Free and Easy Ways to Look Amazing to Clients

Tammy Levent

Following is the latest in a series of columns by travel agent, entrepreneur and business strategist Tammy Levent

With the growing number of travel agencies and new agents entering the industry daily, it can sometimes feel impossible to stand out from the crowd.

However, there are still several things you can do to not only stand out from the other agencies, but also to look so amazing to your clients that they will want to work with you again and again.

The best part is that these ideas won’t cost you a dime and hardly any effort. What is even better, they can yield more referrals and repeat business than you ever dreamed of.

• Don’t charge potential clients fees to talk with you. Right off the bat, this is a fantastic way to get your potential clients on your side. It shows them you care enough to give advice without pushing into a sales pitch.

When you charge a consulting fee you are giving a clear signal to your clients that you care about money more than winning them over and you will immediately lose their trust.

I can almost hear what many travel agents will say to this way of thinking. “Giving away my advice for free allows them to cut me out of the deal and book without me.” If this is really what you fear, you need to change your approach in that first consultation.

Yes, it’s true the client might not book with you after your initial consult, but it is your job to remind them why it benefits them to do just that. First, if you are working with decent travel vendors you can price match the deals that public travel sites offer.

Second, you may offer deals and trip possibilities they didn’t even know existed and you can help them get the most travel for their dollar. Third, and perhaps most important, by working with you they have someone to call in the event anything goes wrong on their trip.

• Send a follow up email to everyone you meet and everyone you offer travel advice to. This is amazingly effective and because it’s free and takes almost zero time it still floors me that travel agents aren’t doing this easy step.

A simple greeting of “It was nice meeting you” or “Thanks for considering my agency for your upcoming trip” is a great way to keep your name in the client’s mind.

You know that saying “out of sight out of mind”? Well, it’s true! If you don’t care enough to follow up with them, why should they care enough to book with you?

• Send them travel ideas when you find them. Let’s say you have a client who regularly travels to cool places in Europe. If you learn of a new property being built in Ireland or an awesome tour that is off-the-beaten-path in Sardinia, Italy you could send them a heads up of its existence.

That correspondence could be the difference between their taking an extra trip or staying at home for their next week away from work.

• Ask current clients to tag you in their travel photos on Facebook and twitter. By letting your clients know you want to see their travel photos you are doing a few things: You’re showing them you are excited for their experience and want to share in that fun.

You are also getting fantastic free exposure on their social media channels. Finally, by seeing their social media updates you can see what they like, what they don’t like and how you can make future experiences better for them and/or other clients.

• Encourage Periscoping and be sure to Periscope from your trips too. This live streaming app is a free and fantastic way to promote destinations you and your clients are traveling to.

Photos and text about destinations can only go so far, but using live streaming apps gives potential clients a real time look into what they can expect in their travels.

• Welcome your client home with another email. By the time your client arrives back home they should have an email from you saying you hope they had a wonderful trip.

Use this email to ask them if there was anything they wish had gone differently and encourage them to refer new clients your way. Finish with saying you look forward to their next trip with your agency.

Remember, the key to success is all about building relationships and, by showing that you genuinely care how their trip went, you are planting a seed that will make them more likely to use—and recommend your company—again.

Tammy Levent is the founder of T.A.S.K., the Travel Agent’s Success Kit, which teaches the agents of today how to succeed in being travel entrepreneurs. Contact her at tammy@tammylevent.com.