Cruise Planners' Michael Consoli surpassed $20m in sales in 2021

This is especially noteworthy considering it was achieved at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Consoli's 2021 sales eclipsed his pre-pandemic sales.

'If Michael Consoli can increase his sales during a global pandemic, I can’t wait to see what he does when we’re fully out of it,' said Michelle Fee, CEO and founder of Cruise Planners. 'We are constantly in awe of Michael’s hard work and he consistently delivers year after year.'

Transition from live events to webinars, chasing unredeemed FCCs

Pre-pandemic, Consoli — whose agency is based in Roswell, Georgia — relied heavily on live events to network. But when everything shut down, he switched to webinars with vendors to keep clients engaged and abreast of the latest news. In addition, Consoli went the extra step and made a tremendous number of phone calls to clients who had credit vouchers but hadn’t booked in over a year. He said he focused on products that provided safe travels and saw an uptick in river cruises, US departures and increased travel to Canada and the Caribbean.

'Very available' to clients

'When people ask me what the secret sauce is, it’s this: I make myself very available to my clients but that means I work long hours,' Consoli said. 'Although [this is] demanding, I felt that during this challenging time my clients needed to know that I was there for them, no matter what.

'We also put a big emphasis on fitting the right product to the guest. We’re not just selling to sell. It takes a lot of organization and attention to detail to make sure we don’t drop the ball.'

Resumed traveling

Consoli also resumed traveling — on two European river cruises, three ocean cruises and to Antarctica.

He added: 'I wanted to be able to show my clients that traveling can be safe, especially on a cruise. The protocols are in place and are working. Once my customers saw me traveling, they knew it was safe to cruise as well.'

Consoli specializes in all cruises, particularly river and luxury. He was named the global top producer for Viking Cruises six years in a row. He has also been named the No. 1 luxury agent, No. 1 river cruise agent and top producing agency for Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International among Cruise Planners’ network of 2,500 franchisees.

Hand-holding on protocols

Consoli also said he makes an extra effort to ensure his clients are comfortable traveling in the current environment by reviewing the requirements with them and helping them fulfill those requirements.

A client, Joanne, related that she had never used a travel planner before, but decided to reach out to Consoli due to the uncertainty of traveling during COVID.

'Michael was extremely knowledgeable, and he took the time to answer my many questions and concerns. He even called me from his own cruise vacation to share information about safety protocols and to reassure me that Celebrity was taking every precaution to make cruising safe. I will be reaching out to Michael for vacation planning moving forward and I recommend his services without hesitation.'

Consoli also credited the increase in sales partly due to people's pent-up desire to travel after being homebound for many months. He predicted 2022 will be a banner year and is working on a plan that will include a myriad of in-person events.

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