all I see is "B and B Vacations". And this is what many, many of us see on any YTB site. No contact info other than supplier phones. There's not even a link to your marketing site. What happens to someone who is booking on the site, has problems and doesn't have your number handy to walk them thru it? What happens to someone who has been surfing and happens on your site? With no contact info or "about us" page, who's comfortable booking on a site that refers you to the supplier for problems? Might as well book with the supplier.

"What level of importance do you think having my wife’s phone number being available on the booking engine is to either of us?" You know, it really doesn't matter whether the phone on the site is one you don't get many calls on or not. Yes, most of your calls may come thru other means, but I would call that a flaw in your marketing...

"While I am sure there are RTA’s who simply point people to the web site and let YTB take care of the “customer service issues”," -- YTB is not taking care of customer service issues, they are referring the customer back to the supplier. And if the RTA is simply pointing the customer to a web site to book, then they should not be receiving full commissions, but a referring fee.

YTB should be making a distinction between those members who really are booking travel (like you), and those who are simply doing the referral thing (as RTA implies). And your compensation plan should reflect that.

Haha! Snarky is actually a JF favorite. Kind of like if I were to tell you to go drink some more Kool-Aid...

Ann;

Scott Tomer has a great saying, “We need Travel Agents” not “Secret Agents”. If you signed up with YTB today, nobody is going to look at you tomorrow, next week, or next month and say “You just bought a Travel Agency didn’t you?” If you Google “Travel Agent” you come up with 25,200,000 results. What do you think my chances are of someone finding BandBVacations.com on that list?

I get bookings because I develop relationships with people. Those that don’t bother to promote and market their booking engine simply don’t get any visibility, period. There isn’t even anyone on their site to begin with to call and bother a supplier.

While I understand and appreciate your issue, you understand that you and I are communicating right now without finding the phone number above the browser, and if you had any questions concerning travel, you CAN get in touch with me right?

I got a call from John225 and had a very nice conversation with him a few weeks ago. How did he get my number? I speak with other YTB Rep’s or RTA’s all the time who are cross line to me. How do they get my number? I also get other veteran Travel Agents posing as first time cruise customers who call me about transfers, gratuities, shore excursions, and passport information to see if I really know what I’m talking about or just blowing smoke. How do they get my number?

My kids are enjoying the Cherry Flavored Kool-Aid that John Frenaye sent me for Christmas. How did he get my address?

Trust me…my marketing is not “flawed”. If I do my job properly I will have all the leads, contacts, and bookings I could ever ask for.

If anyone, including you, wants to find out more about how to do this right, I have a link and logo to the right under "Tools We Use" for something called "Magnetic Sponsoring", and it works for both recruiting and booking travel. It's a really nice system and I highly recommend it for attracting more customers.

Two last points.

“There's not even a link to your marketing site.”

As someone who has been all over my booking engine, I wanted to thank you for pointing that out. You are correct you do not find links back to the Marketing Site from our Booking Engines. Contrary to popular myths about those of us involved in Network Marketing, not everyone wants to recruit people and I can tell you from personal experience I was one of them when I first started. I have several Team Members who want no part of the recruiting side of this business. We give them that option by NOT having links or any reference to the marketing side of this business, either on the web site directly or through our Steals and Deals newsletter.

Lastly, thank you for clarifying where “snarky” came from. I thought I might have missed something by not going to Travel Agent School or need to qualify for some sort of Certification before being able to use this word.

My kids are enjoying the Cherry Flavored Kool-Aid that John Frenaye sent me for Christmas. How did he get my address?


Not the kids--- LOL just kidding!

(Yes, it was hermetically sealed)

Not the kids?

How else can I guarantee that they will become Directors with YTB when they turn 18? ;-P