From Part-Time to $40 Million in Sales

Agency Name: Cruise Planners/Michael Consoli & Associates
Location: Roswell, GA
Employees: Four

When Michael Consoli purchased his Cruise Planners franchise in 2001, working on a part-time basis for the first three years, he never would have guessed the heights of sales success that he would go on to achieve. With sales of $40 million in 2023 – beating his previous record of $23 million – his is the top-producing agency in the Cruise Planners network.

He attributes some of his success to the inauspicious year he began his business.

“Starting after September 11th was not an easy way to get into business,” he told Travel Market Report. “It was difficult and we really had to work hard at building the business.”

Not only was finding business difficult, when he did sell something, the prices were “crazy low,” so his commissions were almost non-existent. His commission on his very first cruise sale was a mere $16 a person.

With such low pricing, Consoli said he quickly learned not to sell based on price. After all, his potential clients could find crazy low prices everywhere.

“It forced us not to sell on price… We don’t discount but we always make sure our guest is getting the best value. We built the business primarily on service.”

If a potential client calls and tells him Costco is offering a $700 gift card, he immediately passes on the booking.

“We want a client that values service and knowledge over discounts,” he added.

With that said, he does provide some type of gift with every booking, “but it’s never a significant portion of what we get paid for the booking,” he said.

Control is key
Though Consoli has a support staff of four, he is the main seller of travel for his franchise. The $40 million that his company does is entirely his bookings. His associates, who each do between $250,000 and $300,000 in sales annually, are not included in the $40 million.

For the most part, his associates are there to support his bookings.

“­­I have a really, really good team of people that work very hard for me… Everybody has a job as far as quality control and making sure that everything is taken care of and payments, and that kind of thing,” he explained.

But while he trusts his associates and the agency’s processes implicitly, Consoli also takes an active role in overseeing everything.

“This is a hundred percent true, and my staff would all agree, I am a little bit of a control freak. Nothing really happens in my office without me know. We have call logs and everybody’s very articulate about taking notes and putting them in the reservation system. It’s very important to me that I’m aware of everything that happens… because I am Type A and I want to make sure that everything is correct for the guests.”

On top of doing most of the selling himself and overseeing all aspects of his clients’ travels, arrangements, and payments, Consoli also maintains control by only using specific suppliers.

“I will only sell vendors that will support my clients when we have an issue. If I have ever found over the years that it’s difficult to get support on a client issue, then I won’t recommend them,” he said.

Client-first philosophy
One major tenant of business that Consoli sticks to is putting the client first – even above the amount of commission he makes. (Consoli also never charges fees of any kind to offset low commissions.)

“I do not choose who I do business with based on what they give me or what the commission is,” he told TMR. “We fit the guest to the right product.”

He also doesn’t turn away business that’s not particularly profitable in the here and now – if the client is the right fit, meaning they value his service over everything else.

“I’m a strong believer that the three-day guest becomes the five-day becomes the seven-day guest, becomes the Regent Seven Seas guest,” he said. “I have clients that started with me with three-day cruises that are now sailing in $25,000 cabins.”

While his bookings range in price from low to very high, when he averages out all his bookings, the average is $15,000.

“We sell World Cruises that are $150,000 and we sell three-day cruises that are $900… but the per transactions dollar amount has significantly increased over the past five years,” he said.

Tools & processes
Consoli was very clear about two significant pieces of his success. First, he makes use of a variety of tools and processes to make his agency as efficient as possible, particularly in terms of handling high volumes of bookings.

Most importantly he said are a series of tools he gets from Cruise Planners including a task manager, amenity tracker, and air tool. (The first two are tools most consortia and host offer their member agencies.)

Those three tools in particular, he said, have increased his agencies productivity, “because we don’t have 50,000 pieces of paper on our desks to make sure that we follow-up on.”

In additional to tools, Consoli relies on a number of in-house processes, including a triple check process that every booking goes through, first when its deposited, then when the final payment is made, and again when the documents are issued. At each check, things like the insurance dates, air dates, transfers, and more are all verified. One support associate is solely responsible for all these triple checks.

“That’s something that helps me sleep at night with the number of bookings that we’re selling. That process is streamlined enough that we know the I’s ae dotted and the T’s are crossed.”

Second thing that’s part of his success? He readily admits he has no work-life balance.

“Lots of 12, 14 hour days and getting up at 4 or 5 a.m. to get caught up. There’s never a break. I’m never on vacation… but I love what I do so much.”

Finding $40 million worth of clients
TMR asked Consoli how he finds his clients and what type of marketing he relies on. His answer might surprise some advisors.

“I market very little,” he said, adding that he does make use of the marketing programs that Cruise Planners does at the corporate level, but it’s not his primary driver of business.

That would be in-person events.

“We do a lot of luncheons to educate guests about cruising, to find new cruise guests, new river cruise guests, new luxury cruise guests, new Tauck land tour guests…”

Additionally, Consoli identifies and participates in travel shows across the country.

“I think that people, when they don’t know about something, that they are more apt to participate in an in-person event because they want to learn about the unknown. Cruising is something that people think is all belly flop contests and napkin folding classes. Our job is to educate them that it’s not.”

Often, these luncheons are planned in partnership with a client.

“What organization are your clients members of? You might be able to present to that… Many times if you work with a guest and they’re in love with you, they will be more than happy to say, ‘yes, come speak to my church group or come to my networking group or make a presentation at the Lion’s Club.'”

As an example, Consoli told TMR about a client that is a member of a Corvette club. Despite knowing nothing about cars, Consoli presented to the group and they’ve been on six cruises with him.

For all these live events, he partners with one or two suppliers to help take on part of the cost of the shows.

But, and he’s very clear about this, Consoli firmly believes that to make money, you need to spend money, and the investment he makes in live events pays off for him in a big way.

Beyond live events, Consoli said a large piece of his business comes from repeat and referral clients.

A few tips
While not every advisor can – or wants to do – some of what Consoli does for his clients (his clients can reach him 24/7!), he does have a few tips for other advisors.

• Skip the fam: Consoli doesn’t do fam trips. Instead he pays his own way (something he knows isn’t feasible for everyone), usually in a suite, so he can speak directly to the experience he is recommending to his clients.
• Trust in organic growth: While Consoli does do lots of in-person events, he emphasizes that a lot of his growth had been organic, from repeat and referral clients. For his agency, the key is to continue to provide a high level of service. That, he says, naturally leads to referrals.
• Make your client feel important: It shouldn’t matter if you have 20 clients or 200 clients, each client should feel like they’re your only client. Don’t rush on the phone, let them end the phone call when they’re ready.
• Celebrate milestone trips: One of the ways that Consoli said his agency shows appreciation for its clients is by celebrating milestone trips with small gifts. You can set what those milestones are (first, 10th, etc.) and what the gift is. What really matters is that the client feels special and appreciated.
• Know your specialty: Don’t try to be all things to all people. That’s a recipe for disappointment. Instead know what you’re good at, know where you can add value to your clients’ experiences, and lean into it.