The concept was simple. Host a series of open houses at their travel agency and make personal connections with all those who attended. The result was well over $150,000 in sales, said Mark Gerling of Gerling Travel Group in Flagler Beach, Florida.

Personalization was the key to the event’s success. “I learned a long time ago to make a sales presentation as personal and intimate as possible and success will follow,” said Gerling.

Gerling targeted five private gated communities in the local beach town where he had recently opened an office and scheduled a separate two-hour reception for each community.

“I created a two sided full color flyer to promote the events,” he said.

The front featured a picture of the office staff and a beautiful, classy collage of images such as the Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Egypt and an African lion, a cruise ship, a river cruise, and the Great Wall of China, he said. “On the back we wrote about who we are and what we do and included a small offer of a $100 off a qualified travel product.”

In addition to the invitation, the flyer noted that Gerling Travel’s goal “is to provide you with a personal level of customer service and destination expertise so that your journey is a success! We specialize in guided tours to Africa, Europe, Asia, North & South America and cruises to Alaska, Caribbean, Mediterranean, the Greek Isles and European River Cruises. We also specialize in family vacations to all destinations from Disneyland to the Great Wall of China!”

The agency printed 10,000 flyers. All were exactly same except for a 2x4 inch blank spot at the top which was customized to each gated community with a clear stick-on label. For example, residents of Grand Haven received a flyer that said: “This private open house is only for the members of Grand Haven.”

“Our goal was to make them feel special and it allowed us to spend quality time getting to meet and greet each person that came by,” Gerling explained. “All they were required to do was complete a form giving us their names, numbers, emails and travel desires and we gave each couple a $100 voucher to be applied to their first booking with Gerling Travel Group.”

Gerling was careful to keep an eye on costs. He and his wife hand-counted the flyers into the quantity needed for each community and put the community-personalized clear labels on each flyer in the evenings. “We then dropped them off at the post office in bundles for each specific mailing route a week before each Open House date, he said.

By purchasing a permit number from the post office for the pre-sorted flyers, the mailing only cost about 13 cents per piece as compared with paying a mailing house or regular postage, he noted.

The event was internationally low key. Hors d’oeuvres and drinks were served from 5 to 7 pm and each couple who attended was given a personal tour of the office and a $100 voucher good towards their first booking.

Total cost for the promotion and events: $3,000.

“We were able to generate several immediate leads and lots of prospective new clients,” Gerling said. “I tracked our success through our Clientbase; the sales generated were well over $150K. Plus there have been several bookings since and a few great referrals.”
 
Gerling also uses the information he collected to keep his agency front of mind with his new clients and prospects. “We continually inform them via eblast.”

He also has plans for another event. “We will have another very intimate gathering near the holidays for all booked clients and offer a bring-a-friend instant referral incentive.”