Post on 14-Sep-2014
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THE E-MAGAZINE THAT FOCUSES ON THE REALITY OF SELLING TRAVEL
Are you putting your heart and
soul into generating new
business?
2 Editorial
3 Selling With ALL Your Heart
8 Travel Like You Mean It – Steve Gillick
9 Selling The Love
12 Selling Your First Love
13 I Love Prospecting
15 Presentation Skills
17 Asking For The Sale
19 Closing The Sale
21 Follow Up
22 Are You An Agency Owner / Manager?
23 Selling Into The Future
27 CTAs Calls To Action FREE EBOOK
28 NEW Tools
29 273 Marketing Ideas – eBook and Soft Cover
30 Connect and Contact Information
Want to write for Selling Travel? Share your successes with your fellow travel
agents and submit an article based on an idea that has made you money. Spell out the idea and the steps you followed. Submit to me here: steve@sellingtravel.net
TABLE OF CONTENTS – ST FEBRUARY 2013
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EDITORIAL – FEBRUARY 2013
Are you really selling with all your heart? With the changes in how we sell travel there seems to be an awful lot of causal selling versus the good old super sales, GO! GO! GO! well dressed travel agent knocking on the doors and talking to as many people as possible, knowing that the ratio of “meeting‐to‐booking” is quite slim. I’ve love to know your daily ration of marketing emails, phone calls and meet and greets. Often when I deliver a workshop to a live audience I like to get a sense of their dedication and understanding of selling travel before I get stuck into my presentation. One of the questions I ask is “How much do you want to make this year?” and to my surprise more than most offer up as measly “Oh, err, twenty‐thousand would work for me?” Of course in my mind I’m screaming “NEXT!” and sometimes I’ll let it out in such a way that sounds like, “If you aren’t wanting to generate $100,000 then you might be in the wrong workshop!” Few if any in the audience make for the door. The thing is, if you are not willing to put your heart and soul into selling travel you will miss the entire reason for being in the trade – unless that is you are just ‘here’ for the perks – which have declined over the years unless you are actually selling. In this issue of Selling Travel you’ll find more than a few tips and tools on how to ramp up your efforts and GO FOR IT! No more casual selling, unless you are into the world cruise niche and after booking number three and having generated $75,000 in commissions… well that’s a hard year (!) – and you deserve to chill out for a month. Whether or not you work for a large agency chain or you are an independent working from home – your role, being in the most glorious careers of all careers, is to sell your heart out. Selling with all your heart also means you plan to be the BEST at what you do and that translates across all things sales. From your speech, to your dress‐code, to your knowledge of the world, to your closing ability. Put your heart into your trade and customers will put money into your jeans.
Here’s to a very successful February. All the BEST! Steve Crowhurst, CTC, CTM Publisher and New Business Generator
Selling Travel is owned and published by Steve Crowhurst, SMP Training Co. All Rights Reserved. Protected by International Copyright Law. Selling Travel can be shared, forwarded, cut and pasted but not sold, resold or in anyway monetized. Using any images or content from Selling Travel must be sourced as follows: “Copyright SMP Training Co. www.smptraining.com” SMP Training Co. 568 Country Club Drive, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada V9K 1G1 Note: Steve Crowhurst is not responsible for outcomes based on how you interpret or use the ideas in Selling Travel or on the Selling Travel Website.
ANNOUNCING A New Sister Magazine
You can find it HERE.
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Selling with ALL your HEART
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What’s the key to success? Anyone know? Yes, you got it in one, two and three and all the way to double digits. Hard work. Prospecting. Working smart. Hard work. Product knowledge. Working smart. Hard work. Sounding repetitive isn’t it. That’s the secret – you have to keep at it, put your heart and soul into what you do and just like selling any other product – you have to know it inside out, back to front and from pole to pole in our case.
During those early teenage days I was ‘on the road’ most weekends and studying the world, writing to tourism offices for maps, books and anything else they could send, and they did. I started to plan my around the world journey in my teens and plotted on maps that took me from London, UK to Europe, across the USSR to a ship out of Vladivostok to a port in Japan and that was my main destination at the time. All that changed when I found a way to see the world and get paid for it. I joined the Merchant Navy out of the UK. To be successful selling travel you must, as Steve Gillick writes in this issue of ST, travel like you mean it. Once you have built a solid foundation then you can sell like you mean it, too. Today that means being proficient in all things marketing and that includes social media. There is no escape from anything related to the Internet and although most travel agents know this, still more than a few seem to discount the value of it. There is
also the matter of investing in yourself so that your name and agency get to the front of the line, turn up in the first ten results of a Google search, claim a top spot in the local newspaper and even be asked to “appear” on local radio and TV channels. Investing in yourself also means giving up time to study, to learn and to be best.
Aged 14, already on the road, hitch-hiking the UK and pulling daft faces for the camera… outdoor adventure travel was in
my blood from the start as was my desire to go global.
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I read recently that one of the top questions now being asked of new candidates during the hiring process is this question about investing in yourself. Literally the question questions… how much have you spent on your own post graduation / post university education? What courses have you taken and why? What would be your answer to these questions? Have you paid to take online training, purchased business books, invested in a FAM… how much have you spent to learn more about selling travel? The next level of investment is time. How much time have you committed this year to travel? Now this is business travel – travelling to destinations to check them out from a business point of view, so that when you return to your agency you have first hand information to help you sell that destination and the supplier/s who carry that destination in their product line up. Many of your competitors are armchair travel agents. Never leave the agency. Some travel chains restrict their staff from travelling and that’s a competitive boon to those that are independent. The only way to sell travel from the heart is to travel the globe. Of course it makes sense to hit those areas that your consumers visit the most. Heading off to either Pole doesn’t make any sense in the picture I’m painting. Less than none would be asking about a trip there in any given quarter – unless that area of the world IS your niche market, then you would attract those ice bound adventurers. Best you stick
to the common destinations from your current location, you study them, you add a niche if that’s possible and then you sell them like there’s no tomorrow. Selling with all your heart also means you study the art of selling. Not everyone is an easy close or a customer who is kind enough to say “Book it” without a struggle. You’ll need to study the 7 Steps in Selling and apply them to selling travel. The main topics are discussed in this issue of ST. You’ll come to know that to be best at selling travel and to generate the income you need and want, you should be prospecting and talking to people each day every day – or at least committed to X number of emails a day. Nothing has changed when it comes to sales. It’s a numbers game. The more people you meet, the more you will close and the more referrals you will receive. No matter how many social networks or mobile gadgets are invented – this step in the sales process will never leave the scene. Okay, so it will morph into Skyping a contact from wherever you are to wherever they are using a smart phone. Nothing wrong with that… as long as you do make the call. Right. Job done. Selling with all your heart means putting in a 100% best effort. As I like to inform new people to the industry – this isn’t a game, it’s big business. Travel products sold equal the price of a house. The travel industry is a multi trillion dollar industry. It’s huge and it employs half the world in some way. So don’t dabble. Get in there and sell with ALL your heart.
Good intentions are no substitute for action; failure usually follows the path of least persistence!
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Travel By Example
Most of us are familiar with the commandment to “do as I say, not as I do”, that is oftentimes the refuge for people in authority (parents, government leaders, bosses etc) who engage in questionable behaviour or practices, while at the same time demanding a different standard from their peers and underlings. And there is also the personal application to this ‘rule’, best illustrated in the classic scenario where the travel agency manager sees an agent come to work with a dour, sour, glum‐faced expression. The agent maintains this ‘stay‐away‐from‐me’ look on his face throughout the morning. Finally the manager approaches the agent, asking if anything is terribly wrong. The agent says, “No”. The manager asks ‘why then are you so unhappy today”. The agent says “I am happy”, to which the manager retorts, “so why don’t you tell that to you face....we have clients to serve”.
Ok ok so it’s a bit snippy of the manager to say this but the point is that in a customer service environment you need to “smile, like you mean it” and when the opportunity presents itself in a travel counselling scenario, you need to “travel, like you mean it”. You have to wear it on your sleeve and showcase it as part of your fibre. Travel is a very personal pursuit, with every participant getting out of it what they put in, and every participant travelling for their own particular reasons. It could be discovery or escape or relaxation. It could be the chance to step into your travel alter‐ego/persona where you don’t have to worry about being judged by your circle of friends and acquaintances, or the restraints and constraints of your normal work‐life routine. That being said, for most people there is a separation between travel for business and travel for pleasure. But when your career is in travel, and you live and breathe travel every moment of every day, the onus is on you to “Be the personification of travel” to
your clients, and thereby ‘travel, by example”. And pray, how do you do this? Well first off, as a travel ‘professional’, you need to embrace the ‘professionalism’ of the very act of travel. This takes in an understanding of why people travel, what each travel demographic may be seeking, the nichefication of travel (personal travel preferences that define niche markets), and the challenge of “if I were travelling to X destination, what could I possibly want to do and see and feel in order to help interpret this destination to my clients”. Once you compile your ‘to do’ list, you need to experience the destination beyond your own personal needs and wants. It’s the old adage about stepping into someone else’s shoes in order to better understand what they’re going through. But does this mean that your own motivation for travel doesn’t count? Of course not! And the reason is that because you are the consummate travel professional, your personal travel experiences add to the expertise you bring
Guest Article by Steve Gillick, CTM steve@talkingtravel.ca
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to the whole equation. Your own needs are the ingredients of your travel resumé, your travel personality and the positive spin you are able to put into the art of travel counselling. It has long been recognized that selling travel is, in effect, selling yourself to the client, and your travels are a crucial component of your credentials. Travelling like you mean it entails dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s in terms of imprinting the destination in your mind so you can, in turn, mind map that destination to your clients.
What hotels would your clients want you to use?
What’s down the street to the left and to the right of the hotel front door?
Are hotels the only accommodation option?
What is it like to take the local bus or the subway or the train?
What about the taste of local specialty dishes or drinks?
What about the approachability of local vendors, or locals in general?
Can you get by easily without speaking the local language/dialect?
Will your clients feel at ease to wander at will throughout the destination? Can they go for an evening stroll?
And more
These are some of the crucial intangibles that may make or break a travel experience. If you can`t encapsulate the ambiance of the destination, then you will only be able to offer an incomplete mind‐photo to your clients of what it is like to stay there. And to this, the common retort of the travel agent is that when they are on an Agent Fam, the opportunity to mix and mingle
with the locals or have free time for reflection or exploration simply doesn`t exist. On the other hand, when they are on a personal vacation, it is just that—a private non‐agency‐related escape. But effort and determination go a long way, especially when it is done in the service of your career and ultimately your ability to maintain or enhance your lifestyle. Find time. I like to cite the example of when I was on a Fam trip to India. When we reached Jaipur in Rajasthan, we headed straight to a hotel for a lunch that was scheduled to last nearly 2 hours ‘so that the agents can refresh and relax after the long drive’. My thoughts were that realistically it would take me 15‐25 minutes to ‘relax’ and eat—but the very thought of being in Rajasthan for the first time—and India for the first time ‐‐was too overwhelming and I needed to get out and explore. Which is what I did for over one hour. I walked around the neighbourhood of the hotel, chatted with several merchants, had some good laughs in sharing experiences, took a lot of photos, and then met up with the group. A few weeks after our return to Canada, I posted my photos online. When it came to those from Rajasthan, the typical comment was that I must have mixed up my photos—because no one had seen the smiling vendors, grumpy camels, dilapidated but picturesque stores, and fresh, brightly coloured fruit being sold at the monochromatic, dusty street stalls. I non‐judgementally replied by reminding them that while they were stretching out their lunch/leisure time , I was out and about, learning and experiencing as much as I could. And on that note...one of the pointers I give to students in travel programs who may not have had a lot of actual destination experience at his stage in their lives, is that every single destination; every city or town they visit in another country or for that matter, in their own province or state, is a
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travel investment for the future. It is the training ground for future exploration if you take the attitude that sometime, a client may ask you about this place and the challenge is whether you paid enough attention to describe it and in effect ‘sell’ it to the client. And therefore you need to train yourself to pay attention to the main street, the houses, the Bed & Breakfasts, where the theatres are located, what’s the best coffee shop, how far is the central park or the shopping area etc. Embracing a career in travel means that you create a permeable barrier between your own business travel trips and your personal
vacations so that the information flows back and forth, all in the service of your clients’ satisfaction and ultimately in their return business and referrals. Every travel experience you undertake is an investment in your career and you need to go for the highest dividends each time you invest. Otherwise it becomes a wasted opportunity, a future regret and one of those ‘I should’ve’ statements. Travel like you mean it. It’s an attitude of career pro‐activity. It’s the embodiment of satisfaction gone wild. It’s a lifestyle. And from now on....it’s gotta be YOU!
"While the Fam group lounged at the resort in Bentota Beach, Sri Lanka, enjoying drinks and shopping for souvenirs in the hotel stores, four of us commandeered two tuk-tuks and headed off to the fishing port where we encountered beautiful beaches, fishing boats, and friendly fishermen mending their nets. It was a memorable few hours before we rejoined the others and then departed for the airport and our flight home. It was a classic example of "Travel Like You Mean it"!
Steve Gillick’s first article appeared in the Dunera Ship Newsletter in 1967. Since then he has written extensively about travel. He authored the Scam Watch column in Canadian Traveller Magazine for many years, wrote and edited CITC’s industry and consumer newsletters from 1995 to 2012, and currently authors the "Travel Coach” column in www.TravelIndustryToday.com. In addition he contributes articles to www.travelmarketreport.com and www.sellingtravel.net, and blogs at www.talkingtravelblog.ca Many of Steve's blog articles have been posted to www.broowaha.com where over 10,000 consumers have enjoyed his thoughts on destinations and travel trends. Steve’s Destination Mastery program is the perfect complement to the need to ‘Travel Like you Mean It”
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St. Valentine’s Day, as you will read on the next page is the second most celebrated day around the world, with New Year’s Day taking top spot. That spells opportunity. By the time you read this magazine, you might still have time to generate a few sales if you act quickly. If you miss the date, then you have all year to plan for 2014. Are you selling the love? The romance? The joy of travel and the joy of travelling with a loved one. St. Valentine’s day can be a fantastic date in your marketing plan. With all the social media marketing tools we have today you can even ask your clients to spread the love for you. Let’s focus on the day itself for the moment. February 14th. Again, it’s a repetitive event so you cannot, should not actually miss it. It’s on your calendar each and every year and as you hunt for that special card and box of chocolates for the love in your life, give some thought as to how you could market Tours of Love. Now keep your mind on the straight and narrow here, don’t get side tracked. Mind you, you could actually create a Love Hotel Tour of Japan for those who are passionate about each other AND Japan. A Love Tour could take you to Paris (of course) and also Milan… to Istanbul, to several other cities, and locations around the world. You can appeal to your clients ‘love’ of travel and their specific niche type of trip. Perhaps they love to hike, drink wine, read books… whatever it is that they love, combine it with their passion for their mate in life.
SELLING
THE LOVE
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To do this means you use the word ‘love’ in your marketing. This can get tedious, but it’s there to be used and chances are your competition are eating chocolates and not planning their love tours with all their heart and soul invested. Here’s some tour slogan ideas that you can sell on and before St. Valentine’s Day – all you want here is a loving couple to book on this tour. When it actually departs doesn’t matter. Sun, Sand, Sea and Love Caribbean To Russia with Love Moscow Love to Dance in Rio Carnival For the Love of Wine Italy Love, Love Me Do… UK, Beatles Then, on the other hand you can offer tours of love that your clients will book and depart on, or before February 14th. Given that that date will most likely be a wintery day in certain areas of the world, this tour may well be heading to the sun. You can check with your preferred suppliers as to what’s on offer for St. Valentine’s Day and also check with your preferred hotel and resort suppliers, too. A “Do You Love To Golf?” combo of golf and ??? might also work well. Hand it back to you. Think heart, love, use those words in your marketing. Tap your clients interests and build on them, and don’t forget: every client receives a St. Valentine’s Day card in the mail. Keep it real. No e‐Cards here. Peace and Love.
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly known as Valentine's Day, or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it remains a working day in most of them. It is the second most celebrated holiday around the world second to New Year's Day. St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. The most popular martyrology associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire; during his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer Asterius. Legend states that before his execution he wrote "from your Valentine" as a farewell to her. Today, Saint Valentine's Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine's Day, albeit on July 6th and July 30th, the former date in honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni). The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart‐shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass‐produced greeting cards. Extract from Wikipedia. Click here for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day
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Have you walked with the penguins? Danced the dance? Leapt off of tall buildings? Kayaked with whales? What is it that you love to do, love to sell, love to participate in when you travel? Discover this about yourself and you will be tapping into a niche market that only you can sell. My own particular first love was a country and that country was Japan. My next love was and still is adventure travel. I cannot boast of being on an expedition but I have knocked up a few miles hiking, climbing, kayaking, canoeing, caving and ridge walking. Tame stuff to many, but to me – a glorious way to spend a week or two or even a day. When I can fit it in, I still get outside with my camera to trek the beaches and forests. Back to you. What is your first love and are you selling it? Are you totally invested in doing what you love to sell and selling what you love to do? If so then you should be on the road to riches – if not already, pretty soon. I know some agents are still searching for their first love and not sure what they have to offer as a niche they can promote and sell.
The image of me in the kayak conjures up niche markets of being outdoors, studying wild life, eco tours, heading north to south and this type of imagery is something you must look for to support and promote your soon to be first love. When you start to plan what will become your first love, think about what you are fluent at and by that I mean language, knowledge of a country, a place, your in‐depth understanding of a specific culture or religion, a way of life, a sport and so on. What is it that you know about from very well to absolutely everything. Could you answer 99% of the questions someone might ask about your chosen niche / first love? When you do sell your first love of travel, your clients will sense your level of interest and be swayed by it and this encourages trust and bookings.
SELLING YOUR FIRST
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Can you say that without cringing? I LOVE PROSPECTING is not your average travel agent’s battle cry these days. More so it is, I LOVE REFERRALS or I LOVE WAITING FOR THE CLIENT TO CONTACT ME… not so much the door knocking of old. Mind you, ‘door knocking’ is now an action performed by email and social media as much as it is by actual door‐to‐door business building.
The art of prospecting is rarely taught in travel schools or by host agencies or even at head offices of large agency chains. Not sure why we tend to shy away from this major business building activity, but there it is. Notice that your very successful travel agents are usually excellent at looking for new business and that of course is one of my specialities – NBG: New Business Generation. I remember a time when I wore the blue jacket of Uniglobe as the Director of Training & Development and then the VP of Western Canada showing a new franchisee how to stand downtown, on a busy corner and using that blue jacket as a point of difference to attract passersby. We
were prospecting and you know what, people actually stopped to talk to us. How about that? It may sound crazy with all our current ‘don’t‐go‐face‐to‐face’ technology but you know, prospecting works. Going street level works. Handing out flyers still works and of course, sitting at your desk sending out emails works. How and where you prospect depends on your skills and abilities and desire to put your neck on the line. Where you prospect is as important as how. For instance I’ll use my love of adventure. If you shared this same interest I would send you off to your local adventure clothing
I PROSPECTING
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centre to set up a booth and work within the store. That’s pretty easy to do. All you need do is to speak to the store manager, sell them on the idea and then tell them what’s in it for them and get busy. So what is in it for them? Well to start with, anyone that buys an adventure trip from you will no doubt buy their clothing from this store, plus all the other gadgets they’ll need. If books and libraries and museums where your first love, your niche and you wanted to prospect for this business then I would send you to your local book store to follow the same concept as the adventure clothing store. You attract and sell your Book Tour to old and ancient cities and the book store sells their travel books and travel journals to your new found and soon to be clients. There was a time prior to the privacy act when the store owner would share their customer list with you, and between the two of you, you would send out a direct mail and invite customers to attend an in‐store event. Now of course that doesn’t happen in that same way – however, the store owner can send an email featuring your in‐store event and send it to all their customers in a heartbeat. Or, post it on the store’s Facebook page for the same result. If you intend to be successful in selling travel then you must study the art of prospecting in the present day using all the tools, apps and various networks that will connect you to that pool of potential clients that share your niche and first love. Rather than going door‐to‐door these days (you never know who has a gun or a very large and angry dog behind that front door) perhaps it’s best to create a local event at the local library, or local hotel where you can speak to 50 to 200 people at the same time. This is the ideal form of prospecting and puts you in front of both the armchair
traveller and the die hard traveller too. Many times the armchair traveller can be your best salesperson or ambassador, telling their friends about the event they attended, who they met and all about your presentation. They themselves may never book with you, but their friends might. Ask your manager or your host agency for the checklist on how to set up such an event. Ask your preferred suppliers to attend but make sure you hog the stage. This event is all about YOU and your niche and it is you that you want to sell to the audience. Also make sure anyone who represents a supplier is an excellent presenter. Make sure you check them out first by completing a pre‐show run through. If they have a terrible voice and stage presence then work with someone else. You should also have someone monitor you as you deliver a pre‐show presentation. Make the adjustments to your script, how you speak and how you will use the stage. Be 100% professional otherwise you will lose the audience. Whilst the baby boomer still lives, you can use direct mail and send one or two glorious brochures to their home. Yes, thumbing through those fabulous dream catalogues is still done and this method of prospecting still pays off. Email prospecting should lead the recipient of your email to your website or to an online brochure or a video where they can read or watch. This interaction is necessary to capture their interest. With any and all prospecting you must have a follow up plan. That means everyone you reach out to, should receive a phone call or an additional email to ask the question: Are you travelling this year? Where to? When? How many going? When can we meet? Put your heart into your prospecting and it will pay off.
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PRESENTATION SKILLS
When you love what you do, it shows. When you love travel it will be noticed as soon as you take to the stage and start talking about it to your audience. All of which is fine. Sounds good, but it must sound even better to your audience. This means you must practice for many hours and over time you will create that stage persona that you desire. Generally as many keynote speakers know, there are three well known types of presentations, the one you gave, the one you wanted to give and the one you gave on the way home in your car. Being able to speak and present in public is a wonderful skill every travel agent, manager and senior manager should not take lightly. Fame and fortune and careers are built on this talent. Once you have spent your days prospecting you will need to show your newly attracted prospects what you were attracting them to. Your next step in the sales process then is to present your offer, your tour, your information and then move to closing the sale. First you must grab their attention, keep them glued to their seat or stuck to your website home page and be drooling to know when and where they can book on this fantastic tour you have arranged. So, wherever your presentation takes place the onus is on you to deliver an experience.
You can set the mood of your presentation by the location you use. An austere room with no personality is not going to help you at all. A fabulously accented room in a luxury hotel will not support your eco‐tour where tour participants leave opulence behind. It’s important to match your location to the type of tour or product you are going to present. That hotel room would support a luxury cruise or safari. A library, a place of knowledge, is always good, a book store also good, an adventure store works too, and of course a church.
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The church location would support tours of religious sites and the adventure store location would support your eco tour presentation. The next thing to ponder is your delivery and how you plan on engaging your audience. We all have a personality – some quiet and some outgoing and some over the top. If you tend to be quiet and humble – you can bet your boots that come time to speak, and once you get going, you will be speaking from the heart and that’s all you need. Your audience will pick up on your sincerity and listen. If you are too outgoing the audience will get fed up with you talking about you and hit the trail. There is a fine line and as stated you will need to practice that delivery and timing. Senior management cannot afford to deliver the wrong message, appear slow and lumbering through the speech, staring at it on the podium and not making eye contact with the audience. CEO’s and their executive team MUST at all costs be well practiced and take remedial training each year if they are to stay on the cutting edge of public speaking and to retain credibility amongst their staff and suppliers. Everyone remembers the speaker who messed it up. Not the best way to be remembered.
Male or female… how you walk the walk and talk the talk is important. That and the attire you wear on stage is also important, as what you wear could kill your presentation, especially if everyone’s eyes are focused on your body instead of their ears focused on your words.
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ASKING FOR THE SALE
ERR, BY THE LOOK ON THAT FACE, THAT WOULD BE A NO! YOU’LL HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THAT IF YOU WISH TO STAY SELLING TRAVEL! NO MORE SOUR FACED SMILEY FACES. THE ONLY WAY TO PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE, YOUR MANAGER’S FACE, YOUR CLIENT’S FACE IS TO ASK FOR THE SALE AND THEN CLOSE IT. LET’S PONDER THE ASKING THEN MOVE TO THE CLOSING. Asking for the sale is not closing. It’s asking. How you ask depends on where you are asking the question. Are you in your office, in a coffee shop, or at a consumer presentation? Where are you when you pop the question? It’s very important to understand the etiquette of asking and to make sure you do not cause your client to lose face. Location is important and any sales person worth their salt would have also completed a quick check of who is sitting close by and be concerned that your conversation is not overheard – especially the part where dates and duration are mentioned. That’s excellent news for the resident burglar to hear. We’ll assume you are seated comfortably, in a nice location, could be a hotel lobby for the home‐based agent, the agency boardroom or at your desk for the B&M agent, and / or in the client’s home where there shouldn’t be anyone listening in. You
still have to check however, just in case there is someone who should not hear what’s being said. You might be talking about their anniversary gift. Seated comfortably then, fresh coffee steaming in front of you and your client, and now in your own head you complete a checklist of all things mentioned, stated, covered and discussed. Have you covered every detail? Have you answered your clients questions also known as objections? Is there anyone else who needs to be consulted about this trip? Have you listened well and made the correct choice for your client? Did you present all the facts, stats, prices and did you cover off the need for insurance? You did? Excellent. Okay… only at this point can you ask for the sale.
“Let each day be your masterpiece.”
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Does that shaky headline remind you of the moment you are just about to ask for the business, close the sale? I know for some readers it does indeed. Well fear no more. All you need is a selection of closes that you can access and use when the situation calls for them. I can remember one or two moments in my sales career that pop into my head every so often as reminders. Mind you I had a sales mentor. Ed Newman (now deceased) would take me for lunch along with his major clients and he’d introduce me as his travel agent and then set about selling and closing his client. My role in all of this, thanks to Ed, was to listen and learn, and that I did very well. His favourite close was what he called ‘The Take Away Close” and this meant he would remove himself from the picture by saying, “Chances are I’m not the guy for you…” but by then he had sold his expertise – each time, every time, his client would lean forward and say to ED, “Oh no, I want you to do this…” (take care of their insurance needs) and Ed’s pen was right there, being handed across the table. Very smooth. There was another time when I had to sell cars for a few months and there I witnessed the ‘egg stained tie close” and the “water on the forehead” close. Very creative both of them. I’ll tell you about them when you attend one of my sales training sessions. For now, here’s a list of closes I’ve found – you have the name of the close and a brief explanation. Although many of the titles and explanations sound and seem to be a bit tacky (and they are) they are from the old school and different industries. Today we have the plain old simple close which goes like this: “So Mrs. Gottago… I believe we’ve covered everything (pause) how would you like to pay the deposit… on your Visa?” You’ll need to read between the lines here & there. Travel is not a product someone will fight over – not like battling with a salesperson at a car dealership, or a product that always brings a war to the closing room. We sell a product that is dreamy, everybody wants it, places to go, people to see, bucket lists and all that. Generally then, a simple review of what was discussed, a commitment that you have offered the customer the best deal and then you ask (how will you be paying?) for the business. On some occasions however you will, if you want to keep the business and I don’t mean a $200 booking… I mean a decent $3,000 booking or higher – sometimes you have to dance the dance and that’s when you need these slick tricks up your sleeve. Be assured, you must practice them otherwise they will come across the desk or telephone as too slick. Your street cred’ gone! I used the Get Coffee Close once, but it was used to get rid of an annoying husband who kept butting into the conversation I was having with his wife about their trip. This was in Edmonton and I was working for Thomas Cook, and this guy, a farmer was dressed (true story) in a Casey Jones grey and white striped cap and overalls. At one point I stood up and gave him a couple of dollars, said this will take some time, how about a coffee and sent him off to purchase three coffees. By the time he returned, his wife and I had completed the booking to her satisfaction and mine.
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TO VIEW THE LIST PLEASE USE THE + ICON 1. Adjournment Close give them time to think. 2. Affordable Close ensuring people can afford what you are selling. 3. Alternative Close offering a limited set of choices. 4. Artisan Close show the skill of the designer. 5. Ask The Manager Close use manager as authority. 6. Assumptive Close acting as if they are ready to decide. 7. Balance Sheet Close adding up the pros and the cons. 8. Best Time Close emphasize how now is the best time to buy. 9. Bonus Close offer delighter to clinch the deal. 10. Bracket Close make three offers with the target in the middle. 11. Calculator Close use a calculator to do discount. 12. Calendar Close put it in the diary. 13. Companion Close sell to the person with them. 14. Compliment Close flatter them into submission. 15. Concession Close give them a concession in exchange for the close. 16. Conditional Close link closure to resolving objections. 17. Cost Of Ownership Close compare cost over time with competitors. 18. Courtship Close woo them to the close. 19. Customer Service Close the CS Manager calls later and re opens the conversation. 20. Daily Cost Close reduce cost to daily amount. 21. Demonstration Close show them the goods. 22. Distraction Close catch them in a weak moment. 23. Doubt Close show you doubt the product and let them disagree. 24. Economic Close help them pay less for what they get. 25. Embarrassment Close make not buying embarrassing. 26. Emotion Close trigger identified emotions. 27. Empathy Close empathize with them, then sell to your new friend. 28. Empty Offer Close make them an empty offer that the sale fills. 29. Exclusivity Close not everyone can buy this. 30. Extra Information Close give them more info to tip them into closure. 31. Fire Sale Close soiled goods, going cheap. 32. Future Close close on a future date. 33. Give Take Close give something, then take it away. 34. Golden Bridge Close make the only option attractive. 35. Handover Close someone else does the final close. 36. Handshake Close offer handshake to trigger automatic reciprocation. 37. Humour Close relax them with humour. 38. Hurry Close go fast to stop them thinking too much. 39. IQ Close say how this is for intelligent people. 40. Minor Points Close close first on the small things. 41. Never The Best Time Close for customers who are delaying. 42. No Hassle Close make it as easy as possible. 43. Now Or Never Close to hurry things up. 44. Opportunity Cost Close show cost of not buying. 45. Ownership Close act as if they own what you are selling. 46. Price Promise Close promise to meet any other price. 47. Puppy Close acting cute to invoke sympathy and a nurturing response. 48. Quality Close sell on quality, not on price. 49. Rational Close use logic and reason. 50. Repetition Close repeat a closing action several times. 51. Retrial Close go back to square one. 52. Reversal Close act as if you do not want them to buy the product. 53. Save The World Close: buy now and help save the world. 54. Selective Deafness Close respond only to what you want to hear. 55. Shame Close make not buying shameful. 56. Shopping List Close tick off list of their needs. 57. Similarity Close bond them to a person in a story. 58. Standing Room Only Close show how others are queuing up to buy. 59. Summary Close tell them all the things they are going to receive. 60. Testimonial Close use a happy customer to convince the new customer. 61. The 1 2 3 Close close with the principle of three. 62. Thermometer Close they score out of ten, you close gap. 63. Think About It Close give them time to think about it. 64. Treat Close persuade them to 'give themselves a treat'. 65. Trial Close see if they are ready for a close. 66. Valuable Customer Close offer them a special 'valued customer' deal. 67. Ultimatum Close show negative consequences of not buying. 68. Yes Set Close get them saying 'yes' and they'll keep saying 'yes'.
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Better known as FUP. The FUP activity is very important to your overall sales, referrals and customer service outcomes. Without FUP you’re FLAT! Most travel agents would consider FUP a post sale activity. Not so. FUP has many stages and is considered high priority by top notch sales people. Call it staying in touch if follow up gets your nerves on edge. Doesn’t matter what you call it, just do it. Here’s when you can FUP:
After the initial customer contact
After the booking has been made…
2 weeks after the booking made and
deposit paid
Various moments prior to final payment
After final payment has been made
After client receives travel documents
Just before departure…
… after they arrive at their hotel and right after the client returns home. Most TAs complete the welcome home FUP but miss out on many of the other opportunities. This not bothering the client, this is customer service.
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ARE YOU AN AGENCY
OWNER / MANAGER? If you are then you’ll want to read the latest e‐publication from SMP called TAM or Travel Agency Manager which focuses purely on management soft skills, tips, tools and techniques. The January / February 2013 issue is out now and can be found here and the March / April issue is on the deck and due out in March.
You are free to share TAM with your management colleagues and use any of the articles as discussion points during staff and management meetings.
When you check out the current issue of TAM you will also find the SMP Management Training Catalogue. Let me know what your training needs are.
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SELLING INTO THE FUTURE
How much time are you spending on the ‘future’? I know that’s as wide as it is universal but that’s where we’re going and you’ll need to be ready for it. Planning ahead is always good. As that old saying goes: “It wasn’t raining when Moses built the ark.”
Planning ahead takes a certain ability and talent to forecast events. When you do that you must have solid data to support your thoughts and ideas and revelations.
I’ll use the space travel analogy to explain the need to look ahead before that future arrives. You’ve heard of space travel, you’ve seen the low gravity flights and watched the Virgin videos on YouTube. This mode of travel is here and the next generations of space travel are on their way here. So let me take you back to 1989, the date on the letter you can see on the next page. Back then, what is that 24 years (!) I was promoting space travel. Can you believe it – 24 years ago? The thing is and was, I was all
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for it, but the general public weren’t. Key point, when planning ahead, you’d best be within sight of everyone and not be too spaced out, so far ahead of the game that you are lost to the universe going on around you. I’ve been taught that lesson more than once. Let’s return to 1989 again. I had made contact with a Japanese firm by the name of Shimizu. They had their Space Project underway. There were designs for space hotels with some major brands buying space in space, ready to build. Prior to 1989 there had been a tremendous buzz about space tourism. In 1983, 1985 and 1986 articles were appearing such as one by astrophysicist William Kaufmann III, who wrote, and this is good, that, “…we’ll ski Mars and hike on Jupiter’s moons.” Yup, okay then. The article written in April 1983 now seems way ahead of it’s time and slightly spaced out as it leads in with this:
“On a bleak lunar plain, you say goodbye to friends you won’t see in six and a half years. You and your fellow passengers board the spacecraft and strap yourselves in. As a buried cable creates waves of force seizing the ship’s superconducting magnets the bulky craft glides along railway tracks that stretch to the horizon. It accelerates to 7,000 mph – awesome, but only a fraction of the speed that would be needed to escape Earth’s gravity – and lifts off toward the outer planets. Your Jupiter‐Saturn excursion began with a weekly shuttle to the moon. Friends anxious to see you off were delighted to accompany you to this active industrial outpost.” In 1985 an article was written under the heading of Fanciful Flight with a sub heading of: Commercial orbital trip is 1992 dream, suggesting that the cost would be USD$50,000 and change. The company pushing the boundaries here was Project Space Voyage in concert with Society Expeditions. I have a copy of their brochure. Fast forward to 1996 when the Lockheed Martin Corp won the competition to produce a new generation of spaceship. The craft was called VentureStar and said to be able to fly with or without a crew, 40 – 50 times a year. The operational year was stated as 2006 or 2007. Yup! I must have missed it. Come with me to Friday, July 5th 1991, the time when Pan Am was sold. Forgotten and lost to the archives would be the then famous Lunar List that Pan Am started to compile in the mid‐1960s. At the time of the Pan Am sale there were 93,000 names on that list all prospective buyers for the first tourism flight and flights to the moon. Would you believe me if I told you that in 1985 I promoted space travel and actually took a deposit of $250 on a trip to the moon. I sold that trip to a couple who bought it for their friend’s new born baby. The idea was that at some point in that
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child’s life, tours to the moon would be available. A few months later, they returned and asked for their money back. They had second thoughts about whether or not space travel would happen within the child’s lifetime. I returned their deposit and had the distinct honour and knowledge of at least being one of the first TAs to sell – well okay, taking a deposit for a trip to the moon. If you truly love the travel industry and have that adventurous spirit that takes you beyond the tried and true sun, sand and sea package then you should be contemplating what it is you will be selling in the future. The low to zero gravity flights are here now. Space travel for the masses is not here yet, but it will be here soon. I’ll let you fathom the length of soon. I’ll prompt you to start your own LUNAR LIST and see what comes of it. You could also practice your Ralph Kramden shout and deliver the “Ya wanna got to the moon Alice?” call to action. A Japanese company sells weddings in space and other firms offer zero gravity flights as corporate incentives.
http://pinktentacle.com/2008/06/space‐wedding/
There’s a lot of action going on in the space community and if you want to be considered a travel agent that is on the ball and looking to the future you might just want to add your space tour programs above your world cruise itineraries and add them to your agency’s dream trip list, too.
THE PLAYERS Virgin Galactic, is planning to begin passenger service aboard the VSS Enterprise, a Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo class spacecraft. The initial seat price is $200,000, with a required down‐payment of $20,000. To date, over 500 people have signed up. Headed by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, Virgin Galactic hopes to be the first private space tourism company to regularly send civilians into space. A citizen astronaut will only require three days of training before spaceflight. SpaceShipTwo is a scaled up version of SpaceShipOne, the spacecraft which claimed the Ansari X Prize. Launches will initially occur at the Mojave Spaceport in California, and will then be moved to Spaceport America in Upham, New Mexico. Tourists will also be flown from Spaceport Sweden, in Kiruna. http://www.virgingalactic.com/ XCOR Aerospace is developing a suborbital vehicle called Lynx. The Lynx will take off from a runway under rocket power. Unlike SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo, Lynx will not require a mothership. Lynx is designed for rapid turnaround, which will enable it to fly up to four times per day. Because of this rapid flight rate, Lynx has fewer seats than SpaceShipTwo, carrying only one pilot and one spaceflight participant on each flight. XCOR expects to roll out the first Lynx prototype during the summer of 2012 and begin flight tests by late 2012. If all goes well, it is hoped that Lynx will carry paying customers before the end of 2013. http://www.xcor.com/ Adventure Travel Company (ATC) ‐ which is owned by Merit Travel, is the sole agency in English Canada to offer space travel with SXC. Other SXC representatives around the world can be found here at this link ‐ just scroll down the web page to view the list. http://www.spacexc.com/en/bookings/
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Merit’s ATC space program is set to launch in February 2014, the program has already sold 205 tickets worldwide ‐ two tickets were sold in Canada.
http://www.atcadventure.com/en/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q
Here is an infographic that lists the various space travel options and prices known as of September 2012. http://www.canadianbusiness.com/technology‐news/infographic‐the‐shrinking‐cost‐of‐space‐
tourism/
You MUST watch this video. It supports the image above and goes beyond… yes way beyond.
Everything I’ve mentioned here has to do with outbound tours. If you are interested in INBOUND tours, well you’d better chat with your planetary security council first.
Last point: Promoting space travel will put you front and center in the local market place. Try it.
http://www.co‐intelligence.org/newsletter/images/jupiter‐etc.jpg
It’s important you know your way around your solar system when you start to even suggest an off‐planet tour. Take a look at the size of Earth compared
to other planets in our system. Planet envy supremo!
You can promote your UNIVERSAL DREAM TOUR by hosting a group at the local planetarium, or host star gazing events… even UFO sighting discussion groups.
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Every travel agent knows you need a call to action in whatever format or channel you are using for advertising & promoting your offer or service. The question is “Are you using them?”
Nothing has changed – a CTA is used off line and it’s used online. No difference. The only thing that you must be 100% sure of is where your CTA is going to take your client to. Where will they end up if they follow your CTA? Next question: what do you want your clients to do when they follow your CTA? Do you want them to do something, anything? Should they make a phone call or send an email? Are they supposed to complete a form? When they do what you ask of them, where will all this action take place? It should be happening on your website, the e‐HUB of your online and social media marketing activity.
I’m going to send you to a terrific website called HUBSPOT. Once you get there, you will be able to subscribe and download their fantastic eBooks such as the one showing above and the link where you can find it. Here are six key points you’ll find repeated in this eBook:
1. Make Sure Your CTA Is Clear, Concise and Specific 2. Create Urgency 3. Place The CTA Can Be Read Without Scrolling 4. Make It Engaging And Action Oriented 5. Include A Relevant Image 6. Alight The CTA With It’s Landing Page
Do one thing for me (that’s a call to action) go and check you agency window. Is there a CTA there? Any signage that at the very least says “Come in!” or, “Ask us about our All Inclusive Vacations to Mexico before 12 noon today and…” – that’s a CTA with a best before urgency attached to it. Where else can you use a CTA? Hold a sales meeting to discuss this very topic and then get busy to cover your CTAs!
DOWNLOAD YOUR OWN COPY
http://www.hubspot.com/how-to-create-effective-calls-to-action/?source=hspd-sme-effective-call-to-action-ebook-
20121129
You can even sport a CTA on
your t-shirt! What would yours say or request?
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Have you tried using FACEBOOK’s OFFER app yet? This is an excellent tool to use when you want to extend a discount or promote a supplier’s promotion such as discounts on certain cruises. http://www.google.com/offers/customer/how‐it‐works.html
ANIMOTO has upgraded it’s video app and it allows for more text and a host of other tools, too. You can add video, photos, text and then add a music store with some beat to it… very exciting. www.animoto.com
If you like Animoto you could give Wideo a try. It’s more cartoonish however when you check what others have produced you’ll sense how you might use Wideo to create your own catchy promo. http://www.wideo.co/
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ASK ME ABOUT MY SELLING TRAVEL MAGICAL MARKETING EMPORIUM KEYNOTE & WORKSHOP AND HOW IT WILL WORK FOR YOUR
FALL CONFERENCE
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Two formats available…
1. E‐book in downloadable PDF format and created in landscape orientation so it will ‘play’ on your computer screen with little to no scrolling. All links
in the document will be “live” when on screen. 2. Will be published in hardcopy as a spiral bound manual, printed double‐
sided, portrait orientation with areas for making additional notes.
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412 PAGES 273 IDEAS 100s of VARIATIONS 700 LINKS TO MORE RESOURCES
When you need a source of ideas to either implement as is, or to help jog your own creative juices, this is the book to buy. It took me over 25 years to get it ‘here’ and that story is on page 5. It was some journey. When I started writing it, the IBM Selectric was the word processor of choice! What a laugh. Some suppliers have purchased a copy for each of their Business Development Managers, host agencies have made bulk purchases for their members and individual agents have written in to say this book is their idea bible.
It also, as you can see, comes in pill form, a cure for the common creative block! Okay, just kidding, but it is available in E‐BOOK format if you prefer to read it on screen!
PURCHASE THE SOFT COVER FROM
$44.95 + taxes and shipping
WHEN YOU BUY THIS BOOK YOU WILL RECEIVE 2 HOURS OF IDEA TIME WITH THE AUTHOR AND 10% OFF YOUR FIRST STATIONERY ORDER WHEN PURCHASED THROUGH BIG BARK GRAPHICS EASY TO USE E-STORE!
NO OTHER BOOK LIKE THIS ONE –
AND IT’S CURRENT!
For e‐Books: steve@sellingtravel.net
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Here are the current outlets for SMP and SELLING TRAVEL’s publications and webinars.
JOIN ST MAILING LIST Click on this link and you’ll be able to join the ST and SMP mailing list. You can unsubscribe at anytime. Emails are only sent as and when there is something of interest to advise.
Many of you are fans of the ST Facebook page and quite often this page receives more instant access, do it now ideas to help you generate new commissions. If you are looking for that type of information, click on the FB logo.
CITC sells eBooks and manuals published by SMP Training Co., ‐ so be sure to check out the CITC Store – always new items being added.
The Travel Institute carries SMP Training Co., eBooks, manuals and also presents webinars produced by Selling Travel. In addition they offer many more publications in their online store.
The Travel Agent Revolution sells SMP publications and hosts Selling Travel webinars.
The number one resource for destination training, keynotes and ghost writing for travel trade presenters.
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