奢侈品代理人以灵活的方式收取费用
byMaria Lenhart/Part three of an ongoing series about how agents are implementing service fees.
对于总部位于丹佛创意旅行冒险的所有者Margi Arnold来说,没有一种适合所有服务费的方法。根据有意义的原因,她可能会收取1,000美元的费用,或者她根本不收取任何费用。
阿诺德(Arnold)的专业包括奢侈品旅行,目的地婚礼,蜜月和公司激励措施,他们学会了以帮助她淘汰“ Looky Lous”并专注于最好利用自己时间的业务类型的方式来收取费用。
她说:“我不会为所有事情收费,但是如果这需要额外的时间,例如目的地婚礼,激励或定制的行程,我会做。”“我还向通过我的网站来找我的新客户收取费用。它可以帮助我确定他们是否认真。如果过去的客户很长一段时间与我在一起,我可能不会收取费用。”
Other motives
While she normally charges a fee of $350 to $500 for a destination wedding, depending on the size of the group, there have been situations where she waived the fee in order to secure a desired resort booking.
她说:“我最近为一个凉鞋小组做到了这一点。”“在这种情况下,我希望预订增加凉鞋的数字。当我告诉客户我会免除我的费用时,他们很兴奋。这使他们感觉很好,这让我得到了我需要的预订。”
Where Arnold charges the highest fees—usually in the $1,000 range—is for corporate incentive travel, a market that requires extensive customization and is accustomed to service fees.
她说:“就激励措施而言,我的费用实际上是低头的。”“但是,这是有利可图的,因为我也收集了通常的佣金。”
转向利基
阿诺德(Arnold)的收费方法与多年来的业务重点发生了重大转变。
她说:“当我在18年前开始时,我试图成为所有人的一切。”“现在我是利基专家。如果不是我的专业,我会把别人推荐给别人。我专注于对我有意义的事情。”
Arnold之所以可以这样做,是因为她是一名单人代理机构,因此她做出了所有决定,也是因为她处于令人羡慕的地位,获得比自己所能承受的更多业务领导者。
她说:“我的网站为我带来了很多生意,所以我必须缩小事物的范围。”“否则我会一直在工作。这个冬天,我能够度过周末的滑雪。”
Charging fees also helps her avoid spending time on tasks she would rather not do.
“One lady came to me and asked me to book her Eurail tickets,” she said. “I told her what I would charge, and that it’s her decision to use me or not.”
Another factor in whether or not to charge fees has to do with the level of expertise Arnold has in a certain area and the value she feels she is bringing to her clients.
“For example, when I first started selling travel to Europe, I waived fees while I was learning and developing relationships with vendors,” she said. “Now I’m getting people great fares through my ticket brokers and I am charging fees.
比赛计划
尽管阿诺德现在可以选择她的客户,但并非总是如此。她将自己的成功归功于雇用一家网站和营销专家,后者能够帮助她转身陷入困境。除了设计一个有效的网站,该网站至少产生了一半的业务,专家还帮助Arnold组成了一个游戏计划,其中包括每月发送给客户的电子新闻。
“I was told that no matter how busy I am, I must consistently send out the newsletter,” Arnold said. “I was also advised that you don’t have to do everything—a blog, social media, etc.—but you need to pick at least two things and do them very well.”
While Arnold has had a website since she started in business, she made the initial mistake of putting economy ahead of quality.
“Your website is a big deal and should never be done on the cheap,” she said. “My original website looked great, but the person managing it did not know how to transfer the business to me. The phone stopped ringing and I almost had to close my doors.”