RTA SPOTLIGHT: Barbara Braveboy-Locklear
Travel Compass is proud to feature YTB Directors Barbara Braveboy-Locklear and Horace Locklear in this edition of the Travel Compass. In addition to their fast growing YTB marketing business, the Locklears are superstar Referring Travel Agents with YTB Travel Network, earning substantial travel commissions!
The Locklears reside in rural Angier, North Carolina, having moved there 8 years ago to be nearer to their children and grandchildren. This winter they expect to have the restoration completed on their 1925 bungalow "Mill House" they purchased last year in the neighboring town of Erwin, NC. Barbara says the move to city life will deliver them a respite from the upkeep of their country acre yard!
Barbara is a freelance journalist/writer/storyteller and cultural consultant by training and trade. However, since joining YourTravelBiz three years ago, she has accepted fewer and fewer professional contracts. Horace is a retired public servant, having served three, two-year terms in the North Carolina House of Representatives before retiring full time to his law practice where he worked 20 years. Since his retirement two and half years ago, Horace has worked their YTB business full time. The couple has three children: Millicent Locklear, 42; Horace Bryan Locklear, 40; and Jasper Edwin Locklear, 37. They have four granddaughters: Heather Nicole; Tonya Bryana Jean; Koty Rylan; and Keylle Cheyenne. They also have three grandsons: Franklin Tecumseh; Jacob Riley, and Eric Parker.
Horace and Barbara are fairly new to the travel business as they joined YTB in April, 2003. They have come to specialize in group cruise travel. Barbara states that most of their travel customers are offshoots from groups they have served and she applies work ethics learned in her youth to their YTB travel business, stating, "Today's travel consumer is increasingly looking for a quality product as well as quality service. I relate as both a consumer and travel professional. As I see it, my YTB Travel Store stocks the products they are shopping for, and much, much more. I am the merchant. Therefore, I must deliver customized service. I love serving groups!"
They also get referrals from individuals whose travel they have booked. Others come from family members. They spend next-to-no funds on print advertisement, relying on other marketing strategies to find customers. Barbara says, "I'm big on the distribution of printed materials that are free from vendors. These tools serve two purposes: to connect my name to the industry and to gain more customers. New prospects are both surprised and amazed that my YTB Travel Store stocks such a wide spectrum of travel products and related amenities. They are even more surprised that though it is an online travel agency, they can actually contact a "live" agent who is willing and able to handle every detail of their travel needs, including research, booking and management."
When asked if the Locklears host any special events such as travel parties to build their travel business, Barbara offers, "I steer away from booking speculative group travel. Instead, I'm always searching for potential customers who have a long travel "wish list". Once the travel agent/customer trust is established and the travel needs determined, a contract is signed. I book the group reservation and immediately begin working with the group leader to solidify guest numbers. Within the first week of booking the group, I meet with the client and their guests for a Questions & Answers session.
Each guest is given one of my magnetized business cards for their refrigerator (and another for their office file cabinet) along with an exciting cruise itinerary brochure (some customers refer to it as a cruise catalogue) for their coffee table or bedside table. These tools serve to gain prospective customers while branding my name to the industry. At the end of the meeting, I leave a supply of Passenger Profile forms with the client and additional brochures and flyers to help grow the group.
Every single time I read or listen to a travel advertisement, I am reminded of how keen the competition is in the industry. Competing in the arena is not for the meek and lazy. And though the reminder humbles me; I am committed. I understand the value of tenacity. I learned the meaning of competition early in life. I was born on the outskirts of Pembroke, a tribal community in southeastern North Carolina. One of eight children, I grew up on a farm sharecropped by my loving, decent parents. I became a fierce competitor. It was alongside my seven siblings, laboring in fields of long cotton and tobacco rows, that I learned the importance of setting goals and meeting them, albeit to reach the end of each cotton or tobacco row assigned me. Any degree of patience I possess today comes from lessons learned as the daughter of a farmer studying from the book of nature called Delayed Gratification!"
Barbara continues, "I would like to recognize my YTB co-captain and soulmate of 43 years, Horace Locklear; he heads the team roster. He is tenacious; I sincerely admire, respect, and appreciate his dedication to building our business. He works the Referral side, and I work the Travel side. Though we are both people-oriented; he is the patient one. I appreciate and honor all members of our Braves Group, a downline of Brenda and Rick Ricketts. They all contribute in special ways. However, my team --like others in the YTB organization -- has its star performers. Some "Standouts" in The Braves Group are: Jalynn and Billy Hammonds, Teresa S. Jones, Tim Lewis, Sylvia and Ray Onate, and Sharon Jefferson of North Carolina; Julie Smith of Georgia; and Lynn Posey of Maryland.
My YTB business has already impacted my life and the lives of my family members beyond the measure of words. The impact is instant and futuristic. Every day since Horace and I joined the company in 2003, we have prospered in countless ways. We are affiliated with a nationally publicly traded travel company, founded by people of integrity and extraordinary vision that care about their field agents. Company leaders work hard at lifting thousands of RTAs through gestures of love, respect, and fairness. Financial impact? Powerful! Comforting! Constant! It girdles our financial future. Period. The pillows that Horace and I now lay our heads on feel more comfortable now that we have health and life insurance coverage paid for by YTB. (YTB Directors receive full health and life insurance coverage).
Impact? The love, support, and friendship fostered by our association with others in the organization are immeasurable. In addition to friendships developed from within our own YTB team, The Braves Group, Horace and I are the beneficiaries of endearing friendships held with people like Rick and Brenda Ricketts, Tim and Georgia Dominey, Bill and Jeanie Sharpless, and Ron and Judy Head. They, along with other special people from the Home Office like Scott and Lauri Tomer, are the warm winds against our backs. Kim Sorensen is the wind beneath our wings and "Coach" Tomer is in a league all his own. He mentors us on how to navigate those winds in order to soar like an eagle. There are not enough ways to explain how he has impacted our lives as YTB Referring Travel Agents. We love and respect him immensely.
Impact? I am unable to measure it when it comes to my loyal customers. My spirit is fed every time one says, "Thank you for serving me. I need for you to book me some travel."
