GETTING started in the travel industry happens by design or by accident – my accident was caused by my mother.
Having dropped out of a mechanical engineering degree course I spent time repairing cars in our front garden. Finally my mother decided I needed to try a proper job and arranged an interview with Sunair – the first tour operation run by former ILG chairman Harry Goodman. With a good spread of O’ and A’ level passes my CV proved strong enough to secure a job in the busy reservations department.
Long hours
Here I learned that selling on the telephone came easily to me and by volunteering to do extra work – particularly manual holiday costings – I was able to make a mark very quickly. Long hours came naturally and, balanced by a sense of fun, I knew I had found an industry that still captivates me today and I have encouraged a ‘work hard, play hard’ ethic ever since.
I then volunteered to work in Manchester to help start a new office for the north. This allowed me to learn new skills in an operational environment – working with charter airlines, buying and selling ad hoc seats and resolving the odd hotel overbooking.
My first experience dealing with customers was a weekend trip to Majorca to escort a coach full of overbooked clients around Palma Nova at past midnight calling at hotels to secure extra rooms.
It was valuable experience and I made a mental note to avoid overbooking in the first place rather than subject customers (and staff) to this terrible ordeal. Putting senior management in the front line is a great way to focus attention on detail and care for customers.
How not to do it
In two long years I was able to learn the basics of tour operating and in many ways how not to do it.
Moving on to Thomson and into its agency sales team provided an altogether different experience. At the time, Thomson was bringing together several brands and relaunching as Thomson Holidays.
Calling on agents was a challenge as the company consolidated reservation and administration systems.
Bernard Manning
Thomson invoices were the reason for my first experience of being thrown out of an agency. Toptours of Blackpool was owned by Wally Norton – a man who made Bernard Manning sound like a nun.
With Manning-like vocabulary I was shoved out of the door with 40 invoices thrown after me in a heap. Standing in the street gathering up the paperwork I decided upon re-entry and, after the problem was explained, we became great friends and Toptours became one of my top agents – an object lesson in persistence. Thomson taught me how to do things properly, with excellent training and great leadership from sales director Roger Lambert.
The person most influential in teaching me to make money was Reg Pycroft, the founder of Jetsave, where I enjoyed seven good years before starting Unijet in 1981.
Reg has true charisma and could smell a deal miles away. That period was helpful because it exposed me to full management and commercial responsibility at a fairly young age.
Recognising this, I actively encourage delegation and proper accountability throughout our business, regardless of employee age.
Lifetime ambition
The creation of Unijet was, of course, a lifetime ambition come true. My motivation had always been to become more successful than my father and starting my own business became a target after he was wrongfully fired when I was 12 – funny thing, childhood memory!
Consensus has always been at the core of my business values and working with two first-class business managers, Terry Brown and Rick Conley, our partnership built a business founded on both commercial drive and ethical trading.
In my new life helping to run a business unit as part of the First Choice Group I am delighted that all we hold dear at Unijet is recognised and held as core values by our new owners.
That will ensure that there is life after Nigel!
My Top Tips
Balance hard work with a sense of fun
Be honest and open, with regular staff communication
Remember suppliers as well as customers – business is a two-way street
If in doubt – imagine you are the customer
Don’t give up on aggressive customers, even if they throw you out of their building.
Always ask questions, however stupid they may seem.
CURRICULUM VITAE
1971: Sunair Holidays, working in operations and reservations
1972: Thomson Holidays, working in sales
1974: Jetsave – joined to set up its Manchester office and held various positions including vice-president, North America and director of sales
1981: Founded Unijet.
1998: Unijet acquired by First Choice and Jenkins becomes joint MD of Unijet.
Has held various appointments as chairman of the Visit USA Committee; chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and secretary of the Association of Airline Consolidators. Currently serving as vice-chairman of the Federation of Tour Operators and holds directorships in Unijet Group, Unijet Travel, Suncars, Globesavers and FTOTrust Fund.