Holly Lombardo. (Source: Holly Lombardo)
Success Stories focus on veteran travel advisors and how they achieved success. Here’s a look at Holly Lombardo, owner of Atlanta-based Holly Lombardo Travel, an affiliate of Travel Experts.
How did you get your start as a travel advisor?
After college graduation, I did the proverbial summer backpacking trip to Europe with the “Let’s Go” guidebook in hand. Happiness came in the form of discovery. Days were spent in museums, walking in and out of historical sites and stumbling upon street performers with new friends from all over the world that I met along the way. Immediately upon my return home I made the decision to become a travel agent. Back then it was simply a three-month-long class, and at age 22 I was hired as an entry-level employee at Perry Golf. It was one of the best decisions of my life!
How did you build your business over the years?
I began as an agent 35 years ago. The industry was quite different then. We were all low salaried employees and there was no such thing as working independently. About seven years later – with the invention of the Internet and home computers – I made the decision to take a leap and build my own business.
At the time I knew of no one doing this so I had to be self-reliant, and I didn’t have the financial means for a large marketing investment. I started by communicating personally to anyone and everyone who I would like to have the opportunity to plan their travel and asked them to help me grow. You would be surprised how much people wanted to help people. Soon I had a couple of vocal canaries who sang my praises to the right people and my business exploded.
What characteristics make you a successful advisor?
First and foremost, I am professional. My communication and actions are always with the intention to make clients feel valued and serviced by a knowledgeable and experienced travel professional. Everything that I do is in service to my clients, and they feel that. Any successful agent will also likely share that they are detail-oriented and control freaks. You get 99 percent right but if you miss that one item, it will make or break a trip – and I strive for perfection. My clients put their trust in me with their valuable personal time with family and friends. As many others do, I take this personally. My goal each and every time is for my clients to return saying that they had the time of their lives.
What has your biggest challenge been?
Routine has always been my Achilles Heel. Just because this is the way I’ve always done things doesn’t mean that this is the way things should be done now. This can be from technology, office operations – even to what partners I work with. Sometimes I just get stuck. Luckily, my team is younger and newer to the industry and help me to look at things in new ways that are beneficial.
What have your greatest accomplishments been?
I am so lucky doing what I love and being rewarded with a nice book of business after decades of hard work. What [I’m most proud of] is the relationship I have with my clients. Their confidence means the world to me. And I’ll add that when I rescue a client from a horrible travel situation, I feel like a superhero.
What tips can you provide advisors new to the industry?
Remember you are a business. You can be a talented artist but unless you can be a good businessperson, it’s unlikely you will have success. Get personal. This means picking up the phone and having conversations, not simply email and text exchanges. Ask about how their surgery went last month or where their grandchild attends college. You can be professional [while expressing] a personal interest in your clients and their lives. After all, we are planning treasured experiences that are also intimate and personal.
Continue to reevaluate and revisit who your valuable clients are and invest your time and efforts there. And lastly, don’t be shy to ask for the referral. Those who believe in you want you to succeed. You just have to ask.
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