Rocking an Olympic-themed atmosphere, Transat Distribution Canada welcomed its English Canada members in Toronto over the weekend for the organization’s annual conference. Some 250 participants were on hand from across the TDC network, including Transat execs, agency owners, advisors (including from the agent@home program), and 60 preferred partners.
(Note: Quebec member events took place Sept. 14-15 in St-Hyacinthe.)
Themed “Ignite your Inner Athlete,” TDC GM Karine Gagnon said, “It is crucial for travel professionals never to stop training, growing and learning. To achieve this, we must set clear objectives and find the inner motivation to keep pushing ourselves.”
She added, “Like Olympic athletes, TDC travel professionals are highly trained. They know a wealth of information about products, destinations, and so on. And like top-level athletes, they have to know how to perform when it counts, i.e. when their customers are in front of them or on the other end of the phone.”
Gagnon noted that TDC has the right resources, training, and programming to allow members to do just that.
Gold medal selling
Karine GagnonFollowing Gagnon’s address, and amplifying the weekend’s theme, keynote speaker Michael Vickers, offered tips to help achieve “gold medal selling,” explaining that advisors must find their own distinctive value based on the values of their customers.
A second keynote speaker, Jean-François Ménard, a mental coach to Olympic champions, presented ‘Train your Brain like an Olympian.’
Meanwhile, workshops and panels included ‘How to Out-Position, Out-Sell, & Out-Experience,’ ‘Getting to Grips with Luxury Travel,’ and a TDC TikTok Challenge presented by G Adventures where participants had to put into practice what they had just learned by creating a 60-second TikTok video; and various new features were introduced at the event this year, namely the TDC Travel Showcase, Spotlight Stages, and Lunch & Learn.
Of course, the conference featured an extensive trade show, with 60 preferred partners on hand, including three newcomers signed up in the past year: Explora Journeys, Ponant, and Worldia.
“TDC’s close relationship with its partners is incredible; their presence at our events makes all the difference,” said Gagnon. “But more than that, the agreements negotiated with them enable TDC to be one of the networks that offers the best commissions to its members.”
Leaders Forum
On Friday afternoon, owners and managers of Marlin Travel and TravelPlus franchised agencies, as well as affiliate members were invited to the TDC Leaders Forum, a high-level brainstorming session that also included keynote presentations on sales management and how to assess the valuation of an agency.
The Toronto gathering was an ideal opportunity for the members of TDCLab, a think tank made up of a dozen agency owners, to hold their third meeting of the year, this time in person.
Team TDC”At TDC, the values of openness and dialogue are in our DNA. This forum for exchange between TDC’s leadership team and our owners is one of the perfect embodiments of that,” said Dianne Jackson, Director of Franchise and Affiliate Members for English Canada. “We all sit down at the same table to think together and find common solutions to situations that impact the industry; these owners, all competitors in life, get together to think, find solutions, and share them with their peers. For me, that’s what the TDC network is all about.”
TDC also celebrated the anniversaries of several long-tenured members, including Mary LaRocque from Marlin Travel Peterborough – 20 years; Peggy McKnight from Marlin Travel Cambridge – 25 years; Karen Taylor from Marlin Travel Belleville – 35 years; and John Fraser, from Marlin Travel Victoria – 40 years.
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