We could all do with a little more adventure in our lives, so if your clients are already travelling overseas, then why not help them experience more.
Long gone is the stigma that adventure travel epitomises donning your crampons, packing your back up oxygen and heading for the summit of Everest.
In today’s travel market, adventure has spread across all demographics and styles of travel, to incorporate almost everyone who travels, after all, let’s have a look at the definition of travel: ‘make a journey, typically of some length.’ Imagine a journey without an unusual or exciting experience. That’s called transit, ‘the carrying of people or things from one place to another.’
Sunsetting at Machu Picchu, Peru
The challenge is for the travel industry to adjust its perception of the word ‘adventure’ and embrace it as a standard by-line in their consultation spiel and thus capitalise on today’s traveller’s desires to fill their Facebook feeds with their experiences, not only their flights, transfers and hotel rooms. If done well, the travel agent who offers these experiences is going to be remembered over and above the travel agent who booked a cheap flight and hotel package. The adventure booking agent is also a great candidate for repeat and referral traffic. In a nut shell, they’re going to earn more money.
Adventure is no longer defined by the activity but by the travellers themselves, this is critical to remember, after all, what might be unusual or exciting for one person may not be the same for the next. Crampons and oxygen will always have their place firmly cemented in adventure travel for some people, but so will taking a cooking class in Santiago, taking a shopping tour in Buenos Aires, a flight over the Nazca lines in Peru, sipping cocktails in Lima or taking a horse ride in Patagonia for others. These are all examples activities that travel agents can book and make commission on, that often slip the travel agents mind.
Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina
Hamburger giant McDonalds paved the way for cross selling back in the 1970’s after they introduced the question for all staff to ask, “would you like fries with that.” We challenge the industry to simply ask, “Would you like adventure with that?” when booking flight, hotel and transfer packages and see what a difference it makes. These travellers are already travelling, why not help them experience more. Not only will this help agents improve their bottom line but really set travel agents apart from the competition of the internet and its plethora of booking facilities. It’s really time to stand out from the crowd.
Here are our top 5 tips for selling Adventure travel
1. ASK QUESTIONS, GET TO KNOW YOUR CLIENT
It’s important to know how they like to travel what they like to see, find out what their boundaries are? Once you know this you’ll be able to gauge what is an unusual and exciting experience for them, the less adventurous might like a guided city tour, the more adventurous might like to try their hand at polo on a nearby estancia.
2. UNDERSTAND THAT ADVENTURE TRAVEL IS EVERYWHERE
Buenos Aires at night
Michael Jones, for example, may be booking an Antarctica cruise through you and you and have him in transit in Buenos Aires for a night, you may be so focussed on the Antarctica cruise you forgot about the experiential potential in Buenos Aires. Take transit out of the equation, Anthony has time and you know he loves music and art as you have asked him a few critical questions, why not utilise the stop over and offer to book him a tango show or street art tour and turn transit into travel.
3. DRIVE THE CONVERSATION
From your marketing messages to one on one conversations, you need to remember that you are the expert, you know so much more than the consumer thinks they know, once you know your client, you are in the driver’s seat, don’t rely on your client’s research, they have come to you for advice, get to know what floats their boat, give advice then influence them with your knowledge and enhance their itinerary to truly make it a trip of a lifetime, don’t be an order taker.
4. SPEAK TO AN OPERATOR WHO KNOWS THE NITTY GRITTY
It can be difficult to know what to offer in every destination around the planet, it’s tough to be a travel agent, we know that. Instead research and rely on specialist operators who take their advice to a granular level, they understand what the highlights are and how to make the most of the back streets as well.
5. LOOK FOR ACTIVITIES THAT WILL ALSO BENEFIT THE LOCAL PEOPLE
Casablanca Valley Vineyard, Chile
By nature, experiential travellers are conscientious people, at Chimu we believe it is our right in the travel industry to be respectful of the hosts we visit in their own country, to make sure our travel dollars help the local community and the environment. Look for options that use local guides and benefit the people and environment around them.
Now it’s time to look at your existing quotes and ask yourself are you a travel agent or a transit agent? If it is the latter, get on the phone to your clients and pose the question, “would you like adventure with that?”
To help meet customer needs, Chimu Adventures offer travel agents personal consultation and comprehensive marketing packs to help them grow their businesses and meet the need of traveller’s adventure desires.
Contact your relationship manager today and get started.
Tenille Hunt – VIC/WA/TAS – 0423 855 652 tenillehunt@chimuadventures.com.au
John Gartner – NSW/ACT/SA – 0435 944 519 johngartner@chimuadventures.com.au
Tara Adam – QLD/NT 0421 148 947 taraadam@chimuadventures.com.au
Visit www.chimuadventures.com
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