Sometimes, the simplest things make the biggest difference. Several years ago, a client of mine did my travel business a huge favor when she had the courage to give me a suggestion on how I could improve my service.
As a first time traveler to Africa, she had the normal anxiety many people get when the big trip draws near. Of course we gave her a huge stack of travel documents to prepare her for her trip. But she confessed that there was so much information, she was overwhelmed and never read it. The beautiful packet of material just sat on a table for weeks until the day before she departed...and then she finally looked through it. She felt, what would have been better for her, was to receive this information in smaller doses, over time.
She had something there. Deep down, I felt this was a million dollar idea, so I took it and ran with it. Together, with my business partner, we dissected the information in our travel documents (of which we were very proud), and diced it up into bite size chunks - i.e., 1 pagers. We ended up with 8, 1-pagers, that each answered 1 of the 8 most common questions travelers have when traveling to Africa.
For example, there was one that
answered the question about what immunizations are required and how to
protect against malaria. There was another with
packing guidelines and suggestions. Still another about
tipping. Once we had 8, 1-pagers answering the most common
questions, we set up an email schedule for each booked client that
began 8 weeks before their travel. As such, each client would
receive a friendly, short, (read, not overwhelming) email every week
from our team, beginning 2 months before travel. The timing
was perfect because it was typically before the question would come up
in their mind, but not too far in advance that they would forget it by
the time the travel came around.This is a system that has stayed in place now for over 4 years and everybody loves it. It's a win/win. The client feels cared for, that their concerns have been considered, and we feel we have done a great job preparing the client for travel.
Here is what I love about this strategy:
- We didn't reinvent the wheel! We created the 1-pagers from material we were already sending to them. They just received it in a few different forms.
- We set it up on a system, so that the moment the client booked, the emails got set up in an auto-responder service, like iContact. Thus, not a lot of extra work involved.
- The clients loved it. It made them feel like we were holding their hand the entire way. It reinforced a trust that we didn't just care about the booking. Our level of service continued even after we got the business.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:Ask yourself, where can you establish systems that over deliver on service? Take the cue from this example that we didn't create new information. We simply used existing materials and changed their shape and delivery method. Perhaps you have standard travel documents you send your clients and could do something similar. Find 1 way you can set up a system that helps you over deliver your service, makes your client feel cherished and helps you get more referrals.
It is
absolute fact that social media is here to stay as a cost effective and
powerful marketing tool. One of the
greatest frustrations with it, however, is that staying on top of your
social media campaigns can be very time consuming. What often
happens is that people dive right in, get involved in Facebook,
Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn or writing a blog. But they soon
realize they are spending 3 to 4 hours a day doing it all, and then
give up.Don’t give up. What you need instead are some time-saving tools that will help you reduce your time on these outlets, but still give you the marketing edge you are looking for.
Today, I would like to share with you 3 social media “secrets” that will help you save time and be more effective in your social media strategy.
- Schedule
Posts for Later! SocialOomph, www.socialoomph.com
- Social Oomph is a
great tool for many things, but the feature I like most is the ability
to set up Facebook posts or Twitter tweets that will air at a later
time. I.e., you can write 15 posts right now, but schedule
them to be
posted whenever you want in the future. You can also set up
posts that
recur. This can be useful if you are going on vacation, or
just to
make as a weekly habit, so you guarantee you will be on Facebook
everyday, even if it gets so busy, you forgot about it.
To do this, it’s really simple:
- Go to www.socialoomph.com
- Register for a Free Account (don’t need premium)
- Click on “Schedule Updates” and select “Schedule New Update”
- Complete the form and you
are done!
- Post to your blog and have it
automatically post to your Facebook and Twitter account!
TwitterFeed, www.twitterfeed.com
– is an excellent tool for leveraging
your blog posts. With 1 click of a button, your blog post
will get seen by the world wide web, PLUS all your followers on
Twitter, PLUS all your Friends or Fans on Facebook.
To do this:
- Go to www.twitterfeed.com
- Register for a free account by clicking the Register Button and completing the form;
- In another window, login to your Facebook and Twitter accounts;
- Click the blue, Authenticate Twitter button to connect to your Twitter Account
- Click Allow to complete the connection.
-
You
will now have to set up
the “feed” details which means you can edit how your blog posts appear
in Twitter. The feed name you should enter is
http://yourblogsURL/feed.
For example, mine is
http://safari2success.com/feed.
Then click “test RSS feed” to
make sure it works. - Now click on “Advanced Settings.” Here you can edit how your blog posts will appear on Twitter and Facebook.
- Click “Done.”
- Go back through the same steps for your Facebook account.
Another option for posting to
your blog and having it appear on other
social media accounts is called Networked Blogs. If
you would
like to try this instead, log in to your Facebook account. In
the search window, type in Networked Blogs. Select the
correct option and then follow the prompts.
-
Be active while on the
go! Add Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
applications
to your I-phone or I-Touch. You don’t have to be in front of
the computer to be active in your social media campaigns. In
fact, as a travel advisor, your best material is when you are
traveling. If you
have an I-Phone, I-Pad or
I-Touch, you can
add the “Apps” for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube and then be
able to post from that mobile device.
For example, you could be about to go for a ride on the back of an elephant in India. Just take a photo of you and the sweet elephant, and post the photo to Facebook from your I-Phone. It takes about 2 seconds. If you DON’T have an I-Phone, I-Touch, or I-Pad, I suggest you get one!
95% of
the travel advisors I speak with (that are not clients yet) are totally
stuck in their businesses. There’s been no
growth in sales
and often a decline. What I have learned in my journey of
entrepreneurship is that understanding and implementing marketing tools
are super important for building a successful business, but they are
not everything. You might have all the marketing knowledge in
the world, but still stay stuck. Just as important are the
people that support you. Travel advisors are a lonely breed. You work for yourself. Your income is completely dependent upon the sales you produce. You might have people that cover for you when you are away, but there is very little “team” spirit. Often, you work from home, so you have no interaction with people, except your clients. In the nutshell, you have no support system.
To make it worse, often the people closest to you – your spouse, children, parents, friends, neighbors, etc. – don’t really get it. They don’t understand the dynamics of being an entrepreneur. And maybe, they don’t have full faith in your success. Sometimes they are doing you more harm than good.
Imagine that growing your
business is like running a
marathon. Running might be a solitary sport,
but you still
need support to finish the race. You need water stops, where
there are people standing at designated points along the route handing
out small cups of water for you to keep you hydrated. You
need to know the actual marathon route. If there weren’t
people who placed clear markers of the route on the roads, before the
race started, you wouldn’t know which way to go and might have gone off
path. Then there are the spectators, who line the pathways
for 26.2 miles, cheering you on, pushing you to keep going, and there
with open arms when you cross the finish line. As a business owner, you can’t make quantum leaps without support like this. Quite simply, you can’t do it alone. Right now, if your business is stuck, I bet you don’t have the kind of support that you need.
It’s about creating an environment for you to prosper and thrive. What does your environment look like right now? Imagine if instead of the supportive crowd cheering on the marathon runner, it was a bunch of doubtful, critical, pessimistic people. Instead of the cheers of support it was constant comments like:
“I don’t know if you will
make it.”
“My mother tried to do this last year and she didn’t make it, why do you think you will?”
“You are looking might tired, why don’t you forget it?”
“You aren’t built like a runner, why are you trying to do this?”
“This marathon race is costing us a lot of money and I don’t want you to lose more money!”
“My mother tried to do this last year and she didn’t make it, why do you think you will?”
“You are looking might tired, why don’t you forget it?”
“You aren’t built like a runner, why are you trying to do this?”
“This marathon race is costing us a lot of money and I don’t want you to lose more money!”
You would never finish the race with this kind of “support.” They would suck all the energy right out of you. Instead of bringing you up, they would bring you down.
It’s important to ask yourself, “Do I have people in my “inner circle” that are bringing me down?” If so, it’s time to get a new inner circle. Start surrounding yourself with people that believe in your success, see your gifts and talents, not your faults and weaknesses, expect only the best from you, and see your greatest potential.
This might mean making some changes in your life and giving up things that will feel uncomfortable. But it will be a temporary discomfort and the reward will be far better than what you gave up.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:Follow these 2 simple steps to upgrading your inner circle so you can achieve the success you are meant to have:
1) Notice if there are people in your life that are draining your energy, bringing you down, bringing you problems but never solutions. If so, make changes so you don’t have to be around that energy anymore. Maybe it means changing the physical location of your work. Maybe it means losing a “friend.” Perhaps it’s a parent. You don’t have to cut off all communication, you just have stop dancing with them in the relationship that is causing you stress.
2) Surround yourself with people that bring you up, see your greatest potential, never give up faith in you, will cheer you on in your successes and give you hope when you have struggles.
My
4-year-old son asked me recently, “Mommy, how do you catch a Viper
Fish?” We have a book we read at bedtime that
names one fish for each letter of the alphabet and “V” is for Viper
Fish. They live deep in the ocean. Not being a
fishing expert, I gave him an answer, based upon my best judgment.I told him he would need to get a big boat, go far out to sea where it’s very deep. Then have a fishing rod with a very long line, a big hook, a weight and some enticing bait. Put it in the water and then wait for the Viper Fish to bite.
He took this in, and then he said to me, “why not put a big net in the water?” That made me laugh.
It sounds a lot easier doesn’t it? There’s a marketing lesson in his 4-year-old wisdom. You can fish with a hook or you can fish with a net. Which one are you doing in your business?
Fishing with a net, instead of a hook, is all about creating systems to bring new leads into your database and then communicating regularly with them so that you create a relationship. Do it right and eventually, they will do business with you.
The internet has made it far easier and cost effective to fish with a net and systematically bring new leads into your database. Here are 3 ways you can fish with a net, instead of a hook, to market your travel business:
-
Social
Media. Choose 1
social media outlet and get really good at it. It could be
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube. It doesn’t really
matter which one you choose. Just choose 1 and stick with it
for at least 6 months. Whichever you choose, be sure to go
into it with a philosophy of creating relationships, NOT making a
sale. The best way to create relationships in any social
media outlet is to: - Give Information – become known as the expert on something by consistently giving good advice, information, help, tips, etc.
- Share
your personality – whether it’s your love of dogs or your fear of
snakes, be willing to open up and share some of who you are.
-
Speak.
Yes, get out there and speak to
groups. You are an expert. You have a lot of
knowledge that would be interesting and helpful to people.
Put together a “Signature Speech” and then go get booked.
Don’t create new speeches for each booking. Just put together
one great talk, with a catchy title and then start asking organizations
if they need speakers. A great place to start would be Meet
Up Groups (www.meetup.com)
. But then there’s associations, non-profits,
community groups, local libraries, etc. The list goes on.
-
Blog.
Millions of people are searching the
internet daily for travel ideas, expertise, knowledge and
options. With a well done blog, you can be out there catching
those searches. Here are a few tips for effective
blogging: - Be an expert on something and keep it tight
- Blog consistently (at least 2Xs per week)
- Short articles are enough! (200 – 500 words)
- In the words of Nike, “Just do it!” Let go of your perfectionism, stop worrying that you are not a good writer. You are better than you think.
Your
assignment:Make a decision today to commit to 1 or 2 of these marketing methods. Learn as much as you can about it. And then get out there and do it. The benefit will be that you will see bigger sales, bigger commissions and a sense of accomplishment.
When
I
was newer to the business, I wanted clients - probably too
desperately. I would work on any business that
came my way, never asked for a service fee, and ended up feeling
overworked and underpaid. I recall many times where I would
spend hours researching an itinerary for someone, only to have them
tell me they’ve changed their mind, something’s come up, or never
return my messages. Then, there were the bargain
hunters. The ones that questioned every single quote I gave
them and basically wanted me to do the work of an online booking
engine, finding the cheapest deal possible.It can be easy to get frustrated with price shoppers and time wasters. It’s tempting to place the blame on them, but the truth is, it was my own fault. I failed to set boundaries with them and they walked all over me. When I stopped pointing my finger at someone else, owned what I was doing to attract the undesirable clients, everything changed.
What
I realized is that I needed to create a few hoops for potential
clients to jump through before I put any effort into their vacations
plans. They needed to work a little before I
worked for them. I designed a system to do just
this. It wasn’t perfect, but it made a huge difference and
most of the people that came through the filter, ended up being ideal
clients, who valued my services, were willing to pay a fee, and booked
lucrative travel. There was a lot less of those who
disappeared without warning.Just a quick footnote here before I share the system with you: I didn’t put every single client through this system….only brand new leads. If they were repeat clients, or a solid referral, I didn’t bother with the system. It’s a judgment call on your part and I will let you decide who you use it on.
The Time Waster and Bargain Hunter Filter System consists of 3 parts:
-
A Travel
Interest
Survey:
I noticed that I spent a lot of time in an initial conversation with a new lead asking the exact same questions. I started to write down the questions I asked a new lead and put these together into a “Travel Interest Survey.” Then I asked them to complete the survey on their own time, so they weren’t wasting mine. The beauty of it is – if they didn’t complete the survey, I forgot about them, moved on and felt good knowing they would have wasted a LOT more of my time.
Here are a few questions that were in my survey:
- How many travelers and if kids are included, what are their ages?
- Is this is a special occasion?
- Do you have specific dates, or a window of time?
- How long do you want to travel?
- Do you know where you want to go or do you me to recommend a destination?
- What was your favorite hotel/resort and why?
There are many online services available that can help you create a survey. Two I recommend are: www.ConstantContact.com or www.surveymonkey.com.
- The “Interview With
____________”
(Fill in the blank with your name)
The average person has no clue
what a professional travel advisor
does. So rather than get
frustrated with him or her, OR waste
an hour of your precious time explaining what you do, create a document
that lists common questions about what you do, how you work with
clients, why you got into the business and do what you do, and how you
get compensated. Then answer each question too.
Here are some examples of questions to include in your “Interview With _____”:
- How did you get into the travel business?
- What services do you provide?
- Do you charge for your services and if so, how much?
- How are you different from other travel advisors?
- What’s the difference between booking with you or an online booking engine?
Create this document in Word and then save it as a PDF. Then have it on file to email to your clients whenever you need it. You can also put it on your website.
- Free Consultation and
Travel
Planning Deposit
It might feel difficult to ask a brand new lead for a fee to get started working. I always felt that way. So, I would give them one freebie. I would offer a free, 30-minute consultation. And this is where the Travel Interest Survey and “Interview With ______” play in so beautifully. Here is the sequence of events I recommend as it works like a charm and creates those hoops:
1) A new lead sends an inquiry;
2) You reply with a “thank you for your inquiry” e-mail. Tell them you would love to help them with their travel plans and the best way to begin is by scheduling a free, 30-minute consultation. Tell them they must do 2 things before the consultation: A) Complete a “Travel Interest Survey” and B) Read the “Interview With _____” document.
3) Schedule the free consultation by sending them a selection of 3 or 4 dates and times that are available for you. Remind them that you will cancel the appointment if you do not receive the completed Travel Interest Survey before the meeting.
4) If they don’t complete the survey, you can send one last email asking them if they would like to reschedule the appointment, or not. If they do complete the survey, review it before your appointment and then put together a few itinerary options that you can use as talking points and get a better feel for their budget and travel tastes. Don’t spend too much time on this…just enough to have a starting point.
5) Hold the consultation, discuss the options, get more of an idea of what they want, and then tell them to proceed, you must take a $350 trip planning fee. If you are not comfortable doing this yet, you can choose to tell them it’s a $350 planning deposit instead. The deposit is non refundable, but will come off the price of the itinerary when they book.
Your
assignment:Spend the next week taking notes of the questions you ask clients when you first begin working with them. Use your notes to create your travel interest survey. In addition, take notes on every single thing you do for clients, so that you can include all of these things in your “Interview With _____” document. Put this system into place and say goodbye to undesirable, unprofitable clients and hello to a whole new business. For access to the Travel Interest Survey I used, as well as the Interview With ____ document, then be sure to purchase the SAFARI Guide Home Study System. CLICK HERE to learn more about it.
One
of the most common questions travel advisors ask me is “How do I pick
my specialty?” Ironically, it is often the one
thing that is keeping them from success. In reality, you
ALREADY have a specialty. It may be buried deep inside you,
you may not see it, but it’s there.It’s a great start to be thinking about specializing. The reason is that it’s the number 1 thing you can do for your business to make more money. But if you are going to do it, do it correctly.
Many people erroneously think picking their specialty has to do with choosing a certain destination and then focusing on that. That is one way to pick a specialty, but by no means is that the only way.
Picking a specialty can be broken down into 3 simple steps:
-
Claim
your expert status. Stop
trying to be all things to all people and become an authority on
something. Whether it’s gay travel, romantic travel, soft
adventure travel for senior outdoor enthusiasts, travel for wine
lovers, or Disney travel - be an expert!
Experts make more money, are sought for their opinion and make more money. Yes, I said that twice. What are you an expert at? It might be obvious or you may have to do some thinking. Don’t get overly worried that you have to know everything and anything on your topic. Remember this: to a third grader, a fourth grader is wiser than words.
If you don’t know what your expertise is, ask yourself some of these questions:
- What are my passions?
- What activities completely consume me, where I am so engaged that hours will fly by?
- What are my greatest success stories with my clients? What have I done for my clients where they were totally awed, and it was very easy for me?
- What do people constantly
compliment me on, or ask my assistance for?
Pick
your target market. Even if your
expert status is something as
general as luxury travel, you’ll do
yourself a HUGE favor by picking a subset of the market.
Don’t sell luxury travel to everyone. Sell luxury travel to
investment bankers, or interior designers. It becomes so much
easier to know where to market when you identify a specific part of the
population AND people will pay you more because you understand
them. If you are having trouble deciding, ask yourself this
question: Who needs me most?
- Stop marketing products
and your process. Start marketing experiences and solutions.
People could care less about what
you do or what you offer until they know what’s in it for
them. If you are an expert on luxury travel and are focused
on investment bankers, don’t tell them about your 22 years in the
travel business, or your credentials. They will be bored to
tears. Instead, tell them about the secret hideaway in the
Caribbean, with a Michelin Star chef, that is a short 3 hours plane
ride away from the office, where you will arrange every last detail so
all they have to do is show up at the airport.
Marketing experiences and solutions starts with an awareness that people buy products for 1 of 2 reasons. They believe the product will help them either:
- avoid pain or
- gain pleasure.
Some of the top motivators for purchasing a product or service, that you can use to market YOUR service include:
- save time
- save effort
- save money
- gain once-in-a-lifetime experiences
- gain exclusive experiences
- attain better health
Your
assignment:Go through these 3 steps: Claim your expertise, pick your market and start marketing experiences and solutions. Use the list of 5 benefits and start focusing your marketing language around this. Give yourself a few days to get through them, and then take action! Get out there and start marketing your expertise through social media, speaking and sending a weekly newsletter.
One
of the greatest curses of the travel business is also one of its
greatest blessings: It’s easy to get in. This
is a blessing for people with an undying passion for travel.
It’s a great option. You can work from home. It
costs very little to get started. You can do it part time or
full time.All of these things were a blessing for me, in fact. But on the flip side, these things become a curse to everyone in the business because there are a lot of people who get in, don’t take it quite seriously, and end up treating their business like a hobby, tarnishing the perception of a professional travel advisor.
If you want clients and potential clients to take you seriously, value your services, and willingly pay for them, then you must start with you. You must take your own self AND your business seriously.
Are you a hobby owner or a business owner? Here are 5 signs you are not taking your business seriously, treating it as a hobby and how to change them:
-
Your
e-mail address ends in
@gmail.com, @comcast.net or something that is not your business’
URL. These few letters in your email address
send a very strong message that you don’t take your business
seriously. It’s not difficult or costly to purchase a URL and
get an email account set up, so you have an official looking email
addresses. There are many ways to do this, and one that I
like is www.godaddy.com.
Just search for a URL you like, purchase it, and then add e-mail
hosting to your purchase.
- You don’t have a website or
blog. It doesn’t matter if you own your agency
or if you are an independent contractor or outside sales agent, you
should have YOUR OWN website presence. Being listed as an
agent on your host agency’s website doesn’t count. You are
your own business and you have your own brand identity and
message.
A very simple 3-5 page website does not cost much to put together and speaks volumes for a potential client doing a little research to check you out. And if you want to work with affluent, luxury travelers, it must look good. At Hills of Africa, we redesigned our website a few years ago. There is no way we would have continued to attract the high caliber of clients we attracted in the last 3 years with our old website.
And
the best news is that with the developments in blogging, you no
longer need BOTH a website and a blog. You can
make do very easily with a simple blog on the WordPress
platform. Just set it up with a few fixed pages so that it
serves as both a blog and a website.
- Your business is not
incorporated. You may have E&O
insurance, but that’s not enough to separate your personal assets from
your business assets. This is a critical step to making a
statement that you take your business seriously. You can set
up an S-corp or an LLC very easily. You don’t need an
accountant or a lawyer. Just go to www.legalzoom.com
to get started.
- You don’t have a separate bank
account for your business. If you haven’t
incorporated, then you probably don’t have a separate bank
account. Do yourself a favor today….begin the process of
incorporating and then get a bank account. Even though your
clients may not know the difference, having a separate, business bank
account affects you and how you think about your business, and thus how
you demand respect from your clients.
- You don’t have clear boundaries
on your business hours. When Sandy and I hired
our first mentor, back in 2007, I had just had my third
child. One of the questions our coach asked us was:
“who’s looking after your children when you work?” We were
both speechless. We had no answer for her because the answer
was, “no one.” She told us that we weren’t business owners,
we were hobby owners. We were instructed to find some kind of
care for our children for at least 4 hours a day where we could be 100%
focused on our business. We didn’t HAVE to do this,
of course. But, if wanted to take our business seriously, so
that our clients would take us seriously, we had to create clear
boundaries around our work day.
Ask yourself, are you creating clear boundaries around your work day? If not, it’s time to start doing it.
Your assignment:
Go through this list and make changes to your business today if you are guilty of any items on this list.
When
I hit rock bottom in my travel business, at the end of 2005,
I spent
the next 5 years learning as much as I could about success. I
learned the predictable things, like success comes from a solid
business plan, or you must deliver a product or service where demand
exceeds supply. And of course everybody knows that you must
have
endurance to be successful because there will be lots of bumps in the
road.But the most important thing I learned about success is that it has EVERYTHING to do with mindset and just a little to do with everything else, like solid business plans, great relationships, and money to back you up. As I continued further and further down my “success” seeking journey, the more I discovered that mindset plays the biggest role in your success than anything else. But I don’t see many people talking about this in the travel industry.
So what does “mindset” mean? To explain this to you, I want to do a little exercise with you.
Close
your eyes. Imagine a beautiful rolling field,
with luscious green
grass and a perfectly blue sky above. There’s not a cloud in
sight, the sun is shining and the temperature is a comfortable 72
degrees. You feel peaceful and relaxed. You can’t
imagine a
more perfect moment than now. Soak it in for just a
moment.Now imagine I drop a big, old, electric power plant right smack in the middle of your picture, on top of the luscious green rolling field. That power plant is puffing ugly black smoke into your beautiful blue sky. It keeps puffing more and more black smoke and you feel anxious just watching it. You want to stop it. Now imagine the power plant multiplies into 10 more power plants, all in the middle of your beautiful scene, now puffing 10 times as much ugly, black smoke into your sky. There is now more black smoke than blue or green. It’s upsetting. But there is no way to stop the smoke. Or is there?
The greatest pollution in the world is not taking place in some over populated, under regulated, congested 3rd world city. The world’s worst pollution problem is taking place…in your mind.
The goal of this exercise was to help you discover how damaging your mindset is. You might think your mindset is much better than this, but I can guarantee it’s not. We are a product of our society, and unfortunately, we live in a society that is full of fear, anxiety, doubt and complaints. Just watch the news for 3 minutes. (It’s why I don’t watch the news anymore.)
There are thousands of different books on mindset and it can seem to be a very complicated topic, but it’s really as simple as this: Your mindset is determined by where you place your focus. What are you giving your attention to? Are you giving your attention to the fact that
there
is so much competition in this business because of the online booking
engines? Are you placing your focus on the fact that 2 or 3
years
ago you made much more money and it feels so much harder today to make
money? Or maybe you are placing your attention on the fact
that
you want to retire in 5 years, but are freaked out that you are making
no headway in being able to do this.When your attention is on fears, doubts or obstacles, you feel negative emotion. This negative emotion in essence, is the equivalent of puffing black smoke into your beautiful, pristine, essence. Your natural state is joy, lightness, ease. Energetically, that looks like the picture perfect, crystal clear blue sky. When you feel negative emotion, you are polluting this perfect state with the energetic equivalent of heavy, ugly black smoke.
So how do you stop it? Change your focus. It’s as simple as that. You have a choice in every moment of the day to put your attention on what you want.
For example, when I made the decision to turn my business around, I spent the entire year of 2006 learning. I didn’t do much implementing. I spent the year gathering information and building a big, great vision for my travel business. At the end of the year, I discovered I was pregnant with my 3rd child. There are lots of people who would be totally overjoyed with this development, but in all honesty, I wasn’t. I felt it was a HUGE obstacle. It was news that filled me with fear, anxiety and unease.
My other 2 children were ages 6 and 4. We lived in a 3 bedroom house that was perfectly sized for our nice family of 4. A third child would make us feel as we were bursting at the seams. We were beyond the infant and toddler stage. Life was getting a lot easier. My husband and I were having more fun. I was just a few short months away from putting both kids on the school bus in the morning and having a full school day to devote to my business. All I could think was that a newborn baby was going to put a big kink in the plans for my business AND my family.
But
then the little I knew about mindset kicked into gear.
I realized
that if I focused on this as an obstacle, it would be. But if
I
placed my attention on other things….positive things like the laughter
and joy a baby would bring to the house, it would be a
blessing. Long story short – it was a HUGE blessing. But if I had continue to focus on it being an obstacle it would have been much less fun and definitely negatively affected my business. Instead, I had the inspiration to hire an au pair, which took care of a LOT of things. Just 3 months after the baby was born, I was able to focus my attention on my business and continue to realize my big vision.
Changing your attention does NOT mean ignoring your problems or running away from them. It means finding a different focus, stopping the energetic pollution, and then ACTING upon the inspiration that comes from staying in a positive place.
Your assignment:
Spend the next 2 weeks being acutely aware of where your focus is. Just notice. Don’t judge or criticize yourself if you find it on fears, doubts, obstacles. Just notice and drop the focus like you drop a cup in your hand. Try to place your attention on something that makes you feel good. And when you get the inspiration to fix a negative situation…act on it. Just like I got the inspiration to get help with my newborn, hire an au pair and then acted upon it.
"People
don't buy products, they buy solutions." Meredith Hill
A few years ago, my daughter
overheard me saying this quote
above. She
looked at me, and in her 9 year old
voice of reason said, "that's really smart, Mom." It's a
marketing concept that seems so simple, but so critical to the success
of your marketing.
95% of the travel businesses messages out there miss this entirely. Go online and all you see are ads promoting travel specials. Go to any travel agency website and you will most likely read about how many years they have been in business and how their specialty is something like cruises. But these are NOT solutions.
A grand majority of all small
businesses don't get it either.
But
until you can shift your message to
this place, you will continue to feel frustrated with your
clients....because you will naturally attract price shoppers and
bargain
hunters. Are you attracting less than desirable
clients? If so, read this article and incorporate some
changes.
How does one shift their marketing from selling products to selling solutions? There are 3 steps.
Go through steps 1, 2 and 3 to pick your specialty by focusing on a solution. If you need help, consider purchasing the SAFARI Guide Home Study System, www.SAFARIGuideSystem.com, or private coaching with me. If you are interested in private coaching, please reach out to my business manager, Kim, kim@travelbusinessu.com.
A few years ago, my daughter
overheard me saying this quote
above. She
looked at me, and in her 9 year old
voice of reason said, "that's really smart, Mom." It's a
marketing concept that seems so simple, but so critical to the success
of your marketing.95% of the travel businesses messages out there miss this entirely. Go online and all you see are ads promoting travel specials. Go to any travel agency website and you will most likely read about how many years they have been in business and how their specialty is something like cruises. But these are NOT solutions.
A grand majority of all small
businesses don't get it either.
But
until you can shift your message to
this place, you will continue to feel frustrated with your
clients....because you will naturally attract price shoppers and
bargain
hunters. Are you attracting less than desirable
clients? If so, read this article and incorporate some
changes. How does one shift their marketing from selling products to selling solutions? There are 3 steps.
-
First figure out WHAT solution
you provide. You may have to think hard on this
one, but as a travel advisor, you solve many problems. What
is the biggest problem you solve? If you don't currently
solve a problem, then find one to solve.
Here's a great example. There are lots of fanatic dog lovers in this world. They LOVE to spoil their doggies and they HATE to leave them. They might love travel, but haven't indulged in a long time because they don't want to leave "Fido" behind. You can become the solution provider by specializing in travel for dog lovers. You can become an expert on destinations, resorts, hotels, and even tours for people who want to bring their dogs. You could also become the expert on the best doggie day care places, websites for dog clothes, etc. The list goes on.
This is a real problem for them and you step in as the solution provider. Not many other people are providing this solution so you don't have competition AND your clients are willing to pay you more. In fact, I doubt you will ever get the argument that they can book it cheaper on Orbitz.
-
Figure out WHO you provide the
solution for. It's so important to be
clear on who you are targeting. Money loves clarity, so get
clear on your ideal client. In this example, your ideal
client is clearly a dog lover/fanatic. You could get even
more clear on your ideal client by narrowing it down to women dog
lovers over 50. Or gay dog lovers.
Now that you know what solution you provide, and who you provide it for...it's so much easier to craft your marketing message and figure out where to find them. In our example, you could reach out to local dog food specialists and figure out a great joint venture opportunity. Or you could advertise in a specialized magazine, which would cost a small fraction of what it takes to advertise on a grand scale.
- Last, you want to figure out WHY you provide that solution. There has to be passion and experience behind what you choose as your solution. If you don't like dogs, it really makes no sense for you to pick the specialty in this example...for 2 reasons. For one, you won't be able to relate to your ideal client and offer advice, help, solutions before they even ask. Secondly, running a business can be hard and you will encounter both peaks and valleys. You need something more than money to get you through the valleys. You need passion about it. You need a strong why. A good why in our example could be a dog lover themself, who wants to donate a portion of proceeds to the ASPCA.
Go through steps 1, 2 and 3 to pick your specialty by focusing on a solution. If you need help, consider purchasing the SAFARI Guide Home Study System, www.SAFARIGuideSystem.com, or private coaching with me. If you are interested in private coaching, please reach out to my business manager, Kim, kim@travelbusinessu.com.
90%
of the travel advisors I meet fail at sharing their full
story. But it’s one of the most critical pieces
to successful sales. What story? YOUR
story. The story of why you chose to specialize in XXX.For example, my first trip to Africa was not by choice, and thus, my passion for Africa was not something I was born with. In fact, I mistakenly thought Africa was dark, dangerous, dusty and less than desirable as a travel destination. It was NOT on my radar screen, at all. Before my first trip to Africa, I thought there was no way Africa could meet my travel snob standards.
At the time, I was living in London, happily dating my now husband, who is from Zimbabwe. His sister was engaged to be married, who also lived in London and we were becoming fast friends. I was invited to the wedding and that’s when my first trip to Africa occurred.
As
you might have guessed, Africa ended up being everything I thought it
wasn’t. I was completely dumbfounded by the
beauty, wildlife, people, and high level of service and sophistication
in the hotels, resorts and restaurants. I returned from that
trip a total convert, wanting to share this “secret” with everyone I
knew. And the seed was planted for Hills of Africa
travel. This story is important because there are so many clients that I worked with that were similar to me, before my first trip to Africa. Quite frankly, they are afraid to travel there. But when I tell them my story, they can relate. They often have the exact same misunderstandings and knowing I had the same travel standards as they do, they become much more open to the concept of traveling there. It opens the door to my sales.
Are you telling your story that’s opening the door for your sales? If not, here is a great structure for you to use to create your compelling story:
- Before – there must be a before part of your story;
- Conflict or Turning Point – my conflict was that I didn’t want to travel to Africa, but I had to;
- Discovery – my discovery was that Africa was everything I thought it wasn’t – in a good way. I knew there were lots of other Americans that misunderstood Africa as a travel destination and felt like I had just discovered the best kept secret in travel.
- Result – the result was the best vacation I have ever had, in my life.
- Return – this is where you want to share it with others. I did. I really felt like it was my mission to share Africa with people because they were getting the wrong message from places like the media.
Your assignment:
If
you are not currently telling your core sales story to everyone you
meet, it’s time to start doing this. I have a
client who thought
she was, but she was skipping important details, like beating a deathly
illness. She recently told her entire sales story – including
the parts she had been skipping. This was the first time she
had ever done this and she now has 4 brand new inquiries for the exact
travel product she wants to sell.Time for you to dig deep and put together a core sales story that sells. Why? Because it makes you real to your potential clients. People want to do business with people they know, like and trust. When you share something vulnerable about yourself, they instantly like you.
Get your core sales story mapped out and try it out on your next potential client.
