Grow your business

We are going to try to have weekly webinars up until the end of June. The agents who are attending will have an advantage when helping clients. These will be on Tuesday nights except for the Royal Caribbean, this will be June 10th. Everyone in this industry is always learning so take advantage of these Webinars to better help your clients. Remember www.tauniv.com is a great resource for destination knowledge. The Sunwing presentation is a great way to learn about most all inclusive hotels and I will be at the Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, and hopefully Edmonton show. We are going to do some training on higher commission products coming soon.  We have a great promotion with Royal Caribbean where they will give away a cruise to the top selling Fareconnect agent from now until August 31st. We are planning a Trafalgar or Insight tour to Israel/Jordan for next year and this will have 17.5% commission and a tour conductor. Their webinar will offer a visa gift card to the winning attendee. We all need to learn more about higher commission products. You spend the same amount of time on on a $50. commission sale as you do on a $1500. commission sale. Work smarter! The products people can't find as easily are the products you make the most money on. Vacation packages almost sell themselves but the more knowledge you have the better. If you don't know already we are upgrading our softvoyage templates and these should be ready by mid June. I recently returned from the Ensemble conference and I want to share a few pointers on what you can do to earn more commission, gain and retain clients:

 

1) Advertising

Put an advertisement up on your facebook everyday. Remember that what you advertise is what you will sell. If you advertise the $399. special to PVR each time that is what they will look for with you. If you consistently advertise the 3 week  Viking river cruise you will sell less but the time spent on the sale will be much more valuable. Do you want $60. commission or $3000.? It is not about age because many 20 to 30 year olds stay at overwater bungalows in Bora Bora. Show value in yourself. Post what you want to sell! Before I started Fareconnect I travelled a lot. Twenty years ago I spent $10,000 and $20,000 on holidays regularly. 

 

2) Post or show your travel photos to friends, family, colleague's and previous clients. Posting tour operator specials work but nothing better than your own photos.

 

3) Keep in contact with your recently travelled clients. If you are interested in their trip it will show.

 

4) Send out Thank You cards. Many suppliers like, Sandals, Viking, Uniworld and others will send you free postcards. The card isn't as important as your personal message. People don't ignore postcards.

 

5) Ask about their bucket list and time frame to complete. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is a travel agent's clientele. If they say they want Cuba or Cancun next year and Italy the next summer you can be prepared. Pick out the right hotel and tell them why it is right. Not just a nice hotel but if they dive find something with a dive shop or free diving. As for Italy have everything together with a good provider well in advance. Make sure to include everything that was important to them. Show your value! This is where referrals come from!!! 

 

6)  Work on your business in the slow period. Make sure everyone knows what you do. Ask for their business. Sponsor charity events, go to wedding shows, trade shows, advertise in a small local paper on a regular basis, and Sandals wrap your car. Create awareness!

 

7) Understand what your client really wants in a vacation. Know your product.

 

8) Educate them on the options available to them. If they are repeat clientele ask them what they liked in a previous holiday to find similar experiences that are important and new ones that would show your value.

 

9) Deliver! Ask how they will be paying and deliver them their experience.

 

10) Strengthen the relationship and get them interested in the next trip. Don't forget to contact them after they return.

 

11) Do our Webinars! I am trying to get a good mix of suppliers in on our training days. If you show up you will grow your business!