Jessica: Thank you for participating in MAC Chat and congratulations! Insight Vacations is nominated for the MailPound Agents' Choice (MAC) awards. Insight Vacations just celebrated their 30th anniversary last year. That's a great accomplishment! What is the best advice you can give new agents just starting out in the business? 
Mark: It’s all about relationships and making your clients feel important. Always be in contact with them and always make it a personal experience. Customer relations management (CRM) is KEY! I also feel that do one thing and to do it well. Specialize and focus. There is nothing wrong with being a top seller of tours or cruises. 

Jessica: You received a nomination for "Most Agent Friendly Tour Operator." What is it about Insight Vacations that attracts so many travel agents? 
Mark: I have to say, to be nominated in this category is truly a special honor. Our business model is essentially based on travel agent sales. We want to be the agents very best partner. Our goal is to drive traffic into their office first and having the agent sell Insight. We will do whatever it takes to build our business together. Insight offers top commissions, in office and web based training, an online expert certificate program, and we always reference the selling agent of record (when we have the information on file) when communicating with a consumer.

Jessica: What does escorted tour travel mean to you? 
Mark: Well it doesn’t mean, it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium! Escorted touring has evolved quite a bit in the past decade. To me escorted touring embodies value, convenience and choice. A traveler will always save money when purchasing a packaged tour. Purchase as much as you can in advance to make that dollar really stretch. Escorted touring is the most convenient way of traveling. You have someone doing all of the work for you. Our tour directors are like a traveling concierge. Insight offers six types of touring styles that appeal to a wide range of travelers including Discovery Tours, Regional Tours, Country Roads Tours, Easy Pace Tours, Elegance Tours and Cruise & Tours. 

Jessica: Do you have any current promotions you would like to share with our travel agents? 
Mark: YES! We just launched our last of our “Red Hot Deals” of the 2009 season. These select departures are available at a 10% or more person discount and our guaranteed to depart. These departures will be available for sale until August 15th. Please visit insightvacations.com to view the list of applicable tours. We also just extended our Winter Brochure air promotion. Book two clients traveling together on an air inclusive Insight Vacations Winter brochure departure and the second passenger flies for just $99. This is available until August 31st. Please visit insightvacations.com for more details.

Thank you Mark for taking time to share more about Insight Vacations with us.   

Please feel free to submit comments below. Have an excellent day!