“Stop thinking of clients as short term,” urged Travel Advisor Karen Murray who stuck it out with a stubborn customer for 11 years until it turned into a HUGE $66,000 booking.
Murray told attendees of the TravelManagers Conference in Perth that looking past customers who don’t appear to be big spenders right now is a big error because building a client for life is a “long game”.
Using the example of her client Kendra (renamed for privacy purposes), Murray described her as one of those clients that “had a few issued giving up control”.
Since 2008, whenever she had a booking Kendra would want to do quite a few things herself because she wasn’t “sold on the Travel Advisor service”.
The client would book flights or hotels herself and then ask Murray to fill in the gaps. On one occasion she even booked a $7,000 property in Whistler and expected her Advisor to take over air tickets.
“I would just go with it because she’s my client and I do what she needs.”
Karen Murray, Personal Travel Manager
Although many times the personal travel manager simply wanted to roll her eyes, she said she stuck it out because she knew that one day her patience would pay off. And it did.
Fast-forward 11 years and Murray received a call from Kendra saying she was going on long service leave and wanted to book a long-term getaway. She’s left all details for her Travel Advisor to secure and it all equates to some $66,000.
“This is a long game. It’s not just what they want now. You have to think that if you want your business for life, you want clients for life as well. And sometimes, that means jumping left when they go right.”
Karen Murray, Personal Travel Manager
The personal travel manager continued, saying that consultants need to remember to let “humans be humans” and trust that if they “nurture the friendship and nurture the relationship” they’ll have a client for life.
