Agent Advice: Sell the Hole, Not the Drill

While there’s a lot of money to be made in travel, agents often need to change their business focus to a more solutions-oriented process in order to reap financial rewards.

This is the assertion of Meredith Hill, who founded the Global Institute for Travel Entrepreneurs to teach agents how to boost to achieve more success.

The idea for the venture occurred five years ago, when her former company, Hills of Africa Travel, was struggling to find enough clients to survive. Looking to entrepreneurs for inspiration, Hill participated in workshops, mentoring and coaching. What she learned from that experience set her off on a new path.

Travel Market Report asked Hill to share some of the wisdom she picked up along the way.

What was the most important thing you discovered from studying entrepreneurs?
Hill: That you have to get very clear about what you want. You have to let someone stretch your vision. You’re far more capable than you think you are. Other people see your potential better than you do.

What about marketing?
Hill: A marketing plan should come last. What comes first is the design of your business. You have to be clear about your message. If you’re just there to sell products, you’re going to attract people who are price shoppers.

The message should be about the solutions you provide. How can I help my clients get a better vacation? If you can sell solutions, you will get clients.

Don’t sell the drill. Sell the hole. Most people in the travel business are selling the drill, and suppliers are giving agents the materials to do so. But what they realize is that they’ve got to sell the hole.

For example, don’t say you’re a honeymoon specialist. Say you help couples get their marriage off on the best foot possible through the most romantic honeymoon, where will feel like a princess. It’s selling the dream. That’s the hole, not the drill.

What is a change that agents can make in the way they do business to become more profitable?
Hill: Specialize. The very first place to start is with yourself. So many people are looking outside (of themselves) to see what is profitable. Instead they should be looking within to discover what they are passionate about and what lessons they have learned in life that they can now use. Do a journey of self-discovery. Find your passions and what you are brilliant at.

How do you focus in on a specialty?
Hill: You’ve got to take your focus off what has traditionally been defined as specialties within the industry. Don’t be a Saint Lucia specialist. That’s not a specialty. Instead look at what solutions you provide and who you provide them for. Take the solutions and pick a target market. That’s the specialty.

What’s the single most important strategy agents can use to attract lucrative clients?
Hill: Promote yourself as a service provider. Be wiling to give, give, give in terms of free content, free advice, free tips. The best way to do that is through a weekly electronic newsletter. It’s one of the best marketing techniques around, but it has to be done right.

Connect with the reader on a one-to-one basis, and share who you are. Have one feature article of 200 to 500 words that gives good information. Once you’ve connected with them, then you can promote something.

It has to be from you. A lot of agents relay on their host agency or consortium to provide that (the material), but they can’t. You have to provide it, that’s the only way you’re going to connect.

What’s the most effective way that travel agents can use social media to promote their business?
Hill: You have to decide if social media is the best path. Figure out whether your clients are even on social media. They may not be.

If they are, use it to connect, add value, inspire and call to action. If you follow those four things every time you’re on social media, you’ll be successful. Before all that can take place, however, you to have a core compelling message with a specialty. If you don’t have that you’re wasting time on social media. You’ll have a confusing message, and confused people don’t buy.

What are the three most important books an agent can read that will help them improve the way they do their job?
Hill: The books are not directly aimed at travel agents, but at being an entrepreneur. They are Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting by Lynn Grabhorn;  The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks; and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

What did you learn from running Hills of Africa?
Hill: I learned that when I was working with millionaires and billionaires the services never changed. It was just the client who changed. That was a mindset change. What we offer is really valuable, and if it is so valuable, we should be working with people who are spending a lot more money.