What Travel Agencies Can Learn From Other Professions
Developing a marketing mindset means becoming a student of marketing. All about us are examples of both good and bad marketing. A travel professional with a strong marketing mindset will take note of what works and what doesn't. I want to give several examples of businesses I admire and some other service professions to reveal the way a marketing mindset interacts with the many opportunities we all have to derive lessons from the world around us.
What Travel Professionals Can Learn from Waiters
There are loads of lessons to be gained by watching a professional waiter. In many ways, the profession of being a server in a dining establishment is especially instructive. Not only do most of us have frequent exposure to waiters, but many of us have actually been servers.
Who does not enjoy a truly great waiter? It does not matter if the meal is in a breakfast diner or a fine restaurant, a great waiter improves the experience. Equally true, a bad waiter can ruin the best of food. Here’s what I see as the quality that makes a great waiter great: intuition and timing. A great waiter certainly knows the menu, can recommend a wine, and does so confidently. But more importantly, a great waiter knows how to size up the people at a table and make appropriately timed and empathetic connections with the diners. Some people want to chat, others do not. Some want the waiter to lavish attention on them, others basically want to be left alone. However, everyone wants each course brought at exactly the right time. A great waiter has an impeccable sense of timing. The moment the salads are finished the next course appears. The coffee is filled at exactly the right moment. The great waiter expertly anticipates the needs of the table and is there to meet them. I think there is something teachable here. What quality is it that allows for the remarkable ability to get inside another person’s head? Empathy is the ability to sense what another is likely to be thinking and feeling. By developing a sense of empathy, you create a bridge between yourself and others. Great travel consultants are intuitive and empathetic. They know how to anticipate the needs of their clients, even when the clients may be unaware of the needs. A great travel consultant can |
size up the demeanor and temperament of the client and adjust their bedside manner appropriately. One client is all business and just wants the facts. Another is a warm, people person and wants to talk about the travel “experience”. A good travel consultant adapts to either client and meets those needs. Mirroring the demeanor of the client is a way of making the client feel more comfortable with the experience of meeting with the travel consultant. Authentically mirroring another person while in social or business interaction demonstrates the empathy that is so important to establishing a rapport.
By the way, there’s one other thing I want to say about wait staff. Some time ago I read an article by a Fortune 500 CEO in which he made a very interesting statement: “A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person.” So in addition to what we might learn from waiters, perhaps there is something to be learned by watching diners as well.
By the way, there’s one other thing I want to say about wait staff. Some time ago I read an article by a Fortune 500 CEO in which he made a very interesting statement: “A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person.” So in addition to what we might learn from waiters, perhaps there is something to be learned by watching diners as well.
What Travel Agents Can Learn From Yoga Studios
I am a yoga convert. Let me first tell you my over 60-year old body so strenuously objects to yoga at times I resemble a trauma victim more than a practitioner. I know I am making progress by the simple fact fewer people at each session ask me the question “Are you OK?” But your local yoga studio has something to teach travel agents perhaps we should examine.
Why has a discipline imported from India had the tremendous impact yoga has made on our own culture? I think it is because Yoga stresses the value of practice to both body and soul. Yes, stretching is great exercise. By performing yoga on a regular basis, the dedicated student becomes more limber, less susceptible to muscle strains and to the perils of everyday movements. By diligently practicing yoga, a student can gain strength, flexibility and can even lose weight. But there is more. People who practice yoga report a general feeling of well-being, of a mind-body connection not associated with other physical exertions. The instructors in every class I have attended have spent some time devoted to relaxation, calm, and mental health. |
Yoga studios correctly market their product as more than a physical exercise. They present the wholistic value of yoga, quietly pressing the importance of the practice to both physical and mental wellness. Yoga studios have surrounded their product and practice with a premium attitude, generally acknowledged and accepted by the public.
Likewise, travel is more than transportation from one geographical location to another. As physical as the act of travel might be, there is a soulful aspect to it as well, something reflected in our history as explorers, pilgrims and adventurers. We see our visage reflected in the aspect of other cultures, in the reverberations of our ancestry where ever we travel.
Once in an interview, a native of Zanzibar told me that Africa was not a destination, it was a point of origin. My perception of travel was forever changed.
Yoga teaches a mind-body connection. Travel teaches a mind-body-soul connection. Kurt Vonnegut once said that “Unexpected travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.“ Travel is not just about relaxation, not just about getting away from the office or seeing a new place. Travel is for the body and the soul, as critical to well-being as diet and exercise. Travel is vitally important to our well-being, to our education, to our humanity.
Communicate that importance to your clients and you will be a true master of travel-yoga.
Likewise, travel is more than transportation from one geographical location to another. As physical as the act of travel might be, there is a soulful aspect to it as well, something reflected in our history as explorers, pilgrims and adventurers. We see our visage reflected in the aspect of other cultures, in the reverberations of our ancestry where ever we travel.
Once in an interview, a native of Zanzibar told me that Africa was not a destination, it was a point of origin. My perception of travel was forever changed.
Yoga teaches a mind-body connection. Travel teaches a mind-body-soul connection. Kurt Vonnegut once said that “Unexpected travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.“ Travel is not just about relaxation, not just about getting away from the office or seeing a new place. Travel is for the body and the soul, as critical to well-being as diet and exercise. Travel is vitally important to our well-being, to our education, to our humanity.
Communicate that importance to your clients and you will be a true master of travel-yoga.
What Travel Professionals Can Learn from Barbers
Hairdressers. Stylists. Barbers. Beauticians. The profession goes by many names, but chances are pretty good that you have one in your circle of acquaintances. As I was once told by a wise woman, only crazy people cut their own hair. Certainly my own experience with stylists indicates some important qualities:
There are lessons in each of these points for all travel consultants. Yet, there is one aspect of going to my barber that has been true of every “stylist” I have ever had since I can remember, maybe since I was six years old: they know how to socialize. Let’s never forget this important lesson. The ability to speak with anybody, not about travel but about anything, is so vitally important to a business person. My barber doesn’t tell me much about himself – he asks about me. How is my family and where am I traveling and am I doing anything interesting this week. Moreover, here in Florida’s capital, he knows the inside scoop on politics. He never betrays his sources (other clients, I’m sure) but is in tune with the important issues of the city and the state. He knows how to involve himself without seeming |
pushy or intrusive. He has a point of view, but never seems partisan; rather, he seems well reasoned and considered. He speaks not only about what is good for him, but what is good for “us” as Americans, as people. That is both art and skill, and unfortunately, becoming ever so rare.
Travel industry friend, Nolan Burris, has a great marketing sermon on social media where he reminds everyone that the first principle is socializing. Be friendly. Talk about things. Involve yourself. Have fun. My barber does all these things, with sharp instruments in his hands. It’s not a hard lesson, but it’s one we sometimes fail to bear out. Your clients want to know who you are and what you do, and they want to know you have a real interest in their lives. Learn to socialize with them.
Travel industry friend, Nolan Burris, has a great marketing sermon on social media where he reminds everyone that the first principle is socializing. Be friendly. Talk about things. Involve yourself. Have fun. My barber does all these things, with sharp instruments in his hands. It’s not a hard lesson, but it’s one we sometimes fail to bear out. Your clients want to know who you are and what you do, and they want to know you have a real interest in their lives. Learn to socialize with them.
What Travel Agents Can Learn From Car Dealers
Most of us have had the experience of purchasing an automobile from a car dealership. There are certainly many, many aspects of the experience that are good examples of bad examples for anyone seeking to learn something about sales. Too often, the “come-on” is too strong and the sales person is inauthentic. What is most obvious, sadly, is that the sales person on a car lot is too often all about the transaction and your needs are secondary.
But... Car dealers know how to get you to relate to their product, to find your emotional connection to the vehicle. Let’s go for a test drive. Americans have a love affair with cars, with the idea of the automobile. Beyond their function of getting us from one place to another, cars are about freedom, independence, and status. We have to find the automobile that is “right” for us and fits the outline of our persona. Car dealers don’t create the emotion, but they certainly are masters of exploiting it. Unfortunately, they too often do so in such a way as to call into question their authenticity. |
So what can we learn from the car dealer and perhaps do better?
Americans and Canadians love the idea of travel. We in the new world are a breed of explorers, pilgrims and travelers. The same emotional involvement is there. The authentic thing to do is to involve the customer for their own sake, to provide a pathway for their own emotional connections with travel to come to the fore.
The idea of appealing to someone’s emotions to effect a financial transaction can go awry if the motivation for the transaction is not client-centric. The travel consultant’s goal must be to encourage the client to travel – if indeed that is what the client wants to do. In the face of all of the rational, intellectual reasons not to travel, the travel consultant is a coach, reminding the client of the value of travel to a lifetime of experiences and even to well-being.
Likewise, a good travel consultant will encourage the client to engage in the romance of travel at a visionary level. So much of the value of travel is tied up at an emotional nexus in the client. The opportunity to meet new people, to experience new things, to encounter new cultures. At a purely intellectual level, the client will be able to list a dozen different reasons NOT to travel. There are plenty of other interests competing for those same travel dollars. If the travel consultant truly believes in the life-altering value of travel, the time spent engaging the client’s imagination will be well spent.
Begin by fully understanding the client’s motivations for travel. What does the client’s travel history say about their reasons for travel? What does the client like to do in general? What are their hobbies? With regard to this particular trip, what is the motivation for travel? How does this destination, this trip, tie into the client’s needs and desires? Without knowing these elements of the client’s psyche, the travel agent will be operating without a full set of criteria with which to engage the client.
Too often, we make a presentation and then ask the client the wrong question: “What do you think?” Instead, ask the client a more important question “How do you feel?” It is the feeling function we are hoping to engage as the client’s travel coach. Give the client ownership of the trip by relating it back to their needs and desires. Help them to imagine themselves on the streets of Stonetown in Zanzibar wondering in a maze of alleys and shops, or on the beaches of Corfu swimming in the bluest and warmest of water. Describe to them the experience of walking by the Seine on a warm night in Paris or staying in the castles of Ireland. Tell them about their accommodations, the excitement, the dining and the experience. Put them in the destination.
If you can tell that story well, if you can engage your clients' emotional psyche, more of them will be traveling this year.
Americans and Canadians love the idea of travel. We in the new world are a breed of explorers, pilgrims and travelers. The same emotional involvement is there. The authentic thing to do is to involve the customer for their own sake, to provide a pathway for their own emotional connections with travel to come to the fore.
The idea of appealing to someone’s emotions to effect a financial transaction can go awry if the motivation for the transaction is not client-centric. The travel consultant’s goal must be to encourage the client to travel – if indeed that is what the client wants to do. In the face of all of the rational, intellectual reasons not to travel, the travel consultant is a coach, reminding the client of the value of travel to a lifetime of experiences and even to well-being.
Likewise, a good travel consultant will encourage the client to engage in the romance of travel at a visionary level. So much of the value of travel is tied up at an emotional nexus in the client. The opportunity to meet new people, to experience new things, to encounter new cultures. At a purely intellectual level, the client will be able to list a dozen different reasons NOT to travel. There are plenty of other interests competing for those same travel dollars. If the travel consultant truly believes in the life-altering value of travel, the time spent engaging the client’s imagination will be well spent.
Begin by fully understanding the client’s motivations for travel. What does the client’s travel history say about their reasons for travel? What does the client like to do in general? What are their hobbies? With regard to this particular trip, what is the motivation for travel? How does this destination, this trip, tie into the client’s needs and desires? Without knowing these elements of the client’s psyche, the travel agent will be operating without a full set of criteria with which to engage the client.
Too often, we make a presentation and then ask the client the wrong question: “What do you think?” Instead, ask the client a more important question “How do you feel?” It is the feeling function we are hoping to engage as the client’s travel coach. Give the client ownership of the trip by relating it back to their needs and desires. Help them to imagine themselves on the streets of Stonetown in Zanzibar wondering in a maze of alleys and shops, or on the beaches of Corfu swimming in the bluest and warmest of water. Describe to them the experience of walking by the Seine on a warm night in Paris or staying in the castles of Ireland. Tell them about their accommodations, the excitement, the dining and the experience. Put them in the destination.
If you can tell that story well, if you can engage your clients' emotional psyche, more of them will be traveling this year.
What Travel Agents Can Learn From Insurance Sales
Chances are you own insurance, and not just one policy, but insurance of multiple types. Your car, your home and your boat are insured. Your life may be insured. Hopefully, you have health insurance. Travel agents certainly recognize the need for travel insurance when their clients travel. Indeed, insurance is an almost omni-present but nearly invisible product in modern life. We seldom think about it – until we need it.
As a product, insurance can be complex and intricate with its contingencies, exclusions and coverages. Few of us consider ourselves to be experts in any type of insurance, even those policies we own. That’s why we typically turn to a person we seldom otherwise seek out – the insurance sales person. Most of us will have our first contact with an insurance company through an insurance sales agent. Professional insurance sales people know their products. They study the complexities and they have at hand the ability to answer most of the common questions we bring to them about coverage and exclusions. But, and here is what impresses me the most about the |
profession, insurance sales people are absolute masters of client relationships. Particularly when the product is life insurance, most representatives are expert at maintaining an ongoing relationship and recommending the product to fit the client’s needs at multiple stages of life. A client in their 20’s or early 30’s has very different needs from the 45 year old client with two children in high school. Good insurance sales people adopt a life-long approach to client relationships, maintaining a continual involvement in the financial planning and protection of the family’s earning power and assets. But seldom is there a “one-size fits all” mentality. The insurance sales person meets with the family, studies the situation and then puts together a proposal that meets the exact needs, present and future, for the family unit.
The presentation comes back personalized for the family, typically in the form of a recommendation, and the sales person explains how the proposal meets the family’s needs. The presentation is logical, but presses the necessary emotional hot buttons to achieve the necessary engagement of the decision makers. After the purchase, the insurance sales person stays in touch with the family, occasionally reviewing the policy and making additional recommendations as circumstances change. Many insurance representatives have added new product lines such as financial planning to their offerings, expanding the scope of their expertise and involvement with their clients.
Top travel agents engage their clients with much the same attitude as the professional insurance sales person. The world of travel can be complex. The product lines are varied and there is no one product that is right for everybody. Moreover, preferences in travel change as the client matures and sees more of the world, as income levels vary and as a family grows. The life-long approach is an excellent model for every travel agent to emulate, moving away from a transactional mentality to one of relationship and consultation. Finally, the frequency with which the best insurance agents call on their clients, stay in touch and manage to stay “top of mind” is an art form.
Think through your existing insurance policies and review the relationships and rationales that have influenced your decisions. Chances are, you will find you have a lot to learn from your friendly neighborhood insurance agent.
The presentation comes back personalized for the family, typically in the form of a recommendation, and the sales person explains how the proposal meets the family’s needs. The presentation is logical, but presses the necessary emotional hot buttons to achieve the necessary engagement of the decision makers. After the purchase, the insurance sales person stays in touch with the family, occasionally reviewing the policy and making additional recommendations as circumstances change. Many insurance representatives have added new product lines such as financial planning to their offerings, expanding the scope of their expertise and involvement with their clients.
Top travel agents engage their clients with much the same attitude as the professional insurance sales person. The world of travel can be complex. The product lines are varied and there is no one product that is right for everybody. Moreover, preferences in travel change as the client matures and sees more of the world, as income levels vary and as a family grows. The life-long approach is an excellent model for every travel agent to emulate, moving away from a transactional mentality to one of relationship and consultation. Finally, the frequency with which the best insurance agents call on their clients, stay in touch and manage to stay “top of mind” is an art form.
Think through your existing insurance policies and review the relationships and rationales that have influenced your decisions. Chances are, you will find you have a lot to learn from your friendly neighborhood insurance agent.
What Travel Professionals Can Learn from Bartenders
Good bartenders are almost a breed apart. Alternating between multiple clients, these professionals have developed a skill set useful to travel consultants. The most accomplished bartenders deftly manage their many clients while effectively multitasking their way through the evening. Let’s look at the characteristics the most proficient resourcefully exhibit.
Great Listeners – We often speak of the similarity between bartenders and therapists. The skill they share with psychologists, however, is not their knowledge of the subconscious, but their ability to listen well. Great bartenders make their clients the center of the world for a period of time and they hear them. Too few people feel heard. Give your clients your time and they will give you theirs. Empathy – the best bartenders go well beyond mixology. The ability to make a good drink is not the sign of a great bartender, it’s the pre-requisite. The best provide an ambiance in which to enjoy the beverage. Likewise, the best travel professionals are not merely schooled in destinations and supplier product, but also understand and practice client relations in an empathetic context. Your clients have fears, concerns and great expectations. The |
greatest service you can provide begins with understanding their needs and work to achieve a rapport and a relationship.
Ownership – the best bartenders rule their bars. They are there to serve you but they also decide who gets to partake. Those with a bad attitude, those who are unable to participate in the bar’s ethic and standards are shown the door. Bartenders know the importance of sales and are always making recommendations and practicing suggestive selling. Ultimately, however, those who fail to be good clients are cut off and asked to move on. The lesson here is easy enough to understand. Bad clients are a drain on energy and resources better lavished on others.
There is no better time to learn these valuable skills than right now. As the saying goes, it’s 5:00 somewhere.
Exercise:
Pick a profession, any profession, and spend some time reading and thinking about that profession, its work ethic, the passions that inform it and what you like and don't like about it. Write down what you think travel professionals could learn from the profession you chose.
Ownership – the best bartenders rule their bars. They are there to serve you but they also decide who gets to partake. Those with a bad attitude, those who are unable to participate in the bar’s ethic and standards are shown the door. Bartenders know the importance of sales and are always making recommendations and practicing suggestive selling. Ultimately, however, those who fail to be good clients are cut off and asked to move on. The lesson here is easy enough to understand. Bad clients are a drain on energy and resources better lavished on others.
There is no better time to learn these valuable skills than right now. As the saying goes, it’s 5:00 somewhere.
Exercise:
Pick a profession, any profession, and spend some time reading and thinking about that profession, its work ethic, the passions that inform it and what you like and don't like about it. Write down what you think travel professionals could learn from the profession you chose.