CMS4 Hawaii Travel

I agree with the experts that a shakeout is taking place due to the current economic downturn. If you have not positioned your agency at this time either to be a part of the larger travel organizations or to become a “boutique,” then you might want to start thinking about your strategies for the future. Your key starting point is determining your agency’s net worth.

There are four critical areas that comprise an adequate and accurate agency valuation plan -

- operations/resource management,
- market position/agency image,
- financial management, and
- business history

Future articles will include financial management, market position/agency image, and business history. Today let’s consider -

Operations and Resource Management

Automation – Computers and Telephones

As a general rule, the more automated you are, the higher your productivity per employee and consequently the higher your profitability. Additionally, more time for agents to have face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact with customers means better service. Bear in mind that if you’ve been computerized for at least three full years, you are over the start up pains and the equipment is part of your routine.

What computerization was to a travel agency five years ago, telephone systems will be for the next five years. Your phone system will make or break you. Chances are if you have an old-fashioned key button system, your productivity is low and your ultimate valuation will reflect that. You should at least have PBX and ACD systems.

Personnel

Regardless of whether a buyer will be managing your business himself or hiring you to stay on as a contract manager, your personnel are the absolute key to success under new ownership. I have seen agencies sold and then watched half the staff leave the next day with their “following” because they were offered a better deal by another agency. The result is usually a bonanza for lawyers and the disintegration of your former business. You can generally avoid such a crisis if your turnover is low, staff experience levels are high, and you have a strong incentive program supplemented by a solid portfolio.

Other Resources

The travel agency business requires an incredible amount of detailed data and consistent, logical operating systems. The question is: Have you been able to maintain an organization that cuts smoothly through all these ancillary materials and procedures? For example:

- the latest work flow changes in your agency;
- staff telephone manners and the way you present your agency to the public;
- your quality control processes before documents go out to the public;
- updating the mailing list; and
- your system to follow up on hotel commissions

And what about your space? Naturally, a buyer will want to see his new business grow. If your space restricts that, or if your lease is about to be renewed at double the cost, any future projections will be impacted and your agency is worth less. Therefore, prior to sale you might want to check with your landlord as to a potential new arrangement with the new owner.

Good management

The common thread in the criteria above is organization. If historically and financially you have done well, but if the key to your success has been your absolute and autocratic management – i.e., all of the company’s records are in your head – obviously, a new owner will not succeed. Therefore, good management not only shows in the results but in the ability to turn the reins over to new management.

Obviously a potential buyer is far more impressed by an organized, well-planned operation in which you can show your original business objectives, the current variances or changes in plan and your rationale behind it.
In all of the criteria above let me stress the most important common element – consistency – as crucial.

Do you really present a credible picture to the buyer? Do you have a dashboard that measures your activities and allows you to make mid-course corrections in the event one of your “instruments” indicates a problem?

Your answers to these questions will help determine your agency’s net worth – and its value in the marketplace.

When preparing to travel with a family, there can be a multitude of different things to sort out – from tickets to taxis to the airport, as well as packing clothes, equipment and toys in between.

In amongst all the hassle of packing, arranging and ensuring your young ones will have enough to keep them occupied until you get to the hotel or resort at your destination, the thought of arranging insurance for your holiday might slip to the back of your mind.

Checking that you have adequate travel insurance before your trip is essential in order to ensure that you and your group are covered in the event of accidents and theft during your holiday.

Annual travel insurance policies can be purchased for longer periods of time, should you be making multiple trips during a short period of time.

Such deals can often work out cheaper than single-trip travel insurance and can help cover all members of your group during your holiday your family from a range of factors.

When searching for cover it is important to shop around, research different policies and the type of cover that they offer and, most importantly, to read the small print to check for any snags which could affect any claims.

Factors will depend on location and any planned activities during the holiday. Whilst activity holidays can be fun for all, but it is important to make sure you’re covered for sports such as jet-skiing and other activities that have an increased risk of injury.

It is also essential to ensure that your possessions are covered for the duration of your trip in order to protect against any financial loss as a result of theft, luggage and passport loss, travel delays and any other legal expenses.

There are also a wide range of companies that specialise in and offer family travel insurance. These policies can be catered to meet the needs of your holiday and help to cover costs should you or your children require any medical assistance during your trip.

Congratulations on recently starting a travel business. But do not rest now. Your work is not done yet. You need to unleash key tactics to enable relentless, sustained business growth to occur. Let’s look at the quickest, fastest and easiest strategies to build sales right now for a travel agency starting off.

1. Follow up every enquiry with 5 multiple professional communications.

Burn this secret into your mind. To build any business to consumer relationship you need to accept that several contacts should be considered the norm and not the exception when dealing with your prospects. Three, five or seven contacts or communications with your enquirer virtually means a booking will result with you rather than a hit or miss one contact approach.

The biggest mistake most new travel businesses make is to NOT consistently follow up every enquiry. The best way to enable this to happen is to have a sales system whereby every consultant professionally and without fear is trained to simply have 3 or 5 or 7 communications after someone enquiries. I recommend you start with producing a simple 5 step sales system. Here is how you go about it.

An example would be where a quotation has been given to a prospect (Step 1). Of course you have attempted to close the sale professionally but we know it will be normal for many prospects not to book with you immediately. This is especially so for more detailed travel itineraries.

Step 2: A courtesy call to see what the person feels about the information supplied.

Step 3: Email extra tip or information quickly through about the prospect’s trip.

Step 4: Send a pre-prepared letter to thank them for enquiring and to offer them an incentive to come back in.

Step 5: Follow up call again to see how they are getting on with their plans and to offer to assist them further. Because rapport has been established now is a good time (if it has not occurred in earlier steps) to ask for the booking again and a final commitment.

These steps are interchangeable and the key is they happen in different mediums via email, direct mail and phone calls. Now consider if you are doing this versus another competing travel agency who does not follow up at all or spasmodically at best (which is the norm in the travel industry). So who will win the majority of customers most of the time?

So why do so many of us in the travel industry have no logical sales process for following up or staying in touch? Why do we make it such a hit and miss affair? Imagine the power of following up every single quotation and enquiry 100% of the time.

How to start a travel agency secret number one is easy really. It just takes some thought to how to implement this simple system into your travel business.

If I could convince you of the mightiest of strategies, the one that takes the pick as the first tactic I would introduce to any travel business, it would be following up every quote within 3 business days and to keep in touch with your prospects until they buy.

If you do this one simple strategy, train your team and have a written down, easy to implement system, your conversion rate of enquiry to booking will increase and sometimes by dramatic margins! Test it in your business and see for yourself.