起价为499美元,费用为旅行社收入
经过Marilee Crocker/
当意大利专家玛德琳·贾瓦尔(Madeline Jhawar)于2008年创办旅行咨询业务时,她从一开始就知道她会收取客户的时间。如今,旅行计划费的收入超过了她的佣金收入五比一。
TMR贾瓦尔(Jhawar)问,加利福尼亚州的门洛公园(Menlo Park)的贾瓦尔(Jhawar)被称为意大利(Ital),超出了显而易见的旅行,以讨论她的费用策略以及她如何与潜在客户谈论费用。
Why charge fees?
贾瓦尔(Jhawar)以细心的研究感到自豪,该研究产生了围绕客户的利益建立的自定义行程,并就从住宿和用餐到当地向导,食品市场,专业购物以及如何从A点到B点的所有事物提出了详细的建议。
A self-described “process person,” Jhawar has developed comprehensive checklists for every aspect of the trip-planning process. For a three-week trip, she’ll use 40 to 50 checklists that break out every step of her process.
她说:“所有这些细节都非常耗时。”“对我来说,花费时间并没有得到报酬是没有意义的。”
Three-tiered fee structure
贾瓦尔(Jhawar)的价格最低的价格是499美元的固定旅行计划,该费用在几周内购买了七个小时的“教练”旅行“教练”。教练是通过电子邮件进行高度结构化的过程中的电子邮件,其中包括一般咨询和有关住宿,餐饮,当地向导,活动,购物和当地交通的具体建议,但让客户可以自己预订。
Most clients opt for the more expensive Gold package, priced at $200 per trip day. It adds booking services for hotels, guides and activities, local transfers, and one restaurant daily, as well as a detailed written itinerary.
Jhawar also gets plenty of customers for her Platinum package, which costs $300 per trip day. It features additional services such as 24/7 trip support and alternate daily itineraries, along with amenities such as laminated daily maps, a restaurant phrase book and detailed historical information on specific sights.
“由于我能够提供的知识和专业知识的深度,我感到很自在地证明自己的费用。我增加了一大笔钱。
Three ways to talk about fees
When Jhawar needs to explain her pricing to potential clients, especially those used to working with travel agents who don’t charge fees, she uses three lines of reasoning:
1.没有标记或中间人。“一切都是透明的,”她告诉客户。“You pay me your fee directly, then I book everything with your credit card. There are no middlemen and no markup in between.”
2. Compares favorably.如果客户找到他们喜欢的包装旅行,Jhawar会进行价格比较。“我将其分解,列出所有内容并增加我的费用。我保证,有了所有这些物品,再加上我的费用,我的收费都会降低。”
3. Return on investment.Jhawar also demonstrates the value she delivers in time savings, both during pre-trip planning and on the trip itself. On her website she estimates that a 10-day trip would take an average person about 80 hours to plan. Then she compares that to spending just two to three hours in consultation with her: “That’s about 77 hours of time saved. How much is your time worth per hour?”
She also tells customers that her well-organized itineraries will ensure that their time while traveling is well spent. She goes so far on her website as to cost out the savings, based on an estimate that her clients can accomplish 20% more in a day and at a lower stress level.
贾瓦尔说,她在网站上详细描述了她的费用和费用结构,部分原因是她重视透明度。这种做法还有助于减少她花费时间来解释或证明向潜在客户的费用合理的时间。“我的目标是最大程度地减少销售时间。我需要从事行程。我不想整天与不合适的人打电话。”
计算费用
为了在开始时确定自己的费用,贾瓦尔估计了她花在客户工作的时间百分比,即可计费的时间,以及她需要花费多少时间来进行诸如销售和发票等不可赚钱的活动。她确定自己想每年赚取多少赚钱,并向后工作以提出自己的费用。
At the beginning, her flat fee was just $200, but early success prompted her to increase her rates. “I was starting to turn people away, so for four years in a row I raised it –from $200 to $250 to $300 to $350. Then I raised it to $499, and I thought this is enough for the value that I’m delivering. I think this is fair.”
Along the way, the venture evolved from a part-time to fulltime occupation. Today Jhawar is busy enough to employ a fulltime associate in Milan who handles details such as bookings and confirmations.
向其他代理商的建议
Jhawar urges other agents to shift to a fee-based business model. “I don’t see a bright future for the commission model,” she said. “Understand the huge value you bring to your client and don't be afraid to charge for your value. Lots of people are completely open to it. The market is big, and there’s enough work for everybody.”