You can listen directly here. 

Rebecca Wiles is the founder, lead trainer, and mentor at the Training Establishment. She believes it’s very important for sellers to truly have a proper understanding of their customer in a holistic sense.

 

Today’s episode we discuss your ‘USP’ (Unique Selling Position) and how to communicate it. 

 

As a Travel Agent, we generally know how to promote or sell most forms of travel, however, in this episode, we dive deeper into your USP, the difference of also having a niche and how to communicate it to your clients. 

 

Don’t forget to subscribe, review and send us a message as we love to hear from you and would love to shout out to you on a future podcast!

Show Transcription: 

 

Announcer: Welcome to Travel Agent Achievers! The place to learn how to grow your travel business and have fun with it. Join Roslyn and her guests as they walk you through proven steps to a fulfilling and profitable business.

 

Roslyn Ranse: Hey everybody! Welcome back to Travel Agent Achievers podcast. Today you are in for a real treat. I am so lucky to have Rebecca Wiles with me who is the director, coach, mentor of the Training Establishment here in Australia.

 

She has over 30 years of experience in hospitality, travel, and tourism though you wouldn’t imagine that by just having a look at her. She is absolutely incredible. She has this beautiful passion for imparting knowledge, she cultivates great teams by educating and nurturing awesome talent and she has a beautiful unique style of panache, fun, and finesse.

 

She believes that everybody in your company is a salesperson no matter what job title is, she is also a keynotes speaker specialising in business etiquette, inter-generations, sales skills, customer service, and psychometric testing.

 

She is unstoppable! She’s coached, consulted, mentored, trained and worked with companies from all over the world. Airlines, hotels, event planners, tourism bureaus, car rental companies and you know,  the list is endless. 

 

She’s spent 5 years living and working in Asia, she travels all over the world, she creates training programs as well for companies design specifically to their needs

 

I am absolutely thrilled to have her here on the Travel Agent Achievers podcast. Thank you so much, Bec for your time, wisdom and everybody I know you’re going to love this chat. Enjoy!

Roslyn Ranse: Hi, Bec. Thank you for joining me today. 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Hi Ros!

 

Roslyn Ranse: Everybody, this is Rebecca Wiles. She is from the Training Establishment. 

 

Rebecca Wiles: That’s right. Thanks so much for having me. Let me give you a little bit about myself and kind of what my business does and why I have started the Training Establishment five years ago. 

 

So I was working in the corporate world. I've been specialising and working in the hospitality traveling tourism industry for the past just over 30 years. I know it started young and what I actually realized along the way, I've done my fair share of trainings, and what I actually realized is when you're trying to get a group of people to change the way that they're doing things and learn about different aspects of training, you've got to actually make it engaging for them and actually make it easy for them to understand and also adapt into their own businesses or their own positions. 

 

And I found that I wasn't getting that from the kind of training that I was being given a time. 

 

So voila. The Training Establishment was born, so I'm actually the Founder, Director, Lead Trainer and mentor of the Training Establishment, and we establish dynamic sales teams throughout the world. 

 

We specialise or I actually specialise in hospitality travel and tourism industry. 

But I've also got seven other trainers as well have their own specialized niches that they do training in as well. 

 

So it's the sales and customer service and disc psychometric testing. What a mouthful!

 

Roslyn Ranse: Exactly what I was going to say 

 

Rebecca Wiles: That way we roll out all of the different industries. But my own niche myself is hospitality, travel, and tourism, which I think is why I'm here today with you. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: You have just taken everything out of my mouth because that's exactly what I was going to say. So from the hospitality, travel and tourism industries. That’s one of the reasons why I have you here today because our podcast is for that industry and because you specialise in it, you've been in it. You lived and breathed that for many years now. 

I don't want to agree with you that it's going to be 30 years, seriously, but with your expertise and coming from that industry, the hospitality, and tourism industry in hotels where you held sales positions? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Absolutely. So predominantly sales positions. When I was working as a travel consultant or in a travel agency, you know, I was run around junior, work my way up through accounting and then domestic consultant, international consultant, group consultant, corporate consultant and then I found my way into hotels, and it's kind of a bit like a drug. 

 

Once you're in, you can't ever get out and so predominantly in sales

. 

But then, my last, 5-6 years was in training, and I was actually based over in Asia for 5 years, working for a multinational hotel company being their trainer for the Asia Pacific. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: So coming from the travel side of things where you were a travel consultant, moved into hotels into the sales roles within the hotels and then becoming a trainer for the salespeople?

 

Rebecca Wiles: Yes, well, actually for the salespeople, but also for the hotels as well. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: So one of your taglines is that everybody is a salesperson. 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Absolutely right. 

Roslyn Ranse: How would you say that? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: So every person, no matter what they do or what interaction they have with anybody they’re always an ambassador for their company. 

 

So whether it's that there one-man band, Bec’s Travel Agency or whether you're working for a multinational company, if you're sitting talking to one other person, you're an ambassador for your brand or your company. 

 

And so everybody sells because they selling the idea and all selling the story or the brand or the journey for that company. So no matter who you are, you've all got that customer interaction or potential customer interaction. 

Roslyn Ranse: Fabulous. Which leads into one of the things that I really want to talk about today, 

which is your Unique Selling Position or USP. Some people may not actually understand what is a USP. So can you tell us a little bit about that? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Absolutely. So, like you just said the Unique Selling Proposition. The really important thing to understand about this is if you're setting up here on business or you're already in business, why does somebody want to buy you? 

 

What makes you so different to the person next door doing exactly the same thing? 

 

And this is all about what makes you different, what’s your USP? 

 

So let's say, for example, somebody has either set up their own agency or is working for a company. And in order to get the buyer to walk past the door next door and come into them, they've got to stand out and be different. 

 

So let's say, for example, you might be a travel agency that specializes in small special interest groups for women. Say maybe they're shopping tours or day spa packages or something like that. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: There are so many unique opportunities for travel agents that they can specialize in,  whether it's dance groups, whether it is river cruising or ocean cruising. 

 

Lately, there are so many opportunities, and I agree with you, I think that somebody or the people that are in travel or in hospitality and tourism do need to find what makes them excited and what fires them up to be able to sell and talk about it confidently rather than being somebody who can do everything. 

 

Now in travel, a lot of travel agents can do everything so we can book a domestic flight and we can book it cruise - 3-night cruise. We do a little things, but as you say to stand out the reason why somebody would walk past one door and into yours or to give you a call over somebody else is because you’re unique. 

 

How do we find that? 

How do we actually find out what it is that we want to do and what makes us special? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Dive deep, Find out. 

What is it that you like that you have become a specialist in? 

So, for example, if you love day spas then why not promote yourself as the day spa expert for single moms or for working moms or for whoever it might be? 

 

Don't just pay the spa specialist. But it might be, you know if it's golfing packages. Well, don't just be the wide range golfing package of the golfing expert, but be 

 

the golfing expert for beginners

or for children

or find what it is that burns you set your fire burning inside you. 

Then you're already an expert in that area. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: So do you think that that's also where the money lies? Because I know for myself when I talk about finding your niche makes you special, but also your Unique Selling Position. 

Well, so would you say that those two are the same sort of thing? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: I think so, Yeah. And in fact, you can have different niches within your USP as well. So let's say, for example, that use that golf analogy. So if you wanted to be a golf specialist, you could niche children's market, ladies groups. So you could have these small niches within your USP within the area. 

That is the uniqueness about you. 

 

And then all you need to do from there is shout it to the world about who you are and will probably get into this a little bit later, Ros. 

 

But there's an area that we need to talk about and think about how do we market to these people? And I'm sure we will talk about that a little bit later. But let me kind of almost introduce that now is that if you are going to be the golfing expert for children, you need to know who you're talking to. 

Are you talking to the child or you're talking to the parents? 

 

Roslyn Ranse: And you also need to actually know what it is you're talking about.

 

Rebecca Wiles: Yeah, right.

 

Roslyn Ranse: So you know, if you don't know what golfing is for kids or what the golfing market is about, then obviously you're going to get stuck straight up. So it is something inherently in yourself. You can then confidently talk about.

Rebecca Wiles: And you know something else thinking about when you know. How do you find that USP? 

 

Well, think about what do you do outside of your work? 

You know, are you a fundraiser? 

Do you like doing going to day spas? 

Are you into stage shows where you want to do small interest groups too? 

Take people to go and see stage shows in different cities. 

 

You know, I was only speaking to somebody the other day who had talked about these days stage shows are not coming to all cities in Australia anymore. It's so that we can package up and send them what a beautiful new market for the industry for you guys, to package up flights, accommodation and show ticket and get people together.

 

Roslyn Ranse: Dinners, activities and actually go to that destination to see the show

 

Rebecca Wiles: And beautiful to make money for you. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: Brilliant opportunity as long as you know and you understand that market, that industry and how to put these things together because that's where people can fall over as well if they don't understand what that niche is and how it works and operates. 

 

So you need to find your own Unique Selling Proposition and then being able to talk about that to the world. So how do we then say, well, hey, I'm the specialist in group travel or I'm the specialist in cruise travel. How do we talk about that? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Well, one thing that I would do, for example, I said earlier that my company is the Training Establishment where we establish dynamic sales teams. 

 

That's my tag. 

That's my niche.

I establish dynamic sales teams. 

 

Same thing. Bec’s Travel. We are the specialist in golfing tours for children. 

And shout it from the rooftops and everything that you say in your branding in your marketing in everything. You're always talking about that because that Unique Selling Proposition is what will draw those people, that market segment to you.

 

If you can start talking about we also do insurance, and we also do coach travel, gosh, does anybody still do coach travel? Am I showing my age?

 

Roslyn Ranse: I don't believe it's called coach travel anymore. It's guided holidays. They have rebranded it a little bit.

Rebecca Wiles: Oh, yeah, I like that. So, of course you can book a domestic airfare, we were talking about this earlier, but you actually want people to walk in because of what you offer them. 

So that's what you've got to shout from the rooftops. 

If there's anything that you can do that can be part of your online social media marketing or any videos that you might do to promote your own business, that's what you've got to be talking about because everybody knows you can book a domestic airfare. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: This is something that we've spoken about previously. So before even having this chat, we spoke previously about travel agents in particular, who on social media talk about coach touring one day or guided holidays, one day they talk about cruising the next and for yourself as a consumer that's also confusing in a confusing message. 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Very confusing. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: But sometimes as a travel agent. It's like, well, we've got this special deal. We want to be able to talk about it, or we want to be able to share that with the world because it does allow the consumers to then understand what why we do those things as well. 

So how do we not confuse that message from a sales point of view, do we just have to talk about our one niche, and our unique USP? Or can we talk about other things that we do as well without confusing the message to your consumer? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: So as a consumer, I want to go to the person who's the expert in what they do.  I don't want to go to a jack of all trades, but what I want is somebody who I have absolute confidence in what they're doing. It may not be exactly what I want, but they know what they're doing right? 

So I want to go to them and I feel confident in that they know their staff, that they know what they're doing, that they're going to take care of me. 

 

I don't have to check and double-check everything that they're doing, even if I'm not booking their niche, that they take care or their USP. So I would love for somebody to be open enough to have that conversation with. 

 

Now, I know you guys specialize in golfing tours for children, but you know what? I want to travel business class to London and back. Could you help me out? Well, what do you think your answer is going be?

 

Roslyn Ranse:  Of course, of course. And we will take care of you because you are a client that's really important to us. 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Absolutely! So in an area that I would think about is if there's social media marketing and they're doing videos, say, and you know, let's face it. Videos these days are so easy to put together with an iPhone or a smartphone, smart device, an intro, and an outro. And the outro would be where I would then list. Of course, we can do everything else for you. 

 

So your video is all about your Unique Selling Proposition in your niche. But your outro says, and we can take care of everything else. 

 

Don't quote those words. (Laughs)

Roslyn Ranse: So Bec, we've spoken about communicating the message with a little bit of branding and ensuring or saying to your client that, yes, this is what we specialise in. But we can also look after you in other areas because you want to be able to take care of your clients. 

 

So now, how do we speak to the ideal client or travel persona you call it, in all of your marketing?

 

Rebecca Wiles: Yeah. So let's go back to the example of the golf touring for children and I talked about you know who is the customer that you want to talk to. 

 

I call it customer persona, because that person, in order for you to be able to market properly to them, you need to understand who they are and how they think and what they do and what they eat and how they buy. 

And so you obviously need to know who your customer is going to be. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: Some people will talk about this persona has an ideal client. Would you say niche? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Well, absolutely. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: And some people do talk about it as an avatar. So we're going to use those words as a persona, right? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: So if I'm sitting there trying to deliver a marketing message, I need to know who that person is and how I can talk to them so that they can actually hear me, and that what I'm saying actually resonates with them 

 

Roslyn Ranse: Because the messaging isn't always the same. 

 

Rebecca Wiles: No, not at all. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: And when you're trying to talk to that person or persona, you will call them Betty for instance in this example. So when you're trying to talk to Betty, it's talking a different language. Say, to a Bob, right? Absolutely completely different messaging. 

 

Rebecca Wiles: So Betty might actually be the school coordinator who's going to coordinate the children's golfing group from the school or the Department of Education, where Benjamin might be the father who's going to pay or Rose Marie, who might be the mum who's going to pay, or Jeffrey, who’s the grandfather who might sponsor so all of these people are very, very important. They're all potential customers. 

 

Your one niche but they're all completely different people, and they want to hear different things. 

They need to hear different things, right? So, Betty, the school Coordinator, she needs to hear how easy it is to coordinate the whole group. Because you'll make everything so easy for her. Maybe you've got a system that you can follow and that she can follow, and she knows what she needs to do and when she needs to do it. How she needs to do it. 

 

Where Benjamin needs to know being the father of somebody who's going to buy it. He needs to know the cost. And you need to know what problems he's facing at the moment. What are his pain points so that you can overcome those in your marketing.  

So let’s say for example, he's like, oh, that's a lot of money.  So what you need to do is talk about is, well what's the value that that $5000 is going to buy their child at the golfing school and what is included. This is the final price. There's nothing else more than that that you pay upfront and so on. 

So everybody's got their own message that they need to hear when you're marketing to them. So they're your only of your different travel personas. Who's buying your product? 

 

Roslyn Ranse: So how do we then communicate that message? Because, as you say, 

 

there's Betty, 

there’s Benjamin, 

there's Bob, there’s Jeff, 

there are all of these different people, and they all need a different message. 

 

So whether it's through social media, through email marketing, through newspaper advertising, whether it's through the flyers and brochures that you put together, do you have to incorporate the messaging for everybody in those.

 

Rebecca Wiles: That’s a really hard thing to do isn’t it?

Roslyn Ranse: Or can we just talk to Betty, the school director, and say, this is the package. This is going to be easy for you and then also be preparing the material that she can then deliver to the parents, for instance, which has a slightly different message. 

 

But it makes it easy for her, so it's already done that one job made it easy for her. 

You are communicating the pain points to the parents or to the consumer at the end of the day so that they have all of the information and then through your social media marketing. 

 

It might be talking about the fun of it and the excitement.

 

Rebecca Wiles: Yes, getting the kids excited. That's right. So I would go with the second option.

 

Don't try and advertise to everybody and more but in actual fact, think about, well, where are you going to get the most business from? 

 

It's going to be from Betty, I think, in this case, because Betty is going to then go and talk to all of the parents. But give her, train her and how to talk on your behalf.  She's an extension of the sales team, so 

set her up to be able to help you, to be able to sell it to the Benjamins and the Georges and everybody, including Little Johnny. Little Johnny had to make an appearance today. Little Johnny, who wants to go and play golf and that's all he cares about. He doesn't care about anything else on this. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: And this now brings it back to everybody's a salesperson. So Betty then becomes an extension of your travel agency by promoting and talking about this program to the consumer further down the line, right? 

 

Rebbeca Wiles: Right. We can that step farther.

 

Roslyn Ranse: Really? Wow! How can we do that? 

 

Rebecca Wiles: Well, Betty is going to understand now how easy it is to work with you, and when this has been organised so beautifully, how can betty help you? 

 

Betty also does the school newsletter, and she also talks to all the parents at school and talks about how easy it was to make this booking of 85 children. And then she starts recommending you.

 

Roslyn Ranse: Which is fabulous. And that's what a mobile travel agent would love because we don't have a shop front and you don't necessarily have people walking in the door all the time. You want to build up referrals, repeat business and great customer experiences. So Betty is now an extension of your sales team, which is great. She becomes a referral client which can now lead us into another topic. 

Rebecca Wiles: I know, nice segway.

 

Roslyn Ranse: So everybody, I hope you’ve loved this chat as much as I have on Unique Selling Propositions and your niche and how to communicate that to your audience. This is just the first in the series, so I look forward to sharing more with you and the chat that I have with Bec.  

 

I’ll see you next week! Don’t forget to subscribe and send me a review on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher and feel free to reach out. Send me a message on Instagram or Facebook or an email to [email protected]

 

Have a great week everybody and I will be on your earbuds next week!