Selling Dreams

The travel industry is like no other. While the income opportunity is certainly there, that doesn’t seem to be what attracts new travel agents to the business. They seem to be attracted by a fascination with travel and the opportunity to make people’s dreams come true; to help create memories that will last a lifetime; to bring families closer together than ever; and to give the “golden years” a totally new meaning for seniors.

Yes, travel agents are sales people. They’re selling dreams and excitement!  They’re well paid, but that’s not the real motivator. It’s the indescribable feeling they get when travelers return from their vacation and enthusiastically share the experience of a lifetime, their memories, and thank the travel agent for helping to make it all possible.   Not many people can say that when they go to work each day, their job is to make people happy, and that they enjoy their work so much that they “take it home with them” --- talking to family, friends, neighbors, even strangers about the wonderful world of travel and the most amazing places on earth.

With the tremendous advances in technology in recent years, home based agents have flourished because of this concept.  People enjoy working as travel agents and opening a home based business is ideal for not just money but a hobby.  Even in hard economic times the industry has grown making more dreams possible...

Mark Gelfuso   Cruise Brothers

Special thanks to Joe Petkunas   Cruise Holidays

For more information about your own home based business visit      mark.cruisingfree.com

Cruise Brothers Goes Ashore

Cruise Brothers Goes Ashore and offers land based vacation packages worldwide. We are extremely fortunate to have travel professionals that are experienced with land vacations of all types and to all destinations.

A We provide our clients with the additional opportunity of being able to explore the world by land. If you’ve dreamed of relaxing on a sandy beach at a luxurious resort, a visit to Sandals or a TNT Vacation to the Caribbean, Mexico or the island paradise of Bermuda are extremely affordable ways to do it.

An escorted tour with Insight Vacations or Collette Vacations is one of the best ways to enjoy the beauty and history of North America, Europe and Britain. These trips offer the freedom of independ- ent travel with style and comfort, and the hassle free advantages of having an experienced travel specialist making your

travel arrangements.
Globus, Trafalgar Tours and GAP Adventures offer hundreds of unique itineraries all over Europe, North America,

South America, Asia, Australia and Africa. Whether it’s a fully escorted, premium, or an independent adventure, you will get unmatched value, insider knowledge, and world-class customer service with every journey. If Hawaii is your dream destination, Pleasant Holidays, Travel Impressions and Disney World Travel offer amazing land packages that will create memories that you’ll cherish for a lifetime. Call our Land Specialists Sheila, Victoria, Becky or Laura for expert advice!

Disadvantages of Booking Direct

A couple years ago I was at a convention show.  I was suppose to be selling and promoting the Cruise Brothers but as I was doing so I noticed a response from people that I didn’t pay as much attention to as I should have before then.  I found that people I talked to thought that it was best to go to the cruise lines directly.  Thing was it was very simple to explain why travel agencies had advantages but the reason were simply not known.  So I will make just a few points why the Cruise Lines directly are not the best way to go about booking a vacation.

There are many different cruise lines and brands out there that must compete with each other to fill cabins and in hopes to build more ships with more cabins to fill.  In order to do so they have travel agencies that help determine which cruise line would be the best to suit the clients needs.  Second if say one cruise line started giving better deals to the public then the travel agencies, then agencies would favor other cruise lines  that compete with each other.  The last point I will make is the ability of travel agents to look for group deals and look at all the cruise ships not just one particular line for the best deal.  It is a shame more people do not realize this but after the amount of spending major cruise brands spend, it is no wonder why some think that going direct is the best way to save money. 

Mark Gelfuso

Cruise Bums

Partnership with the Cruise Brothers

http://mark.cruisebrothers.com

www.cruisebums.com

www.facebook.com/gelfuso1

Benefits of the Information age

The amazing thing about growing up in the information age is that I can learn what I want, when I want and how is best.  People have been saying for years how you can do anything you put your mind too.  This is what is so amazing about today's integrated world.  At anytime I can learn almost any subject at a quicker pace than ever before.  I wanted to learn more to increase my sales and manage more effectively and the resources where before my eyes.  Understand inbound and outbound marketing as well as branding is an ongoing learning process I which I can tap into to keep up to date.  If I want to learn how to do anything, another language, psychology, or whatever my help me achieve my ultimate goal the resources are at my finger tips.

Mark Gelfuso

Cruise Bums

Partnership with the Cruise Brothers

http://mark.cruisebrothers.com

www.cruisebums.com

Travel Agents Going Home

Though you may have already noticed with nearly half of travel agencies closing down since the turn of the century.  There have been many struggles such as 9/11, recessions, fuel as well as other tangibles, where travel is one of the first industries to be affected.  In slow times paying rent, taxes, fees and even driving to work is expensive and for small agencies who do not receive as high commission bonuses as larger agencies it forced many to close down.  Even the largest agencies didn't all survive the was however increasing technologies and the need for innovation which sparked creative thinking.  These out of work agents had built relationships with clients and still had connection but had just found other jobs.

The thing about travel is that it’s more than just a interest or hobby, once someone's starts to see the world they want to see it again and more of it.  Traveling is in the blood of all travel agents.  It is not just a job but a hobby and seeing travel agents working other places is not like them.  So the concept of at home travel business and it being a part time hobby as well as money maker was a  perfect combination for both agents and larger agencies.  Make the same of not better money than you would if you opened a brick and mortar agency.  Also receive weekly trainings and updates from different vendors top account reps and have better relationships with them.  This combination has worked so well it is now being changed to find people who travel as a hobby.  If you love to travel you are going to love to talk about your experiences, share photos, videos and you probably sell travel already.  This is what the industry is now looking for to be a part time, at home business owner.   The cruise industry building new even larger ships even in a bad economy and online sales down.  So how will these extra cabins be filled...... At home agents.

Mark Gelfuso

http://mark.cruisebrothers.com

Cruise Bums

www.cruisebums.com

In partnership with The Cruise Brothers

http://www.linkedin.com/in/markgelfuso

Travel Agent Training

The objective of Cruise Bums  and Cruise Brothers is to teach people how to better their lives, travel the world and make extra money.  Owning your own at home travel business is a great way to make money doing something you enjoy.  The Cruise Brothers is an extremely large organization and I am able to communicate with over a thousand travel agents.  I try to keep as up to date as possible with the agents to absorb as much as I can.  This way I have been able to be a medium for other agents and offer the best training in the industry.  Click Here for more information. or email me at mark@cruisebrothers.com

Are You Sitting on a Gold Mine?

Frequent travelers are not the only successful home based travel agents in the travel industry.  Anyone who knows how to use marketing and networking properly can become successful, make money, and even travel for free if they choose.  It is amazing how many people have the vast resources that have potential groups and they can even make millions in some cases.  Hidden inside different types of communities and organizations are people that can organize a group cruise.  The Cruise Lines love group travel and will bend over backwards to meet the needs of your organization.  They have many different  ways to give the specific groups: space, time, and certain resources to meet the group/organization’s specific needs. They meet these needs as best as possible so the group/organization can accomplish whatever they desire too.

Make money on your own time, make money at home and only limited training needed to get started and we can help you the rest of the way.  Being able to network and organize is the most important thing about being a home based agent or outside agent.  The Cruise Brothers has been around since 1972 and has seen almost every type of group cruises imaginable.  Church groups are one of the most popular types of groups.  When people get together regularly for an event, conference, meeting or anything we become comfortable.  When thinking about vacations most people would rather be with and/or around people who know and share the same interests as them.  There are bigger groups with much more money involved that are in front of people and they just don’t know to notice.  There is groups put together for doctors to take classes and keep them up to date on new advancements in the field of medicine.  Another example could possibly be with executive trainings or conferences in other industries.  Any type of conference, meeting, retreat, or class can be converted and done on a cruise ship.  This way clients can even use the cruise education for their field of work or interest and take their families on vacation as well.

The online world is a evolving environment that can literally be used to search and find people with common interests to put on a cruise ship as a group.  The potential of social media is now a gold mine for some that know how to work with it.  This industry is new and still a growing trend.  There are no rules in this that digital world that are set in stone.  What’s the hurt in trying to find a productive way to market and network online? Anything from just a small post on Facebook about travel can remind your friends you are an agent and turn into a lead.

Mark Gelfuso

Cruise Bums

www.cruisebums.com

In partnership with

The Cruise Brothers