TDC's 2017 sales academy kicks off in Mexico, boot camp style

“TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!”

When Sandra Wesson blew her high-pitched whistle at 8:30 a.m. sharp Monday morning (May 29), travel agents knew it was time to grab their last cup of coffee, hurry to their seats and listen up.

Transat Distribution Canada’s (TDC) 2017 Sales Academy was officially in session.

However, if Wesson’s drill sergeant attire – army camouflage hat, aviator sunglasses and all – didn’t give it away, this wasn’t the start of any ordinary travel conference.

This was boot camp.

“Your phones have to be on silent or in your bags…otherwise you’re gonna drop and give me 20 outside!” Wesson, director of product and industry relations at TDC, shouted, jokingly, as the amused crowd assembled in the Music Meeting Room at the Grand Bahia Principe Coba resort in Mexico’s Riviera Maya.

Tough love. Sandra Wesson, TDC's drill sergeant for the week, gets travel agents pumped at the company's 2017 Sales Academy at Grand Bahia Principe Coba in Mexico.

TDC has invited 150 delegates – a mix of junior and senior travel agents from across Canada, preferred suppliers and training coaches – down south for a week of product and sales training, workshops, networking opportunities and on-and-off-site activities.

The fun and informative event, taking place from May 28-June 4, will guide travel agents through 24 different product lines while incorporating product-specific sales strategies, Susan Bowman, vice president of marketing and industry relations at TDC told PAX, which is currently in Mexico covering the conference.

“Education is paramount,” Bowman said, noting that TDC hosts training academies one to two times a year. “Our travel professionals are professionals for a reason. They need to understand the products thoroughly, how to get the right product and the right customer matched up and to exceed all expectations.”

The content for TDC’s training academies is determined by feedback the company receives from its vast network of 450 agencies and 3,650 travel consultants across Canada, Bowman explained.

This week's format of covering multiple products in the south, Europe, millennial, river cruise and luxury categories – at the pace to that of an army boot camp, so to speak – is new compared to past sales academies, which have typically focused on a single product or market, Bowman told PAX.

“We have sales training in the morning, product training mid-day and then we do workshops to put the whole experience together,” Bowman said, describing the flow of each day.

Academy attendees in session in the Music Meeting Room of the Grand Bahia Principe Coba.

Jennifer Bradley, Transat’s business development representative for Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, said the week is about “making sure agents understand the different ways that Transat is there for them.”

“Aside from our collections, there’s ways we can make their lives easier, [such as] through our reservation systems. We can build their sales using things like our super early booking bonus, which benefits both agents and clients,” Bradley told PAX.

Getting agents motivated about selling travel is important too. “The benefit of having everyone in the same room is being able to pump them up, share information, but [also] get them excited about it so they can build their business,” Marjorie Larose, national account coordinator at Transat, told PAX.

Each morning begins with sales training led by speaker, entrepreneur and author Michael Vickers, executive director of Summit Learning Systems.

“My goal for all of you is to become poachable … I’m talking headhunted, when somebody wants you,” Vickers told attendees on Monday in a speech about becoming preferred and how to outsell and out position the competition.

Speaker, entrepreneur and author Michael Vickers leads sales training at TDC's 2017 sales academy.

“It’s the grace you bring to what you do that makes it better,” Vickers told agents in his dynamic presentation, which addressed ways of taking standard service and “up-levelling it” (such as sending thank-you notes to clients), identifying ways of bringing value to the market the way the market defines it (“not as we do”) and building emotional connections with clients so it’s a “win-win” for both parties.

Vickers will be speaking on business-building themes all week, such as the sales process and question protocols, understanding buyer motivation, and persuasion and influence.

The week also doubles as a site inspection of Bahia Principe Riviera Maya Resort, with attendees receiving gold all-access wrist bands, allowing them to explore the brand's various all-inclusive hotels (which are linked together by train trolleys) in the area.

“We are so eager to please every single client here,” Ignacio Subías, general manager of Bahia Principe Riviera Maya Resort, told PAX at TDC’s welcome cocktail Sunday night (May 28) at the Luxury Bahia Principe Akumal, an adults-only hotel located minutes away from Grand Bahia Principe Coba, TDC’s primary training grounds.

The oceanfront party by the pool, which was complimented by soaring spotlights, dance beats and a live saxophone player, included pop-up performances by local acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, ball handlers, synchronized swimmers and, notably, a giant, neon-glowing robot that danced and “looked like one of the members of Daft Punk,” gushed one agent.

A dancing robot dazzles at TDC's welcome party at Luxury Bahia Principe's Akumal property Sunday night (May 28)

The following night, attendees were bused to Grand Sirenis Mayan Beach Hotel and Spa (known for its sprawling lazy river) for a site inspection and BBQ buffet party directly on the beach.

“We’re in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by wildlife and turquoise water,” Carlos Batani, assistant manager of the hotel, told PAX at the event. “This is one of the nicest locations we have.”

Stay tuned as PAX brings you more coverage from TDC’s 2017 Sales Academy in Mexico’s Riviera Maya.