Latest / Travel Agency in a Year / Day 276: Client Appreciation Ideas That Aren't Just a Logo Magnet
Transcript
- Rachel: Welcome to the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Kay. Okay, the lighting's still good. Sorry. It's getting a little dark. I might stop after this episode. I'm batch recording. Anyway, my name's Rachel Kay. I'm a travel agency owner, and I want to help all of you travel advisors out there break well past six figures into multiple six figure gross revenues because it's totally doable. And this whole podcast is free, but I can also help you at a paid price point as well. Head to elevatewithrachelk.com to learn more about how I can help you, as well as additional free resources. All right, today is day 276. The client appreciation ideas that aren't just a logo magnet. This is gonna be a multi-part series. If you're brand new to this podcast, I tend to like cluster topics into 15, 20-minute episodes. Because I honestly get tired and I gotta take a break. I can't sit here for an hour. Anyway, I mean I can, but I gotta take breaks. All right. Some genuinely memorable ways to show your appreciation. We are winding down, we are actually in Q4, now that I think about it. So you're in the last quarter of the year. And it's time to start thinking: if you've been in business for more than one year, actively. What are some ways you can show appreciation to your clients? Maybe it's not the actual anniversary of this starting, the founding of your LLC, whatever the case may be. but it's that time of year, you know, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, all the holidays. So if your client appreciation strategy currently consists of like maybe a branded magnet with your logo on it mailed out around Christmas time. Today's episode is going to give you a few more ideas to work with. So, why does the generic branded item fall flat? It's nice to get free stuff, but I've gotten that stuff at like awards things from suppliers and whatever, all those conventions and things. They're in a cabinet, and actually I have on my Office day bed, they're listed for sale on some various apps because I'm like, I'm literally never gonna use this. So anyway, a logo magnet mailed to every single client, regardless of their specific trip or their relationship with you, is very impersonal by design. It's built to be efficient and scalable and cheap, but not meaningful. This connects directly back to the personal touches conversation from day 233 of this podcast. Specificity, if you remember, because I like to say it that way, specificity, don't forget that word, is what actually means, like makes appreciation truly land with your clients. And a generic branded item by definition has none. Story time. There was an agent who thought it was a good idea to send all of their clients t-shirts saying they booked their trip with that travel agent. I was like, brother, no. Like who would that would be the shirt that I would like scrub the nastiest shower of my life or slash paint my house and get paint all over it. Like, why would you make spend that much money? And their idea, their thinking was, well, they'll wear it at the airport. They'll be so excited they worked with me. And I'm like, it's not about you in the business. It's about them being happy. And I don't comment if you agree with me or disagree. I cannot I would I could not fathom if I booked a trip with a travel agent and they sent me a shirt that was like, I booked my trip with XYZ travel. And then I was like, Kaloo, Kaley, something to wear to the airport. Like that's not I was like, what is this idea? Like That's a I'm gonna bathe my dog in this and do yard work. Like thanks for the free t-shirt. That's gonna end up at Goodwill. It's seemed like too much of an expense to me. Please comment if your things differ. Anyway. But like a generic branded item like that has no genuine like thought put into it. And also Maybe it's because I am that weird zenial age. But I'm like, I don't and I'm kinda hipster-y. I don't like brands being all over my stuff. Like I don't like brands. Even when I gave my clients gifts, I would never put my logo on them. I would just buy plain. And like for my wedding couples themselves, they would have Mr. and Mrs. on Mrs. on them. But like I used to send them tum like Yeti tumblers, Mr. and Mrs. and then I sent everyone in the bridal party and the parents like mini stainless steel tumblers with lids, and then I'd send like the metal straws and all of their travel documents we printed all pretty and luggage tags and passport holders, and none of it was branded. And inside the box, I just had my business. card taped at the top. That was it. So maybe I'm just a hipster, but I don't like brands on things. Like you will never see me with any major brand displayed on anything of mine. Except like I have Adidas sneakers, like duh, you're gonna see the three stripes. Anyway, a curated local item from their destination. Here's idea number one. Chosen based on something they specifically mentioned loving about their trip rather than a generic souvenir. That's one. if they shared any photos with you, you could do like a little photo book or printed keepsake. Actually, I just saw today while I was doing my doomy scrollies. And I'm not sure how this would work, but I do see videographers creating like print books as well for like weddings and stuff. or like if they work with a resort or cruise line, I don't know if you can access the cruise lines photography team, but you could reach out to the resort's photography team or just ask to see their gallery and create a printed keepsake. A restaurant gift card to a local spot that's similar to one that they raved about on their trip. So say they were like, man, we'd never tried hibachi before, and we tried it on this cruise slash resort trip, whatever, and it was fantastic. Find the best one in their area and send a local gift, like send a gift card to them. Be like, hey, to take you back from this trip to wherever. let me know when you're ready to book again. a handwritten note we've talked about on a meaningful occasion, like their anniversary, not just a Christmas card, but something like tied to their specific trip. Referencing a specific detail. We talked about this on day two thirty-three. Maybe a small thoughtful gift for a real personal milestone that they shared with you, a new baby, a promotion, a retirement, purchasing their first home, showing that you see them as people, not just a repeat transaction. You can also just give them early or exclusive access to new offers or availability before you announce anything publicly with any of your promotions. A genuine perk that costs you very little but signals real priority status. A referral thank you that goes beyond a generic discount. Something specific and generous enough that it feels like a real appreciation, not just a transactional incentive. If they're local, And you could do like a virtual, like an invitation to a small gathering. So you could do it in person or you could do a virtual. It really depends on where your clients come from. Of you and your past clients, creating a genuine sense of community around your agency rather than purely one-on-one transactional relationships. Ooh, that's a really good idea. Some charcuterie. Sorry, just not to promote a trip or anything, just like if they're local to you, this I think would be a really great idea. Like pick your top ten clients, the ones you really, really loved working with, that you really want to maintain an awesome relationship with, regardless of their trip spend, and maybe offer to take them all out to dinner. And like get one of those private event spaces at a local brewery or something and just be like here this is it not every client needs the most elaborate gesture Matching your effort to the actual depth and value of the relationship keeps this more sustainable rather than becoming an unsustainable, ever-escalating expectation. Which was also why I stopped doing gifts in the mail, because I had, gosh, this is why I stopped. Back in 22. couples I was working with. They said they were only gonna have 15 gift guests. They ended up inviting 90 people and we ended up with like 50 or 60. And then they were like, why is the budget? Anyway, we're not gonna talk about that. Anyway, not only that I told them that I was going to send not just them but their bridal party and their parents Those gift boxes I mentioned earlier in this episode. Well, of their fifty or sixty guests, I had like seventeen of these boxes to put together, and I was like, this is ridiculous! And it cost me I think it cost like $150 to ship everything out plus the cost of the supplies. And at that point I was like, this is a huge chunk. Like, this is my entire planning fee gone at this point. Like, pretty much at this point. And my time. And I was packing everything. And not one of them even acknowledged they received it or like thanked me for it, which I thought was really strange. But anyway. So you need to keep that in mind. Not that experience necessarily, but at some point it will become unsustainable and an ever-ex-escalating expectation. So a first-time smaller trip client might get a genuine specific note. A long-term repeat client with significant lifetime value might reasonably get something more elaborate. And I built this into my own, like loyalty program myself in my travel agency as a thank you and then also they get additional thank yous. But this isn't about playing favorites. It's about being realistic and sustainable with your time and your resources. So move beyond the generic branded items. You can throw them in with your personalized note. It's no big deal if you have a bunch of them. But move beyond that towards gestures tied to their specific trips or their relationships. Ooh, this agent, that is a got a little I don't know, we're I guess we're just colleagues. They have the coolest idea, and I'm not gonna mention it in this episode because I'm like that's cool and I don't want to give it away. But anyway Gestures tied to your client's specific trips or the relationship you have with them, like curated local items, personal notes referencing real details, milestone gifts, early access, genuine community building events. Match the scale of the gesture to the depth of the relationship with this client so it stays sustainable over time. Okay. Tomorrow we're going to step back and ask a more foundational question what client appreciation actually is, and why? It matters so much for small businesses specifically. Thanks for joining me today. I will see you tomorrow.