Debra Kerper (Source: Debra Kerper)
Travel Advisor Success Stories focus on veteran advisors and how they achieved success. Here’s a look at Debra Kerper, an independent Cruise Planners’ franchise owner.
How did you get your start as a travel advisor?
I was a below-knee amputee who had been living with Lupus since the age of 20. While recovering from a major Lupus flare in 1992, I enrolled in a local community college class called Travel the World. I hadn’t done much traveling but thought the class sounded interesting. I didn’t realize this class was part of a two-year curriculum to become a travel advisor.
During the first class, I thought, I can do this! I was looking for a way to give my life purpose and believed I had found it. So, I reinvented myself, realizing I could work part time, work from home and focus on travelers with disabilities.
How did you build your business over the years?
Slowly and methodically. I vowed to build my business on a platform of honesty and being forthright. Planning travel for persons with disabilities is a huge responsibility, and I never promise something I cannot deliver. I learned from a handful of people who specialized in disabled travel, and attended senior fairs and conferences aimed at this population.
Sometimes I felt like a salmon swimming upstream because so few travel advisors specialize in this niche. In 2012 I joined Cruise Planners, which took my business to a whole new level as a result of their immense resources. Best business decision ever!
What characteristics make you a successful advisor?
I love people and I love research. Being an advisor is the perfect marriage of both. I have enjoyed being in this industry since the first day I began to learn in 1992, and I am still learning today.
I am a very friendly, outgoing person and treat everyone as a friend. I am extremely responsive when a potential client contacts me. I truly experience joy every day and look forward to starting my ‘work’ day. I take the responsibility of helping people plan their vacations very seriously and have the utmost respect for their time, their memories and their money.
Kerper focus is designing trips for travelers with disabilities. (Source: Wheel the World)
What have been your greatest challenges been?
Travel for persons with disabilities is highly specialized due to the lack of mainstream vendors willing and able to work with us. My biggest frustration is not being able to accommodate some requests from clients who want to experience mainstream and luxury travel.
Cruises are always a frontrunner, but they need to be selected very carefully. Ships and itineraries must be chosen to avoid tender ports; I need to evaluate accessible staterooms to ensure they meet the specific needs of a particular client; and I investigate ports of call for accessible shore excursion options.
I know I push vendors to their limit, but now and then I succeed in making them think outside the box.
On a personal note, I had my second leg amputated in 2016 and am now living with low vision, which is the biggest challenge I have faced, but I’m still able to do what I love – plan travel for others and travel the world with my clients!
What have your greatest accomplishments been?
I am so fortunate to have built an amazing career planning adventures for people, many of whom believed they could never travel. Every client is a unique success story. I won three Trendsetter Awards for my groups through ‘TravelAge West Magazine’ in 2012, 2013, 2015, and proudly accepted the first ‘Cruisitude’ award given by Cruise Planners in 2016. All of these were wonderful accomplishments, in addition to the amazing journeys I have sent people on, many of whom have complex medical conditions as well as physical disabilities.
What tips can you provide advisors new to the industry?
First and foremost, enjoy what you do. You are part of a wonderful industry filled with incredible people. Take advantage of the many learning opportunities provided to all of us. Build relationships, especially with your preferred vendors. They can be invaluable to you. Listen carefully to your clients, and treat each one as special. Learn to ask the correct questions to qualify your clients, thereby enabling you to deliver the best product and results. Always be honest, responsive, knowledgeable and caring.
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