Agent Uses Newsletter to Spark Interest in Destinations She Loves

This is the third in a series on how to succeed as a destination specialist in the 21st century.

When Diana Hechler’s clients select a destination for their next trip, their decisions are often guided by Hechler’s own travels and the recommendations she makes in her popular “Great Escapes” newsletter.

Hechler is president of D Tours Travel, an Ensemble agency in Larchmont, N.Y. She spoke with Travel Market Report about how she uses her newsletter to keep clients engaged and spark their interest in booking new adventures. 

Unlike other travel agency newsletters, hers is focused on destinations, rather than special offers.  Hechler said she’s been writing the newsletter for six or seven years. “I’m on Issue #43.”

How did the idea for your newsletters come about?
Hechler: I got the idea from someone I know who does cooking classes in Italy. When I asked her how business was going, she said it really picked up after a marketing consultant told her to do a newsletter. The marketer said the key to a successful newsletter is to make it substantive.

How did that approach differ from other travel agency newsletters?
Hechler: At the time, the conventional wisdom was that if you do a newsletter, you should be promoting the latest sale from a cruise line or tour operator – price-driven information designed to get a client to call you.

What turned my head around was the idea of making the information something that people really want to hold onto –nothing that would be quickly outdated.

Print or electronic?
Hechler: The newsletters are in print form as well as on my website. It’s the print version that clients save and that really does the heavy lifting in terms of generating business. E-newsletters may look nicer, but people are more likely to delete them.

Another benefit is that my printer has become a client.

What’s the content in your newsletters?
Hechler: I try to put things in that stimulate people for the long-term. Each one describes a destination that I’ve been to. I also have a section about cruises. While I don’t put in sales, I will promote something out of the ordinary, such as an interesting shipboard speaker series.

I try to have fun with it, like doing a Letterman-type list of the Top 10 reasons to go to Scotland, with a few humorous items mixed in. A recent list about Salzburg had items with a Sound of Music theme. The idea is to make it a fun read – with items that are not too long. I started with one sheet, now it’s up to four.

How have you built circulation?
Hechler: The print version goes to 650 people, most of them clients, but not all. At first I sent them out to everyone I’d ever heard of. I canvassed my neighborhood and then got names and addresses in the library.  

More effective has been sending the newsletter to people that I already know in the community. Sometimes I’ll find a new crop of people at church or at a local event, so I’ll add them. I might take some off if there’s no response after a few years.

The local credibility factor is important – people who know each other will talk about it. About 60% of my client/readers live here in Larchmont, with the rest in different parts of the country. Initially they all came from Larchmont connections. It’s spread to friends and relatives in other parts of the country.

What’s the response rate?
Hechler: It’s very good, but there is not always an immediate payoff. Sometimes a new client will call me and say, ‘I’ve been saving these newsletters for years.’

How do you determine which destinations to feature?
Hechler: Everyplace that I cover is somewhere I’ve been to. I want to talk about places that I know. I’m personally working my way around the world.

A lot of material has come from our family vacations. My kids never went to camp; they went to Europe. It was vacation, but I was constantly checking things out. Sometimes I go to new places on my own.

My husband and I went to Peru this summer, and I used that for a cover story in a recent newsletter. I’ve had a lot of sales to Peru since. I can always sell places better once I’ve seen them.

Have you had any destination specialist training?
Hechler: I primarily promote myself as a European specialist – and I’ve done specific training for Ireland, Scotland and other countries in Europe. I’m certified for Alaska and Australia. I’m also in the middle of training for Tahiti and Fiji – my agency has taken on a new honeymoon focus, so that will be useful there.

I rarely go on agent fams, as I think I can learn more traveling on my own. However, I did do the Galapagos with Abercrombie & Kent – that was phenomenal.

What do you think of the quality of most destination training?
Hechler: I think it varies widely. For instance, the training I’ve had with the Ireland and Scotland tourism boards was outstanding. The Travel Institute program on Alaska was great.

When a good tourism board has put together a good program, you can see it right away. It’s thorough and you need to take notes. If a program is very short and you don’t need to take notes, it’s not worth much.

How much do your own travel experiences influence client choices?
Hechler: For some clients, I am determining their travel choices. I don’t discount that part of it at all. When they read that I’ve been to Australia, it will spark some interest for the next year. They know that if I’ve been a destination, I can tell them what to expect.

When did you get started in the travel business?
Hechler: I started in 1999. I had been at home as a mom for six years. I have a very expensive graduate degree – Russian-American relations – designed to let me be secretary of state. Instead, I managed board meetings for an organization and also worked for the World Affairs Council in San Francisco. So I was used to working with hotels.

I got into the business just as the commission cuts were under way. I’m glad I never worked in an agency at the time when commissions were the be-all and end-all. When that went away, people were bitter.

Are you a fee-based agency?
Hechler: Yes, from the very beginning. During the first year or two I had a very low fee. Then I found that women business owners often charge too little. I’ve bumped it up over the years. It’s important as a woman owner to know what you are worth. If people are paying a fee, they believe in you.

I would like to see the whole industry charge fees. Some people are afraid to, but they shouldn’t be.

Is your agency expanding?
Hechler: I hired my first staff member in December – a young woman who is a honeymoon specialist and who will help grow this new part of our business. I also plan to hire an outside agent this summer.

Related Stories
Part One: Are Destination Specialists Falling Behind?, Feb. 7, 2013

Part Two: Destination Training More Hype Than Help, Critics Say, Feb, 14, 2013