THIS month the mystery
shopper tried online
travel agent specialists
with a honeymoon enquiry.
She posed as a middleaged
fiancée booking a
honeymoon to an Indian
Ocean island. She has
been to Mauritius a
number of times and wants
somewhere different.
She is getting married on
November 22 and would
like to travel for a week,
staying bed and breakfast
or half board.
The couple don’t enjoy
sitting on the beach and
don’t need romance; they
want adventure, water
sports, activities, climbing
and car hire to explore.
Our selling-orientated criteria:
10% Engage the customer by making an excellent first
impression – be interested, excited and enthusiastic.
20%
Profile the customer, getting to know their needs in full,
their likes, dislikes and prior travels. Use consultative
sales techniques, not transactional questions only, and
provide advice about the destination.
10% Hook the customer, preventing their further shopping
around, by sounding like an expert.
10% Match the enquiry to the quote, providing two or three
options, ideally within the same day of enquiry.
20% Sell the holiday ideas and bring them to life. Don’t just
attach a quote.
5% Close the sale when you spot buying signals.
15% Convert the sale by creating a sense of urgency and
asking for the booking.
10% Persist if customers provide a reason why they can’t
book – attempt to overcome objections.
100% TOTAL
Agents are scored up to the maximum of the weighted percentages above.
Get sales fit
Want to improve your sales skills? ‘Get sales fit’ is a
free two-hour online workshop running on Travelinfo
Workshops now. It is exclusive to TI Plus users.
Amazing Holidays
A great first impression
was created by the email
response from Mishka
Brown from Amazing
Holidays, congratulating
me and promising me
she would create an
unforgettable honeymoon
package. She then
asked some really great
consultative questions
including:
What do you like to do
during the day/evening?
What is going to make
you look back at this
holiday and think, wow?
Any activity preferences
– what would you like to
do while you’re there?
Are you looking for an
all-inclusive package for
R60K or will bed and
breakfast or half-board be
sufficient?
This was followed by
recommendations for
Maldives, Zanzibar and
Thailand. It was a good
first consultation email,
which could have been
improved by enquiring
when it was a good
time to call me and by
giving further information
about Amazing Holidays.
I responded with my
telephone number and
preferred times to call
and mentioned that an
agent had previously
recommended Réunion.
Twenty-four hours later
I received an email,
which was disappointing
as I had encouraged
a phone call. Mishka
recommended Réunion
and detailed some
activities. Next day
she phoned and her
personality lived up to
her wonderful email
communication. She did
a recap of my needs then
explained Réunion in
great detail together with
its adrenalin adventures.
She brought the island
to life and said now that
she knew what I wanted
she would get the price
and the full package to
me the following morning.
When I didn’t receive
the quote as promised,
I followed up and was
advised that Mishka was
waiting for rates. I told
her that meantime I had
received a quote from
another agent and within
a couple of hours she
emailed her quote. It did
not sell and contained
no sense of urgency but
it did offer a price beat
guarantee statement: “I
DO value your business –
should you receive a less
expensive option please
give me the opportunity
to offer you a discount!”
I was surprised as it
encourages a customer to
shop around and makes
the holiday all about price,
not experience. I said I’d
let her know, to which
she again encouraged
feedback and my thoughts
on the holiday. While
Amazing Holidays was
the winner this month, its
closing sales technique
could be improved to
match the standards of
its consulting.
Just Honemoons
I submitted my enquiry
online and spoke to an
agent who got to know my
needs very well through a
chatty conversation, finally
narrowing the selection down
to Madagascar, Zanzibar and
Réunion. She used her own
experience and mentioned a
colleague who was an expert
on Madagascar. After giving
me a great re-cap and setting
expectations, I was looking
forward to receiving options.
After a few days she called
and advised that the rates
for Réunion in November
were not yet out but that she
had quoted based on the
latest travel date available.
She said she would email it
to me next morning. I asked
about the hotels and she
said it would all be on the
quote with website links. I
felt she rushed to get me off
the phone but as she had
taken most interest in my
needs, I pushed her a little.
She knew the Lux* Group and
matched hotels to my likes
and dislikes. The following
morning I received the quote
together with excursion
fact sheets as promised. I
also received information
about Madagascar and was
encouraged to reply with
feedback. I said the Lux*
option with added excursions
would be perfect and asked
when I could go ahead and
book. I then received an email
with a quote for Réunion,
which was a better option
with confirmed availability
and dates. I was surprised
that the agent didn’t call me
with this great news and sell
the holiday by phone. I told
her it was the best option of
the two and something that
we would definitely consider
but added that we were
expecting other quotes and
would get back to her. She
replied saying she was going
to Réunion in June and would
share her experiences with
me on her return. I was really
rooting for her to overcome
my hesitation and fight for
the booking.
Igo Travel
Within a few hours of
submitting my enquiry online
I received a call from an
agent who was bright and
engaging, showing genuine
interest in our needs. She
said she had specials for
the Indian Ocean Islands,
re-confirmed our dates and
asked what we thought of
the Maldives or Seychelles.
I said we were very active
people and she immediately
suggested Réunion. She
told me about the activities
and asked if we would like
beach time. She explained
about hiking, volcanoes,
exploring and really had me
hooked. She established
our flexibility around dates,
re-confirmed our budget and
then set the scene for what
would happen next. After
waiting for over 48 hours I
emailed to chase her quote.
As I have a great sales tool
called ‘hubspot signals’ on
my email, I can see when
people open my messages.
It was opened immediately
and I was advised that the
agent had my quote and
would be sending it through
to me. As we had consulted
by phone, I was hoping that
she would call me. Instead I
received a series of churned
emails, which were just
templates forwarded with no
introduction or explanation.
The travel guide content
pasted into the email was
valuable and would have
been much better attached
as supporting PDFs. The
sales email was obviously
system-generated and
copied into the body of
the mail and had my basic
details followed by a table
showing two quote prices.
Option one mentioned a
three-star hotel but didn’t
say where it was situated.
The second option was
for a five-star property.
The quote gave the terms
and conditions and at the
end was a picture of the
agent and a price beat
statement. The initial
promise of a really great
consultational service
became transactional with
no selling.
Sales tip
Why hide your personality behind an email?
As travel experts you are
hired for your ability to
engage; you should unleash
your personality, and thereby
speed up your sales process.
If you encourage verbal
communication as opposed
to hiding behind email you will
nail sale after sale after sale
because your motivation and
energy levels will be high, as
opposed to slow responses
generated by email.
Some facts to remember:
If your sales process is
limited to email, you make
the sale all about your
preferences and not those
of your customer.
If your customer hasn’t
provided a telephone
number, this doesn’t mean
they don’t want to talk to
you. Ask for the number in
your first communication,
e.g. “I would like to
offer you a unique and
personalised service. To do
that I need to understand
your specific needs. Please
call me on XXX or I can call
you if you provide me with
your telephone number.
Alternatively, you can answer
the questions below so I
can find you the perfect
holiday.”
Holidays are not tangible –
you can’t test drive them.
Words and a few pictures
won’t sell the holiday. Your
voice, your expertise, your
excitement, your reminder to
the customer of their holiday
request and your passionate
selling will bring the holiday
to life.
Take note!
The purpose of the Naked Agent in this series of ‘Sell more…’ features is to assess the experience from
only a sales skills perspective and not the effectiveness of the travel agency. TNW believes that sales skills
are increasingly important to travel agents and, in many cases, improvement in selling skills is the easiest
way to increase the prosperity of the agency and its consultants. The Naked Agent is designed to raise
awareness of the opportunity and build awareness of the need.
Holiday Tour special
HOLIDAY Tours is running
a ‘pay for four, stay for
seven’ special at Centara
Post Lafayette Resort &
Spa in Mauritius. From July
22 to September 30, the
R11 250 package includes
accommodation in a deluxe,
ocean-facing room on half
board plus, return flights,
return transfers and prepayable
airport taxes.
All- inclusive offer from Lux*
LUX* Resorts & Hotels
is offering a special for
its all-inclusive property
in Mauritius – Tamassa
– from only R15 335.
The package includes six
nights’ accommodation
on a ‘pay for four stay
for six’ special; return
flights; airport taxes;
three meals a day and
free WiFi. The special
offer is valid from July 21
to August 22. Information
from Island Light
Holidays.
MK extends special offers
AIR Mauritius has extended
its special for flights between
Durban and Mauritius and
Johannesburg to Mauritius.
Now available from July
21 to September 26, the
return flights from Durban
start from R3 300 excluding
taxes. The return flights from
Johannesburg start from
R2 100 excluding taxes. See
Travelinfo for more details.
