IC TRAVEL AGENT November 2013 by IC Travel Agent

TRAVEL AGENT

THE HOW-TO MAGAZINE FOR ICs, OSRs & HOME-BASED TRAVEL AGENTS

NOVEMBER 2013

Hey, come on in! Find out how to sell Holiday Travel in November! Check the Training Pages too!

The ART of Selling Travel from HOME

AN SMP TRAINING PUBLICATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS – IC NOVEMBER 2013 5

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

HOLIDAY PROMOTIONS

FIRST LIGHT PROMO

HISTORY = SALES

AT HOME DRESS CODE

LOCAL STORE MARKETING

TOOLS: FIX IT

NEW TOOLS

SELLING GROUPS

SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS

THE ABOUT YOU TAB

THE MARKETING MIND

THE MEDIA RELEASE

THE TRAVEL CLUB / GROUP

SELLING TRAVEL WITH STEVE

THAT’S NOT A NICHE!

NICHE: WOMEN ONLY

BOOK SALES AND MORE

WEBCAM SHOOTS

VIDEO PROMOTIONS

TRAINING PAGE: JUNGLES AND MIGRATIONS

TRAINING PAGE: HOW TO CREATE A GOOGLE ALERT

TRAINING PAGE: A CURE FOR THE COMMON SOLD

PROSPECTING FROM HOME

WHAT’S SELLING TODAY?

LET’S TALK TRAINING

If it’s not yet 5pm where you live, you still have time to make one more call, close one more sale or send one more promotion!

Selling travel from home does not have to be a puzzle when you read IC! Find the host agency that best suits your needs.

Share your money making ideas in IC and help your IC colleagues. CONTACT Steve Crowhurst steve@ic-travelagent.com 250-738-0064 www.ic-travelagent.com Publisher: SMP Training Co. www.smptraining.com Contributors Steve Crowhurst IC TRAVEL AGENT is owned and published by Steve Crowhurst, SMP Training Co. All Rights Reserved. Protected by International Copyright Law. IC TRAVEL AGENT can be shared, forwarded, cut and pasted but not sold, resold or in anyway monetized. Using any images or content from IC TRAVEL AGENT must be sourced as follows: “Copyright SMP Training Co. www.smptraining.com” SMP Training Co. 568 Country Club Drive, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada, V9K-1G1 Note: Steve Crowhurst is not responsible for outcomes based on how you interpret or use the ideas in IC TRAVEL AGENT. T: 250-738-0064.

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MENTION THAT YOU SAW US IN IC AGENT MAGAZINE AND RECEIVE YOUR FIRST MONTH FREE! 10131503-Nexion_Ad.indd 1

10/29/13 2:18 PM

Steve Crowhurst, CTC, Publisher

We’re OFF! What can I say other than thank you to everyone who “clicked” and opened the first issue of IC Travel Agent. You clicked, you shared and so the viral, play it forward, Be Sure to Share basis of IC Travel Agent is being realized. We received congratulations from Gary Fee, President of OSSN, Dwain Wall, Senior VP of CruiseOne and many trade friends and colleagues. With that response, we can carry on and keep the ideas and new business generation ideas flowing. As you realized, IC Travel Agent does not deliver trade news, gossip or destination information – we leave that to the well-known trade papers that do - a list can be found on the IC Travel Agent website here. It’s November which is always a big month in travel sales IF you are into selling holiday vacations or vacations around holiday dates. The BIG one is coming soon and that would be Christmas. You and or your clients may celebrate a different holiday and that’s all good. You can still use the ideas offered here to generate sales around the holiday dates of your preferred religion. Another date to factor into your marketing plan is New Year’s Day. More than a few clients will be looking for hangover cures, others, with your help, will be hanging out somewhere in the world to witness the dawning of the New Year, 2014. Look for that page (First Light) in this issue – it’s a promotional idea that you can use each year. Our unique Training Pages deliver short, sharp and narrated PowerPoint presentations that are saved and played in the YouTube format. Be sure to click and watch them all. Enjoy the second issue of IC Travel Agent. Continue to share it with your home-based travel colleagues and host agency management team. Let us know what you need. Here’s to your continued success! Best regards. Steve Crowhurst, CTC steve@ic-travelagent.com www.ic-travelagent.com Page 4

One of my favourite topics to train on and it’s much easier than thinking outside the box. Thinking INSIDE the Box for a home-based travel seller is where tools and creativity come together. You just have to know what those tools are.

Before we get to those tools let’s quickly explore the Thinking OUTSIDE the Box model. The phrase is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. This phrase often refers to creative thinking, however it is overused by management consultants and senior management and an activity that can cost you an arm and a leg whether the plan goes well or not. Thinking OUTSIDE is often taken literally and interpreted to mean buying talent, new equipment and even expanding the premises. You get the picture. Very few companies or individuals think outside the box without spending money.

Conversely the SMP model, Thinking INSIDE the Box, makes use of the existing tools and talents and here’s the key point: hardly any company makes use of all the tools and talent at their disposal. It’s true. When you ponder this for yourself, go back in time to when you worked for someone else, you will know that management hardly listened to the talent they had hired. Employees gave up ideas that never made it to the discussion table. It’s just one of those things inherent in corporate life. So you learn from this OUTSIDE the box thinking and you go INSIDE to find the gems. Let’s take a look inside that box that you have access to.

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Thinking INSIDE the Box means to know and to use as is, change to suit, blend, update, turn to a new use the tools you currently own, the tools of your host agency, association, your suppliers, and your own talents. Your box is jam packed with “stuff” and we haven’t even tapped the combined knowledge as yet of everyone on your “team”. Your team includes you of course, plus each and every colleague in your group, franchise, consortium, host, friends and social connections. So far not a new dollar invested. That is a huge library of knowledge that’s available whenever you need it. Your “cost” would be an email or a phone call.

yours to use, IF you intend to sell the brand that owns the tools. How are we doing? Do you see in your own mind how large this box is? Are you aware of all the tools in this box? Do you know the skills and talents of your colleagues, of the HQ team, of your supplier BDMs, of your host’s BDMs? The bells are ringing I know. They always do. You’re thinking to yourself, “Holy bookings, how can I ever get to know about and use all of these tools?” What a nice challenge to have. So many money making tools at your disposal and no time to use them all. What you do is first make a list. List each and every tool in the box and make sure you know where to find them and how to use them. Once that list is completed, you can analyze how you will use them, or not. To help you analyze the changes you might invoke, let me introduce this decision making grid.

Next we check out the tools that your host agency provides and generally we’re talking about marketing know-how, plans and activities that are happening whether you partake or not. Your preferred suppliers also have dozens of tools in their box, and you are always invited to play with them. They are

THE SMP THINKING INSIDE THE BOX MODEL WHO

WHAT

WHEN

WHERE

WHY

SUBSTITUTE COMBINE ADAPT MODIFY

Type in your challenge here and apply the W5-SCAMPER model to your thinking, planning and revamping.

PURPOSE ELIMINATE REARRANGE

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HOW

Here is the description of your decision-making headings: SUBSTITUTE: Replace your current sales / product WHO: Helps you identify individuals and groups focus with something else. who might be prospects for your travel idea or those who can help you i.e. suppliers, colleagues COMBINE: Consider how a combination of etc. products / strategies might boost sales. WHAT: Helps identify all the things involved in this ADAPT: Change some part of your marketing action: the requirements, difficulties, rewards, strategy to include / exclude social media, old read tape, numbers, specifications… media. WHEN: Schedules, dates, durations, start times, MODIFY: Revise the attributes of your sales- milestones, checklists… marketing-business plan. WHERE: Places, locations, focal points, PURPOSE: Think about what your promotion is departments, processes… supposed to do. Refocus, repurpose. WHY: Helps identify the understanding and ELIMINATE: Remove elements of your plan that reasoning behind the action. reduce sales / marketing functionality. HOW: Identifies how the situation developed, REARRANGE: Change directions. Recreate. Turn it actions taken, to be taken, steps for success, upside-down, inside-out. Reverse it, modify the process, implementation… order of operations or any other hierarchy involved.

Next Step: Decide what your sales or marketing challenge is. Review each W5 heading and make your notes such as WHO is involved (clients, suppliers, staff) then continue on to WHAT and through to HOW. The next step in the process is to review your W5 notes as you apply each of the SCAMPER headings. Questions that pop up might be: should you substitute one brand for another, should you examine the purpose of your promotion – is it to drive sales by email or drive prospects to your website? Could you, should you combine this promotion with another? Using this decision making model is not a quick win. It will take an hour or two for you think through each combination. The outcome will be worth it and you will be more than confident that you have indeed been thorough in reviewing your idea or plan, noting the upsides and the downsides. You are good to go. If in doubt, ask a colleague to review your work with you. The end result will be a page full of ideas that you must then prioritize and re-write into a doable timeline. Thinking INSIDE the box will become second nature and you will speed up. Better if you can work with a colleague to bounce the ideas around, to question them, and then decide on your plan. If you have any questions about using this grid you can contact me here. 

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Holiday Promotions Every religion celebrates a special day and with 4,200 religions in the world… some of those days will double up. The graph below is very important to you as it presents statistics you may want to review directly on the Adherent website: www.adherents.com. It would pay you dividends to know the preferred religion of your clients as this knowledge would prevent the wrong promotion going to the wrong people. Coming up is one of the biggest holidays around the world. It was once call Christmas and somehow morphed to The Festive Season and The Holiday Season, The Holidays. Leaving all that politically correct verbiage to one side – for many, the dates around December 24 through to January 1st are prime travel days. You can take advantage of this fact by creating any number of promotions. Here’s a couple that might work for you.

Everybody loves a holiday: No matter what faith or religion, believer, nonbeliever – when it comes to a day off the collective human race are up for it. Keep that in mind.

holidays but to head to the beach, the shows, the mountains… wherever it is – it’s last minute. Even better if you have a product you can offer to start the engagement process.

December 25 is a day to travel: Most holiday travellers want to be at the table for that Christmas dinner. That means they travel a few days before. This also means that generally on Christmas Day there are seats open to many destinations subject to local weather conditions, strikes and anything else that might prevent business as usual. Sell December in November: Use this month, the month of November to capture those last minute bookings from people that have just decided not to go home for the Page 8

Hi, you know who I am. Everyone does. Well perhaps not everyone, but still, when my face appears, people take notice. So use my mug shot in your holiday travel promotions and use the word PACKAGED too. Here’s a great tagline… “I’ve added a new KLAUSE to my marketing plan this year which clearly states that all my clients are to enjoy the holidays!” Now, to save you the time and trouble I know your preferred suppliers have already pre-packaged a selection of wonderful holiday getaways. Just what your clients should put under their own tree – for their family, friends and yes, for themselves, too. So get busy. Get hustling. Use November to set up your December sales and then both spring and summer. Start the ball rolling and keep it fun-loving and entertaining and you’ll attract not only your existing clients but also new customers too. PROMOTE: GIVE THE GIFT OF TRAVEL THIS YEAR!

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Give the GIFT of Travel The Gift of Travel is something parents can give to their children: teenagers, college students, newly married… travel is a gift that meets the needs for everyone. Yes, kids can send Mum and Dad on a well deserved weekender or a 7-day cruise. There is no limit to who can give and to whom.

Religious Tours As you will know Religious Vacations, Faith Based Travel, Spiritual Tours are selling and selling well. You can promote religious vacations based on your own faith and if you have not yet found one, then you can promote any and all faiths. Throwing the net wide is a plan.

Why not create a gift certificate yourself or borrow one from your suppliers and use that as your promotional tool?

There are tours for any and all faiths who want to experience the historic places and events of a religion not their own. So a Christian tour of Muslim worlds to view Mosques instead of churches and vice versa. You get the idea. It’s a multi, all-faith tour. The best time to promote your religious tours would be just after the Christmas holidays and you could also wait for the New Year to pass – then you’d have most people’s undivided attention. They are still in holiday mood… the decorations, if they went up, don’t come down until 12 days after, and so your repetitive promotions will take hold.

Search online for gift certificate templates, download the ones you like and then print at home on thick quality card. Here’s the link to Office.com templates:

If you know the faith of your clients, you might even send out a stocking stuffer that is based on a special offer your preferred faith based supplier is offering.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/templates/christmasgift-certificate-christmas-spirit-design-TC103982379.aspx

An example is shown below:

The Adventurous Faith Based Tour Have you ever stood on top of a mountain and looked out at sunrise taking in the First Light of the new day? If you have you will know first hand that what you saw could be claimed as a religious experience. Standing anywhere that is of a spiritual nature can be classed as a religious experience. There are adventures to many parts of the world that offer this experience.

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The Christmas Fair Vacation Now this is a dream come true. This type of vacation might be a planned event or a spur of the moment decision which is the topic right here.

ideas are found online at your supplier’s websites, in their newsletters and in their 2014 brochures. Beach holidays are always a winner during the winter time.

The European Christmas Markets start at the end of November and continue into December. Your faith based or Christmas season loving clients can zip over to Europe enjoy the delights of small towns and villages and shop for original hand made goods to bring home and place under the tree for their friends and family.

Packaged vacations are always the way to go for mass market promotions, however an FIT arrangement allows you to charge more for your customization and planning fees. Cruising is an obvious mass market, year round vacation that should be top of your list. Here’s a full list of cruises upping anchor over the festive season:

Here’s one link to view for Germany:

http://www.christmasnewyearcruises.com/christm as-cruises-xmas/

http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/

This link offers ten European markets:

The above link is like gold. Save it, add it to your favourites, bookmark it… even print it out should your computer crash. Always a good thing to print out the full and complete links / URLS of your top websites.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/christma stravelguide/6550280/Christmas-markets-ten-ofEuropes-best.html

One of my favourite places to visit and wander around is Prague and they too have their Christmas Market held in The Old Town Square. Most European Christmas markets are centuries old – some dating from the 13th century.

The gift you are going to give yourself this holiday season is a huge commission cheque. Right? You bet.

Almost forgot ski vacations! Yup winter is coming, both here and ‘there’… get the girls together and get them out-of-town!

Now it’s up to you.

So now you clearly have many choices as to which seasonal, holiday or religious based promotion to use. Time is of the essence as November is here. Of course if you yourself do not partake of a religion then you can focus strictly on what makes sense to sell over the holiday season and most of those

Make it happen. November is a prime selling month and it can kick start your entire New Year’s marketing plan. Stay focused. Keep the faith.  Page 11

First Light Promo It’s what every traveller wants to see at the dawning of the first day of the New Year. They want to witness the FIRST LIGHT. The sun will rise and its rays will strike mountain tops first. Which mountain top is the key to the promotion. What You Need To Know Each day the sun sweeps across the Pacific and until recently Mt. Hikurangi, (the highest peak (1754 metres) in the rugged Raukumara Range, in the North Island of New Zeland), was recognized as the first point on the New Zealand mainland and the rest of the world to greet the morning sun. That position has now been assumed by Fakaofo. The sun will rise over Fakaofo over an hour before New Zealand and the reason is: Fakaofo moved itself across the date line so it could do business with New Zealand during their business hours.

Make It An Adventure – Which It Is You could arrange for your clients to be anywhere to witness the dawning of any day. The key question is: what does that dawning represent? The New Year promo’ offers the first light of the first day of the New Year. If you are new to selling travel and using world events as a promotional tool, you can imagine the interest to be somewhere memorable when the millennium year 2000 clicked in. There were special cruises and tours and yes, hikes up to the highest points on the planet – Everest being one. Imagine the interest in witnessing the dawning of 2100 - it’s only 87 years away! You could sell the First Light of every New Year between now and then. With only 2 months to go it’s might be late in the day to arrange a First Light 2014 other than a local event. Choose your highest peak. If that means snow make it a First Light ski promo. If you support an association breast cancer for instance, use the First Light idea as an awareness program. Build a group, generate commissions and share them with the cancer group you support.

Mt. Hikurangi still rates as #1 for this promotion. If your clients are not wanting to travel to New Zealand that’s okay. All you have to do is find the highest point in your local area, state, province, territory, country, region and make contact with the tourist bodies in charge to arrange the trek. Tuning In To All Things Spiritual Ah the magic word – spiritual. Everyone wants a piece of it and so do you. It’s a key word for this promotion. Let your clients decide on what is and what isn’t – all you have to do is promote the First Light idea.

Now you know what seeing the light is all about. This is an annual event. Work with your colleagues and your HOST agency HQ and a preferred supplier and Be Sure to Share. 

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First Light at sea level can be a wonderful experience, too.

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History = Sales You’ve heard the phrase “history repeats itself” I’m sure. The fact that it does is great news for home-based travel agents. History is the doorway to sales in more ways than one. The history you don’t want repeated are the world wars and your worst marketing campaign! Let’s explore how other historical events can help you generate more business.

For the purpose of using history to sell more travel here are the topics you should study:

can imagine. Now those were gutsy women that travelled and no mistake.

1. 2. 3. 4.

History of the World There have been terrible wars, battles, strife, kings, queens, biblical events, plagues, and more that have been turned into books and movies and if you study these events and learn from them – each one offers you a niche market to trade on. There is a classic statement: From strife comes opportunity. This is so true especially as events reach an anniversary. WW1 and WW2 as you know have their own Battlefield Tours that attract sons and daughters to witness where Dad or Granddad fought and perhaps died.

History of exploration History of the world in general History of the retail travel trade History within your lifetime

History of Exploration As you will know, before us went those brave men and eventually women (when they were “allowed”) who explored the jungle, deserts, rivers, valleys and mountains to pave the way for whoever was set to follow. Their excursions into the unknown has presented to you a glorious past that so many of your clients hanker after. Today, people like you and me want to stand on the edge of that cliff and imagine how it must have felt to be the first person (other than the native peoples who already knew “it” was there!) to witness the view.

History of the Retail Travel Trade Shame to say that very few new home based agents study the roots of their new industry. Doing so will give you an advantage over those who know nothing. In the history of the retail travel trade we have had our own adventurers and explorers. You can learn from their past failures and successes. Remember history often repeats itself. Over time you would know that whoever tries to sell tickets to the Olympics, loses his or her shirt so you are never enticed by such potential gold mines. Study the history of Thomas Cook & Son and you will gain valuable insight and knowledge you can use today.

Thank goodness these historical events were written down, photographed too. Any one book can present you with the itinerary for your next exotic adventure tour. You can find such books printed as large coffee table editions at your favourite book store. If you want to be unique you might want to investigate the women who actually made it out into the wilds in full Victorian dress if you Page 14

History Within Your Own Lifetime Whether you realize it or not, you are witnessing history as each day passes. Some take note and others let it go. In this industry you note outcomes of certain events and you lock that knowledge away. When you need it, you can access your own memory or your documented account of the outcome.

3. When the next terror attack happens overseas from wherever you live – you sell vacations at home. Studying the weather each day can pay off. It’s as simple as subscribing to a variety of apps or websites that track storms, earthquakes, etc. I can recall one travel agent who had a group tour heading off to Hawaii the next day and he had not paid attention to the weather reports and even the day before departure he was not aware that the resort hotel in Kauai had been washed away. That happened in 1992.

In recent months and over a couple of years there have been horrific events at sea and the cruise industry has taken a hit on all the mass media news channels. Weather patterns have changed, seasons have moved, storms are stronger. Airlines have merged. New technology allows you to be in the know within seconds. There are now five screens to factor into your marketing plan. Social media is a winner for some businesses but not all as consumers are tiring of the constant social media promotions.

(September 1992: Hurricane Iniki caused more damage than any other hurricane to affect Hawaiʻi since records began. It hit the island of Kauai as a Category 4 on September 11. Iniki caused almost $2 billion in damage, mainly to Kauai). From that one

event 21 years ago, I learned to constantly check the weather based on tours departing from my own home town to the destinations I was selling.

As a professional you would have the ability to mash together all of this historical knowledge, blend it with what’s happening currently and within seconds know your marketing path and your sales opportunity.

Putting It All Together Knowing historical patterns will make you money and save you money too. Whatever your niche might be, delve into the history of it. There is always something else you can find that will expand your niche, adding another saleable component to it.

Success therefore in the retail travel industry is based on how well you can look back on your own experiences, your own travels, add to them what you have learned from the recent past to what happened centuries ago.

Current reality shows such as Who Do You Think You Are? and Genealogy Roadshow offer a new revenue source. Once a family learns their history they are bound to travel ‘there’ where their ancestors came from. Many hail from overseas, meaning long haul trips to be sold. You might even become a Genealogist Travel Agent – discovering your client’s past and booking their trip, too. History does deliver Sales. Believe it. It’s 100% true. 

For instance, from my experience: 1. When the next cruise catastrophe happens, you switch to marketing air travel. 2. When the next air disaster happens, you market land-based vacations.

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At Home Dress Code This has long been a topic of conversation and also one for the cartoonists. When you open a home-based business, there is a certain amount of freedom that comes with it, especially in the area of personal grooming and dress code. The facts are somewhat different than what is perceived. The rig of the day for homebased business operators is not something pink and fluffy!

For many years now the business community have opted for what’s known as dumbing down. The effect of dumbing down can be seen on the street, in call centers and even in travel agencies too.

It’s the way the human mind works. Most people wish to associate with winners – not losers. Sorry to say this - the pink, fluffy PJs have got to go. Lazing around in your old tattered jeans has got to stop. Spending time to put your selling-self together for a steady day of prospecting is right on the money. Look sharp. Sell sharp. Also, if a client says, “Yes I want to book that, can we meet in 15 minutes?” you are good to go and go now versus a complete re-fit before you head out the door.

What was once a haven of well-dressed employees has become a cartoonist’s dream as men sport 3-day old stubble, wear a classy suit jacket with tattered jeans and sneakers that house feet wearing red socks or no socks at all. Women are equally up to the mark with some sporting a pair of very comfortable Crocs in lime green and a hair style named bed.

When you go home to do business you must create a new persona. You need a style, you’ll want a reputation built on quality information and best value service. You want your clients to be so proud of you that they have no qualms about recommending you and your travel services to their friends.

Put this all together and what you are looking at is nothing short of a rag tag group of former, well dressed, sharp looking individuals who generally worked as they dressed. Sharp. When you go home to do business and you leave behind the corporate culture and the big brand name that was so recognizable, you do not however dumb down. You must in fact, rise way above this fatal mistake and show yourself as the best groomed and best dressed travel agent in the community. Look like a million bucks and people will be attracted to you.

You know it only too well – you would never refer a smelly old dressing gowned accountant, lawyer or realtor to a friend and that includes a travel agent too. Check the mirror. Is there a need to overhaul the grooming and clothing aspect of your home-based self? 

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CULINARY VACATIONS WITH GIRTY Looks can be deceiving you know! Besides, no one can see me on the phone, or email.

Well you see I also operate a Dial-a-Clown business from home… I don’t think a world cruise client would mind handing over thirty-grand to a clown. Would they?

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Local Store Marketing You might hear the term Local Store Marketing or Local Community Marketing the meaning is the same. You are going to focus your marketing efforts right around where you live and more than likely not outside a 5 mile radius. So what do you do within and around the local streets outside your home? Let’s explore.

The first thing you do is go for a walk. If you are a new home-based travel agent then you must walk the ‘hood, as you have done before, but in a different frame of mind. This time out, you will be looking for co-op opportunities.

jobbie with perforated edges. Hand that out and your professional status is on shaky ground. If the owner or manager is onsite or the person who greets you is the owner, then be ready to move right into the conversation about working together to build sales for both businesses. For you to deliver this message with confidence you must know and understand how your product, travel, can help sell all other products. This is the crucial element to making local store marketing work.

As you walk the streets you’ll be taking notice of your fellow retailers. I’m referring to cafes, book shops, salons, magazine stores, clothing stores, restaurants etc. Each of the establishments just mentioned can help you find new clients AND join you in a tandem promotion. Introducing yourself: As you walk into each retail store you are going to say something along the lines of: “Hi, I’m (name) your local community travel agent… I have some ideas that might help boost business for both of us… is the owner or manager in?”

Travel Sells All Other Products: It’s true. Customers buy a pair of shoes, a dress, a tie, a camera, luggage, golf clubs… and many of these items are purchased to take on a trip. Some obvious, some not so much. Now here you are representing the travel component and offering to bring your attention-getting product to help sell more of your new found friend’s product.

Leave behind material: The owner / manager may not be in, so you’ll need to have a nicely printed brochure – and I mean very professionally printed – not a hodgepodge inkjet

Let’s continue to explore how you do this. Are you ready? Let’s go for a walk around town. Page 18

The Obvious Products: This is a no-brainer. A luggage store for instance. Anyone purchasing luggage is, as far as we know, travelling. So a local luggage store or luggage repair shop makes an ideal contact.

services to your client/s. Not much in this for you other than your clients passing on the word and generating referrals for you. The Second Reason to Buy: Everyone needs a second reason to buy. So it is with women and fashions for instance. In the changing rooms of your fashion store co-promoter you arrange to have framed on the wall or signage on the wall that says “Wear it here...” and the here is a deck of a cruise ship sailing into a tropical sunset. Another here would be a white sand beach for when swimwear is purchased. For wedding gowns, a Caribbean resort is pictured.

What about cameras? Of course. Mobile phone retailers? Absolutely. Women’s fashions? You bet - got to have the latest look, colour, design for the evenings onboard that luxury cruise. Bookshops are a haven too. That’s where your clients go to get information in hardcopy. That’s where you introduce your bookmark campaign. Your bookmarks are inserted into each and every travel book. On the bookmark it says the customer has just “earned” a $10 discount on their next trip - or, you can offer what your suppliers are offering… upgrades to $200 off per person if booked by a certain date. In return for the bookstore manager saying yes to your bookmark campaign – you promise to promote the bookstore to all your clients via social media and on your website.

This same second reason to buy applies to cameras with a counter stand showing a fantastic view… and here you are promoting a National Geographic Camera Tour. Have you got the idea? Sure you have. I’ve personally arranged these types of promotions. They work. Tie in a social media component too so that your promotion goes viral. When you do it right, you’ll have your clients and their clients Tweeting out to their pals about the tour they just booked accompanied by an image of their new luggage – yes they shot a selfie and posted it for their friends to see.

The Tandem / Coop Promotion: This has to be a win-win for all. You need to generate sales, your co-promoter too, their customer must benefit and so must the supplier if you’ve engaged one. Buy One and Enter to Win: In this promo, you help set up the campaign with your co-promoter as he/she advertises a new set of luggage. When purchased during the promotion, the client’s name is automatically entered into the draw. The prize would be a vacation that you provide to the retailer at a special rate. You get to keep the names and emails of the customers who entered to win. You must be careful not to give too much away, which is why you should ask a supplier to join you. Many suppliers have special offers that you can represent and use in a promo like this.

Social media is the fastest way to push market your promotion and have your retailing copromoter and yourself build your businesses. Attract response, engage, then it’s up to both of you to sell and close. The Referral Program: A simple promotion is this – you ask your retailing friends to recommend your travel services and each referral earns them points. After so many points they can cash in for a weekend package, or if they sent you a cruise group – then perhaps they earn a cruise themselves. Do the math and calculate the winwin rewards that work for you.

Your Clients Pay Less for Luggage: This is a straight discount promotion. Your luggage retailer offers you a discounted price to present to your clients. He generates a new customer from you and you have upped the value of your

Okay. Enough talk. Hit the streets. Go say hello to the retailers in your community and close them on working with you.  Page 19

Tools: Fix It When you work from home and generally on your own and something goes wrong with your computer what do you do? Okay, screaming for your kids to come “NOW!” is one thing - if you still have children at home. Next is the techie neighbour but you might not want to have them know your level of computer expertise. You can resort to that good pal who is always there for you except when they are working – and right now when the glitch happens, they are working and you don’t want to interrupt their day with your problem. What to do? The answer is you must search for it. If a warning or pop up happened advising you about “your properties are preventing…” or something else preventing something from happening you can go online and type into the search box exactly what the pop-up stated - and a dozen solutions will surface. One tool I found was Microsoft’s Fix It. Be sure to download the Fix It tool now, don’t wait. The guy with the wrench is the icon and he’ll be resident on your desktop. When you have a hint of trouble – click the icon and see what transpires. http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/ I use Outlook 2013 and for some reason every so often I cannot click on links in my emails. A pop up advises me that my “policies…” are “…preventing…” – so I click on Fix It and the computer will reset / restore to a date when Outlook was working perfectly. This takes a matter of minutes. You restart your computer and you are back in business. There are many fix it downloads, so be careful. They appear to be free however after they have downloaded and scanned your computer and changed registries etc., the price pops up. Now you either accept or not. If not, you are warned that you must now remove the download. When that happens you see tons of files being deleted and if you’re not tech savvy those files look like the ones you need and want and now they are being deleted. It’s a scary thing to watch. Look for Fix It and start there.  Page 20

New Tools Click on each image to view the website or the e-Book. You can download e-books as a PDF and save the file to your own Library folder. Bookmark & add the websites to your Favourites.

If your niche is selling corporate travel from home you’ll want to add this website to your Favourites – especially if many of your clients are business women.

You could use this Globus tool in all your emails and also post it on your home page. Why not? It helps sell Globus of course, but then again, why not? Attract the bookings to you.

All you need to open any file format – well at least 80 of them anyway. A great tool for any home-based travel agent.

Be Sure to Share GOT TOOLS? ANY YOU CAN SHARE? LET US KNOW.

If you are new to the travel industry make sure you download and save this ASTA document. So much information it makes a great resource.

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Selling Groups Every supplier BDM and for sure your host head-office newsletters, emails and blogs are encouraging you to sell more groups – or to start selling groups if you have not yet found this lucrative segment. Make no mistake, it is a fine battle cry and groups are where you can make a lot of money for yourself and everyone else that’s connected to your group sale. The missing ingredient from all the support is the HOW-TO. The following information should serve as a primer for you as you work your way towards securing group travel in your area.

Let’s start with what you know. Your travel passion. Your niche. Or, what your business gut feeling is telling you about where there might be money to be made in groups.

For you there are two types of groups: the ones you have, and the ones you don’t have – yet, and to secure some of those “don’t haves”, you must win them from the competition through better pricing, better service, better marketing and attract the non-committed groups to yourself before they engage with another travel agent. The winner here will not win on price and price alone. Group travel is not generally for the novice as a one mistake could cost you your life savings. It’s a marketing game based on experience. Ask your host agency for help.

There are three types of groups in the market place: the groups that other travel agencies service each year, the groups who have no travel agency as yet and then there’s the mishmash of consumers who don’t know there are others like them, hoping to join a group of like-minded travellers interested in the same type of vacation. Page 22

Groups Are Everywhere! That’s the usual comment and although somewhat true – it takes experience to identify them, make the right approach, followed by listening, asking, responding, presenting, answering and closing.

and let them guide you. You will learn so much and you will be able to apply what you learn directly to any and all groups. Who To Look For When you start pounding the Internet and social pavement, you should be looking for decision makers, group leaders, directors and managers. They come in all shapes and sizes and personalities and each carries a list of what “they” demand from the agency that arranges group travel for them.

Typically anyone, almost anyone, can round up a few pals, couples, colleagues and friends-of-friends to create a group with a common purpose. Let’s make it a beach vacation that’s an all-inclusive and the group of Gen X & Y don’t really care about the destination. They want beach and low price. This group is looking to have a ‘great time’ for the best price possible.

If this is your first time to pitch then you have already gathered that you’ll be at a disadvantage when you are negotiating with someone matching the above description. This is the very reason why you work closely with your preferred supplier who can help with such negotiations.

Another prospective group belongs to an association of book lovers (there are hundreds of members across the country) and this year they want to attend a specific destination where they can explore the life of one of their favourite authors. Next year this same group is planning a reading cruise for their members.

The Soft Sell Group Looking around your local community you will begin to identify a variety of existing and potential groups. They range from church groups to school groups to senior groups to art groups and even incentive groups for the local auto dealer’s sales force.

Try this one: a golf pro wants to arrange a golf tour and sell it to the members of his golf club. Thinking Arizona and the top five golf courses.

A good place to start your group selling career would be close to home and right in your own community. Start by making a list of local associations, clubs, memberships and you’ll end up with a list that includes churches, fitness clubs, fine restaurants, clubs and associations. If there is a common interest you will be sure to find that there is generally a group opportunity.

Each of the more than 200 niche market activities offer group opportunities. Most of these groups would be pieced together by you with your client advising their needs and wants. Such groups are customized FITs. The Build a Group Concept You may be confident in your own niche and feel comfortable in promoting your tour and build a group, couple by couple. This does take experience but then again you have to learn sometime don’t you? The best way to proceed, would be to select your preferred supplier, chat with their group department

You next step towards selling groups is to make an approach to the manager, director, leader, group organizer or secretary which means your next activity is to locate their name and you do that by making a phone call or checking websites and local directories. Page 23

As this group contact is local you cannot afford to hard sell this group. All actions are soft-sell using attractive marketing techniques and a well-practised value-toprice presentation.

Group Travel Training Programs If you like the idea of cruise groups then of course you click to CLIA’s website and review the training modules they offer. If you are an adventurer at heart then you will contact the group departments of your preferred adventure suppliers and discuss a training program.

“What Do YOU Suggest?” One of the key skills in your marketing arsenal should be your ability to think for your clients and make suggestions that WOW them into your arms! Many times a group has done the rounds so to speak and is now stumped for somewhere to go. Now it’s up to you to make suggestions and provide an overview of the trip idea you have in mind.

My suggestion is this: determine what you want to sell as it relates to group travel. Identify your preferred supplier and arrange for a one off training course by flying yourself to their head office and work alongside their group department. You will learn the inside track, pick up neat ideas that are not commonly known, make lifelong contacts you can call on when you need to and all because you took the initiative, invested your own time and money to learn the HOW not just the what.

When you make a suggestion, it should come from your experience so that you are rock solid in terms of your information. Chances are you will also be creating the title of the tour, designing the itinerary and laying out the marketing materials for your contact to use when they promote your tour in-house to their membership.

There are also programs to be found at ASTA, The Travel Institute and CITC – plus your host agency / head office should also have their own group travel training programs to make available. 

Once again, if these skills are not yet within your talent range, ask your host head office and your preferred suppliers to advise you.

RECAP: 1. Decide on your preferred group activity, destination and supplier. 2. Let your local community know that you are the local, community group travel arranger. 3. Seek out local group contacts: church, associations, clubs… 4. Hold local group travel workshops. 5. Build a group client / prospect list. 6. Ask your clients to share your group travel information with their social media connections.

Going With What’s Selling If you do not have a niche you can start by selling what’s selling now. Let’s go for cruising as there is so much choice in terms of itinerary, style, price and amenities. A cruise can generally accommodate most groups The book lovers group – a cruise can be the answer. Business incentive group – same thing. Church group – they do have a chapel onboard. Artist group… ocean – seascapes would be the subject matter. You get the idea – cruising can take care of most groups. Land tours, packages, same thing. Discover what’s selling and sell it!

Host Agencies: Ask about SMP’s customized Selling Groups webinar for your members. Page 24

Supplier Relationships Veteran travel agents who have set up shop at home are usually well versed with how to court and build a supplier relationship. The niceties are standard fare. The one thing that cements a supplier relationship of any kind is sales. No sales and that preferred business relationship dwindles to an email contact and that’s about it. Here’s how you must engage and build your preferred supplier connections especially if you are new to selling travel.

1. First, you’ll need to understand what the terms of each relationship are. Your host agency is generally signing the agreements on your behalf. Your role is to live up to the agreements and sell your share.

serious about their business and one who understands business relationships. 6. When you do meet with your BDM – meet with a plan in mind and ask this question: “How can I sell more of your product? What works and what doesn’t?” In this way you’ll receive inside information as to what does actually work for marketing, selling and closing this supplier’s products.

2. Selling your share is the important part. No sales, and there’s no relationship, no agreement. Find out how much your share amounts to. How many bookings should you produce? What is your target for each and every preferred supplier?

7. If you cannot meet personally, meet online via Skype or make a phone call. Be well dressed and well groomed at all times. Working from home does not remove you from maintaining a business dress code.

3. Some targets are based on a national total. More and more agreements however are focusing on individual contribution. This prevents those who ride on the backs of others from earning a commission. To earn you have to sell.

8. Commit to every hour of training your suppliers offer. The knowledge will help you close more sales.

4. Many an agent expects the supplier’s BDM to make contact with them and to court them for their business. That’s not going to happen unless you are selling. The best way to connect with your BDM is for you to make contact with them first. If it is possible to meet at the supplier’s offices – you go there.

9. Never ask for a FAM trip until you’ve started selling. Your BDM has heard it all before. The real perks come when the sales build and as a professional in the making you would not want to freeload on the backs of others.

5. Your investment in time and money to meet with your BDM and perhaps the area manager will be well respected. You will be thought of as a player, as an agent

There is your 9-step program that will help you enhance your supplier relationships. Build the right reputation and the word will spread as suppliers do talk to each other.  Page 25

The About YOU Tab Is the About Us tab on your website one click away from a snoring-boring review of your entire life, pets, family and latest auto or is it an opportunity to read about a fascinating individual who is full of first-hand accounts, travel stories and exploits from around the world supported by been-there-took-that photographs and videos? Let’s make some changes right now. Many websites today come pre-packaged and more often than not are templates that either you or your host agency have bought into. All of which works as long as you can make one or two changes and here the focus is on making a change to the About Us tab. ABOUT ME! Doesn’t that sound wonderful? At last – it really is all about you. Or it can be. Should be. You might want to add your name, you might want to create a new term or phrase to replace the About Us text that every agent has. Doesn’t make too much sense having an About US tab when there is no “us” – only you. Ten ideas follow:

http://about.me/stevecrowhurst Once you create your simple and concise About.Me website you can add the link or embed code into you emails and social media marketing. Keep it pure business. Forget fido and friends unless your travel niche is pet travel. No family names either.

1. About (your first name) 2. Learn About (your first name) 3. Find out about Me here… 4. Find out about (your first name) here 5. Scoop! 6. My News 7. ABOUT 8. It’s ME! 9. Who I am 10. What I do

More About YOU You can go a promotional step further with your About Me information and instead of text, insert a video straight from your webcam. PowerPoint slides work too. Even a photo album gallery that tells your story through images and captions works. My suggestion would be video. Sit down, suitably attired, switch on your webcam or use your smartphone and start talking about yourself. Keep going even when you falter and edit later. A few minor errors present you as human and when you are passionate about what you do for a living, you may exude here and there. All good. Keeping YOU real can work wonders for your sales. 

ABOUT.ME Here’s a neat one page website where you can add a little more pizzazz to your About Me review and funnily enough that’s the name of the website. Check mine out here: Page 26

The Marketing Mind How often do you think about the level of your marketing skills, talents and creativity as compared to the typical B&M travel agent up the street? It’s a difficult comparison if you are new to the industry and the local B&M agency has been onsite for 30 years. You would be comparing yourself to the veteran owner, manager who after 30 years should be selling to long term existing clients and their referrals versus prospecting for new clients. Your marketing mind will develop as you go about your day-to-day business. The main thing however is to keep your mind open. Your eyes too. Ears. Even your taste buds and sense of smell can help. Come, let’s explore how you can develop your marketing mind. It’s somewhat easy to talk about marketing and the marketing mindset for me as I have a long travel trade history. Not that the duration has too much to do with it, more so it’s how I “see” things and attach words, ideas and actions to generate a marketing activity. It’s HOW you see things too and find something you can use as a marketing tool, or something to help you promote your travel niche.

Back to my McD’ meal and coffee. Here it is. I snapped a head on shot with my iPhone and at the same time thinking up how I might use the image or pair with a speech bubble. Here’s what I came up with

The Coffee Cup Lid Here’s a story: My computer was attacked this month with a virus. It was in the shop for 5 days and 7 antivirus programs did what they do. It’s now clean and I am back to work. During the visitations to the Future Shop Computer Services desk I went to McDonalds for a snack and a coffee. As I took the lid off the coffee and turned it over to lay it on my tray, I “saw” a face – eyes, nose, gaping mouth and it was even talking to me! Scary I know – but no computer for 5-days can do this to you. You know how it is. You know what I’m talking about. When you are home-based it’s you and your computer and the tech shop.

You could use this type of image to promote Gourmet Coffee Lover’s Tours of Europe, or South America, or Costa Rica, Kona too. OR, you might turn it into a comical use as mine is meant to be. The low price could refer to any travel booking / arrangement. You could use phrases such as: “To cap it off…” You get the idea. Here’s more do-it-now how-to. Page 27

their knowledge correctly, will always win out. A ten year veteran however is still a new kid on the block. A travel marketer with 20 or 30 years of travel under their belt would have amassed a huge knowledge base which is what we would term ‘marketing currency’. It’s this currency that travel trade veterans take to the bank.

The Marketing Mind-Set Everywhere you look you should be picking up new marketing ideas, images, quotes, words, phrases and colour schemes. The skill comes in looking, seeing, adjusting what you have “taken in” and applying it to your niche or your mass market selling activities.

Prior to how the message should be delivered and to whom, comes the decision making process on what to market based on current economic conditions, world events, weather systems, political change, currency fluctuation, projected destination stability and the overall flow of tourism.

You’ll be looking in retail shop windows for sales banner slogans. Reading new book titles for inspiration. Checking the images and graphics on the sides of panel vans as they drive past you. Reading t-shirt and ballcap slogans as they walk in your direction. Emails from suppliers also carry messages you can use. Tour titles found in your supplier’s brochures are worthwhile copying and filing away in your marketing folders. If it sounds like it’s never ending you are right on the money.

In the mix will come airline, airport, rail and hotel strikes; seasons that have moved this way or that; tsunamis and terrorist attacks, too. Some of these events are so current that everyone has knowledge of them and the outcomes that evolved. This is also marketing currency you can use.

The marketing mind set is all about using whatever you can, legally, to promote the type of travel you want to sell.

A travel agent with 20 years knowledge has probably visited anywhere from 10 to 75 countries and cruised numerous times. Perhaps taken a safari or climbed a well-known mountain, trekked Inca trails and so on. Again, all of their travel knowledge, their photographs, video if they shot it, the destination artifacts and information they gathered and very importantly the personal and business contacts they made – all of this is marketing currency and this knowledge changes how they think and react to present day events.

The mind of a travel marketer, or let’s say a professional, street savvy travel marketer is developed over time and operates differently from the mind of someone new to the trade or someone who holds a marketing degree but not in travel or tourism. Experience, hands on knowledge and a dedication to the history of your trade is what separates the highly evolved travel marketing mind from the rest.

To develop your marketing mind as a new homebased travel agent it’s time to travel, read, study and if possible take a tourism marketing course – or, seek out a travel marketing coach to study under. It’s very important you develop the right mindset to avoid ongoing frustration stemming from zero response to your dedicated marketing efforts. You have to know how to read the world and apply your marketing ideas. It takes practice at being very observant to what’s going on around you and applying that knowledge to your sales & marketing activities.

If you are new to selling travel and you are also new to working from home, then you have a steep uphill battle on your hands if you are attempting to out-market your competitors. If this is your situation then your job as of now, is to pay attention to what your host agency is offering you and buy in. Keyword: buy in – both in attitude, commitment and financially. A travel marketer who has 10 years of experience to draw on, as long they interpret Page 28

THE COFFEE LOVER’S TOUR OF COSTA RICA CONTINUES Let’s return to that McDonalds meal I was having when I snapped a quick shot of my coffee cup lid with my iPhone. I noticed my wife had removed the lid to her cup also and when I looked at it the lid was perspiring. Honest. It was. Well that’s what my marketing mind sold me. So I paired the two cups together as you see below, flipped the caps to sit inside the cups and took another photograph. Back to the home office to download the images. Moved one image into Photoshop Elements 11 (I’ve mentioned this program before) and then stretched the “mouth” of one. After that I used the Poster Edges filter to add a poster look. Thought about the speech bubbles and went with a combination of coffee-chat from Starbucks and Tim Hortons, spiced up the conversation just a little with provocative words such as peculator and blend (ooooh!) – and finally bingo-bango – the finished promo layout.

you’re nice

FYI: The Coffee Lover’s Tour idea still waits to be done. Think well-dressed, black tie / gown couples, touring the ultimate best coffee houses in Europe, and perhaps combined with theatre, music, dinner, events. Yours to take on and make it work. 

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The Media Release A media or press release or news release is a condensed article, written in a journalistic style. What a media release isn’t is a sales pitch, a resume or an advertisement. The purpose of the media release is to highlight what is interesting and newsworthy about you and your homebased business. You may use a media release to announce many things and a list is included. Here’s the main thing to make note of: very few of your competitors make use of media releases yet it is one of the best marketing tools for home-based travel agents. Press releases do work, but not always on your time table.

The typical layout for a media / press release is shown here:

Whatever you choose to be the topic for your story, remember your media release must always tell the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Information:  Contact Person  Agency Name  Telephone Number  Fax Number  Email Address  Web site address

Is Your Story Newsworthy? The primary purpose of your media/press release is to deliver a newsworthy story about yourself that the reader will find interesting. I know many travel agents who believe their press releases will never get into print or be posted. The difference is the story, the information it delivers and how well it is written.

Headline

The heading: For Immediate Release should be followed by a date if the news you are releasing discusses an event in the future.

Being Newsworthy The whole point about writing and submitting media releases and sharing your news with the rest of the world is this – you are trying to make yourself or your big travel idea, newsworthy. That is the key to having your media / press / news release printed. It must be worthy of being printed. Repeat after me: “It’s got to be NEWSWORTHY…”

What’s YOUR Story? You must determine the subject and point of your story. It could be about a special tour, an agency event or something like an airline fuel surcharge and your thoughts on how this will affect the travel industry. After you determine the story you will be able to choose an eye catching headline such as: Local Travel Agency Owner Advises YOU to Fly NOW!

Story Ideas Here are twenty-nine travel related story ideas / topics for you to think about.

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1. How you became a well-travelled, niche market specialist. 2. You receive a sales award and why. 3. Relocation of your agency to a home-office and the benefit to local customers. 4. A new airline route from your city. 5. You need 500 people to fill in a Dream Trip survey. 6. A special cruise event for consumers. 7. Make an analysis or prediction. 8. Celebrate an event located somewhere else in the world. 9. Issue a summary of did-you-know facts about a destination. 10. Write about a vacation or FAM trip experience. 11. Present an award to your most travelled client. 12. Hold a contest – write about the event and the winner. 13. Stage a specialty travel trade show. 14. Take a stand on a travel related issue. 15. Organize a unique tour. 16. Discuss your own passion for travel. 17. Write about home-based opportunities with your host agency. 18. Travel insurance is always of interest to the travelling public. 19. Promote a speech you intend to give. 20. Tell the corporate world you are available to speak at their conference or meeting on the subject of service fees / travel management. 21. Giveaways, discounts and free trips. 22. New brochures – they are free, full of exciting destinations. 23. Start a cruise club, an adventure club. 24. Write a 5 -10 page e-Book about cruising, hiking, best of this or that and tell the world your eBooks are available for download from your website. 25. New travel gadgets. 26. Present numbers, facts and stats about travel to your niche destination. 27. Issue great recipes from the Caribbean, France and Asia. 28. Tie travel to best-selling novels/movies. 29. Write about your fantastic service.

Sources for Story Ideas Many destination / tourism websites offer ideas to write about. Generally they are targeting the travel trade media, however they exist for you too. You can and should make direct contact with tourism offices and ask for assistance. Most often they have ready-to send press releases and all you need to do is add your logo. Media - Press Release Costs Media and press releases are relatively inexpensive to prepare and distribute. Typically it will be you or a member of your host agency head office staff that will be writing, preparing and distributing the press release. Research shows that most news releases generate a higher return than even high powered ad campaigns. Free Publicity You will distribute your media release to the local, national and international media depending upon your story and the readership you intend to write for. When members of the news media revue your press release and decide to publish it, free publicity is generated. You can and should distribute your press release via email to your own customers. If your story is compelling and your clients send it viral on your behalf then you are doing something right. The News Story Format Your media, press, news release must be a persuasive communication piece within the framework of a traditional news story format. Editors will quickly bypass your press release if it contains nonsense such as “Number ONE in the world!” when you are only doing $20,000 in sales (not revenue).

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MEDIA PRESS RELEASE FROM… For Immediate release as of (date)

Your website must also support your written claims. This is where editors will check their information if they want / need additional information. If your website lacks credibility then your media release will never be printed.

Date: 00/00/000 Contact: Mr. Agency Owner Agency Name: ABC Travel & Tours Telephone Number: 000-00-000-0000 Fax Number: 000-00-000-0000 Email Address: owner@abctravel.com Web site address: www.abctravel.com

The Headline: In about ten words -- or less – you need to grab the attention of the editor. The headline should summarize the information in the press release, but in a way that is exciting and dynamic. It must stand out from the many releases an editor receives each day.

Families Love Adventure Travel Imagine families now want to climb mountains together. Yes it’s true! It seems that Mr and Mrs and their children and even Granddad and Granma want to experience grand adventures together.

Opening Paragraph: Your first paragraph is critical. This paragraph must summarize your press release, with the following paragraphs providing the detail. The opening paragraph must also contain the “hook”: the one thing that will get the travelling consumer interested in reading more. The “hook” (the major benefit) has to be relevant to your audience which means a cheaper way to travel, a new destination, a chance to be first, enter to win competitions and freebies. One-of-a-kind trips also pull.

A report from (source) states that over 60% of responses to the survey said an adventure trip was their dream trip and they wanted to share the experience with their family. Local travel agency owner, Ms. (name) of ABC Travel said, “It’s true, we receive many requests for this type of vacation. Perhaps people are moving away from cruising and looking for something new.” So what do these families want to do first? Well it seems climbing a mountain is first, white water kayaking is second and hiking through forests is third.

The Body: Using a strategy called the inverted pyramid, the body of the press release should be written with the most important information first. This inverted pyramid technique is used so that if editors need to cut the story to fit space constraints, they can cut from the end without losing critical information.

For more information please contact:

Three important steps: 1. Make sure your press release is published on your website and blogs.

The Closing Paragraph: Repeat the critical agency contact information, including your name, phone number, email address.

2. Create an online press pack or media kit that any editor can review or download. Include a video.

Look EVERYWHERE for story ideas.

3. Practice what you will say should an editor or reporter call you as they follow up on your press release. It’s time to write!  Page 32

The Travel Club/Group The idea of starting a travel club in the local community is an idea that often pops up and it is a great idea, too. There are challenges however and if you are not aware of them, you could lose a ton of money not to mention your reputation. Here’s a primer on how you might create your own travel club and make it work.

Starting a travel club is easy as long as you comply with local laws. That means you hire a lawyer specializing in travel law to investigate the rules and regulations for the area, region, state, country where you live. It might be a quick decision if the laws are too tough to comply with. In some locations you’d be filing a 40 page document and that is way beyond what you want and need to wrestle with as a home-based entity.

can also attend a ready-made club such as the local golf club, or photography club and sell them on using you as their club’s travel organizer. If you have a specific travel passion, then attract like-minded people. Your travel group versus club is about to form. As more people join in you’ll have the pleasure of announcing “our next trip will be to…” – plus you can also allow your group to decide where they want to go next.

You can however invite people in your area to attend a function where you announce group rates for 20, 30, 40 people travelling together to the same destination etc. You

Official travel clubs take time to administer. Invest that time into building groups from ready-made clubs and avoid the hassles and possible litigation if things go awry.  Page 33

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Reprinted with kind permission from Canadian Traveller

That’s NOT a Niche! To Niche or not to Niche, this is the question. In fact there is no challenge to investing your time and effort to sell into a niche of your choice - as long as it is a niche. The “niche” distinction is very important to your success. Many niche markets bantered around in the trade papers are not niches – they are types of vacation. A niche, as the word is applied to the travel trade, is one segment of a specific vacation type. You’ll need to truly identify your niche otherwise you’ll be back to selling mass market and competing on price once again.

Cruise or cruising is well known as a niche market which is not exactly a true statement. Cruising is a type of vacation. A niche within the cruise vacation type would be luxury cruises, or river cruises as shown on the chart below extracted from the recent Travelweek Ultimate Travel Survey.

and every style of hotel that once again can offer you a niche to take on as your own. Once you understand what a niche actually is then you will be able to select the one you have a passion for and take it to market. You will do very well in selling your niche as most other travel agents are focused on the mass market products and the usual destinations. Nothing wrong with that as there is money to be made in both. As a home-based seller of travel you too can and should sell the typical travel arrangements that your clients would like you to book for them. You might still want to sell only one type of vacation which might be cruising and then promote your niche under that heading. Here’s how you might promote your cruise focus and your niche at the same time.

There are in fact hundreds of niche markets and niche activities that form the base for a niche market. There are as many niche destinations as there are countries that are divided by the number of states, territories, provinces, counties, areas and regions that are each offering you a niche. Then we have every city on the planet, every hiking trail

CRUISE VACATION EXPERTS Specializing in Greek Island Cruises Take a hard look at how you promote your niche and make sure you and your niche stand out from the mass market products being sold around you. 

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Niche: Women Only As we know, women working in the travel industry constitute about 80-85% of the workforce and if you just happen to be female and looking for a niche to get your teeth into, then serving up new women only adventures of any kind might be the niche for you. I use the word ‘adventures’ however it could be replaced with vacations, trips, holidays, tours and then again anything else you could add as the type of trip or vacation. You could have shopping trips, fishing trips, golfing, hiking and all arranged around the needs of your female clients. The art of arranging trips for women-only are probably best left to female travel agents, but then I have to say, not so! Back in the mid-1970s I opened a women’s only department in my travel agency called WOMANS WORLD Travel. See below for what would now be considered horrendous ad layouts. Back then it was clip art that you actually cut out, and stuck to the layout. That went off to the newspaper and they shot it and printed it. Today we are supremely spoiled when it comes to all things marketing related.

So I know about women only travel since the 70’s ‘til now and believe that it’s a niche full of niches for female agents to explore.

only the past, but also present day women explorers too. You should, as with any niche, know the history and the roots of what you are selling.

Because you are female you will identify with certain needs, wants and amenities that your female niche clients desire when they travel. You still have to ask the hard questions and decipher what their personal requests are.

You can research online as always and on the next page I shall introduce you to a couple of books and a terrific YouTube video that spells it out about those that went before you carved a path for the women who follow. They were courageous women and travelled when it was tough for men to do so. Their stories are mesmerizing.

It is also a very good idea to explore the history of women who have travelled in the past and written about their adventures. Not Page 36

The Contributions of Female Explorers - Courtney Stephens

Here a strange title until you read into the book - They Went Whistling.

truly grand scale: they traveled the world, commanded pirate ships, spied on the enemy, established foreign countries, scaled 19,000-foot passes, and lobbied to change the Constitution.

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the review: Throughout history there have been women, endowed with curiosity and abundant spirit, who stepped out of the cave, cast off the shackles of expectation, and struck out for new territory. In this ode to bold, brash, and sometimes just plain dangerous women, Barbara Holland reanimates those rebels who defied convention and challenged authority on a

This illustrated edition of "The Virago Book of Women Travellers" captures 300 years of wanderlust. Some of the women are observers of the world in which they wander and others are more active. Often they are storytellers, weaving tales about the people Page 37

they encounter. Whether it is curiosity about the world or escape from personal tragedy, these women approached their journeys with wit, intelligence, compassion and empathy for the lives of others.

From experience let me tell you PINK is out! Well not always but for most women in the adventure category it’s not a fit unless tied to supporting breast cancer initiatives. So do your due diligence on your colour schemes when you build your website.

Today there are many women-only travel websites and adventure is a keyword in their business names. I Googled the search terms women only travel adventures and Wild Women Adventures looked great. Here’s their home page.

How To Start: Call a meeting of your most pleasant female customers and tell them your plans, and ask for their input as to where “WE” should go for our FIRST trip. This meeting will set the scene, and you will have your initial membership right there in the room. Generally when a group decides where “WE” are going, they go. Next: establish your brand, your logo and your branded clothing. The group MUST wear the ball cap or the t-shirt – not only for easy recognition of each other in a crowd but to cement the group as travelling companions. Yes, it also promotes your business. Equipment: Along with your branded clothing comes additional must have equipment and that includes a whistle, emergency and GPS apps downloaded to smart phones, and GOGIRL – I’ll let you explore this very useful travelling companion. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting squat toilets you’ll know this is a needed piece of kit.

The concept of women only if you are going to do it right, means you accept all women of all ages, races, creeds, religions and life style – subject to the level of adventure and some destinations. Moving away from the adventure vacation then you can deliver on shopping, gambling, show tours, sports, keep fit, reading groups, historical and working on archeological digs around the world. There’s volunteering vacations too and hundreds more. You may wish to focus on one age group – you might team up Grandmas and their Granddaughters. Then there’s the generational tour with daughter, her mum and her mum heading off somewhere.

That’s it for now. There’s much to be done in the women-only niche, so over to you. Make me proud.  Page 38

Book Sales and More Having just returned from a book sale it came to mind to recommend the practice to you, too. The book sale I attended laid out thousands of books and at a cost of $3 for hardcover and large books. The travel section sported hundreds of titles and when you attend such a book sale, be sure to look for those glorious coffee table sized books, especially the books that support your travel passion.

I arrived home with ten books, five where related to art and the other five where travel books. The titles of the books were: My Voyage Around The World - the memoirs of a 16th century explorer called Francesco Carletti; the history of the Atlantic express liners – The Only Way to Cross; a 1937 publication The Nile by the famous Emil Ludwig – with a map glued into the back inside cover and finally a book by Giles Milton titled Big Chief Elizabeth – exploration in Elizabethan times.

and allow you to sell as if you were there, when it happened. This knowledge opens up new opportunities for you as you might be the only travel agent in the area that knows exactly where an event took place. You have an edge. You can now contact your clients with a fascinating itinerary and tease them with your new knowledge.

These books are treasures in terms of the direct knowledge you gain. They tell the story of what it was like “then” and many of those places back then are still, today, as they were. Yes you can touch 16th century doorways and walls and head stones and you can actually stand on the very spot where certain events took place. You may never have known about them, unless you read it in history. Old books help you sell travel today. They deliver the foundation you need

Many of the coffee table books to be found at Barnes & Noble, or Indigo-Chapters sell for twenty bucks and many times present to you complete itineraries. All you need is a group of 30 and you can plan the most fabulous customized trip that your clients have ever had the pleasure of joining. So read ‘em and reap the benefits, too!  Page 39

Webcam Shoots Are you using your webcam as a marketing tool? You could and you should. Not only can it beam you out to the online masses, it can also serve as a quick-use tool to snap “I need it now” images. Here’s a couple of ideas you can try. Turn on your webcam and make sure you have the image size cranked up to high. My webcam shoots 10mp images. Be warned, some webcams that are built into your laptop are very poor when it comes to image quality. You might want to invest in a standalone high end webcam if your built in is not doing the job. Okay – back to the project.

The Sign Shot Back in front of the webcam you go. Hold up a blank card or 8½ x 11 sized piece of paper. Shoot one image with you holding the card/paper in landscape style and another image holding the card/paper in portrait style. Next: you can use the image ‘as is’ or as you can see below, I have used Snag It to crop the image.

The Latest Brochure Shot Pick up the latest brochure you would like to promote. Could be a supplier brochure featuring packaged holidays over the festive season, a luxury cruise brochure or a destination guide with a glorious cover. The image below shows me holding a hard copy of the premier issue of this magazine. So put yourself in my chair, holding the brochure of choice and then “click!” Job done. Browse to the folder where the webcam images reside, right click, copy and paste to your blog, your newsletter, your email, your social sites and your website.

Next: Import your image into Word and then open a text box over the blank card space and type in your call to action. Angle the text box just a tad. Using SnagIt… capture the current image and save it as either a JPEG or PNG or both and you are finished. You can reuse the blank sign image for many more additional announcements.

When you use your webcam for this purpose, always check what will be seen in the background and make changes as needed. Dress appropriately for the shoot. Match your attire to what you are promoting. If in doubt, keep it businesslike. Over to you. ACTION! Print. Engage. Sell!

Next step is to add a caption or add a sales script around your image. Page 40

Video Promotions

Video engages more senses than text – or it seems that way! Sitting and watching, listening, thinking, colour, action, sound, music… sunsets, cruise ships… you know what I’m talking about. It’s all right there on the screen versus reading a blog or newsletter which is static and the imagineering, as Mr. Disney would say, is in the mind of the reader. Video is working its way to the top as a marketing tool for travel agents and you should know how to blend it into your plan. Most travel agents can make excellent use of video as a sales tool and direct their clients to a self-made YouTube video, by sending them a link. Very simple. The word ‘simple’ needs to be qualified. It’s easy enough if you take the time to practice and invest in the right kit.

Just by reading this magazine you will know that I have used video to say hi, to promote myself, promote the magazine, to offer a quick-clip training session and to promote BBC’s superb video series called Human Planet. Here’s six ideas for how you might use your video camera and online tools.

Copying and embedding YouTube videos and supplier videos into and on to your own website also works. Even better if you have an account with YouTube and can direct your client to your very own YouTube channel where your supplier’s videos now reside.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The “Hi How Are You?” Video The Just Back From Overseas Video The Posted to Blog Video The Announcement Video The Coming Event Video The Deal Video

Tips and Techniques Make sure your video camera can shoot HD 1080. You want the best. Be sure to use a tripod. Make sure background horizons are level. Sit on the corner of your desk to present. Walk around your office. Use your hands, add gestures. Eyeball the camera lens. Head outdoors.

Sounds pretty easy as I say and it’s not that difficult as long as you pay attention to what you are clicking on and where you are saving each video. When you establish a YouTube account you’ll want to verify it, then you can upload longer videos and also change the thumbnail image to an image you prefer to represent your video. If you do not do this, then the YouTube editor will choose an image from within the video and display that as the main image which could be you caught in mid-facial adjustment with your mouth open and your eyes closed, looking somewhat drunk out of your skull! Not the best way to intro yourself and or your video.

The video shown here was created by Allan Jenkins of TravelOnly who recently moved to Scotland. Allan is now set up in Scotland to book custom FITs just for you. Allan is home based. He listens. He learns. He does. It’s always a pleasure to advise him because he follows through. Watch Allan’s video. Connect with him. Use him for your FIT client’s heading his way. Page 41

Training Page Topic: Introducing you to MORE Human Planet Videos Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m back with two more BBC Human Planet videos. One taking you into the jungles and to view massive trees, the other video shows 3,000 reindeer being herded to greener pastures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but they must swim to it. Travelling the world to view old, ancient, tall and massive trees happens to be a niche market as does witnessing events such as animal migrations. These two videos will give you enough information to kick start your imagination in either direction. If you like adventure travel, then know that most Baby Boomers are looking for something different to do. Send your clients YouTube links to videos like these and follow up with a consumer presentation.

Below, 3,000 reindeer make a crossing to pastureâ&#x20AC;Ś

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Training Page Topic: Staying on Top of Everyday News with GOOGLE ALERTS If you have not yet created a GOOGLE ALERT now is the time and here’s a quick clip video to show you how. Google Alerts, once you have created them will deliver the news you need on the topic and topics of your choosing to your inbox in accordance with the schedule you choose. You can even create an alert for your name, your competition, suppliers and your host agency name too. This is just an excellent way to stay in touch with your industry and the world.

You know the warning “Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.” And after you create one or many Alerts, you will definitely get what you ask for. So don’t get carried away. Think hard about the intelligence you would like to receive each day and stick to the main topics. Creating an Alert for your own name and your agency name is very important. Google will pick up and send to you what’s being said about you online. The return results could be your own blog postings, it might be a reprint of a press release you sent out months ago, it might be something someone else wrote about you in a blog or posted online to a social network. Its information you need to know. 

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Training Page Topic: Mass Market to Niche Market Are you ready to leave mass market travel and sell a niche travel product that is your passion and the reason you entered the travel industry in the first place? So often when someone joins the travel industry they join with a purpose and then somewhere along the line as sales do not happen as fast as they should they deviate to mass market products. Perhaps if this has happened to you, this Quick Clip Training Video will help you get back on the niche track.

The content, delivered and narrated over a few slides quickly covers off key points around selling beyond mass market products. Sure you may need to sell a few mass market packages in order to generate income, however somewhere along the line youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll need to make a decision and focus on your more profitable niche.

This program is available as a 60 minute webinar so be sure to inquire if you would like to have it presented to you and your hosted colleagues.

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Prospecting From Home and HOW to do it Guest article by Mike Foster We may well live in a virtual world dominated by huge media and giant Internet-based companies with global reach, but the heart of a sale still comes down to an interaction between people. Some would argue that because of today’s virtual world, personal interaction is even more valued than ever before – but then that depends on the generation you are selling to. To be as successful as you can be in today’s world, you must build relationships and you must become a trusted advisor to the person who is confused and overwhelmed by the travel offerings they are continually bombarded with. It’s tough enough for travel agents to stay on top of it all – just think what the layperson goes through. There are travel prospects all around you, and they are looking for good agents. Do both yourself and those prospects a favour – go find them, introduce yourself to them, and build a relationship. Easy, right?

efficiency, planning, and managing those resources. If you have had limited experience with networking and prospecting, you should invest the time it takes to become accomplished at both. There are many terrific courses, books, and webinars available to you. In fact, some of the very best are offered by Steve Crowhurst, founder of IC Travel Agent (visit ic-travelagent.com for more information).

That may be an over-simplification, but by breaking the prospecting process into smaller manageable pieces, it really does become easier – but there are no short-cuts to the work.

So, let’s get started! As with any exercise that includes hitting a target, to use the parlance of a shooting range, we must ready, aim, fire.

Prospecting when you are an independent contractor also means working with limited resources - both time and money. The key is Ready - Plan your schedule and your resources.  How much time do you have to devote to prospecting  How much money do you have to devote to prospecting  Schedule, and budget  Set objectives/goals  Prepare a way to measure level of success

Aim – find your target, and focus in on it. Your next focus should be on defining your goals. Who are you trying to prospect, and how do you plan to reach your goals?  Who is your target prospect?  What are their Characteristics? (demographics … age, location, etc .. come up with as many as you can)  Where can you reach them?  How will you reach them?  What data to collect?  How to collect and save it? Building a data base from your information. Page 45



What to do with the data base? Marketing/communicating/developing relationships/generating additional prospects.



Fire – with your target in your sights, pull the trigger! Next, enter the never-ending stage of executing your prospecting plan. Follow your plan, allocate your resources, measure your success, re-aim, but most of all – get started, pull the trigger. There are as many ways to execute your plan as one’s imagination can think up, but they all start with you getting out there and getting out there has never been easier to do. Using what you’ve learned from the ready and aim sections, consider the following for your Firing plan.     



clients and ask them to bring their friends. Work with other agent(s), share both costs and work load – two heads are always better than one.

As you would, after a session of target practice, you must, after firing, take a closer look at the target itself. Did you hit it? How many bulls-eyes? Are you missing the bullseye, and if so, by how much? Could you make minor adjustments and begin to more-regularly hit the bulls-eye, or are you completely off-target? Make those required adjustments, re-aim, and re-fire. Or, go back to the start and get “ready” again for a new target!

Social media including a Blog Partnerships and relationships. Become a speaker for Probus, Rotary or other clubs: church, seniors or any club that is tied to your niche or interest. Join a networking club, special interest club, service club, church club, sports club, etc. Keyword: join! Advertise: strategic and focussed advertising can be inexpensive and effective if planned in advance and creatively managed. Ask existing clients for referrals: happy clients are the most cost-effective way to prospect. Consider using an incentive, discount or bonus to attract more referrals. Above all - ask! Work with a supplier to put on a consumer evening for your existing

The point is, you can effectively prospect from home, no matter what your personal business goals are. Follow the plan you prepared and remember to be patient, and to follow up. Statistics tell us that even with a terrific database of prospects, sales don’t normally happen immediately. Fully 80% of sales are made after the fourth contact. Top salespeople know that the first four attempts tend to be warm-ups, and that the real success comes after the fourth contact. The key is to get started. Your business is only as strong as your list of active clients who continually purchase their travel from you. The building of your list is best done through effective prospecting. Are you ready?

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What’s Selling Today? Here’s how you can stay up to date on which destination is selling today, also vacation types. I’m sure you’re paying attention to what your suppliers send you each and every day by email and also reading those surveys that are conducted by various associations and suppliers. If you are, that’s good. By reading those emails, newsletters and surveys you’ll be one step ahead, however, there’s another step and this one keeps you current. It’s very easy to do. You simply go online to view the websites of the major, nationwide, consumer travel magazines and then check out the up-coming editorial in your local to national newspapers. Within one hour of surfing let’s say the top five magazines and reading their editorial lists you will know what’s being pitched and more importantly, what your clients are about to read.

Your suppliers are pitching directly to you via trade magazines what they want you to sell. The consumer magazines and newspaper travel sections are pushing what their travel editors and columnists are writing about. Your client is also catching a few ads posted by your suppliers in those same consumer magazines and newspaper travel sections. Your clients have been “softened” and they are somewhat “presold”. This is where you come in with all apps and ads blazing!

Here’s an idea as to what you might email, send out in a newsletter or create using a ready-made template. The focus is on the words: have you read. The reader is led to your “We sell them all!” line. You deliver a dreamy image with a slogan. Finally you offer a call to action such as the call, click or come visit, a BOOK NOW in caps, a call now for the special deal, or speak directly with (your name) comment listing your direct line. This idea works for local newspapers too after you’ve checked the planned travel / destination editorial you can create your ad, newsletter, email etc., in advance. Better start reading! There are new and exciting places coming in 2014 to a magazine near you and your clients will be reading about them. 

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LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TALK ABOUT

TRAINING!

Steve Crowhurst, CTC Speaker & Trainer to the Global Travel & Tourism Industry

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Visit the IC Website Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all yours! The website is a living website which means it will continue to grow as new homebased selling ideas, tips, tools and techniques are added each month. Be sure to visit and sign up for anything and everything.

Participate and tell us what you would like access to on the IC Travel Agent website. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had recent successes and you are willing to share, then send in and overview of what you did, how it worked and the dollars generated.

www.ic-travelagent.com

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