Tour and Travel

Are you thinking of opening your own travel agency? If so, you need to keep a number of things in mind. Owning a travel business demands a certain level of skill and professionalism. It isn’t just a matter of getting a license and plugging into a program. So if you want to be one of the good ones, I strongly suggest that you take the following advice.

For starters, specialize in something. Know that one thing inside and out. For instance, South American travel or exotic adventure travel or eco-tourism. Find and study everything you can get your hands on in that thing. Become a genius. Too many travel agents will book you a cruise to nowhere or a flight to no man’s land and not know the difference between the two. The travel industry has become so vast, that it is just not possible to be an expert at travel in general. You will need to narrow your field. Your business may increase exponentially if you keep that focus on a few things. And you do those things well.

Here’s a second thing. Why not become a “notary public”? Why you ask? What’s the the relationship to a travel business? People travel for many reasons and sometimes in order to settle some special business they are in need of a notary. There are not many notaries available these days, so this is something you can offer your clients either for a small fee or gratis as a way thanking them for their business.

If you are required to agree to an exclusivity contract in order to work with a particular agency, do not do so. That agency is unable to force you into such an agreement and you do not have to. You will, of course, want to check with a lawyer on this one. Most would probably advise against signing such a contract. It may very well be against the law.

As a travel agent, you will find so much fulfillment. Like I said, good ones are hard to find so if you really know your stuff, you will be greatly in demand. People will actually come looking for YOU to book their trip. That means more money for you in YOUR pocket. That’s what it’s about, no? How many of us could use a bit more income? Especially in these days!

Congratulations on recently starting a travel business. But do not rest now. Your work is not done yet. You need to unleash key tactics to enable relentless, sustained business growth to occur. Let’s look at the quickest, fastest and easiest strategies to build sales right now for a travel agency starting off.

1. Follow up every enquiry with 5 multiple professional communications.

Burn this secret into your mind. To build any business to consumer relationship you need to accept that several contacts should be considered the norm and not the exception when dealing with your prospects. Three, five or seven contacts or communications with your enquirer virtually means a booking will result with you rather than a hit or miss one contact approach.

The biggest mistake most new travel businesses make is to NOT consistently follow up every enquiry. The best way to enable this to happen is to have a sales system whereby every consultant professionally and without fear is trained to simply have 3 or 5 or 7 communications after someone enquiries. I recommend you start with producing a simple 5 step sales system. Here is how you go about it.

An example would be where a quotation has been given to a prospect (Step 1). Of course you have attempted to close the sale professionally but we know it will be normal for many prospects not to book with you immediately. This is especially so for more detailed travel itineraries.

Step 2: A courtesy call to see what the person feels about the information supplied.

Step 3: Email extra tip or information quickly through about the prospect’s trip.

Step 4: Send a pre-prepared letter to thank them for enquiring and to offer them an incentive to come back in.

Step 5: Follow up call again to see how they are getting on with their plans and to offer to assist them further. Because rapport has been established now is a good time (if it has not occurred in earlier steps) to ask for the booking again and a final commitment.

These steps are interchangeable and the key is they happen in different mediums via email, direct mail and phone calls. Now consider if you are doing this versus another competing travel agency who does not follow up at all or spasmodically at best (which is the norm in the travel industry). So who will win the majority of customers most of the time?

So why do so many of us in the travel industry have no logical sales process for following up or staying in touch? Why do we make it such a hit and miss affair? Imagine the power of following up every single quotation and enquiry 100% of the time.

How to start a travel agency secret number one is easy really. It just takes some thought to how to implement this simple system into your travel business.

If I could convince you of the mightiest of strategies, the one that takes the pick as the first tactic I would introduce to any travel business, it would be following up every quote within 3 business days and to keep in touch with your prospects until they buy.

If you do this one simple strategy, train your team and have a written down, easy to implement system, your conversion rate of enquiry to booking will increase and sometimes by dramatic margins! Test it in your business and see for yourself.

Any time claims are made about incredible savings or fantastic opportunity the word “scam” can’t be far behind. This does not suggest that great deals are scams, for that is hardly the case. It simply suggests that a label can be thrown about.

According to some sources, one of the best ways to save money on your vacations is the join a travel club. In this context, a travel club, also referred to as a holiday club or a vacation club, consists of a collection of people each of whom purchased a membership in the club from a company that acts on behalf of the members. The company, which is in fact often a travel agency, acquires favorably priced accommodations and passes the savings along to the members, generating a profit in the process. There is certainly nothing wrong with this type of business as it provides benefits to members through the volume discounts offered to the host travel agency.

What has given the travel club a bad name is the method by which some clubs have recruited new members. High pressure sales tactics similar to timeshare presentations have been used where prospective members are essentially held hostage until they either demonstrate a complete resistance to the presenters or open their wallets and purchase a membership. Without question, buying anything under duress is uncomfortable and the labeling of such a business as a scam by reluctant purchasers is a likely outcome, although not accurate. Certainly I don’t condone the usage of manipulative tactics to make a sale, but the fact is that most people who attend such presentations attend to receive a free gift of some sort and are happily willing to endure the event to claim their prize.

While in the past travel clubs had to resort to expensive marketing approaches such as the incentive based presentations, recently a travel club membership has emerged that promises to offer benefits to a much broader array of travelers. The travel club membership is now being sold via the internet, and the economics of internet marketing are such that the travel agency making the offer has been able to drop their price substantially. This is fantastic news for travelers who have been looking for a reliable way to book their vacations, with a wide selection and at the best possible prices.

In conclusion, travel clubs are indeed a way to capitalize on the huge volume discounts that a powerful travel agency can obtain for their membership, and with the price of membership dropped to a very affordable level this savings opportunity is now within reach of everyone. Details of one such travel club can be obtained by visiting www.LuxuryTravelToday.com where all the information necessary to make an informed decision is available. There is absolutely no pressure and no requirement to sit through a sales presentation, which makes this a great way to shop as well.