Three Lessons I Learned Spending a Week With Travel Experts (Luxury Travel Advisors and Their Suppliers)

Hint: Story is still the secret weapon to getting business and retaining members.

?I was lucky enough to be commissioned to work on a cruise for Travel Experts . Oddly enough, I had it on my bucket list - to be invited to speak on a cruise. Hello Law of Attraction, nice to meet you. The fact that I got to do it with my best friend, and fellow speaker Laurie Guest - well, that certainly qualified as a double check on the bucket list.?

It was a European working cruise, meaning the attendees were there to work - their guests were there to play. Pretty much like a conference on water. Our job was to serve both, through a series of educational programs for the attendees and not-so-educational programs for the guests on those quiet sea days when no excursions had been planned.

There were so many fun moments to share as my office became international, my accent became more pronounced, and the view out of my window changed dramatically. But today, I want to share what I learned about influence in business and why it might matter to you.

?1. Humor and Motivation Still Sells. On one of the nights at sea, I performed my theater show Who Hijacked My Fairy Tale. While this was promoted as a night of entertainment and motivation, it still brought high value to the work experience. Why? Because people remember how you made them feel. A conference isn't just about sharing information and getting work done; it's about creating a moment they will remember forever. Or at least until next year when you want them to sign up again. I was amazed at how one day these strangers were polite to me, and the day after the show, they were plopping down at my table sharing their own stories. Our relationship had changed dramatically overnight simply because I had made them laugh and motivated them. This is good business.

?2. Game playing and story sharing creates connection and relationships.? Laurie and I took our job of "entertaining guests" to a new level. Our goal wasn't just to keep them occupied; it was to make sure they were connecting with each other, forming relationships that would last longer than our session, giving them a memory worth keeping. I give Travel Experts major kudos for making sure the guests were just as cared for as the attendees. When planning an event, games and ice breakers, and story swaps, might seem superfluous. But if the guest isn't happy, the attendee isn't happy. Not only were the games SUPER fun (thank you Laurie Guest and her amazing Price is Right game show at sea) but giving them a chance to share their favorite travel stories formed a bond between the group that turned strangers into friends. That is smart business.

3. The Story Makes You Memorable, Not Your Bullet Points.? One major component of this conference was the supplier/buyer sessions.? Suppliers (aka Vendors) were given a table full of Buyers, and then given 5 minutes to "pitch" to those buyers. Once the timer went off, then a new group was brought in. Think of it like speed dating. It went on all day. So you can imagine the amount of information the Buyer was taking in, and how exhausted those Suppliers were by dinner when we talked about their day. Two major lessons revealed themselves to me when I chatted with the Suppliers and Buyers about the process. ?

a. The story humanizes you. I had dinner with one of the Suppliers who was new to the job and new to the group - not new to the industry, but new to this kind of experience of pitching in rapid succession. She was a little nervous because she had developed this internal story line that said nobody really cared about her product - that it was subpar compared to the others.? Laurie and I jumped in to help. The first thing we asked was whether the idea of a less than product was true or just a story she was writing? We showed her how having a negative internal script can sabotage your success and is often not true anyway.? Then we asked about her pitch, which was as you might suspect - a list of things they do. It's probably what many of the Suppliers had in their script. I then gently challenged her to add something to it, even at the risk of losing one of those talking points. I encouraged her to tell a story about why she chose this line of work and what it means to her personally. I asked her to take me to a moment where she saw one of the guests on her cruise line wrapped up in the magic of something that only her cruise line does. I asked her to show me how this made her feel to be a part of it. I told her that it didn't matter what she said, or how good the words were, but that simple act of sharing a personal story would humanize her to this new group and make her memorable in a way that her talking points couldn't. We quickly helped her create a Why story based on the template I share with my clients. She texted later to say it was a HIT. And she had so much fun and a bunch of new friends. I am sure that her story will rise about the clutter of that day in a buyer's mind.

?b. The story makes it stick. On another occasion, I was chatting with a Supplier in the coffee shop about my storytelling expertise. He had heard me in an earlier educational program discuss how it's the story that has far more persuasive power than the point you are making. He was obviously not buying it. His crossed arms indicated that he was rooted in his own way of doing things - a pose I often see from sales people who aren't willing to consider new ideas.I will never forget his words:? I don't have time to tell a story. I only get four minutes. I just need to let them know what makes us different.? I smiled politely and didn't argue. But he was DEAD WRONG. His job was not to tell them how his company was different. His job was to make them REMEMBER how his company was different. I am quite confident that by dinner, his talking points were already lost in the shuffle of his buyers' brains. My point was proven at another session where one of the travel advisors got up and shared that she still remembers that one vendor and his hotel from YEARS ago because he told the story of the dent in the stairway of his hotel and the history behind it. The STORY is what she remembered, not the talking points. Several of the other advisors in the room nodded and said, "Yeah! I remember that guy."? THAT is good business.

All in all, it was the trip of a lifetime for me, with memories and lessons that will outlive my sea legs. And I'm pretty sure a year from now, it will be the stories I remember most.

Need help with YOUR stories? You know where to find me.?

MotivationalSpeakerKellySwanson.com