Alana Dober signs off her emails with, “the best compliment you can give as a referral.” Knowing that her clients see her value and want to share that value with their friends and family is not only rewarding but also helps her continue to grow her business. In 2019, Alana’s service and dedication to her clients paid off, and her northern Virginia travel business won its category for the Best of Prince William County!
We are thrilled for Alana and her business, Dober Travel. We caught up with her to celebrate her award and asked her to share a little bit about her travel agent journey.
Alana joined KHM Travel Group in 2015 after her husband researched becoming a travel agent and shared the idea with her. Having worked in property management for twelve years, sales was something Alana knew well. After having her two children, staying home with them became a priority, and it was important to her to find a role that would allow her to work from home. She called KHM Travel Group, and after speaking with our Memberships team, chose to get started right away.
Her decision paid off as she built her travel business and began to work with clients. Alana considers herself a people person and uses this strength to add a personal touch to her business. While she admits that it may be old school in today’s world of email and text, she makes it a practice to set up a phone consultation with every potential client. This helps her get a feel for her clients’ travel goals and build their confidence in her, right from the start.
She does still embrace today’s technology when it comes to promoting her business. With an active Facebook business page, she sees the value in communicating with her clients and potential clients on social media. Her clients show their support for her business on social media as well.
“My marketing tools are my clients! Once someone asks for a travel agent referral, my [Facebook] notifications light up! It’s very humbling to see so many refer my business.”
Alana Dober
Not only does it pay to foster loyalty among clients, but Alana has found that it’s also important to stick with it. Today she specializes in all-inclusive resorts and family theme-park vacations, but it took her time to settle into her travel niche. Her advice to other travel agents when it comes to having a travel niche is, “figure out your niche; it might take a while, and that’s okay! It took me 2 years to figure mine out!”
Alana noted that becoming a travel agent has given her opportunities that she hadn’t even imagined. This past October, she participated in a KHM Travel Group’s FAM trip to Ireland with CIE Tours. For her, this trip was important for many reasons, “I had never been to Europe, never had been on a KHM Travel FAM, never had sold CIE before, and I had only met a handful of KHM agents prior. Wow, was I ever so fortunate to be with this group! I NEVER thought I would have had an opportunity to experience this in my career. Ever. That trip changed me. And, I am forever grateful.”
After participating in this FAM where she had a chance to connect with our President Rick Zimmerman, our Director of Education & Programs Bill Coyle, and her fellow agents, Alana is making plans to attend Boot Camp and the 2020 Crystal Conference to help her take her business to the next level.
She has some advice to other agents when it comes to finding success with their travel businesses.
“Have patience, your business will grow. Learn as much as you can with the tools KHM Travel offers. Most importantly: Find the balance—and it’s so hard— especially since we LOVE what we do! I struggle to locate it every single day, but always remember FAMILY COMES FIRST!”
When it comes to running a travel business, Alana is forging her path to success, and we are so excited to see where she goes! Congratulations again to Alana and her business, Dober Travel on being recognized by her clients and in her community!
If you are inspired by Alana’s story and considering starting a travel business of your own, we can help! KHM Travel Group is a leading host agency supporting over 4,900 travel agents across the U.S. To find out more, fill out the form to the right or give us a call at 1-888-611-1220.