Rainmaker 2023 Session – How to sell a Big Idea in travel technology.

Hosted by Kevin O'Shaughnessy (Cityhook) and Amanda Campbell (Sparkling Communications) and recorded live at our Dublin Travel Massive event at AWS Dublin. We hear some of the best advice for selling a big idea and closing deals from our seasoned travel technology and airline sales "rain makers",

• Ultan O'Brien, ViaSat
• Riona McHale, Travelport, and
• Brian Porter, Datalex

Think of this as an enterprise sales 'master class'. This is edited from our live event at AWS Dublin on 22 November 2023.

Our panel explores what it means to sell a big idea that puts customers outside of their comfort zone and the need for trusted relationships with customers that endure.

• 04:07 - 05:00: Courageous customers and the importance of trust
• 05:00 - 08:31: Creating clear, compelling value propositions
  "In terms of financial, it's massive, but actually, you can fit a lot of their key players in a room, and you can find them twice or three times a year in that same room."
• 08:31 - 11:10: Aligning with the customer need
  "Doing a deal with the wrong customers is terrible. It's the worst situation to be in. So not doing a deal is sometimes better ..."
• 11:10 - 14:19: Knowing your customer
• 14:19 - 17:00: Adapting to changes in technology and customer expectations.
• 17:00 - 20:53: Final thoughts on the future of sales in travel technology
  "Our best salesperson is a satisfied customer."
• Q&A Session with Audience
• 20:53 – End

If you found this podcast insightful, delve deeper into similar discussions by exploring our back catalog on your preferred podcast platform, and join us as we continue to navigate the exciting world of travel tech together. Remember to subscribe for the latest updates and insights!

A special thanks to David McAvinue from AWS Dublin for hospitality and support for this event.

A link to this event

Our previous "Rain Maker" episodes recorded in 2018 with Sinead Finn at Tripadvisor Dublin

Ric Gazarian (Extraordinary Travel Festival and Travel Massive Asia) interviews insiders making positive change across the travel industry.

Jonathan Coleman is CEO at the UnTours Foundation which promotes socio-economic equity by providing low-interest loans to social entrepreneurs and businesses across the United States, and around the world.

Richard G. Edwards heads up marketing at UnTours (owned by the UnTours Foundation and the world's first certified B Corporation) which provides travelers with all the fun of independent travel, but with the planning, service, and on-site support of a tour.

In this interview, Jonathan and Richard reflect on their personal experiences of traveling with UnTours, their philanthropic founder Hal, and the mission of the UnTours Foundation.

This podcast was supported by UnTours.

Get up to date with everything you need to know that's happening in the Travel Massive community at travelmassive.com

🛼 Link Roll:

• UnTours – https://www.untours.com
• UnTours Foundation – https://untoursfoundation.org

Kevin O'Shaughnessy (CityHook, Travel Massive Dublin) interviews insiders from the engine room of the travel industry.

Mike Cole heads up the content team of WayAway, a travel search engine which, for members, pays cash back. As a spinout from Travelpayouts/AviaSales, the team talk about the early stage of this new venture, the energy that's required to get things off the ground and talk about some of the differentiators the team introduced to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

This podcast was supported by WayAway

Get up to date with everything you need to know that's happening in the Travel Massive community

🛼
Link Roll: WayAway - https://www.wayaway.io * Travel Massive Store – https://tmsv.co/merch * Travel Jobs – https://www.travelmassive.jobs/

Kevin O'Shaughnessy (CityHook, Travel Massive Dublin) interviews execs from inside the engine room of the travel industry.

Steve Domin is the co-founder of Duffel, the "power grid" for flight sales. In this episode, we chat about how they built the product, some great stories about scaling and some thoughts to the future.

This podcast was supported by Duffel

Get up to date with everything you need to know that's happening in the Travel Massive community

🛼
Link Roll: Duffel - https://www.duffel.com * Travel Massive Store – https://tmsv.co/merch * Travel Jobs – https://www.travelmassive.jobs/

Get up to date with everything you need to know that's happening in the Travel Massive community this week, with your host Joel Chevaillier.

🛼 Link Roll:

* Top 50 Travel Startups - https://www.travelmassive.com/pages/hot-travel-startups-for-2022

• 2022 Travel Predictions – https://tmsv.co/TravelPredictions
• Travel Massive Store – https://tmsv.co/merch

• Travel Jobs – https://www.travelmassive.jobs/

Get up to date with everything you need to know that's happening in the Travel Massive community this week, with your host Joel Chevaillier.

🛼 Link Roll:

• 2022 Travel Predictions – https://tmsv.co/TravelPredictions
  • Top 50 Startups – https://tmsv.co/50TravelStartups
  • Tunco Life - https://tuncolife.com/?ref=travelmassive
• WaterToGo– https://watertogo.shop/?ref=travelmassive
• Radiooooo –https://radiooooo.com/?ref=travelmassive
• Baboo –https://baboo.travel/?ref=travelmassive
• Light Pollution Map –https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/?ref=travelmassive#zoom=4.00&lat=45.8720&lon=14.5470&layers=B0FFFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFF

National Park NFT - https://nationalparksnft.io/?ref=travelmassive

• Travel Massive Store – https://tmsv.co/merch

• Travel Jobs – https://www.travelmassive.jobs/

Get up to date with everything you need to know that's happening in the Travel Massive community this week, with your host Joel Chevaillier.

🛼 Link Roll:

• 2022 Travel Predictions – https://tmsv.co/TravelPredictions
  • Top 50 Startups – https://tmsv.co/50TravelStartups
  • Travel Tech course – https://tmsv.co/TravelTechCourse
• Spotted by locals – https://tmsv.co/SpottedbyLocals
  • Drive & Listen – https://tmsv.co/DriveListen
• Moon Tour – https://tmsv.co/MoonTour
• Guess Where Trips – https://tmsv.co/GuessWhere
• Travel Massive Store – https://tmsv.co/merch

• Travel Jobs – https://www.travelmassive.jobs/