One of the biggest barriers often stopping people signing up as a travel consultant is the belief that they won’t have enough customers.
A fundamental part of our training is helping you realise that, in fact, you will. Plus, the other thing to consider is: you don’t need as many potential clients as you may think.
Just 40 clients can generate around 100 bookings as most people book an average of 2.5 holidays a year. The key is to encourage them to book with you!
We asked one of our Business Development Managers for their tips.
1/ Friends, family and people you meet
It all starts with a very simple, yet vital, list – let’s call it your “Everyone I Know List” and “Everyone I Meet”.
Simply tell everyone you know and meet what you do. Consultants Ash and Matt are really good at this. They once made a £75k booking by talking to someone on the beach! Then there’s Natasha who made a £30k booking by talking to one of her clients who popped in for a beauty treatment with her.
Whether it’s friends, family, neighbours, work colleague, club members or people you bump into. Spread the word via chatting, emails, posters and a good old-fashioned leaflet drop.
2/ Hit the high street
Many shops have notice boards. Pop up a leaflet in your local hairdressers, supermarket or community store. Don’t forget the local library. Once established some of our franchisees choose to open high street stores, offices or premises. Chat to us if this is something you’re interested as most franchisees are home-based but some people simply love being face-to-face with customers. Kelly, pictured below, has just opened her second shop!
3/ Back to school
If you’ve got children of school age then you’ve got a head start here. Spread the word via the class Whatsapp groups or emails. And if you haven’t got children in the local school, perhaps your friends or family would do the honours for you. Another way of reaching the local families is to take a stall at the next school summer fete or Christmas fair – so contact the school directly to find out the dates and details.
4/ Make an exhibition of yourself
Do some research to find out when and where the next wedding fair may be held that you can exhibit at. You just need a small stand and some marketing posters or leaflets to spread the word to all those couples looking to book a honeymoon. When you join, you’ll have access to an entire marketing suite of materials from banners to business cards.
5/ Get networking
Many of our consultants join the local branch of their BNI – Business Networking International. This can be a fantastic way of garnering support from the other small businesses in your area, all of whom will help spread the word and refer you to their own clients – and vice versa. For some of our consultants BNI has proved to be a fantastic business stream.
6/ Be social
Where would we be today without social media? Whether you like it or not, social media is vital to your business today. Via Facebook or Instagram, you can build a following and a reputation as being the “travel guru”. Encourage your followers to like and share your posts and before you know it they’ll be referring you to their friends – and that’s how the net widens.
And don’t worry if you currently know nothing about how it all works, from head office our marketing department and social media manager Amy will provide you with not only the basic training, but also regular posts to share! This will allow you to schedule in advance so you can keep up with all the bookings.
7/ Public opinion – social proofing
If your customers are happy then encourage them to shout about it. Potential clients will be reassured when they read great reviews about you on sites such as Trustpilot, Google and Check A Trade. It doesn’t cost anything to have a Google Business page, so this is a good starter. If you get a good review, post it on social media!
8/ Word of mouth
Even when you do nothing to promote yourself, just doing a good job will reap you the rewards because your happy customers will spread the word.
9/ Business to business
Ask anyone you use for a service eg your hairdresser or accountant to use you to book their holiday. Do a good job and they’ll soon refer you to their customers.
10/ Become a Partner in Travel
Our Partner in Travel scheme allows you to join forces with a local company or charity, whereby they promote your travel service to all their staff or members. It’s seen as an added perk for the company to be able to offer a bespoke service in which everyone’s a winner. Our head office does all the admin and you share a slice of your commission with the local company or charity – if it’s the latter people will love the fact that their holiday is helping someone.
