Should You Charge Planning Fees? An Expert Travel Agent Weighs In
May 23, 2023
Implementing travel planning fees can bring more profit into your business and get rid of clients that waste your time.
As a new travel agent finding the right tools for your business can be overwhelming. Some tools can be life-changing and are essential to the success of your business, while others just really aren’t necessary. We’re breaking down some of our favorites that have helped travel agents scale faster and accomplish more with less time.
As a travel agent, there are certain things you need to learn and stay informed on. There are a wide variety of tools for learning within the travel industry that you can experiment with based on your needs.
If you’re a travel agent and want to learn more about specific destinations or certain experiences, suppliers often provide training for agents to become experts in those niches. When considering supplier training programs, we recommend making a list of the destinations and offerings you want to sell first and research available trainings to find what would benefit your business best.
When it comes to paid learning, programs like travel school or travel certification programs are extremely beneficial as you can often get access to tutorials for the lifetime of your business.
Once you know how to sell travel and are actively booking clients, it’s important to set up your processes and systems.
Our best business tool tip is to set up a membership site or CRM from day one. This is where you put your clients name, contact information, notes, follow ups, and everything in between. It will help you stay organized and on top of your game pre- and post-client vacation.
Websites can be overwhelming. Some custom sites can cost upwards of thousands of dollars, while other simpler sites are more affordable. Websites are not only operational tools but also marketing tools. If you’re going to be a relevant business, a website is essential to show that you’re reputable and an expert at what you do.
Automating and scheduling is extremely valuable as you get busy and scale your business. It helps reduce the back and forth to figuring out times to meet.
Automated marketing is great for saving time, money, and energy. There are tons of third party applications that help share your content across different platforms.
Having an accounting tool will save you so many headaches when dealing with business profits and expenses, so don’t overlook it!
These tools are the fun things that aren’t really necessary to the success of your business but are things you enjoy.
One of our favorite not necessary but super fun tools are editing tools like lighting presets and video editing software. Travel equipment is another fun one. There are infinite tools you can purchase for travel vlogging.
Just remember, these things aren’t necessary and don’t really result in quick returns on your investment, but they’ll definitely make you feel more confident showing up in your business.
Our top recommendation for where to spend your money first is a good CRM. Don’t fall into the habit of keeping paper files or messy spreadsheets. Having your clients in a CRM makes marketing and client management super easy. There are multiple CRMs available and most of them have free trials meaning you’re able to test them out to find the one that fits you and your business best.
Next up on the list of where to put your money? Your website. You definitely don’t need to invest thousands of dollars in your website, but having a clean website with good copywriting visible to potential leads will do wonders for your business.
And finally, invest in training. Careers on Vacation is a membership training that teaches both aspiring and experienced travel agents about marketing machines, sales, service, and operational best practices.
If you’re already experienced and already have been through training, consider investing in a scheduling service to help alleviate stress in your business.
Remember that you’re a one-person show. These tools exist to help you save time and live your life to its fullest through automations and specialized processes.
Consider how you can serve your clients and keep your services top-of-mind even after they return from their trip.
Implementing travel planning fees can bring more profit into your business and get rid of clients that waste your time.
As an independent agent, it’s your responsibility to be on the lookout for red flags before committing to any travel host agency.
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