In this episode, Jeannette talks to James Cole who is a travel industry veteran and the founder and owner of Panache Cruises. They discuss how he was able to establish a successful cruise business just as the pandemic started and still grow it despite the fact there were no cruises for his team to sell.
How he and his team used the pandemic to lay the foundations of the success they are experiencing today.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Niching down in an industry that James knows well has helped his businesses to thrive.
Genuinely, being there for your customers builds strong relationships with them and creates loyalty.
Panache Cruises are bringing back old-fashioned one-on-one, in-person, customer service.
Being there to answer questions and share information during the pandemic meant people came back to them when it was possible to book cruises.
Planning long-term is healthy for a business.
Looking after yourself physically and mentally is key to success.
You must believe in yourself, keep going and have good people around you.
Appreciate and celebrate success including the smaller ones, for example, when a new recruit secures their first booking.
BEST MOMENTS
‘It started as a spreadsheet that looked at what the cash flow would be like. ´
‘Our strapline is that nothing is too much trouble, and we genuinely live by that philosophy.’
‘There's a cruise out there for everyone.’
This is the perfect time to get focused on what YOU want to really achieve in your business, career, and life. It’s never too late to be BRAVE and BOLD and unlock your inner BRILLIANCE. If you’d like to join Jeannette’s FREE Business Impact Seminar just DM Jeannette at info@jeannettelinfootassociates.com or sign up via Jeannette’s linktree https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Brave, Bold, Brilliant podcast series - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brave-bold-brilliant-podcast/id1524278970
ABOUT THE GUEST
JAMES COLE
Founder & Managing Director, Panache Cruises
James Cole is one of the UK’s best-known and respected cruise retailers and began his career in cruise more than 23 years ago when he worked as Product & Commercial Manager with Airtours Sun Cruises.
In his early career he helped set up The Cruise Store for MyTravel, a dedicated cruise retailer, which grew to £120m in sales in 3 years and, following the coming together of MyTravel and Thomas Cook in 2007, he then merged their two cruise businesses into a £300m entity which at the time was the UK’s largest cruise retailer. Since then James has been the driving force behind many of the UK’s largest cruise brands, including Cruise118, Six Star Cruises and River Voyages. During his highly entrepreneurial career, he has retailed over £1bn of cruise holidays.
James launched Panache Cruises in July 2020 at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, using the period of lockdown to develop his business plans and establish the business.
Initially employing a team of 15 in the North West, the business promises to offer an unrivalled level of personal service to those wishing to cruise in luxury, offering customers a 24/7 ‘nothing is too much trouble service.’
The company’s inventory of cruises offers over 7,000 itineraries, visiting over 1,000 ports of call with 20 of the world’s leading luxury cruise lines that specialise in Elite Ocean, River, Expedition, and Yacht-style cruising, including Regent Seven Seas, Oceania, Silversea, Seabourn, Crystal, Azamara, Celebrity, Scenic, Emerald, Uniworld, Hurtigruten, Aurora Expeditions, Riviera, Avalon and SeaDream Yacht Club.
Since its launch Panache has reached over 1.25m luxury cruisers and built a database of over 30,000 contacts and growing. The business has also delivered a highly impressive performance during this time, generating £10 million in sales – against a backdrop of a global pandemic. The company posted a turnover of £5m in its first full year of operation and is already making a monthly EBITDA profit. It is currently on target to make an overall profit in its second full year of trading.
Panache Cruises is seeking to employ a team of 100, be the largest seller of luxury and ultra-luxury cruises in the UK and achieve a turnover of £60m+ and EBITDA of £3m+ by 2027.
James was born and continues to live in Bolton and was a former pupil of Parklands High School in Chorley and Runshaw College in Leyland. He later became an MBA graduate and Honorary Fellow of the University of Central Lancashire.
In 2011 he was named the Travel Industry Hall of Fame’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and in August 2021 he was announced as the winner of the John Hays Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2021 at the Travel Industry Awards 2021 by TTG.
James is married to Heather and has three children.
ABOUT THE HOST
Jeannette Linfoot is a highly regarded senior executive, property investor, board advisor, and business mentor with over 25 years of global professional business experience across the travel, leisure, hospitality, and property sectors. Having bought, ran, and sold businesses all over the world, Jeannette now has a portfolio of her own businesses and also advises and mentors other business leaders to drive forward their strategies as well as their own personal development.
Jeannette is a down-to-earth leader, a passionate champion for diversity & inclusion, and a huge advocate of nurturing talent so every person can unleash their full potential and live their dreams.
CONTACT THE HOST
Jeannette’s linktree - https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot
https://www.jeannettelinfootassociates.com/
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LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeannettelinfoot
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Email - info@jeannettelinfootassociates.com
Podcast Description
Jeannette Linfoot talks to incredible people about their experiences of being Brave, Bold & Brilliant, which have allowed them to unleash their full potential in business, their careers, and life in general. From the boardroom tables of ‘big’ international businesses to the dining room tables of entrepreneurial start-ups, how to overcome challenges, embrace opportunities and take risks, whilst staying ‘true’ to yourself is the order of the day.
Travel, Bold, Brilliant, business, growth, scale, marketing, investment, investing, entrepreneurship, coach, consultant, mindset, six figures, seven figures, travel, industry, ROI, B2B, inspirational: https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot
