Be an Exhibitionist
and show them your Provenance!
Guest Article by Steve Gillick, President, Talking Travel
When I recently delivered a workshop to an audience of IC travel agents, I included a PowerPoint
presentation that listed my travels. When I introduced the slide I explained that I wasn’t showing off
my travels to be egotistical or to brag, but rather, to display my actual travel experience as these are
the credentials that support my claim as a destinations expert. What I presented was this: a listing of
the 70 countries to which I’ve travelled and explored, the 56 re-visits to many of those countries (Japan12 visits, Taiwan-5, Turkey-3 etc.,) as well as over 578 destinations consisting of towns and cities within
those countries. When someone asks for my background I can demonstrate my travel provenance.
Travel Provenance
Demonstrating my travels was one way that I
could convey my credibility and value to the
audience as someone providing them with
career-enhancing information on marketing
destinations to their clients. I challenged each
agent to compose his/her own list.
Travel provenance is similar to the provenance
one needs to establish credibility and value
when it comes to assessing art work, an antique
or an historical item. A claim that a hat was worn
by Abraham Lincoln is simply a statement or
perhaps a family myth handed down from
generation to generation, unless ‘proof’ can be
demonstrated that Lincoln actually owned the
hat, actually wore the hat, and that this specific
hat has a lineage—similar to a family tree—that
links the present owner with the original owner
over the past 170 years or so. This proof may be
in the form of photographs, letters, affidavits
and other documents.
Making Contact
But there is more. Your experience and
expertise dictated to you a long time ago that it
was that magical list of supplier contacts that
could make the difference between fulfilling a
client’s travel dreams or not. You began to
collect business cards and establish relationships
with suppliers. Each time you made contact at
trade shows, on fam trips, on your own vacation
travels, at conferences, networking events and
supplier updates, you not only collected business
cards but you followed up with the key contact
afterward. While others have a digital or old
style rolodex or card index, you have a business
relationship investment file. This fits in perfectly
with your Partner Relationship Management
(PRM) practices. And all those contacts add to
your credibility as someone who can turn travel
dreams into reality. This is another key
ingredient of your travel provenance.
Your travel provenance consists of the big
picture of all the credentials that led up to you
speaking with a particular client about a
destination or cruise or adventure. It takes into
consideration your schooling, your travel
industry training, the courses you have taken,
the webinars and seminars you’ve attended, the
credentials earned, the travels undertaken
(countries, destinations) and how you keep upto-date on a daily basis (news updates, host
agency e-blasts, and e-magazines like this one).
Client Te stimonials
In addition, those testimonials from your clients
are also part of your provenance.
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