We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie Coalson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Stephanie with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I have watched both of my parents have incredible work ethic from my childhood forward. I see what it takes to do a job and do it well. Being in the travel industry- I am working with my clients hard earned money. I know what it’s like to scrape and save to be able to afford a vacation and I do not take that lightly. I want my clients to know they can trust me, not only with their dollars, but also with their memories. I treat every trip I book as if it were my own vacation. I put the same amount of care I put into my own trips(and sometimes more) into my clients! I think my clients can feel that, so they keep coming back as the years go on, and that fuels my passion to work even hard to help them have great experiences!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a travel advisor. I’ve spent 5 years in this business, learning and growing along the way! My passion and specialty is booking Disney vacations but I also love cruises and all inclusive vacations as well! My job is to help my clients have the most stress free vacation possible. I handle all the details, so all they have to do is show up and enjoy their trip. I spend my own time and money during the year to travel to different places and experience them myself so that I have the most up to date information and tips for my clients. I want them to know they can trust me because I’ve actually been to many of the places I recommend! As I mentioned earlier- I do not take it lightly that my clients continue to trust me with not only their money- but also their family’s memories! It brings me so much joy to be a small part of helping families make memories that will last a lifetime!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1) Organization
2) Knowledge of the product/area
3) Passion
I definitely recommend setting yourself up for success by investing in a good CRM to help managa clients and all of their information. I couldn’t do much of what I do without that organization piece helping me out! Knowledge and passion go a long way when helping your clients narrow down on a destination or type of trip they want to take.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
The biggest area of growth for me over the last 12 months has been the confidence in myself and my knowledge. The more I’m able to travel and learn about destinations, the more confident I am when I recommend them to clients. When they have a great trip- they want to come back and use my services again. Connections are also huge in our industry and I’ve been able to make a lot of those over the last year as well once I was put in place as a regional leader for my state within my company. I’ve been able to grow a relationship with several of our business development managers, which also helps a lot with my confidence in recommending certain brands.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.travelleaders.com/agent/193785?nav=0
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scoalson104
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/travelmationstephanieC
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-coalson-333660266/
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