Christopher Lingren (Source: Christopher Lingren)
Travel Advisor Success Stories focus on accomplished advisors and how they achieved success. Here’s a look at Christopher Lingren, owner and chief experience officer at Wonderful Adventures Travel Group.
How did you get your start as a travel advisor?
My journey into the travel industry began long before I actually invested in my first professional travel business opportunity. Growing up in Southern California, my family traveled frequently throughout the western states and Hawaii. In high school and college, I worked at Disneyland, which ignited my passion for storytelling, hospitality, and themed environments.
Before entering the travel industry, I spent 20 years in Corporate America, working for two companies in different sectors: restaurant management and commercial lending. Travel was a significant part of my responsibilities, involving site inspections of construction projects we financed and meetings with vendors for equipment and physical assets, such as exterior signage and graphics for restaurants and other commercial buildings.
When I was laid off from my second company, I struggled to find another opportunity within the same sector. My wife reminded me that I had always dreamed of owning my own business, and perhaps it was finally time to pursue that dream.
After researching various opportunities, I realized that acquiring a travel industry franchise resonated with me the most. I recognized that I didn’t have the expertise to venture into this field alone, so having the support of a national franchise would provide the guidance I needed to get started. I reviewed my options, made my selection and got to work.
How did you build your business?
Since I didn’t have a professional background in travel, I began by surveying my personal connections and examining each sphere of influence I had, dating back to junior high school. I reached out to people from my neighborhood, as well as members of both the church we attended in Indiana and the one we attended while living in California. I contacted colleagues from previous jobs, schools and volunteer opportunities to inform them of my career change and explain how I could assist them.
I invested in my development by attending conferences and industry events. I successfully completed all CLIA certification levels, along with many other industry and vendor-specific training programs.
When fam trip invitations started arriving, I eagerly accepted them, recognizing their value in allowing me to experience destinations firsthand. As travel advisors, we sell our personal experiences and knowledge to our clients.
The more conferences I attended and relationships I built with vendors and industry leaders, the more I recognized the importance of not just being a leader to my team, but sharing my leadership experience with others, and giving back. Soon, several speaking and roundtable-facilitating opportunities presented themselves, and I jumped at them.
Throughout the COVID pandemic, together with my family, I developed the vision and branding for a new agency, and my existing team members at the time were excited to join me.
I started off in the industry focusing on Disney and family-friendly experiences, but that focus shifted over the years. I began shifting to river cruises, then to more experiential, curated travel for my clients, allowing others on my team to develop in the family-friendly space.
My niche has become more adventurous and, by nature, a bit more exotic in terms of destinations. I’m not personally a beach person at all, yet I know that many of my clients are, and there are some phenomenal beaches around the world in some lovely, exotic locations. So getting there and experiencing them is important to me, even though I will usually only spend 20 minutes in the water before calling it quits!
I’d much rather spend time in the woods or the mountains, which is why my favorite domestic destination. I've been there 6 times already, across every season, and I’m excited to be planning number 7. But knowing that also helps me, as an Alaska expert, to sell a lot of Alaska trips year after year.
What characteristics make you a successful advisor?
For me, it all comes down to storytelling, plain and simple. When I can sit across a table from a client, or through a screen virtually and effectively paint a picture for them of what they might see, hear, smell and feel in a given destination, and see the smiles on their faces as they listen, I know that I will have a much higher propensity of closing than if I’m simply ticking a box of what they say they want.
What were your greatest challenges?
Throughout my years, I’ve dealt with family or friends who don’t see my value and book on their own, either online or through the dreaded big-box stores. I’ve dealt with rejection and setbacks, but learning to roll with them, pick myself up, and move on is the most important thing.
One of my biggest challenges has been getting out of my own way by recognizing and acknowledging my own weaknesses, my control issues and my desire for perfection, especially when it comes to the vision for my agency.
What are your greatest accomplishments?
When I entered the travel world, I wasn’t the rockstar agent bounding out of the shoot, so to speak; I wasn’t being recognized month after month for top sales. I was a strong franchisee, consistently showing up and making sales, but my approach remained largely the same as I continued to focus on activities within the franchise bubble.
But after a while, I began to look beyond the franchise world's bubble and realized there were many other possibilities for me, and things started to change.
I built and fostered relationships with vendors and agency owners on my own. I began attending other industry events, and people started pouring into me.
My confidence grew. I was then invited to speak at an event and my confidence grew further. I began to look outside of myself, and things started to really change. My sales were growing, and when it was time to let go, make that change, and open my own agency, numerous vendors reached out to congratulate me.
Since then, I have cast my vision for what I want my agency to become during the first decade, and we are well on our way to meeting and exceeding those goals. I think my biggest accomplishment has been the team, and they all caught it, understood it and wanted to be part of bringing it to life.
What tips can you provide advisors new to the industry?
What I would say, and what I do say to my new team members, is to always be learning. Seek out as many training opportunities as you can, whether through vendor online trainings or in-person events.
Become an expert in what you want to specialize in. Find that niche, or a pair of niches, and really immerse yourself in them. Get to the destination, or sail on the ship, so you have a personal experience.
Another important consideration is to always keep the ball moving forward and out of your court. In basketball, players pass the ball to teammates to set up shots at the basket and score points, though interceptions can occur and the ball can move to the other side of the court.
In travel, we need to consider how important it is to keep the ball moving forward so we can set it up to score by closing the deal. Sometimes there will be interruptions – perhaps a slowdown from your vendor partners or additional questions coming your way from the client.
When those things happen, respond quickly so that others aren’t waiting for you. Do everything you can so that instead of being the one people are waiting on, you are waiting for them to get the ball back in order to score the shot and close the deal!
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