为什么旅行顾问需要学习对新业务拒绝
经过多里·萨尔茨曼(Dori Saltzman)/Travel advisors are busy. In some cases, advisors Travel Market Report has spoken with are busier than they've ever been, with some rapidly exhausting their capacity to take on more business. But how does a business grow if it can't take on new business?
For some of the most successful travel agencies, growth isn't driven by the quantity of clients, but by their quality.
获得更多的“质量”客户涉及许多步骤;最重要的之一是学会对不会带您想去的客户说不。
“如果你把每一个人,through the door just for the sake of not wanting to turn them away then you are not giving yourself the creative space to be able to grow into the clients you want to take," said Angela Hughes, CTC, owner of Trips and Ships Luxury Travel and founder of the Luxury Travel University. "If you're taking every client and working 16 hours, you never have that space to grow into higher-end clients because that takes marketing, it takes dripping content to them, it takes building programs that will attract them."
Sarah Groen, CEO and owner of Bell & Bly Travel Design, an independent affiliate of Brownell Travel, agreed.
“如果您拿到一个不会比其他可能进来的客户盈利或盈利要低得多的客户,那么您的时间比您对该客户拒绝并保持该空间开放的时间要少。对于下一个。”
Groen是一位前投资银行家,他补充说:“旅行顾问应该真正考虑他们所养活的每个客户,这是他们可以在时间上做其他事情的机会成本……每一刻,您要去旅行,“不再去旅行,或者您没有努力引进新业务。”
换句话说,请确保您正在进行的旅行值得您花费时间。
Groen告诉TMR:“要吸取您的精力的客户不仅会吸引您的旅行时间。”“他们也累人了,这样您就无法进行营销,不能专注于下次旅行。您正在将精力带离好客户。”
这是签名会员机构惠特拉威旅行总裁杰米·琼斯(Jamie Jones)决定在19日期大流行期间开始关注的事情。
她告诉TMR:“我看着大流行的时候,不是一个时候争先恐后地承担我们所能得到的一切,而是磨练我真正想服务的业务。”“这意味着拒绝不适合我们的东西。”
恐惧与信仰
While the COVID-19 pandemic is solidly in the rear-view mirror when it comes to travel restrictions and planning, Hughes said she thinks a sense of PTSD is keeping many advisors from turning business away.
"I feel like when the world stopped and we lost everything, now people feel like they have to maintain everything," she said.
但是,Groen告诉TMR,但是从恐惧的地方经营业务永远不会带您到任何地方。
她问:“许多旅行顾问都经历了库维德(Covid)的生活,并经历了金融危机,但归根结底,您是否想将自己的时间和精力投入到您实际上并未赚钱的东西中。”“总会有新的,更好,更快乐,更好的客户。”
When asked if she was afraid business would fall off when she implemented her new business model, Whirlaway Travel's Jones said no, adding they still get lots of new inquiries.
"There's no fear from my team. There was relief from my team… I haven't seen a drop-off that hasn't been a welcome one," she said. "I truly believes that when one door closes, another one opens."
休斯说:“人们觉得,'也许我不会让更多的客户从大门来到。'“如果您没有更多的客户进入大门,那么您的业务发展计划就会有问题。这就是归结的。”
当您有一个扎实的业务发展计划时,当您知道理想的客户时,当您安排了一致的营销计划时,业务就会来。
First Steps
Once you've decided you're willing to turn some business away, how do you decide which clients to say no to?
"A lot of travel advisors aren't calculating the cost of what servicing these very difficult or low budget clients is costing them," Groen said.
首先跟踪您在每个客户上花费的时间,包括初始对话,研究,旅行计划,后续电话。一旦您获得了付款 - 或者了解您将获得的付款,包括佣金和服务费,就可以弄清楚每个客户每小时成本的数量。
您将开始看到某些事情需要花费多长时间的模式,并能够确定一个小时的时间价值。
例如,一对夫妇在意大利(包括机票)打电话给每周4,000至5,000美元的预算。
休斯解释说:“您将不得不搜索酒店,找到驾驶员并在Viator上找到适合其预算的东西,所以现在您将一些东西拼凑在一起。”“那是我肯定说您需要决定是否要采取这样的事情。”
同样,如果有什么压力,您需要确定这是否值得您一段时间。
"I know there are a lot of travel advisors out there that do a great job at 24/7 service, really last minute stuff. Like, yes, I'll help you with that two-week trip to Iceland that you want to take and you leave in two days. That's not a fit for the way I built my company," she said. "My team doesn't work over hours unless it's an emergency situation. I don't want to take on something that I know we're either A. going to struggle internally or B. disappoint a client."
让潜在客户选择自己
早期的审查过程对于能够做出这一决定至关重要。
"I'm a big fan of the 10-minute discovery call," Hughes said. "Have that discovery call with them and find out if they're the right fit for you… If you feel like they're going to be a general time suck or it's going to be too low revenue, you can say right there 'We have a minimum spend.'"
If you're nervous about being that upfront on the phone, you can start by letting clients opt themselves out.
建立您希望客户获得服务费的起始预算。将其全部放在文档中 - 最好是与问卷调查 - 每个新的潜在客户甚至在与他们进行对话之前都会发送。
格罗恩说:“我们有一种形式。”“我们提出问题,使我们有一个很好的了解,他们是否适合我们的预算,旅行风格,他们想要的东西,这种事情。”
在许多情况下,如果他们没有预算或不喜欢您的费用,他们会继续递给另一位顾问。
琼斯的表格类似,可以发送给所有新客户。作为接纳过程的一部分,琼斯和她的团队非常清楚他们为建立新客户所需的最低支出。
她说:“那些客户可以自我选择。”因此,她的团队从来不必浪费一个小时的咨询,从来没有一开始就适合。“我们可以将其切断,说我们不适合您。其他人可能是,但不是我们。”
审核每个新客户?
Should you do this with every client?
Advisors we spoke to had different answers for this.
"That's the rule. Everybody has to fill out that form, except current clients," Groen said. "The verbiage there is 'this will help us understand a bit more about the vision for your trip so I can do a better job of leading us on the [consult] call."
Then, if they're not a fit, someone from her team can reply with something along the lines of: "We reviewed this and we think it's going to be an amazing trip but either we don't have the capacity for this trip or this isn't the area of travel in which we specialize."
Her team also offers a referral to another agency.
"This is a personal touch business. Someone is reaching out to you to put their hopes and dreams into an itinerary and have an amazing trip. If they don't have the budget for the type of trips that we plan, that doesn't mean that it's not an amazing, super valid and wonderful trip. I never want anybody to feel bad."
话虽如此,Groen承认有时候降低预算客户是一个好主意。
“我们很容易说[转向客户],我们有一本更大的商业书籍,但我确实认为,对于新顾问来说,有时是学习这样的旅行的价值。我不想将其扔出去……如果您的收入很少,但是您正在学习新技能或新目的地,那也对您的未来也很有价值。”
休斯告诉TMR,当预算较低的客户可以预订巡游时,她会再增加一次时间。
"Generally, don't turn down cruises," she said, "because that's a 15- to 20-minute booking. That's easy icing on the cake…. If somebody just needs a seven-day Caribbean cruise and they've got their own airfare, sure, make money on that."
但是,她补充说:“您需要进行对话,以便他们知道,如果他们想要沿岸游览的自定义规划,预先和邮政,则有费用。”
休斯说,最终,由每位顾问决定有什么适合他们的顾问。
“您拥有自己的生意,应该决定想要的课程。而且,那门课程不必绝望。您想看到自己在五分之中做的事情,然后从那里构建。”
可以开始小。您无需将每个不合适的新客户拒之门外。首先,一个月适合您条件的新客户拒绝,然后从那里走。