The Globus family of brands (GFOB) has been quietly deepening investments in its trade partnerships over the past few years to better serve travel advisors. Those investments have included enhancing technology, making new hires and reducing call wait times, and all are part of what the company says is its commitment to the trade. Globus' chief sales officer, Camille Olivere, explained to senior editor Nicole Edenedo how its new brand campaign, "We've Got U," helps showcase those commitments.
Camille Olivere
Q: What's been the motivation behind some of Globus' recent investments for advisors?
A: For a long time, we've been working on a lot of initiatives to take as much friction as possible out of doing business with us and to ensure that our partners are efficient and profitable. We want to be best in class in this category. Even though we've been winning a lot of tour operator of the year awards and awards with consortia, we want to continue to raise the bar. We just kept listening and making changes over time. A few months ago, we thought to wrap all of these changes in a campaign that really showcases our commitment to the trade, and that's what "We've Got U" is all about -- it's giving a platform to communicate all of the great changes that we've made and are continuing to make.
Q: What do some of these changes include?
A: We have a new ROI calculator that can really help advisors manage their marketing investments. We have relaunched GFOB University, which was a significant investment and very much needed in order to address all of the new people coming into the industry. We want to make sure that we equip them with the tools and education to make sure they can be successful. We've actually hired a person to do outbound calls to those new to the industry, as well, and introduce them to our GFOB University and our travel agency portal and really help get them started.
Q: You mention that Globus wants to take friction out of the process of working with advisors. What are some examples of that friction?
A: Things like ensuring we're answering the phone on time, which is a change we made last year. We also make sure that those who want to work with us digitally have a booking process that is easy for them. Since the pandemic, we've started reducing contracts. Whenever you book a group, you typically have a contract, and it has deposit requirements, payment terms, when payments are due, things like that. We went from having 13 different contracts down to three. It was challenging for even our team to keep track of the different contract terms. So we streamlined the contract terms so that there's one contract with the same deposit terms, payment terms, commission terms, etc.
Q: How is Globus shoring up its own operations to support all of these changes and initiatives?
A: We've expanded the business development teams and have increased the number of BDMs by a little over 10%. So we've increased the inside sales team. We've also added an individual who is 100% dedicated to advisors new to the industry. So it isn't just trade marketing that we've invested in; we've invested a substantial amount in feet on the street, if you will.
Q: What are some of the features of the relaunched GFOB University?
A: It's a new look and feel that's easier to navigate. There's more content on it, as well. For example, something that agents really enjoy is being able to access itineraries and then instantly share that itinerary with their own customers and with their own branding on it. That's something we enable them to do with our new sharing tools in the travel advisor portal.