3Qs for Cruise Month: Jeffrey A. Nickerson, Mann Travel
In honor of National Plan a Cruise Month, TMR is interviewing executives from across the travel industry.
Today’s interview is with Jeffrey A. Nickerson, the director of leisure sales at Mann Travel.
What do you plan to do differently in 2016 than you did in the past as far as selling cruises?
It is an ongoing process (both internally and externally) to change the price-first mentality ingrained in so many. We have been working on, and will continue to focus on, selling the value of cruising overall and value-added inclusions (shore excursions, and pre and post hotels and excursions) in particular.
What do you wish the cruise industry better understood about working with travel agents?
If you pay us commission for something you want to sell, we will sell it and make you (and us) money. Shore excursions, for example (hint, hint).
What advice do you have for other agents trying to sell cruises?
Don’t focus on the logistics of the cruise (pricing, ship hardware, etc.); sell the experience. Paint a picture for your customers in their mind’s eye of what the cruise will be like–and take them there.
