Jenn Lee
Welcome to Keeping it Real, the first in a series of occasional columns about how to move the travel trade forward from Jenn Lee, president of Travel Planners International.
As advisors, you aren't competing with an OTA, another advisor or a supplier's direct channel.
What you're competing on is time.
Every moment a client must wait for your proposal -- which usually contains three options -- is time ticking away. It gives them permission, and almost encourages them, to find the answer somewhere else, from someone who will give them a quick one.
So, I'm going to say something that many will find shocking: Advisors should stop sending open proposals or quotes to clients. Period.
In many cases, it may not be an option. But I'm going to argue that if advisors don't get used to giving clients a solution to their travel dreams live, in real time, with no homework and no back-and-forth, the consumer will eventually get agitated and look for someone -- or something -- that will.
Consumers don't call you because they want a proposal. They call you because they want to go on vacation.
Judging by my conversations with advisors, and the litany of Facebook posts complaining that a client went somewhere else while the advisor was meticulously crafting an experience, if you don't respond to clients in real time, even to tell them you'll be getting them more information, you may already have lost the business.
Think about it: We are conditioned as consumers to expect instant gratification. AI makes it easier than ever to get a question answered, which means consumers can get their "travel fix" faster than ever before. More online tools are teasing consumers that they can do their own research and book it themselves.
Think about the last time you waited three days to get an answer to a question. So why are we asking clients to wait for us?
Don't give your clients homework
Look at the traditional sequence: intake, research, proposal, follow-up.
The client's excitement peaks on the first call and declines every day after. During that gap, they're asking Chat-GPT, browsing an OTA or showing your proposal to a cousin who "knows a guy."
It's time for the travel advisor community to make a massive adjustment in how we communicate with customers in the beginning of their journey.
For example, long intake forms ask for dates, times, how many people, where, how and budget -- the worst question ever. You've just taken an emotionally charged, aspirational dream and turned it into homework that goes straight to logistics. In a sense, you're asking them to craft the dream themselves, and you still aren't going to give them an instant answer. The process feels cold and OTA-like.
Here's the irony: Consumers come to you as a trusted advisor because they don't feel confident in the answers they're getting from AI. So why make them fill out a long form that asks the same questions they'd feed into an AI model? All they want is for you to make that dream come true using your expertise.
Your value is no longer tied only to crafting an experience. What you really offer is clarity and confidence. But if you stop a client at the doorstep with a long intake form, you've lost them before you can show them that value.
Challenge accepted?
I'm going to challenge you to stop sending proposals and instead give clients the answer they want live, while you're on Zoom together.
The technology to do this already exists. If you know your stuff, you can check pricing and availability in real time and build the experience right in front of your client. Use AI to your advantage. Stick to what's bookable right now. A dream you can't confirm today is just another proposal.
Working this way also lets you handle objections while the client is still with you, not after they hang up. "That's more than I expected" or "I'm not sure about those dates" are easy to fix when you can adjust the trip on the spot. In an email thread, the same objection quietly becomes a reason to shop around.
Every call center is built on the urgency close: Don't let them hang up. When you co-create with your clients, that close is right there for you. They've watched the trip come together, they've seen the price, and they've said yes to every piece. Asking for the deposit before you end the call is the natural next step, not a pushy one.
The industry is moving this way, too. Signature Travel Network is launching Storybook, a cruise co-creation tool, in the next few months. Through an app, the advisor and the consumer can share things they want each other to see as they plan together. That isn't back-and-forth. It's a live interaction.
So the question is: Are you still working in back-and-forth? Are you ready to no longer send proposals and start selling live?