‘It’s time to stop focusing on the where and start thinking about the why,’ says Dani Galloway, global MD luxury and independent brands for Flight Centre.
Galloway says the ‘trust recession’ the world is in now will be a major future force for the industry. ‘We live in an age where 73% of people don’t trust online reviews and 89% will pay more for human verification. The advisor who has earned the deepest trust of their customers becomes priceless.’
Among the ways to build trust is to pre-empt problems and solve them before they happen, as well as putting integrity over incentives and making small promises that are kept daily.
‘Recovery defines the relationship,’ Galloway adds. ‘No leader gets things 100% right all of the time. ‘The important thing is how fast and how well you own the problem when something goes wrong. A mistake handled brilliantly can earn more trust than if nothing went wrong in the first place.’
Galloway says the ‘loneliness epidemic’ taking place now is the most profitable opportunity disguised as a crisis. She notes that solo travel has grown 42% year on year. ‘Lonely people are not buying travel, they are buying connection and they are running away from isolation.’
She says exclusivity and privacy are not what these people are looking for.
‘They want curated connections and shared experiences. We are their connection to connection itself.’
Galloway also identifies the AI commoditisation wave, the meaning migration (away from stuff and towards experiences) and the generational wealth transfer as other trends that can be maximised if handled right.
She also encourages agents to understand emotional liabilities, including ‘founder debt’.
‘Every client that only you can close, every client that will only deal with you and every decision that the team is waiting for you on is not loyalty. The moment you feel indispensable is the moment you need to worry.’
She also warns against silence debt.
‘You do not lose your client base or your employees loudly. You need to have a feedback loop in your business. Once you receive the resignation letter or your customer has gone quiet, then that’s too late.’
