Supporting Your Sales Efforts
Travel Agent expos & the print brochure reborn
During Travel Agent Appreciation Month, WestJet has things it wants to tell you – and things it wants to hear from you.
Both will be the desired result of the first of an annual series of travel trade tradeshow expositions across Canada. These will be held throughout May in 6 Canadian destinations. Travel agency partners are invited to attend the events to learn more about the world of WestJet, WestJet Vacations and some key hotel partners.
Each expo will be set up as a Trade show booth style to educate and update agents on WestJet initiatives including the Plus product offering – commissionable at 8% -- WestJet Rewards, the WestJet Vacations interactive brochure, the travel agent resource site, new inflight entertainment product, WestJet groups and more.
A survey booth will also be set up on site for WestJet to elicit feedback from trade partners.
“We want to know what's working, what's not and where we can improve,” says Jane Clementino, Director of Agency Sales, WestJet. “We’re offering a real interactive experience where agents can learn about our new inflight service, try our new seats and meet some key partners. We’ve teamed up with ACTA so spending time at our Expos will help agents earn accreditation.”
The Expos will be held as follows:
Toronto – May 11
Mississauga – May 12
Halifax – May 14
Vancouver – May 25
Edmonton – May 27
Calgary – May 28
In addition to product training, agents can expect the opportunity to walk away with prizes like WestJet Vacations packages, flights and more.
The Rebirth Of The WestJet Vacations Brochure
When WestJet Vacations introduced its interactive online brochure in 2013, it drastically shrunk the size of its print brochure. It was an environmentally friendly move, but agents and their clients weren’t ready for the change.
“We had resounding feedback from the field. They wanted a full-size brochure. We listened and acted,” says Clementino. “We spent a lot of time analyzing other brochures and asking front-line agents what they needed. We’ve segmented the flow of the book in sections such as couples, families and excursions, and we brought back the popular hotel-at-a-glance section. We’ve got a nice, clean look, but all the info agents and their clients need is there.”
The more than 160-page brochure will arrive in agencies in early summer 2015, in plenty of time to cater to winter clients.
"The return of a robust print brochure does not mean WestJet Vacations is giving up on the interactive brochure,” Clementino says. “We’ve upgraded the software to make it better. Especially for home-based agents, we want to offer them something they can send out and make their own. As time progresses we believe it will become more and more popular.”
In the six months she has spent at WestJet, Clementino says she has been impressed by the ‘people-first’ culture that she says will continue to drive a positive relationship with trade partners.
“It’s true to everything I read about. It’s a welcoming, accommodating, bottom-up organization where people even at the junior level feel comfortable speaking up. To me, it’s a management style that encourages good relationships within and without the company.”