You just won their business… ever wondered how? RoomsXML’s Mark Luckey shares his karmic customer wisdom.
That pesky travelling public continues to evolve. Just when we thought we had them all sorted out, they go and learn new stuff, watch dodgy TV shows and tempt fate by a booking exotic hotel deals at prices which ultimately, prove too good to be true.
But when you do win business, do you ever think why? Agents tell us two things about how they get business:
Repeat
Referral
That’s about it.
Every couple of years we have a look at the reasons that travel agents get business. Whether it’s asking my friends, picking agents brains or reviewing our customer service logs, here is what we learn:
1. WOMM WOMM WOMM
Image: Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock
That’s word-of-mouth marketing when someone else does the marketing work for you.
Friends and family, their photographs, Instagram and website, are gold. The odd testimonial. When we were deciding on our honeymoon my brother showed me their photographs of Phi Phi island and that was that.
So think about the easy words about the trip they can pass on, ask them for some happy snaps when they get back and ask them how good it was.
2. Know your stuff
The problem with these Internet searching pax is they think they know more than you – how dare they!
Rather than fight it, just consider that the person coming into the office is already an expert as well. You are the professional. You need to be better.
If you don’t have the information available at hand to be an expert, find someone in the office who does, or let them know you will get back to them with it.
Don’t guess. If you are going to contradict what they’ve seen on Trip Advisor, you better have a good reason.
You can’t be everything to everyone.
3. Mollycoddle
On the routes I have flown a few times, I could easily book them myself now.
For either myself or my wife doing the trip around New Zealand, we know the routes and we could book direct. For me though, there is peace of mind in saying to my agent “can you do this for me”.
And oh yes – travel insurance, reputable, trustworthy, protected cash etc. seem to be popular themes.
4. Time-saving
Money rich, time poor. Can’t be bothered. You are the expert. Sure you save $200 and that only took you 16 hours.
You need to walk a fine line between promising and overstating as well as giving away your knowledge and experience to early in the piece. Definitely not dishonesty here, but let them know exactly how you are going to deliver the value for money, but not how.
The classic tale of was that a three hour stopover or a 15 hour stopover is always a great want to win with.
People like problems solved.
5. Service
We are all about service at roomsXML. Seriously, and sadly, you can work really hard to save $50 at the start of the sale to seal the deal, but what they will remember at the end is the experience, and how well you rectify anything that went wrong.
We all love the happy ending, and is nothing worse than a drama with a great resolution.