Top Advice From David Porter, Virtuoso’s No. 1 Cruise Seller

During the 35th-annual Virtuoso Travel Week, the travel advisor network recognized its top producers during its 2023 Virtuoso Community Awards.

According to Virtuoso, communities comprise advisors and preferred partners from specific travel segments, such as cruise.

Taking the top honor for the cruise community was David Porter of Roaming Boomers Travel Services, an independent affiliate of Cadence.

“I knew that we were doing well, but I had no idea that we were No. 1,” he said, noting that he considers the achievement a great honor.

Porter’s victory was determined by his sales production, as reported by his member agency to Virtuoso.

Here, Porter shares more about his business model, his experience with Virtuoso and his advice for other travel advisors.

How has the Virtuoso community environment influenced your success?

We made a decision early on to focus on cruises. Being a part of the cruise community has allowed us [to] keep focused on our niche, build relationships with cruise brands and mastermind with fellow community members.

What type of cruise travel do you specialize in?

Our focus has been the luxury end of the cruise industry. Therefore, we don't book the large-ship cruise brands. As a rule, luxury baby boomer travelers prefer smaller ships and a more destination-focused experience.

While we sell and promote river, ocean and increasingly expedition cruises, we are also focused on brands that can consistently send our clients home with happy experiences. If a cruise brand can't deliver that, then we don't book them.

The greatest piece of advice I can give to other cruise-selling travel advisors is to make the shift from salesperson to business owner.

What would you say is your greatest tool for sales success?

The greatest piece of advice I can give to other cruise-selling travel advisors is to make the shift from salesperson to business owner. Define your niche, brand yourself accordingly, use a CRM (customer relationship management) to help you keep track of your leads, clients and tasks, and work hard to earn your clients’ trust. If you earn their trust, then you'll earn their continued repeat business and the referrals of their friends.

Travelers are silently begging to be led. They call asking for deals, but if you share your expertise and experience, the conversation and relationship heads in a completely different direction.

Travelers are silently begging to be led.

What business lessons have you learned along the way?

We would not be where we are if I had not built a website and newsletter sharing our experiences. Unfortunately, most travel advisors’ websites are little more than glorified business cards.

Share your experience, expertise and advice, and people will be attracted to what you have to say.

What is your current outlook for the cruise industry moving forward? Is it rebounding, slowly or quickly, in your opinion?

We are very optimistic about the cruise industry going forward. Most of our clients are retired and have the time and money to travel the world.

And with 80,000,000 baby boomers retired or entering retirement, we need only the smallest slice of the enormous number to be successful.

What tips would you share with fellow advisors that could help promote their business?

Build a website, blog and newsletter. It takes time and commitment to make this happen, but the benefits are well worth it.