Travel Advisor Success Story: Ken Keefer, CK Tours & Cruises

Ken and Joan Keefer. (Source: Ken Keefer)

Travel Advisor Success Stories focus on veteran advisors and how they achieved success. Here’s a look at Ken Keefer, owner of CK Tours & Cruises.

How did you get your start as a travel advisor?

I grew up with a love of travel; experiencing new places with my grandparents and our epic family summer road trips are some of my fondest memories. This love of travel translated into me making the arrangements for travel with our friends through our local travel advisor. In my interactions with my advisor, her lack of travel struck me as odd, and I always questioned what her next big adventure would be and she never had one.

My life as a national sales manager for a food brokerage company allowed me to travel the world for meetings, training and conferences. The travel was interesting, but business travel is a different animal than leisure travel. On one such trip, I had been away for several weeks and was finally heading home when I got stuck in Atlanta for a couple of days due to a snowstorm. My extensive travel allowed me access to the Delta Lounge, where there are many business magazines available. One such magazine listed the top 100 home-based businesses (1999), and home-based travel was in the top five.

While waiting to get home, I made plans to purchase a CruiseOne franchise, and I haven’t looked back since.

I officially opened for business on August 1, 2000, after attending the CruiseOne training in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The training was basic, but I was clueless then and was very lucky to have another CruiseOne franchise in my area whose manager served as my main knowledge base for the first six months I was in business.

I quickly realized the franchise model was not for me and started planning to exit the franchise system as soon as my contract allowed. I officially started CK Tours & Cruises in August of 2002.

How did you build your business over the years?

In my first week in business, I attended the Group Leaders of America (GLAMER) show in Harrisburg, Pa., and left with three bank travel groups to Hawaii on American Hawaii Cruises. I had extensive knowledge of Hawaii from previous travel to the Islands, which was crucial to landing the three groups.

Seven days in and I had three groups with over 300 travelers on the books in the first two months. This success allowed me to exit my sales manager position and begin my journey to my calling in life.

Then 9/11 happened! My old boss wanted me back, and I almost returned to my corporate life, but I held out.

In early November, cruise lines and airlines were giving away trips. We would sell one, and all of a sudden we would have 10 of their friends calling, most of whom had never been on a cruise before; it was incredible, but we made no money in the moment. But the tragedy of 9/11 was the springboard for the roots of my business. To this day, I can trace my client tree back to that awful disaster.

The lessons learned during this time have allowed our agency to be resilient during the trying times of the swine flu, housing collapse and the ultimate challenge of COVID. Through it all, we have continued to evolve, changing our business model with the times and technologies to service our clients.

The most important thing for an advisor is to stay current with training and see as many destinations as possible. The in-person aspect of experiencing travel is the best way to convey to your clients why they should go to a particular destination.

What characteristics make you a successful advisor?

When speaking with our clients, my love of travel is evident, as is my ability to convey why or why not a destination or product is suitable for the client. I do not sugarcoat to get the sale.

What have been your greatest challenges?

Surviving 9/11 and COVID have been our biggest challenges and our most significant accomplishment. To come out the other side even stronger and more resilient has been very fulfilling.

Travel will always have times of prosperity and downturns. The highs and lows are never as good or bad as you think. No matter the travel environment, you can find ways to succeed and evolve.

What have your greatest accomplishments been?

Helping others succeed in travel is very important for me. If I hadn’t had assistance when I first started, I would never have had the success I have had. 

What tips can you provide advisors new to the industry?

First and foremost, travel to the areas you want to specialize in. Also, the value of first-hand knowledge is crucial to success.

Reach out to your fellow advisors when you are stumped or need advice. The good advisors are always willing to help you succeed. You are not competing with other advisors; our strength comes from our travel community. The advisor community offers you knowledge that the Expedias of the world can’t compete with. Travelers only interested in the lowest price are not the clients you should be chasing.

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