Latest / Travel Agency in a Year / Day 92 - Phrases TAs use that kill the close
Transcript
- Rachel K: Day 92 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. I say that so fast. Travel Agency in a Year. sounds like travel agency near, near, in a year. My name's Rachel Kay. I'm your host. Thanks for coming back. Thanks for coming back every day. I hope these episodes are really helping you, like, chill the eff out about your travel business and, get some insight on just running your own business in general. Today is communication tweaks for travel advisors, just in case, just in case you're like, I know I need to do this. And also I don't know what to do. And also everyone knows everyone uses AI and it's really cringy at this point. I ⁓ feel like AI is very good and also like the amount of AI used to write emails, it's like, all right, we're forgetting how to communicate with people. And it kind of concerns me for like the younger generation, like children, children in elementary school. But that's a conversation for another day. If you are GenX or millennial and you're listening, which pretty sure you probably are, I can guarantee that you're guilty or have been guilty of saying things like, no worries, via email or phone, or just checking in. Even let me know if you're still interested. Those are like sales killers. Those are like, no. They're not gonna work very well. Those are phrases that we need to work on eliminating in our communication especially with clients. Why? Why? Everyone says no worries girl. It's submissive. It's passive. These phrases give up your control of the sale and your business because you're just like and I understand but I'm trying to serve on a concierge level. And there's a totally different, there's a big difference between. service and concierge service. And concierge service does not mean that you break your boundaries and you communicate in a way that gives them all the power and puts all of the effort on your client. By the way, we're going to talk about some phrases in here that makes them have to do work. And if you are a luxury travel advisor, and you have Concierge Services and you use some of these phrases, you're unknowingly saying, you gotta do the work now. Which I get it, it's a partnership. But it's giving, I'm not gonna do this for you. All right. This is not gonna be an overnight change. And if you've been to any of our live Q &As, and I think some webinars I've hosted in the past, you know I'm not a huge fan of saying the word but or try trying. There's a couple other phrases, but those are my two. And those are my two biggest ones. I just butted myself. No. ⁓ Because butt negates everything you had just said. Like, I think this is a great idea, but no you don't. You're lying to me. And trying, do or do not, there is no try. You're either doing it or you're not. Trying isn't a thing. You're doing it or you aren't. Trying is a lie. And it kind of puts, it gives me the sense of like, you're a victim. I'm trying, but okay, so you just said I'm not doing it and I'm really not doing it. I'm pretending I'm doing it. All right, phrases that are making you sound less confident are coming your way or the common phrases and what, sorry, these are really bad notes. And what to do or use. instead to move into the assertive advisor role, the confident assertive advisor. All right. So instead of no worries or no problem in writing or verbally, you're probably going to get better at this with writing because you'll see it and be like, ugh. This is insinuating that there could be worries or problems, first of all. That you do have worries and problems. Maybe some of these worries or problems are your clients or the trips you're managing. It's not a good thing to say. So instead of saying no worries or no problem, just say absolutely, of course. Of course I can do that. Of course I can request that for you. Number two, just checking in signals neediness. Like the anxious girlfriend that's like her boyfriend went out with the boys to play golf or something. Hey, you said you're gonna be home in four hours. It's four hours and five minutes. Just checking in. Are you okay? Calm down. Calm down. It also implies that you believe you have no real value. So instead of saying, just checking in, say something like, hey, I have a quick idea for you. And then follow up to schedule call or meeting. Or you can show value of moving forward with the trip with deposit. typically, this is why I'm saying it this way. Typically, TAs will email, just checking in, how do you feel about that proposal? How do you feel about adding on travel insurance? That sounds really, hey, hey, girl. Hi, just checking in. No worries at all if you can't get back to me right away. And I just wanted to know how you feel about it versus hi, client name. Quick idea for you, time is running out to make a deposit on the proposal I sent. Do you have time for a call this afternoon? Happy to hop on a call. or text it. Number three, let me know if you're interested. They're not interested. If you have to say that, OK. It puts work on your client. Then they have to do more thinking. And this is where, if you are a luxury concierge level travel advisor, do not use this phrase at all, because that puts effort. They have to do the effort now. You provide solutions and as little effort on your client's behalf as you possibly can, especially if you advertise yourself as luxury concierge, high touch service. So instead, you would just offer two options, maybe three, but two is fine, and say, does A or B work best for you? So that way, you are providing them solutions. And I will talk about this in a second. This is kind of like the ghosty client example. And you're demonstrating your value by providing solutions. And if you get like super luxury travel or luxury services in general, they read your mind. The people that are a luxury service have the ability to anticipate the needs of the client and essentially be like a mind reader. So there's like no thinking at all. And there's no real effort on the client's part. So let me know if you're interested. Typically, it's going to be. ⁓ someone emails you. Okay, here, I'm trying to think of examples off the top of my head. Someone emails and said, hey, I want a trip to Belize and I want to go to Ambergris Key and I want to go to Placencia. Don't know why chose that, but this is what's happening. And I have X, Y, and Z stuff. And then you come back. And this could be on a consultation too, but this could be like an email inquiry. and you come back and say, okay, well. I have to charge a planning fee up front and this is my fee and here's how to get started. Let me know if you're interested. No, that's a terrible example as well. ⁓ But instead, you could say, that sounds like a fabulous trip. I'd love to get more information about you and the other travelers coming on this trip. And ⁓ we can do it one of two ways. You can submit this form, like a pre whatever, pre-travel form, because I know some advisors have that. Or you can schedule a call with me here. which option works best for you so we can get started. And that way, you've outlined your processes, your boundaries are right there, and you've given them two options, the two options that you're willing to do. Now, when it comes to proposals that you've already sent and like fee free travel agents, fee free travel advisors, I hear this a lot when people are like, OK, well, what if I want to upgrade to a swim out or something at a resort? It would be this much money. Let me know if you're interested. What are you saying? No, stop that. And you would say, great. This is another opportunity for upselling instead of just doing the basic work. So you could be like, all right, well, the resort has swim outs located in this area of the resort map or whatever. And I haven't noted that you want ocean view or beachfront, whatever. So option one is we can. put you in a swim out and you will be further away from the beach. Option two is I can put you in this beach front, two story, blah de dah de dah room for this much more, which works best for you. Okay. To be honest, I hear this a lot from travel advisors. And I know it's just a bad habit. And I want you all to know if you're like, to be honest, you're just now being honest? Like, have you been lying this entire time? To be honest, what? It sounds like you're just now being honest and clients need to trust you. So there are different things. I wouldn't be like, I'm not even sure if I would use honestly, da-da-da-da-da. You could completely eliminate it if you want to. You could say something like, OK, well, here are the pros and cons, or here are the trade-offs. Say you have a client that's like, ⁓ I really want to do sandals over water bungalow. These are all terrible examples. I don't often sell. It's fine. ⁓ after they've deposited on something completely irrelevant, like a rail trip or a river cruise. So. If you reply, well, to be honest, you're going to lose your deposit. You don't even need to say to be honest. You could just say, well, we could do this. Or maybe, OK, let's say, let's make this completely different. You're like, what are you doing with these crazy examples? I want to keep the sandals over water bungalow in this example and maybe they want to go to Mexico because war has broken out on one of the islands in the Caribbean and they're scared. And they aren't traveling for like 12 months, okay? So let's set the stage a little bit. And they're like, I'm concerned. If you say to be honest, you're going to be fine. First of all, that's scary no-no. Like do not tell clients ever. that anywhere they go is perfectly safe and to get over it. ⁓ But a typical response could be like, understand your safety concerns and precautions. To be honest, I think things will be settled down by then and da-da-da-da-da. Or to be honest, you can use your travel insurance. And this is more coming from like, I don't want to give up the sandals over water bungalow and move you to Mexico. That's kind of how it reads. Even if you don't have that intention, I'm just saying like you could have really good intentions, but a phrase like all of these phrases don't have good intentions from the perspective of the client, especially if they are not a friend, family, referral type. They're just a brand new person who found you on social media. Just be careful. So and you could rephrase it instead of saying to be honest, I think things will settle down. You could say here's the trade off. If you decide to move from the sandals, we still have plenty of time to cancel and get a full refund. I cannot get you an overwater bungalow in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta. I know there's some in Riviera Maya. Or maybe they're sold out for those states. ⁓ And you will lose the certain, I know nothing about sandals. You'll lose the Butler status, da da da da da, whatever the heck it is. Here's the trade off. you'll also save some money. most likely because Sandals is mucho dinero. Phrase number five, are you allowed to make this decision? Or are you the one paying for this trip? This is something very, very tricky, touchy, and this can be on a lot of consultations from the start. ⁓ Not bad intentions again. However, that kind of phrasing, like if it's the daughter and she schedules a consultation because they want a family reunion and she's going to relay the information to her parents who are paying for it. Instead of saying something like, are you allowed to do this? Who else should or will be joining on the call? Can your grandparents or can your parents join us on the call too? I'd like everyone involved to be on the call. And I did this a lot with destination wedding couples back when I was doing them. And I would always say once they scheduled the appointment in my follow-up email, like if you need to reschedule, let me know. I would prefer both the bride and groom be on the call or like both the couple be on the call. So instead of saying, you allowed to sign this agreement? Are you allowed to do this and that? Who else should be joining the call? And then when it comes time for them to sign any type of agreement, pay any fees, towards the end of the consultation, who do I send this to? Because sometimes it could be the parent is gonna authorize and pay for everything. However, the parent doesn't like emails, so the daughter has to open the emails. But when you say, are you allowed to make this decision, it attacks the lead's authority. and it makes them feel small. And it's often used as like a rejection, like I need to talk to my husband before we do this. I need to talk to my wife before we do this. But if you headed off at the pass, they can't use that objection. It's like, I asked you who else needed to be on the call. And you said no one. And now you're saying you got to talk to your spouse? Would you like to schedule a call where both of you can be on the phone with me? Number six, I can discount my fees. Tells them that you were overcharging from the beginning. So if anyone says, can you discount your fee? Can you, whatever, like can you wave the V? You just say, here's the value. Here's the ROI you're going to get for my services and for that fee. You can work with someone else, which I got into an argument on Reddit with some TA. Sorry, TA. And they were like, anyone who charges a fee is worthless. And I was like, you are being crazy. You don't know everyone else's business model. And it was just back and forth. And they were like, I get the best pricing, da, da, da, da, da. And I was like, And they were like, I get the best pricing ever. And I don't need to charge a fee because I go above and beyond. And if I don't answer calls 24-7, my host agency charges me a fee. What? You allow your host to charge you fees? $150, if I remember correctly. If they don't answer the phone, the host agency charges them that. It was like ridiculous. So I was like, OK, so your host agency charges you fees. But, and then you're also here on Reddit and every single thread everywhere, because I know this username, boasting about how you get the best pricing. Like how do you even have time to serve anyone if you're here constantly being like, I have the best pricing, you can DM me, da da da da da. And then they didn't understand that I was trying to get them to explain their services, which would be an excellent marketing point for them on freaking Reddit. This episode might go over. And finally, I had to spell it out for them. Like, I'm trying to help you showcase how great your services is and why you're more valuable than a fee-based agent. And all you can say is you have the best pricing and you're on Reddit all the time. And you will take the calls 24-7. because then your host agency is going to charge you a fee if they have to answer the phone, which is ridiculous. which 150 bucks, if that's a Carnival cruise, like you're losing money if you work for that host agency, by the way. That's a crazy term. Anyway, finally they outline their services and they're like, ⁓ it's so great, da-da-da-da-da. And I was like, that's literally the basic of a travel agent. I can see why you're free. So, sorry person out there, don't know you. I hope you're still working in travel. hope you get away from that host agency. I don't even know who the host agency is. I ⁓ have an idea, a poquito idea. Okay, last one. Sorry to bother you. What? That just instantly says, I'm an annoyance. Sorry to bother you. Never say that. You have business. They want to work with you. There is no sorry to bother you. It should just be, I'm going to keep this brief, or I'm going to keep this as short and sweet as I can. Also, just realized how fast I talk. Sorry. Sorry to bother you. But saying sorry to bother you, you're reinforcing, especially if you do it every time you call them, every time you write an email, sorry to bother you, sorry to bother you, sorry to bother you. You're imprinting into their brain that you are just the annoying little gnat in the background. Not a solution. You are not really helping them, you're a hindrance. Stop saying sorry to bother you. Okay, that's all of the things. That's all the, that's my grandpa Simpson rant about things people say. Do you say any of these? Do you write any of these in your emails? And maybe you should pick one if you're multiple of them and just practice not writing it in email. And when you see it in your email, when you're starting, let me know, stop, back up. How else can you say that? Do you even need to say let me know? I used to say let me know if you're interested. And I used to say, what was the other one? No worries and just checking in. Those are my big ones that I had problems with. And every once in a while when I'm really stressed, I'll type out let me know. And I'm like, stop it. How else can I say this? So you're not alone. Like I'm not, you're not alone. Just know that too. All right, that was the end of day 92. Have a wonderful day and I will see you tomorrow.