Speaker’s Travel and Lion and the Lamb Journeys
    April 2007 Small Business of the Month

Pack your bags. That’s about all you’ll have to do when you book your corporate, religious or personal travel with Speaker’s Travel and Lion and the Lamb Journeys, 1089 Sagamore Parkway West (463-5050 , www.lion-lamb.com)  “Details” are the specialty at the full-service travel agency named the Chamber’s April Small Business of the Month.

 Family Business

 Purchased by Tom and Rosemary Speaker 21 years ago, the business first landed the Small Business Award in July 2001. Since then, family ownership has expanded to include son Thomas, who’s been handling the accounting end of the business since 1997, and son Jon, a Purdue graduate who joined the business in 2001 and is now president, overseeing daily operations. Rosemary continues running the religious journeys, and Tom, mostly retired, still travels to preview spots for group trips.

 Besides those core four, family members in the nine-employee business also include son Brian, a New York City actor who handles advertising, and Jon’s wife, Tammy, who helps with marketing.

 “We truly are a family business,” says Jon. “We all have a common goal, to not only be successful as a business, but to be successful as a family, too. When you have your name attached to something, you try extra hard. We all share every role.”

 Jon’s began as an adolescent, when he put flyers on car windshields. “I delivered airline tickets from the time I was 16 until I graduated from college, and all of us boys have cleaned the office,” he says.

After graduating from Purdue, he spent some time at Kirby Risk Corp. “I knew I would come back to the family business, but I wanted to work somewhere else to get a different perspective,” he says. “Kirby Risk taught me a lot about customer service, which is what we provide in our business every day.”

Group Travel a Niche

The agency’s niche is group travel, representing about 65 percent of its revenue. That can mean 60 to 80 tours a year, Jon says. “In the corporate incentive trip market, primary destinations are the Caribbean , Mexico , Florida —somewhere warm and sunny. In the pilgrimage market, about 10 years ago it was Israel , now it’s Rome .”

Incentive trips can also be as close as Chicago to a Cubs game or Indianapolis for a Pacers game. “We provide an opportunity for employers to thank employees for a job well done,” he says.

One business that did that was Copy Print Shop, when the travel agency arranged for 42 people to visit Disney World to celebrate the company’s 25^th anniversary. “Speaker’s took care of everything—flights, hotels, gift baskets in the rooms,” says owner Leo Farrell. “I didn’t have to worry about any of the details, which is what you like to have happen on a vacation. It came off without a hitch.”

 Kirby Risk Corp. is a regular customer, too. Speaker’s helps with the company’s incentive trips for sales people. “They help in planning everything. They are a huge help,” says Patti Graff, marketing services manager. “And they send three representatives from their company with us. They’re there working right alongside us. They’re very professional, very easy to get along with.”  

 All About Service

 “We’re selling the same product just about any other travel agency is selling, but we all have different types of service,” John says. “We personalize everything, spend a lot of time with people.”

 He credits his father with an early commitment to service. “He always wanted to have a better product at a better price. And my dad had the foresight 15 years ago to see that the airlines would cut commissions, so you’ve got to sell to larger groups—corporate trips, sports groups, church groups—those are the people you want to market to.”

Its religious pilgrimages are sold nationwide, with journeys that have ranged from 15 to 500 travelers. Those are open to individuals. This year, they’ll include June trips to Poland and Central Europe and September travel to Ireland and Italy .

Speaker’s is also a tour wholesaler, packing trips for other travel companies to market and operate.

The company’s community involvement includes Family Services, The Chamber and the Sagamore West Area Business Alliance. Jon also served on the West Lafayette school superintendent screening committee. And his latest volunteer effort was organizing the West Lafayette Flag Football League last year, which drew 120 kids in kindergarten through 4^th grade.