Meet Laurence, our USA expert !

Laurence has been working at Toundra for almost a year as a remote development manager from her home in Los Angeles, where she’s been living for the past 6 years. We caught up with her to talk about the challenges of her job and her strategic position in the field.

Hello Laurence, thank you very much for granting us this interview! First of all, could you tell us more about your background before working for Toundra?

I used to work in the Marketing field. I started my career in France as a Marketing Prospecting Manager. At first, for a private company and then in the public sector.

Six years ago, my husband had a professional opportunity in Los Angeles, so we decided to move here to live a new adventure. When I came here, I knew I had to work. But changing countries and therefore cultures, made me think of reinventing myself.

While exploring job opportunities, I came across an offer with a receptive agency based here in Los Angeles. Being very attracted to tourism and being used to planning our road-trips, I applied and ended up working there from 2018 to 2021. It was a very small structure, so we were very versatile in our jobs and it was a very educational experience. It taught me a lot, especially about the commercial aspect and sales, which I hadn’t mastered before.

How did you end up working at Toundra?

After a while, I wanted to think bigger, so I looked for another place to work at. I had already spotted Toundra as a very influential North American DMC. I sented an unsolicited application, and was interviewed by Régis, formerly Director of Strategy and Development.

He told me that he had a strong desire to develop Toundra’s offers in the United States, and that fitted my profile as I live there. So I was hired as US Development Manager and I work 100% remotely from Los Angeles since then!

What does your job in Los Angeles involve?

Since I am based in the United States, the priority of my job is to have this direct link with the field and to go out and find new suppliers to get new products. My position in the United States is strategic and allows us to reassure our travelers. In terms of customer service, it is always more reassuring for them to know that we are directly present in the destination, and that I can give them advice based on my personal experience. Travelers really appreciate my location and my knowledge of the country. It creates a more personal connection with them that makes it easier for them to trust Toundra’s expertise.

Above all, the primary purpose of my position, after the Covid-19 pandemic, was to get the business back on track and to gauge the new expectations and needs of travelers. I need to get the destination back on track, and that includes sales. So a big part of my job is focused on sales.

In my free time, like my vacations or weekends, I also spend a lot of time going out and exploring this beautiful country. So I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting contracts to go after.

You say that travelers are not the same since the pandemic. What has changed so much?

It’s true that since Covid-19, people don’t travel the same way. Today, it is the travelers who make the first step towards us for a travel request, and we do not appeal them to travel with us.

The profile of our travelers today is that of people who really need assistance. The U.S. is a relatively easy destination to organize yourself on the Internet. Our travelers need to see that we really provide them added value and specialized advice. They are more and more interested in getting off the beaten track and discovering places that are different from the usual tours.

They also need to be reassured, as they were marked by the sudden pandemic. They want to know that if something happens to them, we will really be behind them to help them. This was already true before, but it has become more pronounced since the pandemic, to the point of becoming a real criterion for our travelers’ choice of agency.

So what are the top destinations sold in the United States?

We have 4 destinations that are mainly requested in the United States, which are the Southwest, Louisiana, Florida, and the Eastern capitals. More and more, travelers are asking for personalization of their trips and want to do activities that are out of the ordinary. They are less and less interested in sleeping in impersonal accommodations, such as large hotels, in favor of bed and breakfasts or hostels.

That said, we have a growing share of sales in less popular areas of the United States. For example, many people traveling to the U.S. for the second or third time tend to request the Northwest or even the Lakes Region. These are more open space destinations where they are less likely to get mixed up with the crowds.

What are the challenges you face in your position?

I was hired because of Toundra’s ambition to expand our weight in the US. So I’ll be traveling more in the rest of the U.S. in the future, to meet directly our future partners. In particular, I’m going to the IPW show in May 2023 to represent Toundra’s offering and to establish new contacts with potential suppliers.

My second challenge is to enrich Toundra’s current offer. I try to find different addresses so that we can differentiate ourselves from the competition. I spend 80% of my work time in sales, but I’m also in purchasing to secure partnerships. In the future, the objective would be for me to spend progressively less time on sales so that I can continue my other missions, especially on meeting new partners.

Do you have any final words to conclude this interview?

What motivates me in my work is that there are still so many things to do and that this is really only the beginning. We have a vision and a company with a real desire to move forward, and I know that we can still do great things with Toundra. My strategic position in the United States is very important to us, and that’s why the potential for developing our offering is still immense.