Jamie Biesiada
Tactics that might feel a little old-school are sometimes among the best ways an agent can convince a potential client of their destination expertise and reel in their booking, and their loyalty, in one fell swoop.
For example: a phone call.
In fact, a phone call in the trip-planning process to discuss the travel specialist's role in a client's trip is a requirement Wendy Perrin has in place for any specialists who are on her Wow List.
Perrin has been publishing lists of top travel specialists for years; her current guide is the Wow List on WendyPerrin.com. In order to be named to the list, she puts specialists through a testing phase. Only once they have enough positive reviews under their belt and Perrin feels comfortable with their destination knowledge and travel-selling skills are they named to the list.
Agents on the list must agree to certain requirements when dealing with clients. And one is a phone call to a client -- specifically what Perrin calls a "diagnostic" call.
"A savvy agent can very effectively demonstrate his or her knowledge and connections, and the value he or she will add to the trip, with the right type of diagnostic phone call," Perrin said.
Many of the travelers who visit Perrin's website to find a specialist (her list consists of agents, tour operators, destination management companies and some blended business models) are looking to take more complicated trips, she said.
"That diagnostic phone conversation at the start of the trip-planning process is critical to an extraordinary trip and to a fabulous review when the traveler comes back from the trip," she said.
Perrin acknowledged that in a world of email and texting a phone call might seem outdated, but it accomplishes something important: building trust.
In the course of a call, an agent can tell a traveler about their local connections, destination expertise and the types of options and amenities they can add to the trip that the traveler wouldn't be able to book online, Perrin said.
A travel seller can use a phone call to tell potential clients pros and cons of their chosen destination, and how they would minimize cons and maximize pros. For instance, Perrin said, if a client is visiting Florence and wants to see the Uffizi, an agent should warn them of long lines, but then tell the client how they can help minimize or circumvent those lines.
"You paint the picture of what the issues are and what you're going to do to minimize those drawbacks. And then, I think in a lot of cases, you've hooked the traveler," Perrin said.
She did warn against making a phone call sound like a sales pitch.
"You need to be so totally honest and real in that phone call," she said. "You don't want to sound like you're making a sales pitch, or sound like a brochure. The travelers I know, they're looking for people that are going to be dead honest with them."
In short, she said, "You want to talk to somebody like you want to give them the advice you'd give your best friend."
Establishing trust over a phone call also helps once a traveler has returned from their trip and it comes time to leave an online review for their agent. "Think about it," Perrin said. "If you've got this loyalty now, there was this bond of trust and this travel agent has become like your friend who you now trust, and you got a trip that came from that, you're going to post an amazing review."