Super Agent Phyllis Stoller Builds A Loyal Solo Female Travel Tribe
经过Richard D’Ambrosio/
对于某些人口统计,尤其是想要旅行的女性,但没有可以定期探索的人,旅行可能会令人生畏。
菲利斯·斯托勒(Phyllis Stoller)是一名旅行顾问,她自己独自一人走了范围,他借鉴了她的个人和专业经验,以发展蓬勃发展的团体业务,以帮助女性克服恐惧并培养旅行愿望。
“这真的让我吃惊,accompl的数量ished women who want to travel again, to exotic places, but there is something holding them back,” said Stoller, who has spent 27 years in the industry.
今天,她拥有纽约市妇女旅行小组,为传统和异国情调的地方提供固定的出发旅行。她的套餐包括四星级和更高的住宿,转会,餐点以及参加“不寻常的活动和色彩缤纷的节日”。Stoller市场,每年销售约25组,规模从8-16人不等。
“We went to Iran two years ago, and sold out the trip. We handpicked the local venues and guides. We also do well with Eastern Europe, countries like Croatia and Bosnia,” Stoller said.
斯托勒说,她的客户来自美国各地,包括大城市和小镇,尽管最大的集中在人口更大的州,其中大型枢纽机场。
She also serves the occasional small group that wants to adapt one of her packages. “I’ll get a call or email where someone asks, ‘If I get six friends, will you price it for me?’ We’ll do that as well.” Someone requesting a conventional FIT tour is referred to her many travel advisor friends focusing on those types of trips.
On her website, Stoller describes her company as preferring “the ease and comfort of guaranteed small group travel. We like smart itineraries, which avoid tourist traps and bus tour restaurants. We enjoy thought-provoking speakers and insightful experiences. We want to make travel friends and often stay in touch after each trip.”
Stoller Markets现在的一半旅行是通过她与位于加利福尼亚州恩西诺市SITA World Tours建立的合作伙伴关系。斯托尔(Stoller)喜欢SITA,因为他们愿意掌握她的客户,他们已经提供的各种异国情调的地方以及根据该集团的利益来定制当地体验的能力。
Her key contact and chief collaborator is Mary Barnett, who works in the group sales division at SITA. “Some of the clients require a great deal of handholding. They’re not quite ready to make that first leap of being the stranger on the tour,” Barnett said. “We help convince them that half the people in their group don’t know each other, and when they come home, they will have new friends.”
One of Stoller’s clients is a successful scientist who had traveled all over the world before she retired. When her husband died, she stopped traveling until she joined Stoller’s clientele when she was interested in traveling to the Galapagos Islands.
斯托勒说:“对于这个女人来说,这是她个人与我们同行的重要一步。”“有时候,您只需要耐心等待即可。不要做硬卖。他们可能正在寻找您提供的安全网,谈论他们的恐惧,并提出让他们购买的问题。”
Stoller maintains this “handholding” strategy in the production of her itineraries. For example, to help a group acclimate and build bonds, Stoller’s trips always have a “mix and mingle” event on the first night of arrival. “Some people are more shy than others, while other women are more outgoing. We want them to have the chance to come together as a group before the itinerary begins,” she said.
独奏旅行者自己
大量Stoller的商业模式和产品是基于她自己作为顾问和公司银行家在海外生活和旅行的经验。
Stoller在80年代中期搬到迈阿密之前在伦敦生活了十年。在那里,她和她的丈夫必须管理一个事实,即他的休假时间从他收到海外的5.5周下降到美国仅两周
结果,“他会说‘回到伦敦。我知道您想念您的朋友。’因此,我会独自一人,并获得这些乐趣,学习经验。在我的前几次旅行之后,我知道在某个时候我将在职业生涯中这样做。”
斯托尔继续说:“有一天,我看到我可以在泛美的野生动物园中获得一个常见的传单座椅,但找不到任何人和我一起去。所以,我带了9岁的儿子。”在旅途中,一个女人走近斯托尔,并告诉她:“我没有和孩子一起吃饭。我们不会和你一起吃饭。”
“I wasn’t altogether happy with her approach,” Stoller recalled, “but I also understood that there was a niche for women travelers, and I said to myself, ‘I am going to start a business for me.’”
Stoller started selling her first group trip for solo females in 1991, jetting off to London in January 1992. While a success, the trip occurred the same year that Hurricane Andrew ravaged the Miami area, forcing the relocation of about half of Stoller’s subscribers to a newsletter she had created for women. She thought her budding business might be done.
但是随后,一位当地教授与她联系,以帮助填补中国的巡回演出,询问Stoller是否会在新闻通讯中宣传这次旅行。她回到了比赛中,并开始以女子旅行俱乐部的公司名称预订常规行程。
Stoller sold her company in 2007 to Club ABC Tours, and enjoyed some downtime. But when that company closed its doors, Stoller was free to restart her business as The Women’s Travel Group.
“I stuck with the same demographic, but updated it to women I want to travel with: Women who have retired or still work, who want nice hotels, want friendship, who want to learn something.”
巴内特(Barnett)在亚洲和意大利拥有广泛的专业知识,他描述了如何在2020年前往缅甸的团体中,“我们发现许多旅行者属于花园俱乐部。因此,我们正在增加新加坡海湾的花园的访问。”
巴内特说:“在某些情况下,玛丽会在我们的投资组合中看到一些东西,并告诉我她想要更多的时间,或与当地妇女见面,或者与该小组访问。”“借助我们所有的资源,我们可以这样养活她的经验。”
Handholding approach nurtures client courage
Stoller专注于她理想的客户,并在现代工具和老式的个人风格之间取得了平衡。
First off, she believes in marketing person-to-person as much as possible, including phone calls and in-person engagement. “For my demographic, a voice is much more comforting than an email or text message,” she said. When using email, she tends to write lengthier, more detailed communications, and tries to be “very clear” in all of her digital instructions.
“今天的许多客户今天的问题是他们很难提出问题。斯托勒说,一些运营商会通过一封电子邮件回答问题,上面写着:“这是我们网站上的常见问题解答。”这还不足以使我们的客户感到舒适和控制。”
凭借数十年的经验,西塔(Sita)的巴内特(Barnett)经常通过电话查询特定的个人要求或目的地知识。“我将回答有关条款和条件或活动的特定细节的问题,例如进出吉普车的野生动物园的容易。”
Stoller还通过与旅游目的地相关的书籍和电影清单来维持与客户的交往。beplay银行卡她在出发前将其发送出来,建立预期和兴奋。
“这些女人是如此出色。我亲自认识了数百个。有些人已经成为朋友,当他们访问纽约时停下来见我。”斯托尔说。“我有女人说,‘我从来没有那么有趣。我没有时间去找朋友,因为我是律师,是我公司的合伙人。’这些是使我们继续前进的联系。”