Picture yourself on the beach soaking up the sun, sand between your toes, and a little umbrella sitting in your margarita…you’re living the life right? Well let me ask you this; was the travel planning process as relaxing as your actual vacation? Probably not.
Travel planning stress is why travelers prefer to use travel businesses to handle their travel affairs. Trying to figure out where to get a hotel, find the best rates for flights, and which is the best rental car company can knock the notion to travel out of anyone.
If you have a travel business, and want to achieve some serious increase in your success ratio, consider these 3 tips on how to improve your travel business.
Display Excellent Communication
When it comes to traveling, communication is key. The worst thing a traveler can experience is going on a trip somewhere and not being prepared for something due to lack of communication from the travel agent or business.
Communication comes in many forms. You have phone number, email, fax, and in person meetings. You want to be as available as possible for your clients…you really need to be available 24/7 honestly. Whether they call or email you with questions, you want to be sure you have a response available for them.
The key thing would be to equip them with all the information they need in the first place, but just to be safe, your company should always be on standby.
Host Public Speaking Engagements
So let’s say you have your travel business established. You have created a blog and you’re visibly active on every social media platform possible, but is it enough? Your client base is fairly decent, but you’re still not quite where you want to be…what else can you do to expand your business?
Well, one of the most highly overlooked methods is public speaking. This tactic might seem like a thing of the past, but everything is done digitally now that we tend to forget that no one knows our business better than ourselves, so why not speak on it!
Public speaking doesn’t come so easily for some people, and that may be why it’s not a method seen too often. In grade school, I think we can all remember getting up in front of the class and doing a presentation on photosynthesis. Thinking about it, I can just feel my palms getting sweaty.
Although public speaking may give you anxiety, it actually has some benefits that will make it worth giving it a try:
- Allows for making new business friends: Networking is the name of this game. Public speaking will have you meeting professionals in your same field. You’ll be able to exchange phone numbers, emails, and even social media information. Public speaking engagements give you something that the digital world can’t…that is a personal connection.
- Makes your business memorable: When the lights have been turned off and the doors have been closed, your business will still be remembered. Be sure you’re knowledgeable and also look the part. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being remembered as the travel business owner that had on that cute dress.
- Your business will be the topic of discussion: Be the conversation piece. Have you ever been to a speaking engagement and the speaker just left you mind blown? That’s how you want your guests to feel after you’ve spoken about your business. Confidence is key. Being that your guests will be of the same profession as you, you want to stand out from everyone else. Talk about your business so well that after you’ve spoken, people are still talking about it!
- Increase in traffic to your website: Earlier we talked about how important it is to have an enticing website…here’s how public speaking and your website go hand in hand. When you host your speaking engagement, do a presentation showcasing your website. This will automatically make people want to go check it out for themselves; meaning, they’re going to do a google search of you, or go straight to your website… and that my friend, is how to increase your website traffic.
Create an Enticing Website
Traveling can be very stressful, and ensuring that everything is set up for your trip can not only require a great deal of time and effort; it can actually
One of the key things you must have, for your site to be successful, is a topic-related domain name. With you being in the business of travel, you want your domain to be relevant to the content your site will be about, yet unique enough that potential clients will remember it.
Having beautiful pictures to display on your website are great added accessories to make your website really pop. Make sure your pictures are of good quality too; blurry photos just won’t do. It would also be an awesome touch if you have photos of locations that you’ve actually been to. That will make your clients feel like your website is a little more authentic with the information you present, but that is not a necessity.
Whether it’s a picture of the beach, or that luxury hotel room you stayed in last year, make sure you have some kind of descriptive summary of what the client is seeing. Sometimes, the pictures alone will sell people on your services…just make sure your pictures can deliver the service!
Keep in mind that your website is customizable to display the content of your choice.You want to make sure your website is not only appealing to the travelers’ eye, but also a resourceful tool in planning their next vacation.
Bon Voyage
People these days feel like they don’t need help with travel arrangements, when indeed they do. It is your job to prove them wrong.
By providing your clients with quality customer service, they’re sure to be satisfied. Applying these 3 methods of improving your travel business, will allow you to share your expertise of travel and enjoy the ride at the same time.