Friday, 8 December 2017
Hi, I am Michelle.
I began my working career working for a large retail consortium as part of their marketing team for close to 10 years. An opportunity came up at Travel Counsellors just as the company was being launched in South Africa - I jumped at the opportunity after having seen the tools that the company could offer its Travel Counsellors.
For me it was a no-brainer - the marketing platforms and the tools that were offered were second to none. Plus, working for a global company would mean that I could learn best practices across global markets which I could then implement locally in South Africa.
My role in the business entails helping our Travel Counsellors to build and to establish a client base. Thereafter once they have this in place we then help them to get to know their customers, both their likes & dislikes along with their travel preferences. We then provide the marketing tools that our Travel Counsellors can then use to send to their customers. I also work alongside a global marketing team with representatives from the UK, Ireland, Dubai, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands and together we will work to transform the customer experience of our Travel Counsellors clients.
We also provide ongoing training and we don't expect our Travel Counsellors to be marketing experts, so ultimately Marketing creates the tools to help our Travel Counsellors to create memorable travel experiences for their customers whilst offering them a personal touch services that sets them apart from all other companies.
Watch this video that will give you some insight on how I help our Travel Counsellors.
The marketing tools that we provide our Travel Counsellors include
Each of these tools creates a 'touch point' that will help generate business, referrals and sales to our Travel Counsellors. Plus they all carry the TC's very own personal details ie Travel Counsellors Name & Surname, Cell number, email address, links to their website and social media platforms, so everything that they do shows that it comes from them.
We also provide our Travel Counsellors with a customer relationship management system that holds all their client info, it streamlines all their marketing and it puts them in control of what they want to send to their customer.
One of my favourite campaigns that we did this year was a social media campaign that went viral. TC Ted went on holiday with our Travel Counsellors customers who had young kids. TC Ted arrived as a surprise for the kids with his very own passport, the kids could name him, decide his birthday and check off all the places and things that they did on holiday with him. TC Ted had his photo taken with the family whilst on holiday and we saw him travelling all across the world from Mauritius, Thailand, Croatia, USA, locally within South Africa, The Grand Canyon, Australia, Paris, London and he even made a guest appearance on Carte Blanche. This campaign proved incredibly successful customers loved the experience of taking TC Ted on holiday with them and the photo content shared on social media helped our Travel Counsellors to get more followers and to generate bookings. If you would like to see some of the photos then search #TCTed and #TCexperience within Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
We truly believe that we provide our Travel Counsellors with everything that they need to build a very successful business. If you would like to find out more you are welcome to give me a call at the TC head office in Cape Town.
