Selling With a ‘Soft Touch’: It Works

You’ve no doubt heard of the ‘hard sell.’ But what Gloria Stock Mickelson would like you to know about when it comes to sales, is the ‘soft touch.’

“Seventy percent of buying experiences are based on how people feel they are being treated,” Mickelson said, referring to research from the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

And that speaks to the importance of employing ‘soft touches’ in travel agents’ approach to selling, she said.

Mickelson, CTIE, ACC, senior manager of education and training for Travel Leaders,  spoke about the soft touch in sales at a presentation on Developing Clients for Life, during ASTA’s recent Global Convention on board NCL’s Breakaway.

Building lasting relationships
“No one wants to keep selling to new people. You want to keep clients forever and ever,” said Mickelson.

That means building lasting relationships with clients, and that effort includes the personal, sometimes intangible things agents can do for clients—a kind of agent version of ‘random acts of kindness.’

“From exploring [travel] options to sharing experiences [after the travel], there are plenty of opportunities for soft touches,” Mickelson said.

For the initial contact with a client, “the standards for greeting clients,” include answering the phone in three rings; responding to emails within 30 minutes, and—for agents working in brick and mortar locations—standing up to greet a client, shaking hands and exchanging names.”

“Shaking hands, for instance, is a lost art,” Mickelson said.

Using the follow-up
Following up with clients is also a soft touch in itself, according to Mickelson.

“You can do this at several stages: after the initial contact, after a deposit is made, after final payment is made, after the trip, and in between trips [clients make],” she said.

“There are fun opportunities, for instance, to help clients with the excitement of their trip, so do something every five weeks during the six-month period between the initial deposit and the travel.”

Mickelson’s own research—queries to agents for examples of their ‘soft touches’—netted these suggestions:

Before clients travel
•    Send movie or book titles related to the destination they’ve booked

•    Remind them to get cash in their destination’s local currency

•    Send birthday cards if clients’ birthdays fall within the period from booking to taking the trip

•    Research and send cell phone and plug-in information about their destination

•    Assist with passport and visa arrangements

After the trip is completed
•    Call them to discuss their experience: both the good things and those they’d change

•    Identify future travel opportunities for them

•    Map out a “travel year—opportunities for additional vacations and celebration or event travel

Mickelson also suggested agents check out the Random Acts of Kindness website which might trigger their own ideas for soft touches.

The soft touch approach, she added, was summed up by the poet Maya Angelou:

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”