Did you choose to enter the travel business because you loved it, but lately you aren’t having much fun? Do you feel like your travel business is running you rather than the other way around?
If so, it’s time to let go and start having some fun with your clients and with your business. When you’re enjoying yourself, your clients sense it and love working with you. They come back and refer others, and opportunities abound for you to make more money. Following are a few ways to have more fun and success with your business.
Work only with those who crave your special gifts.
When you’re working within your strengths and with clients who appreciate them, you can’t help but have fun. Take an hour by yourself and figure out what you do better than anyone else does, what you love to do, and who needs you the most. Then go after that market. Believe in yourself and the unique gifts you offer, and your mindset will follow. And so will the fun and money.
Adopt the mindset of “Who can I help?” vs. “How many clients can I get?”
When you approach your business from a helping mindset, the magic starts to happen. You’ll find your clientele is excited about what you offer and more appreciative of you. When you open yourself up to help others, opportunities will appear from all directions. In turn, you’ll find dozens of ways to provide more value to these wonderful clients—and charge hefty service fees for doing it.
Open your mind to joint venture possibilities.
A joint venture (JV) is a business arrangement with one or more companies that benefits everyone involved, including clients. The more creative you can be when setting up joint ventures, the better. For example, you might partner with a jeweler to offer a night out for future wives or husbands to help them discover how to choose wedding rings and plan destination weddings or honeymoons.
You and the jeweler collect names for your lists, or pick up prospective clients, and those getting married discover what they need to know about rings and travel. And you get to have fun planning the night. You’ll find JVs everywhere if you think creatively.
Speaking engagements and networking.
Find some groups you’d enjoy speaking to or networking with. If you’ve always wanted to talk to interior decorators, find out where they congregate and ask to speak. Hold a drawing for a prize in exchange for their first names and email addresses so you can add them to your list.
Target high dollar markets.
Specialize in trips to exclusive destinations, or focus your marketing on a specific zip code. Work with people who are looking for the trip of a lifetime and don’t mind paying top dollar.
Don’t waste your time with those who won’t appreciate your special gifts or pay you what you’re worth. They’re the time wasters and the energy drainers that take all the fun out of your travel business. You’ll save frustration and make more money by focusing on those who need, want, and will pay top dollar for your unique services. And you’ll have more fun than you thought possible.
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One of the best ways to increase your travel business is to increase your number of clients, and to do that, you need more leads. For many business owners, generating leads feels like a painful struggle, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can be easy and fun. Following are five painless ways to generate leads.
Book speaking engagements.
Where do your ideal clients congregate? Go there and speak to them. If your ideal clients are fellow business owners, offer to speak to Chambers of Commerce in your city or surrounding areas. When you’re on the road for whatever reason, seek out groups of your ideal clients and ask to get in front of them for 15 minutes to talk about the juicy benefits of working with you. All you need to do is ask.
Send a warm letter.
Contact previous clients and send an email or snail mail letter thanking them for their business and asking if they know of anyone who would like to travel. Get names, email addresses, and physical addresses of people you’re introduced to, especially if they appear to be your ideal client. Take a look at people in your circle: high school or college classmates, your children’s friends’ parents, your parents’ friends—are any of them your ideal client, or do they encounter people who are?
Attend a networking event.
You never know whom you will meet at a networking event, or what kinds of connections you might make. Don’t focus on selling—ask questions and listen. While the people there may not be your ideal clients, they may work with those who are. Don’t discount the man who’s dressed casually and talks too much, as he might be the doorway to your ideal clients.
Approach a JV for an opportunity.
Joint ventures are a wonderful opportunity to create a win-win situation for everyone, but often take a dash of creativity to find and execute. They’re fun and can be very, very profitable. This is why you need to keep your ears and mind open whenever you go to networking events and meetings.
Think of ways you can bring value to possible JV partners and how they help your clients. For example, you might approach an upscale luggage manufacturer and make a deal to advertise on each other’s newsletters to swap leads. Or you might feature him on your blog or website and take a commission of each sale that you refer. In turn, he might promote you in his store or on his website and receive your services free in return for a specific number of referrals or sales.
Start a weekly newsletter and commit to it.
People love to forward emails they think the recipient would like. A weekly newsletter with timely, interesting, and funny information is an ideal way to keep in touch with current clients and attract new ones. The newsletter doesn’t have to be long, but it does need to contain information that is relevant to your ideal client.
As you’re writing your newsletter, remember what keeps your ideal client up at night and what makes them happy. Gear your newsletter to alleviating their pain and enhancing their pleasure. Encourage them to forward it to their friends and family.
When you start consistently using a system to generate leads, your ideal client will find you. As you continue, your leads will increase, and you’ll be able to pick and choose your clients. The key is consistency and incorporating marketing into your daily routine.
What are you doing now to increase leads?
