You can listen directly here. 

You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. 

 

Today I share with you how I have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bookings just by listening, empathising, understanding and knowing my clients. To build a business I believe you need to have repeat clients. As a mobile, or work from home travel consultant, this is one of your key elements in increasing revenue. If you don’t get referrals from your existing clients or repeat business, or you want to know the questions to ask to build a stronger business, this episode if for you. 

 

Check out the website https://travelagentachievers.com/ for more tips and tools to help you build the travel business of your dreams. Don’t forget to subscribe, review and send us a message as we love to hear from you and would love to shout out to you on a future podcast!

Show Transcription: 

Announcer: Welcome to Travel Agent Achievers! The place to learn how to grow your travel business and have fun with it. Join Roslyn and her guests as they walk you through proven steps to a fulfilling and profitable business. 

 

Roslyn Ranse: Hey there, welcome back to another episode of Travel Agent Achievers, I am your host Roslyn Ranse and today we are talking about Creating Experiences for your Clients that Help Build Repeat Business for you as you Build your Travel Business.  

 

One of the scariest things when you are starting out as a travel agent and more so as a mobile travel agent, is the question and thought, how am I going to get clients?

 

It doesn’t matter if you have a great network of friends and family, sometimes you can’t rely on that sort of business. 

 

No matter where you are in your journey this episode is for you.

 

Before we get there, last week I talked about USP - your Unique Selling Proposition, with Bec Wiles. Thank you for your feedback, if you haven’t heard it, go back to Episode 6 after this. 

Bec has been gracious enough to come back for a series of podcasts in the coming weeks to build on this topic which is really exciting. She is great to work with, and also a wonderful person. Our upcoming episodes will be on customer loyalty, referrals and so much more with some great tips for us as travel agents. 

 

Today's topic is all about learning about your client, learning about your own values and how myself and my team have created ‘peace of mind’ experiences which have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of new bookings. 

It doesn't matter if you are just starting out, or have been in business for a while, I believe that when you look at your own travel experiences and your own values as a person, these will be at the heart and core of what level of service and also what type of client you want to work with. 

 

First of, have a think about why you got into travel, have you used a travel agent yourself? Even though I wanted to get off the road traveling myself when I left the corporate world over 10 years ago, I also chose to get into travel out of frustration. 

 

As a corporate traveller, my pet hate was rocking up to the airport and the airline didn't have my frequent flyer number attached to my booking. That meant seating I didn’t like, no meal preferences and often having to fumble around for my card to prove that I was a gold or platinum traveller to stand in the correct queue! 

 

I travelled through the ‘APEC’ queues, where the crew travelled through, so speed and efficiency were my favourite thing, as was the lounge access and not having to queue up. Now when an agent didn’t add these small details, it really annoyed me as I felt it was such a simple thing and I booked with the same person so often. I was definitely loyal to my travel agent, but I often didn’t feel like I was priority. 

 

Think about it. 

 

Is this how you want to portray your business? 

Do you want to be the agent that wow’s and impresses your clients? 

 

I can guarantee this is one thing, albeit simple, will generate repeat business. 

 

The next step in this process is you as a person and your values. 

 

What’s a ‘value’ you may ask? 

 

Values are basic and fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate attitudes or actions. 

They help us to determine what is important to us. Values describe the personal qualities we choose to embody to guide our actions; the sort of person we want to be; the manner in which we treat ourselves and others, and our interaction with the world around us. They provide general guidelines for conduct.

What do you ‘value’ in life and business. 

 

Honesty? 

Integrity? 

Fun? 

Commitment to customers? 

Family time? 

Continuous learning? 

Quality? 

Continuous improvement?

Now today, I am not saying you have to do everything I talk about, nor that you should copy them, or that your values are the same as mine. 

Today’s episode is about having you think about some of your own values as a business owner and person and how having those at the heart of your business, and what you can do to go above and beyond and think of things that will draw to you the clients that work for you. 

 

When a brand new client is referred to us, or books with us, there are a number of things that we do to say thank you, but also to make them feel welcome and get to know them. In an upcoming episode, we are going to talk ‘Referrals’ from Bec from TheTrainingEstablishment

 

We LOVE to get to know our clients. One of my dearest clients is also now a very good friend in the business. Lyn travels quite a bit for work and often to the same destinations. I know Lyn so well now, that when she travels, depending on her flight arrival time, I will have a car meet her at the airport, take her directly to the hotel for check-in, she will be welcomed and have access to the business lounge as I know she works a lot in the evenings and often on weekends so she can use a quiet space, but also I will book a massage for 6pm on the day of arrival, so that she can go and have an early dinner, relax for an hour and then get a good night's sleep prior to hitting the ground running. 

 

Now this isn’t something I did straight up, but through 

good communication, 

listening to her needs 

and how tired she was often on arrival 

and not sleeping well on planes

We came up with a plan, which is now executed every time she travels. 

 

This not only makes her feel special but also for us, helps build rapport with the hotel property, helps increase their revenue, but most importantly, I know that Lyn is safe on arrival, able to get straight into the hotel as a single female traveller and also able to rest on the first night, even if she has had a long and bad flight. 

 

Nice, right? 

 

We always check in with her too, just a simple FB message to ensure she is ok and call the hotel after her arrival to ensure she is there safely. This doesn’t take much, but the fact that we do this, she knows she can trust us and we will take care of her. This creates ‘Peace of Mind’. 

 

She knows she can just leave the trip with us and it will be sorted to her level of satisfaction. Win/Win. 

 

Do you have a client you can get to know to this level, just by asking them about their trips? Their previous travel experiences or what they like or don’t like about traveling? 

 

A great one for this is families. Often a massive financial and also juggle just to get kids to a destination, think of the little things. 

 

Kids meals in flight, does the flight have in-flight entertainment? 

Is it a seatback screen or do the clients need to take their own? 

Are there snacks onboard? 

 

Recommend taking snacks for the kids, their own drink bottles (oh those little milk cups are cute, and so are the water bottles, but the pressure on planes I have had my fair share of mini explosions. Funny/not funny) clothing choices. 

 

Perhaps even put together a list of things that families should remember to pack in their carry on or some tips. These small things your clients will remember and they will remember that it was you that helped them through this time. 

 

We love to get to know our clients. Good and Bad! Oh my - I remember a client who usually travels 5-stars but booked last minute to go to a destination where the Formula 1 Grand Prix was on. 

He was there for work, but we couldn't get accommodation at the price he was used to paying. Oh, when he walked into his room at an Accor property he flipped it, called and yelled that the wardrobe didn't have a door on it and this was not the level of accommodation he wanted. It tore me up, however, a lesson learned. 

 

Communicate with your clients even when you need to move or re-book something and pre-warn them as to what, why and how and what you can do if anything to ensure their trip is a smooth one. 

 

Luckily this is still a client of mine, however, I sure know that those properties are never to be booked and I recommend alternative flights now to fly in and out on the same day where possible. 

 

It's the small details that matter and getting to know from your clients, what details matter to them.

 

A Few things we always start with are: 

 

• Wedding Anniversaries
• Birthdays - not only of the client but also family members that are important to them. 
• What are their bucket list trips may be
• Frequent Flyer numbers
• Passport details - we send reminders when their passport is due to expire
• Seating preferences
• Meal preferences. Are they celiac? Gluten-Free? Vegetarian? 

On the topic of meals: Meals - some no longer offer inflight! Or you may need to pre-purchase. We send screenshots to those airlines you can select for. 

• In an Airline alliance, who do they prefer to travel with? As an example, some VA clients, don’t like Etihad but love Singapore Airlines. Everyone is different and my point is to ask. 
• Hotel Alliances 
• Luggage allowances. If they travel, do we need to book in golf clubs, sporting equipment? Add in extra luggage?

 

We always listen and actually hear what our clients want - do you? Or are you just trying to get it done, processed and gone?  

What’s the saying? We have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason…? 

 

• One thing we have learned is that pricing is not always the key driving decision-maker. 
• Clients want to know that ‘I hear you and I know you’ - they rely on us for advice and our expertise.., geography - airports to hotels? If you are dealing with clients via email a 3 min phone conversation may just secure your booking and for more to come. 

 

In a future episode I am going to talk about Project Management, organising your client files to ensure you are not overwhelmed and the process we go through to ensure nothing is missed. Yup - we actually have a 67 step process that every one of our bookings goes through. 

 

From start to finish. 

 

We know this can be added to and sometimes we tweak it to ensure we aren’t missing anything and we have a smooth process for everyone.

 

Starting off right with your clients and ensuring the details are adhered to each trip will bring the clients back to you. 

 

Why? 

 

Because I can guarantee NOT all agents do these things repeatedly and you are one of the few agents that want something better, want to build a better business and want to ensure you get the best clients who refer you, come back to you with repeat business and will be lifelong clients. 

 

Are you ready to level up your business? 

 

Let me know how you go when you implement your values into your business. Or if you do already and what makes your clients come back time and again. 

 

Give me a shout out!

 

What works for you?

What doesn’t?

What do your clients say about you?

Don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast, check out our website and keep in touch via social media. You will find us on Facebook and Instagram - Travel Agent Achievers. 

 

Have a great week and I can’t wait to share more next week with you. 

 

Announcer: Welcome to Travel Agent Achievers! The place to learn how to grow your travel business and have fun with it. Join Roslyn and her guests as they walk you through proven steps to a fulfilling and profitable business.