Latest / Travel Agency in a Year / Day 280: Give More Than You Take
Transcript
- Rachel: Welcome to the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. I'm your host, Rachel K, travel agency owner helping you to build past, well past the six-figure, the coveted six-figure commissions that I hear everyone talking about. And I'm like, that doesn't even mean you can sustain yourself as a business. It's a nice goal and absolutely. You're worth way more than that. Okay? If you have any questions on how I can help you, head over to elevatewithrachelk.com, or you can just subscribe to this podcast. I don't care. Today is day 280, giving more than you take. And this features one of my favorites. I think I've mentioned them maybe in the success circle lessons. Probably in this podcast. I don't know. So we're closing out this run of community involvement and generosity. Giving more than you take. Any service-based business owner, any person honestly, should always give more than you can take. Don't stress past don't stretch past your own capacity or your own capabilities, obviously. But anywho. This closes up closes out the run with client appreciation, community involvement, outreach, the last few episodes. I believe it starts on day two seventy-six, and even how you handle your own competition. Giving more than you can take. Ba ba ba. Social psychologist stuff, okay? Psychologist Robert Cialdini, does that name sound familiar to you? It should because I know I've mentioned it somewhere. extensively researched and popularized the principle of reciprocity. Wait, who's Robert Cialdini? It's a C. Cialdini. It's Italian. He wrote the book Pre Suasion. He has other books. I got presuasion years ago and read it, my mind was blown. So the core finding that's been replicated across a wide range of studies and like contexts is pretty straightforward and extremely powerful. When someone genuinely, genuinely, keyword, when someone genuinely gives us something first, even something small, we feel a real and often subconscious pull to give something back in return. And I want you to think about this when you're like, I'm afraid to post the content and give away the farm about the information in my niche. Hmm. I wouldn't be. Okay, this is not manipulation when it is genuine. If you are not genuine, congrats, you are a manipulator. Okay? It is simply a deeply wired feature of how humans build and maintain relationships and trust. Okay. Where does this show up throughout this podcast? every freaking episode. So think back. If you're new, just subscribe and binge this this weekend. It'll probably take longer than a weekend 'cause they're like let's say nicely. Ten minutes an episode. And you're like, well now you're doing stupid math. So we're day two, eighty times ten. So it's twenty eight hundred minutes right now as of today on average, divided by sixty minutes per hour, 47 hours. So yeah, you need a couple weekends to consume the entire podcast. Sorry. Sorry. But the free and genuinely useful content that we've been talking about building on this podcast, and I'm don't worry, got notes here that cite some episode days, so you don't have to listen to forty seven freaking hours of this. But I would appreciate it if you did. Your value driven newsletter. And And like the the sections of your value-driven newsletter from day 183. Better be taking notes. I hope you're not driving. Your story bank content series that we did. Your story bank, your founder story, your brand story. Mmm. Story bank content. Client testimonials. Client experiences, good, bad, and ugly. All of that is reciprocity in action offered without an immediate ask attached. day 185, we talked about cold outreach and how you need to lead with value before making the ask. That's reciprocity applied directly. We've talked about like when you're networking. Don't ever think what's in it for me. The client appreciation gestures from like the last few episodes are reciprocity built into an ongoing relationship with your clients. Even the give more than you take instinct behind local community involvement from yesterday's episode follows the same underlying principle. Don't you worry, I do go on a rant about being fake about it in yesterday's episode, and I'm like, don't This. Because I've seen travel advisors do it. Be well, I'm doing all the stuff that you tell me to do, and nothing's working. And then I'm like, well, did you offer any real value? Well, no, I just want money. You're not gonna make it. Like, nope, sorry. So it would be easy to hear giving more than you take, purely as a clever growth tactic. And like I just mentioned, I've been around plenty of travel advisors who simply think it's a manipulative growth tactic and it's disgusting how many people in this industry believe that to be a thing. Giving strategically because it produces a return. So if you're creating content and you're creating a lead magnet, I would say content is a lead magnet as well. if you're writing your email newsletter, hopefully, yeah, it does convert. There are numbers where it should convert. Don't get me wrong about that. You are a business, not a charity. However, your attitude, your tone, your messaging needs to be, you are giving more than you are taking. Okay? Treating this purely as a tactic, even though the research says it's gonna work regardless, misses the deeper point that we've talked about. Throughout this entire year in the podcast, especially in the stewardship episodes and the stewardship conversation. Genuine generosity offered because you actually care about the people you serve. They aren't just a number, tends to build something a purely calculated version never quite achieves, which is real trust and a business relationship that holds up even in a season when you have less to immediately offer back. And there are competitors like local to me who do not I don't think they do a whole lot of this because myself and another agent in the success circle program are from the same region. I like, my gosh, someone else like me. So we both know this competitor pretty well and we both consistently get leads because the competitor does not care. They say they give back and they do all these things, whatever. But so many people come to us because they're like, We need Like real help, not just a sandals booking. And I honestly don't know how they stay in business, but I will say the other advisor in the success circle has mentioned. that they don't even like the clients that had a terrible experience with this agency come to them and these people who rarely leave the country are shocked that they're provided any information at all. Like they usually wouldn't even know what resort they're staying at. They would just be like, get on this bus, da da da and they they couldn't remember where they stayed. It was just whatever they were told to do. They were only given one option. It was crazy. Anyway. So we got one quarter remaining. Less than. You can do this now. You can do this for your monthly review and prepare it for your annual annual review. Look back honestly at your balance of giving and taking across your content, across your outreach, across your client relationships. Are you consistently offering real value and attention via active listening? Not just like, well, I'm telling them stuff, and it's value in my mind is that with they want to hear. And generosity before you ask for anything in return. If the honest answer leans more towards taking, please be honest. That's okay. With constant asks, minimal, minimal, genuine give. that is worth deliberately rebalancing, not out of guilt, but because it's the right way to treat people and as the research shows, the approach most likely to actually sustain and grow your business over time. And here's something I've noticed recently since I've come back to social media. Back in the day when things would go up up up years ago when I was on social media all the time, building my travel agency. Also, sorry for singing that. I ruined I ruined that. There was always always like always have a call to action, always have a call to action. Like, comment, share, save. And I've noticed in content now, because people have figured out the call to action. If you want more, da da da. has moved to like the right after the hook. It's almost like hook, then CTA. And so here's one from like a content growth coach that I saw. It was like, here's 10 hooks that you need to use immediately to help your business grow on whatever platform. Save this video and come back to it later. So they had the hook and immediately the call to action and they never asked for a follow but that is more likely to build trust because they're like I don't care if you don't watch this all the way through save it for later Later. And they're telling you to do it immediately because they know that piece of content is going to run a little bit longer and you don't have time to sit and listen and you just want to do me scrollies. Which by the way, I've heard some of my success circle people start calling it doomie scrollies, and I'm like, yes! I'm getting people to say it. The old Doomie Scrollies. Anyway. But I've noticed the CTA is bumped up. Closer to almost immediately after the hook. And the CTA is almost always like a save. Just save this video. Because I quickly noticed if you look at the saves on your content with like reels and shorts and things like that, TikTok. that's gonna boost you more in the algorithm because that shows to the algorithms, this person wants to refer back to this account later. I'm gonna feed more content from this account, A, and B, I'm gonna push this out to more people like this person who saved it. Okay. So that's saves and then if you've seen also, sorry, I'm just gonna go on a weird tangent about social media marketing. But if you see people like, you have to interact from the bottom up because followers and likes are the least thing to get you pushed out and further into the algorithm. But sharing and saving those bottom things like on TikTok, I it's like that on all of Sharing and saving, like at the bottom. That's what's gonna push people out. So please don't fall for that tactic, A, unless you really, really like that creator for some reason. But a lot of creators will do that and then they go viral with that video because the first few people are okay Okay, well I better sh I better share this if I want to go viral and then I gotta save it and then I gotta do this. It's a it's a tactic to make them go viral. But anyhood all Where was I going with this? We're talking about generosity. I've noticed with social media content that they're not necessarily asking for anything except maybe a save at the very beginning. And they'll be like, all right, I hope this helped you. And then it just loops back on, right? But they don't they don't have a follow for more comment this, da-da-da. Because they want you to actively take it that action instead. And the only CTA they might have in their content is save this for later because this is a lot I'm throwing at you. And so if you don't have time, come back to this. So the ask is not showing up so often anymore. And there's plenty of times where I don't put CTAs, and I've never been a fan of putting CTAs in like all every single piece of content. And I used to get crapped on for it too, but I feel like that's the way things are kind of going. I don't know. I'm brand new coming back. Don't take a 20, what, a 30-month hiatus from social media and then be like, back in the saddle, know what I'm doing. Because you won't. You will not know what you're doing. just some interesting things I've noticed in the three weeks or so I've been back on social. All right. My notes. it's like rebalance it if you realize that you are taking more than you're giving. Consider that with your content, your outreach, your client relationships. Because it's not out of guilt. They'll be like, I'm the worst person ever. But just Figure out ways that you can rebalance it more to giving more than you take, because it's both the right way to just treat people in general, and as the research shows, the approach most likely to actually sustain and grow the business. So that closes out this massive run I did in a day and a half, which is seventeen episodes. My goal is fifteen episodes a week. By the way, if you care, you're like, how are you doing all this? Barely, barely surviving. I have no children or any other obligations. That's how. So preparing your calendar. This goes all the way back to days two day 264 is when this series started. My batching series. There is, let me look over here. Preparing your calendar, your campaign for the upcoming wave season, sharpening your offer, messaging. Maybe it needs a little tweaky poo refinement, not a full demo rebuild. Don't do that. Don't do that. Set it and forget it. Not really. Tweak it a little bit. Is as needed using deadlines strategically to stop procrastinating and getting things done. refreshing your packages, refreshing your niche expertise with some trainings or set up some one-on-ones with JBDM, practicing genuine CEO level mindset for and stress management techniques as a leader, because you are a leader moving forward without waiting. For your confidence, 'cause that's never gonna happen. I mean it will, but also you can't get confidence unless you actually practice what you're doing. And now the last few days have been client appreciation, community presence, community involvement, giving more than you take. Understand the well documented principle of reciprocity. I don't know why I'm if you're watching this on YouTube, I'm just doing the tornado with my finger. I don't know what I'm doing here. Genuine giving builds real trust and pulls people naturally towards giving back. Think about it with your friends. Like, you know, just real quick, if you're like, I still don't understand this concept. I'm I'm struggling, Rachel. Think about your real friends and then your quote unquote friends. The real friends, they don't ever take unless it's an absolute emergency. And you guys just give to each other back and forth, back and forth. It doesn't matter, right? The friend friends are the ones that are conveniently MIA when you absolutely need help. And they're always wanting to pick your brain or like, hey, can you watch my kids? You know what I mean? But then they're not around to support you when you need it or to just be an ear for you. You don't want to be friends with those people, so why would you act like that quote unquote friend of yours that you probably don't speak to anymore or not really friends with, you know? Why would you act like that as a travel advisor? Then it make it make sense. Anyway. Okay, check your own current behavior of the givings versus takings. Adjust it, not out of guilt. We are all imperfect, and that's okay. Just make a note of it and be like, how can I do this slightly better? Because it's the right way to build relationships and the most sustainable way to grow. This episode, I got on so many different rants and tangents, by the way. I had to refilm this episode like five times. So you're welcome. This is the best I could do without ranting and raving about the state of the travel industry and the attitudes a lot of people have. Alright, have a wonderful day. I will see you tomorrow.