Rand McNally is plotting to launch a series of new Web-based travel services.

As evidence of that strategic direction and apparent latitude, Rand McNally completed its integration of Tripology, acquired in March, and introduced a hotel-search advertising platform.

Tripology is now accessible at Tripology.com and through a Find a Travel Specialist link on the Rand McNally homepage.

The travel agent lead-generation company says it plans to introduce technology enhancements later this year.

Meanwhile, Tripology says since its acquisition by Rand McNally, it has renewed alliance agreements with Travel Leaders, AAA, MAST Vacation Partners, Vacation.com and Ensemble.

Tripology, which say it has matched more than 150,000 consumer trip requests with travel agents looking to fulfill them, has more than 40 suppliers in its Travel Industry Supporter Program.

Under the supporter program, suppliers reimburse Tripologists — travel agent members of Tripology — for each lead that culminates in a booking.

In other news, Rand McNally separately introduced a Search for Hotels link on its homepage, enabling consumers to search for domestic and international hotels and book on advertisers’ websites, including Orbitz, Hotwire, Priceline, Booking.com, getaroom.com and DealBase.

Rand McNally competitor MapQuest, a unit of AOL, uses Travelocity to offer some travel-booking services to consumers through AOL Travel.

NB: This is a guest article by John Peters, vice president and general manager for travel and digital strategy at Rand McNally.

If you’re wondering if you should try lead generation to get new customers or if you’ve tried lead generation and failed, read on.

While just signing up and jumping in is a good start, there are certainly two ways to attack these leads; the right way and the wrong way.

The right way isn’t one 100% fool proof, but you can be sure the wrong way is a 100% waste of time and money.

After leading the team that helped register over 15,000 travel agents and processed over 150,000 travel leads, I’ve come up with some suggestions on how to do lead generation correctly.

These come from some of our best clients, lest you think I’m pulling these out of thin air.

Here’s a fact: according to Forrester Research, 27% of online travelers would rather work with a good offline travel agent, if they knew where to find one.

So, more than a quarter of the people shopping online would rather work with an offline travel agent; they just have no idea where to start looking for the right one.

These consumers are frustrated with online booking engines and the plethora of generic, meaningless travel information and want – get this – to talk to a human being.

So, here are the ten things you need to do to succeed with online travel lead generation:

1. Be “open for business” for as many of the 24 hours in a day as possible.

To prove my point, last year, I had invited a handful of our top travel specialists to New York for a brainstorm session. During our dinner conversation, I noticed one of them, Kristen, was typing on her iPhone.

I remember thinking, “I wish she was paying attention to the conversation”, so I asked her a question and hinted I saw “she was busy.”

Her response? She showed me her iPhone screen and showed me she was buying one of our leads – on her phone, during dinner- that was, according to her, “right in her sweet spot.”

My response? “Please continue.”

2. Specialize, specialize, specialize

Some travel agents register for lead generation services and get a booking right away.

Others try it yet simply don’t succeed. It doesn’t mean they’re not good at what they do, it just means they haven’t yet figured out how  to sell to online consumers or they took too long to respond or, the big lead-killer; they come off as generalists.

Online consumers don’t want generalists; they can get that online. They want a skilled professional who specializes in the exact trip they are looking to take and who demonstrates he/she has first-hand knowledge of the destination and local contacts there.

By the way, “cruises” isn’t a specialty any more than “hotels” is. Family cruises is a specialty. Small-ship cruises is a specialty. Small-ship cruises for gay couples with children is an amazing niche.

The more defined you get, the less competition you’ll have. True, your potential audience is smaller, but you’re much more likely to get the business.

3. Stop worrying about price shoppers

Do some consumers want a cheap price? Sure, but that’s no different from consumers who call a travel agent’s office.

Frankly, I’m a little tired of agents who say lead generation “pits agents against each other based on price”.

This would mean that anyone who has ever walked into a travel agency never walked into another one or called another agent to check prices.

People shop for everything. They check prices and search for deals. With online travel lead generation, it’s up to travel specialist to prove why they can offer the best value.

It’s up to the agent to show they have local contacts, that they’ve been to the destination, know the destination intimately and offer the best, hard-to-find, relevant information.

4. Pick a lead-generation company that lets YOU pick YOUR customers

There are a few companies selling “leads” but only one other legitimate one that I know of lets you decide which leads you want to buy.

This way, if you don’t like the lead, don’t buy it. Also, you should only work with lead generation companies that offer you the option of setting filters.

You should be able to filter out leads that don’t match your “sweet spot.”  If you don’t want to work with someone who doesn’t have at least $X to spend, set a filter and you won’t even see those leads in your in-box.

Some of the most successful lead-buying agents tell me they ignore the budget field entirely because they’ve found consumers just don’t know how much travel costs and they’re certainly not going to guess high.

5. Be timely and be persistent

People are busy yet they expect timely responses. When you buy a lead, act quickly with an initial response and then stay top of mind until they’re ready to make a purchase.

I’m not saying you should stalk someone, but a quick response and then regular, polite follow up is critical if you’re in sales.

If the person decides not to travel (or even if they book with another agent) put them in your database for proper, targeted marketing efforts later.

You paid for the lead, so use it to grow your database.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard one of our travel specialists saying they booked someone months or even a year after they bought the lead.

The lesson here? Follow up, follow up again and when you’re done with that, you guessed it; follow up again.

6. Know your acquisition costs

Recently, a travel agent told me at a trade show she tried lead generation but it didn’t work as well as “walk-in” customers because (ready?) those walk-in leads are “free”.

Free? Really? When I had her add up salaries, rent and other expenses then divided it by the number of walk-ins…well you know how this story ends.

I’ve also been amused by the people who are going to put money into Search Engine Marketing, i.e. buying keywords on Google or Bing.

Fine by me, but you should know SEM isn’t for the faint of heart.  A $100 budget can disappear before your eyes with terms like “cruises” or “vacations” going for $4, $5 or more PER CLICK, which includes little Johnny doing his book report on Caribbean Islands.

His homework project will cost you $5.

7. Be passionate, but not too verbose

When you’re selling face-to-face, it’s easy to show emotion. For some reason however, one of the biggest mistakes agents make with online leads is they become either short-hand secretaries or encyclopedias.

With an online lead, you have one chance to make an impression on the customer.

Your goal is to get the consumer to trust you, respect your knowledge and to start painting a picture of the vacation in their minds.

Your first few sentences of your first email to them will say it all. Too little or too much information or long, boring diatribes is a sure way to lose the business.

Get someone excited and wanting more and you win.

8. Invite every online lead to read your blog, follow you on Twitter and “like” you on Facebook

People book vacation with agents they know and like. Holding cruise nights, attending social gatherings and general schmoozing are not gone forever, but they have been virtually replaced by social networking.

Someone who likes your blog, enjoys the pictures of your travels on Facebook or Flickr and finds your tweets funny will stay connected to you.

This way, when they’re ready to book, they may very well book with you. If they’re not ready, they will hopefully refer their friends to you.

By the way, if the whole blog / social media thing is foreign to you, please feel free to put down the buggy-whip and join us in the new world whenever you have time.

A 45 year old friend of mine uses “social media tutoring” time to connect with her fourteen year old daughter (her daughter is the teacher in this case).

The lesson here? Get with the program; ask your kids or your grandkids for help if you have to.

9. Your online profile is your calling card

Dress it up. Market yourself. Tell people all about your travels (please, PLEASE tell me you travel regularly to refine your craft, update your knowledge and expand your contacts).

List all the languages you speak (if English is your only language, learn another one and impress your clients. Heck, get a used copy of Rosetta Stone language classes from eBay or something).

Finally, get a professional photo taken or better yet, use one of you on a recent exotic vacation.

And smile, would you? People like smiling people.

10. Speak up

If you’re having trouble making online lead generation work for you, talk to the lead company.

Really, we’re happy to talk anytime and share everything we know.  We can’t make money unless you keep using us.

So if you tried, say 15 leads and didn’t close a single one, something is wrong. Call us and we’ll try and help you on track.

Finally, some agents are getting ALL of their business from lead generation sites – they’ve stopped most other marketing efforts and are concentrating on leads from such companies.

NB: This is a guest article by John Peters, vice president and general manager for travel and digital strategy at Rand McNally. He was previously president and CEO of Tripology before selling the company to Rand in March 2010.

TripAtlas added a new tool which enables agents and tour operators to post adventure-oriented trips, supplier specials or alluring itineraries so they can market them to consumers.

TripAtlas, based in Toronto, is a lead-generation service for travel agents and a travel-content website for consumers. It has content partnerships with MSN, Yahoo and Sympatico.

One advantages of the new Custom Trips tab on the TripAtlas homepage is that consumers interested in the posted trip respond via email directly to the agent and, in that way, the agent who posted the excursion doesn’t have to compete with other agents for the consumer lead, says Laura Monk, an account executive at TripAtlas.

Agents who pay a $35 monthly fee to TripAtlas, can use a Trip Publisher tool to post the trip they are promoting. It appears both on a Custom Trips page and on the agents’ storefront like this one from Luxury Vacation Partners in Wayland, N.Y.

Agents who pay the $35 per month fee are called TripAtlas Pros. They can use a variety of the site’s online tools and receive a daily email with consumer leads.

Although TripAtlas bills the Custom Trips tab as a promotional tool for “off-the-beaten path” vacations and “adventurous travel” some of the postings, such as Fairmont Orchid Bed and Breakfast and Mexican Riviera – 7 days, seemed fairly routine.

Still, agents can use the Trip Publisher tool to post photos and other trip details and then consumers contact the agent via an email form with their contact information.

TripAtlas is five years old and about 200-300 travel agents use the website daily, says Monk.

John Peters, the president and CEO of Tripology, says Rand McNally acquired Tripology on Friday as the 154-year-old map and travel guide company transforms itself into an online and location-based online travel company.

The move breathes new life into Tripology, a lead-generation service for travel agents which had fallen on hard times weeks ago when an investor pulled out of the company.

It also ends weeks of speculation about who Tripology’s suitor was after Peters had announced that Tripology had signed a letter of intent with an unidentified company.

Peters says the Tripology brand and operations will remain largely the same as Tripology becomes a Rand McNally property and one piece of the puzzle as Rand McNally transitions into an online, trip-planning company.

Jeff DeKorte, the former general manager of AOL Travel who was brought in by Rand McNally to strategize about Web strategy, says Rand McNally is in the midst of transforming itself from a traditional, print-based company that focused on selling maps and globes, into an online travel company which offers mobile-based services.

Among immediate changes, Tripology’s headquarters will relocate from Manhattan to Skokie, Ill., where Rand McNally is based.

Peters will run Tripology and become Rand McNally’s vice president and general manager of digital strategy.

Tripology, which has 14,000 travel agents signed up to use its lead-generation services, employs five staff, including Peters, and discussions are under way with the parent company about staffing levels.

Peters talked to Tnooz today at the TravelCom conference in Dallas about the acquisition. One year ago, TravelCom designated Tripology as its innovator of the year.

Peters says Rand McNally’s purchase of Tripology for an undisclosed sum almost immediately solves several of Tripology’s problems — brand recognition, consumer traffic and distribution.

Peters acknowledges that it had been costly for Tripology “to get in front of consumers.”

But, according to Compete Inc., Rand McNally had 757,000 unique visitors in January 2010, down from a 2009 peak of almost 1.2 million unique visitors in June.

Tripology had 33,600 unique visitors in January, Compete says.

DeKorte says Rand McNally has a broad vision to become an online trip-planning company and the strategy is evolving.

The move to become a a force in online travel coincides with the ascendance of a new Rand McNally management team which Patriarch Partners, the owner of privately held Rand McNally, brought in several months ago, DeKorte says.

Peters emphasizes that with the lead-generation service becoming a Rand McNally property, Tripology remains “all about travel agents.”

He emphasizes that the acquisition means Tripology now will have the resources to develop more travel agent tools, including social-media features and lead management tools, which had long been delayed.

Says Peters: “We had a to-do list a year-and-a-half long.”

Tripology, which ran out of funding early in 2010 and signed a letter of intent with an unidentified buyer, now says “the deal is done.”

Playing it as coy as possible as a lead-up to an announcement, Tripology President and CEO John Peters yesterday wrote a blog post, entitled “A Clue or Two from Tripology,” about the household name company that has swooped in to rescue Tripology.

The clues point to a trip-planning company, possibly one heavy into mapping, as becoming the new owner or investor in the travel agent lead-generation business.

The blog states:

“Do you need a hint? This company will guide you, from here to there. They know the world better than most; the places, the borders, the geographies.  Like Atlas, the world is on their shoulders.  You’d be hard pressed to find a person in the USA that hasn’t looked to them for travel guidance.

“Need another clue? If you had to get from here to there, you’d look at one of these. For this company knows where all roads lead, where every river winds, where every national park begins and ends. They inspire, they educate and now, trip planning is their focus.

“Tripology has found a new home and I couldn’t be happier.  More details to come in the next few days. Free leads continue for a bit longer!” Enjoy!”

So, apparently Tripology is ready to enter its next phase and all concerned will be interested in seeing if the company’s revenue model can be sustainable.

Under-pressure consumer-to-agent lead-gen service Tripology has taken the unusual step of announcing it has a buyer before a deal is completed in full.

President and chief executive John Peters says the company has signed a Letter of Intent with a company to acquire the business, not just “invest”.

The company, according to Peters, was one of a number who bid for the business and is “a name you all know”.

“I fully expect this deal to be consummated (though it’s not official until it is). I CAN tell you Tripology is poised to continue on; bigger, better and stronger than ever.”

The decision to announce a deal is on the table this early comes as Tripology’s rivals step up their marketing activities during its suspension of commercial activity

Peters says as a gesture of goodwill to the agents in the system it will be offering free consumer travel leads until early-March.

With Tripology apparently on the brink and seeking a white knight, Performance Media Group, with its portfolio of travel agent publications, plans to wade deeper into the lead-generation business with an unusual twist — free leads for travel agents.

Mark Murphy,  the president and CEO of Performance Media, says he never thought Tripology’s business model made a lot of sense, and that its woes, coupled with the collapse of dot-com fave eGulliver in 2001, show that such businesses that rely on travel agents to pay for consumer leads won’t make it.

“Don’t give me $15 for a lead, give me tools,” Murphy says.

And, tools — free social media tools that would enable travel agents and consumers to engage more deeply — is what Murphy has in mind as an upgrade for a revamped Performance Media beta website, Travel Tribe.

Murphy’s new vision for Travel Tribe, which has been around for about eight months or so and hasn’t been very successful, would be sort of a blend of Travelzoo (deals and newsletter), Tripology (lead-generation), Lonely Planet (destination guides) and PhoCusWright (market intelligence about destinations).

Travel Tribe already has some of these nascent elements, Murphy says, including a deals newsletter, free leads for travel agents, user-generated and professionally written destination content.

But, within three or four months, Performance Media plans to redesign the beta website, which hasn’t been marketed, to enable consumers to ask travel or destination questions, and search for people who have been to particular destinations or people who want to go to those vacation spots.

Social-media tools would be introduced on Travel Tribe to accommodate this functionality, and consumers would be able to connect with and get answers from travel agent specialists, Murphy says.

Performance Media brings something to the lead-generation table that other businesses have lacked, Murphy says, including the destination content it already has and can further develop from existing publications Travel Pulse, Agent@Home and Vacation Agent, a staff of travel editors, a sales force and an in-house roster of 10 full-time developers.

“I have a media company with content,” Murphy says, adding that the lead-generation business has a high barrier to entry because others have to license content and get little SEO boost. “For me it’s a strategic add-on to my existing core business.”

With all of the failures in the lead-generation game, Peformance Media would have something to prove.

One competitor, Travel Weekly, tried to leverage its content and assets in a consumer website, Professional Travel Guide, and came up short.

Murphy offers a basic tenet that such businesses should develop multiple revenue streams, keep an open mind, and “be fluid, go where the market goes.”

While Travel Tribe would forego collecting fees from travel agents in favor of advertising and a cost-per-click media model, Murphy also wants to explore the development of market intelligence research for destination marketing organizations.

If consumers on Travel Tribe are discussing Bermuda vacations and their issues with them, perhaps Travel Tribe can develop market intelligence for the DMO, Murphy says.

“If I’m Bermuda, I would want to slice and dice that conversation, depending on how much chatter is taking place,” Murphy says.

But would Bermuda be willing to pay? he asks rhetorically.

I phoned Murphy after I’d heard a rumor that Performance Media might be interested in investing in Tripology.

Murphy says he hasn’t spoken with Tripology recently, but he would “never say never.”

But, Murphy says the Tripology business model, coupled with its overhead, didn’t appear sustainable.

“If you can’t turn a profit with five or six people…” Murphy says.

Still, he doesn’t count Tripology out.

“I think someone with the right assets could buy it and make money,” Murphy says, pointing to an agency group like Amadeus’ Vacation.com as a fit.

Says Murphy: “Wouldn’t it make sense for Vacation.com to be lead-generators?”

Update: Tripology President and CEO John Peters says potential investors have been making inquiries.

“There are indeed a few suitors, some are household names and they are doing a lot more than circling Tripology,” Peters says. “I simply cannot release any more information at this point.”

Peters adds: “I can tell you that I continue to be so very impressed with the kind words of support (emails, voicemails, etc.) that we’ve received not only from our Tripologists, but from the trade in general. I promise, the Tripology family has been very touched.”