NB: This is a guest article by Brian Tan, founder and CEO of Zicasso, an online luxury travel referral service that connects consumers with the top travel specialists.
In recent months, some industry research reports found that more consumers are now inclined to use a good travel agent, reversing a downward trend.
That’s good news for the offline agent industry and certainly there are many reasons for optimism.
However, the travel agent industry continues to be a challenge, with very low average annual incomes and almost no top young talent joining the industry. Yet, there are still those who perform much better than the rest.
As CEO of Zicasso, it’s been part of my job to find these top performers, partner with them, coach them, and make them even better performers.
Based on my interactions with them and analysis of thousands of traveler-and-travel-specialist interactions on Zicasso, I’ve put together a list of 20 useful tips for travel agents.
The ideas in the list are things that every agent can do – right now – in order to adapt to and thrive in today’s environment, in which travelers want personalized attention, good value, and the convenience of the internet.
1. Specialize
Pick a few destinations or activities and resolve to be a better expert at them than anyone else. Consumers now have access to so much travel information, particularly at their fingertips via the Internet that they have themselves become “generalist travel agents.” When they seek help, they’re seeking a true specialist.
2. Personalize
Differentiate yourself from DIY, self-service online solutions – and instead give consumers highly personalized service, recommendations, etc., right from your very first interaction with them — whether online, by phone or in-person.
3. Develop a repertoire of unique experiences and special access
It’s all about selling experiences. The more unique, the more value you’re adding. The more you can get clients access to special events or people, the more differentiated you are.
4. Be complex
Consumers can book the simple trips themselves (e.g. point-to-point trips such as Seattle to Las Vegas). Travelers really need agents for complex trips (e.g. longer international trips or cruises). Your energy and specialization should be on these complex trips.
5. Go upmarket
Segment the market into two traveler types: Those with more money than time, and those with more time than money. Agents can only compete for the former segment’s business. Travelers with more money than time value purchasing a travel agent’s expertise and ability to handle every aspect of the trip.
6. Work with net rates rather than take commission
Especially for custom tours, agents should consider getting net rates from suppliers and marking them up rather than taking commission. This gives pricing flexibility and better cash flow, and reduces the hassle of collecting commission.
7. Constantly do a self-check: Am I delivering the best value?
The market’s constantly changing. For all your products and services that you offer, are you getting competitive rates? Do you have a variety of strategies to get your clients the most value?
8. Master your pitch
Have you perfected your pitch if clients ask: “Tell me about yourself and your agency,” or “What makes you different from other agents?” What are the top three messages in your pitch? Memorize them.
9. Brush up on “trusted advisor” sales skills
It’s a consultative sales job: Most agents can sell a lot more if they can be perceived as a trusted advisor. This means relationship-building and trust-building skills rather than pushy sales skills.
10. Develop a trusted reputation/brand
Get yourself or your agency written up in national media or at least your local newspaper. Join the BBB. Get clients to write you endorsements on LinkedIn. Build your reputation with real traveler reviews on a referral service.
11. Have a good website
Many agents have websites that do them a disservice. Agent websites need three key things: good design + compelling content + easy to maintain/update. If you don’t have a good web developer, use services like Intuit Websites or HP LogoWorks.
12. Be incredibly responsive & reachable – use a smartphone
Even when you’re not at the office, use a smartphone to be extremely responsive through voice, email, and social media. Use Google Voice to have one number that rings you at your landline, mobile, or any other number.
13. Improve process efficiency
Most agents have plenty of opportunities to be more efficient in their operational processes. For example, streamline the time to develop a custom itinerary, the time to price a quote, etc.
14. Know when to ask for a fee
I don’t believe there’s a cookie cutter answer on when to ask for a planning fee or good faith deposit. Make a judgment call on this for various types of clients.
15. Engage with social media
I highly recommend a Facebook Page for your travel business. Get your clients to be fans and to post reviews of your services. Engage them with insights and tips.
It is fine to post some specials or deals, but a Facebook page is best used when it’s less about selling and more about engaging with fans and being helpful with your knowledge. As an example, check out the Zicasso Facebook Page.
16. Partner to get new leads
Be a good marketer – or if you’re not, hire a marketing agency to help you, or use a travel referral service like Zicasso for targeted, pre-qualified luxury leads. Save yourself the time and focus on the selling.
17. Improve your writing/email skills
Many clients prefer email communications. Good writing is a sales skill that helps build trust and relationship with clients. Take a class to improve this skill and you’ll also improve sales conversion.
18. Sharpen your first response to clients
Obsess over the quality of your first interaction with a new client, whether it’s a phone call or an email. Making a good first impression plays a major role in sales conversion.
19. Don’t sell deals: Sell expertise!
Many agents advertise deals on their website and send the message that they can find the best deals. It’s tough to beat deals on the Internet, and will be even tougher going forward. Transform your business and your message to sell expert advice and personalized service.
20. Be a lifelong student of change
This industry has changed tremendously and the pace of change will only accelerate. Be a constant student of best practices and be ready to adapt and adopt new ways of doing things….no matter how many years you’ve been in the industry.
And lastly…
I have a request of everyone: as you achieve success, be a role model for the next generation of young agents.
Recruit, inspire, and mentor them. This industry desperately needs new blood and young talent will only join when they see successful role models. I wish everyone great success in your continued business endeavors.
NB: This is a guest article by Brian Tan, founder and CEO of Zicasso, an online luxury travel referral service that connects consumers with top travel specialists.
About Special Nodes
A very good list but it’s a shame that ‘continually improve product knowledge’ is not considered to be a top 20 tip. The article suggests agents should become experts but doesn’t suggest how.
Agent product know-how is one of the key reasons people use agents in the first place and so *maintaining* this ‘expert’ status is key for agents.
Agent product training is increasingly popular with both agents & suppliers saying it’s a vital to business. Travel agent road-shows appear to be ever-popular in the UK, with seemingly more and more events taking place and new event providers entering the market.
At http://www.OnlineTravelTraining.com we have seen a huge growth in popularity for product e-learning in the last few years with 80 product courses now live and over 20,000 courses passes in 2010. We survey agents to ask WHY they complete e-learning and the #1 reason is always “to increase product knowledge”. The fact that so many agents take time to engage with e-learning tells us they see a real commercial benefit to continual product learning.
But hats off to Brian, it was a formidable list!
You are so right! We are trying to do so within a community/cooperation.(see URL)
Good summary!
Some good points, however, focusing on one destination is NOT the thing to do in todays world. i.e say one was a Egypt, New Zealand, or Japan specialist only, they would be out of business! There used to be a concept called 80/20 rule. As a Manager of Sales and Marketing for a Major International carrier I fought that concept for years, and still disagree. If travel agents focus on one specialty and forgo other destinations, they very strongly face the possibility of losing their clients who want a more ’rounded’ knowledgeable agent that is familiar with the world. Looking at the Zicasso site it appears they have tours all over the world, not just specialized in one area. In my case I have been to 133 destinations around the world and sailed over 100 cruises and feel I can do justice to all the destinations and selling cruises. Knowing tour operators and their specialties is much more important. Specializing in [A} destination means you will deal with new clients all the time and never establish a long term relationship with the client and their family. Very few clients go back to the same destination over and over again.
@Jess K. – Thanks for your comments. In my point #1 on Specialization, I wrote “Pick a few destinations” –so yes, I think it’s prudent to be extremely good in more than one destination. For example, pick 2 countries in Europe, 2 in So. America, and 2 in Africa (or Australia / NZ). This reduces dependency on a single country AND smoothes out seasonality of business. It’s a manageable number of destinations to maintain true expertise.
While it’s impressive that you’ve been to 133 countries, it would be incredibly impressive if you can be a true expert in all of them. I would venture to guess that most agents can’t do that.
Regarding your comment about Zicasso: We are actually a referral service network and not an agency. We match travelers to top travel specialists on our network. Each specialist is an expert in typically a few countries. Thus, we can service over 50 countries (via our travel specialist partners).
Just curious as to what Zicasso believes makes a top travel specialist (is it in terms of bringing in profit, clientele or developing expertise in specific destinations through years of experience in the industry and in travelling) and how one’s name can be added to this list.
Mostly well laid out points here. However, there are a couple of things that should be noted.
“Those with more money than time, and those with more time than money. Agents can only compete for the former segment’s business.” That’s good theory. But even the best of travelers are today looking for bargains. No one wants to let go of a good deal. A LOT of times, you end up sitting in an auction than a custom journeys firm.
Product knowledge is often lacking in small agents. And as someone above pointed out, it should be one area where an agent simply cannot afford to lag.
Do have a couple of question on Zicasso (actually quite intrigued to see some companies on your partner list which do not anywhere close to qualify what you seem to be selling). If you are open to it, we can take it up offline.
Hi Brian,
Great article! I definitely agree that successful agencies today really have to find their niche and focus on their specializations, which is going to be the main driver of growth in the industry.
Having said that, there’s one point I wanted to touch upon- namely, the idea that agents should work with net rates. One disadvantage that could present itself is the fact that when the agent presents the itinerary to the traveler, the traveler may then check the rates online and see that the agent marked up the trip, which is not likely to foster a good relationship between the two (even with high end travelers). As much as possible, travel agents should strive to work with wholesalers that are going to pay them in a reasonable amount of time, this way the agent can even present marketing materials with pricing to the client in order to show off the incredible deal the agent netted them. That’s why we make sure the owners on Travel Rental Network (http://www.travelrentalnetwork.com) are ready to pay an agent commission out of the price listed, and even allow agents to print out listings with the pricing, photos, and description intact, but with the owner’s contact info removed (to ensure that the agent remains the sole point of contact).
Other than that caveat, though, I definitely enjoyed the article, and it was a great summary of how successful agencies are moving forward.
- Joe
Great points on the importance of branding, an online presence, specialization, and adapting to the current marketplace. As someone who provides blog services to travel agents (www.travel-matter.com) I wish more agents would follow this advice–it would bring in more clients!