G Adventures’ new sales boss is to roll out a programme to help agents identify their key demographic so they can sell customers the most‑suitable touring product.
Tom Bell, who joined from Bedsonline last month, said the adventure travel specialist could tailor its products based on the research – and drive more customers into shops.
He said: “We’re focusing on how can we work with agents on their key demographic and understand how to get clients into the shop in the first place, how to convert them and find out which products suit that demographic. We can tailor everything we do when it comes to training and collateral.”
Bell said he wanted to build G Adventures’ connection with independent agents, whom he described as “our growth sector”.
“Really understanding them and elevating what we have done with them is something we’re going to focus on,” he said. Training agents on selling tours to customers with environmental concerns and G Adventures’ not-for-profit Planeterra social enterprise arm was also “massively important”, Bell said.
“Five years ago, the environmental impact wasn’t discussed. The fact that G Adventures has been doing it for the last 23 years has put us ahead of the game and it’s now coming to the forefront and people are understanding the impact their lifestyle is having.”
Sales director Bell oversees G Adventures’ team of 10 global purpose specialists. He replaced Rachel Coffey, who joined The Travel Corporation earlier this year.