Cruise sales executives share wisdom at CruiseWorld

FORT LAUDERDALE — Listen. Find a mentor. Communicate. Set
goals. All of those and more were offered as career advice for travel agents at
CruiseWorld on Wednesday.

The advice came from cruise line executives on the “Mastermind
Sales and Marketing Secrets of Success” panel, moderated by Mary Pat Sullivan
and Joanie Ogg.

Camille Olivere, senior vice president of sales at Norwegian
Cruise Line, said, “Choosing a mentor that can really add value to you and
help you grow and develop is important,” she said.

Having mentors was also an important career step for Dondra
Ritzenthaler, Celebrity Cruises’ senior vice president of sales, trade support
and service.

Ritzenthaler said persistence has also been key. Right out
of college, she applied to get a job at American Airlines three times. The
first two times she wasn’t hired, but she believed she was the best candidate,
so she listened to what her interviewers told her, made some changes, and went
for the job a third time. She was hired.

“Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t get that
group of business or that group or that charter,” she said. “And if
you don’t get it the first time, listen and see what you did that made you lose
it, learn from it and get after that.”

Eva Jenner, vice president of North America sales at Holland
America Line and Seabourn, also advised listening — specifically to clients
and their needs.

“What they’re telling you is going to help you create
the best vacation experience for them,” Jenner said. “Then they’re
going to come back to you.”

Joe Jiffo, MSC Cruises’ senior vice president of sales,
shared a tidbit from Rick Sasso, with whom he first worked at Carnival in 1991
(the duo has come full circle as Sasso is MSC’s chairman today).

“He always told us there’s no one above you,”
Jiffo said. “Everyone is equal.”

An early boss also taught Carnival Cruise Line’s Adolfo
Perez an important lesson after reviewing every piece of communication her
employees created, complete with red lines and worse than an exam at school.
But he got the message.

“Communication is key because you have to get the
message out, the story out — you have to be able to do it in a way that was
convincing,” said Perez, Carnival’s vice president of trade and sales
marketing. 

John Chernesky, vice president of North America sales at
Princess Cruises and Cunard Line, had a simple piece of career advice: Be nice
to the people you work with, whether it’s the president of the company or the
person in the mailroom.

Clients obviously expect agents to be nice because they are
providing them with a service, he said, but it’s also important to connect to
them on a personal level.

Chris Austin, senior vice president of global marketing and
sales at Seabourn, encouraged agents to set goals for themselves and their
business.

“All of you need to set your own targets, but also use
a number,” Austin said. “Whether it’s six, whether it’s three,
whether it’s 10 — you can go after six new clients and find eight, and
suddenly have them all cruising and they’ve never cruised before. I think
setting your own personal targets, being tenacious, is a great lesson.”