Being a travel advisor often feels like living inside a pressure cooker. Let’s be honest, being a business owner of any sort is challenging, mix in everything that travel brings with it and poof, you’re a Pillsbury can of crescent rolls waiting to be split open.
Recently on a coaching call I had a beautiful soul of a travel advisor raise her hand and ask for help. She wanted to know what she could have done differently, so we walked through the scenario.
She met with a client on Wednesday afternoon, they went over what the client was looking for, a river cruise with flights as direct as possible. The client brought forward a river cruise name and throughout the consultation the advisor was able to assess that this brand likely was not the right fit for the clients and their requests. She got to work and on Friday sent them a quick email that let them know the proposal was complete and to set up a time to review it with them.
The following day instead of booking a time to meet the client emailed back saying, “Sorry we booked elsewhere.”
This amazing advisor without taking a beat hit reply and typed that email every advisor has wanted to send in that situation and then hit send.
Her question to me was about how she could have switched the outcome for next time in order to secure the booking, and yet the bigger question I saw was “how do I preserve my reputation and brand in future.”
This inquiry had come from a referral, someone who had known this advisor and trusted them enough to tell their friends “This is your person, you need to call her,” and in one brief moment she potentially blew that relationship up with a single email.
That email, while absolutely true, she’d spent a lot of time working on their proposal, and she turned it around quickly, could have gone in an entirely different direction and perhaps even arrived at an entirely different outcome.
If you’re ever in this situation where you’ve received an email from a client that says “We’ve booked elsewhere,” here are the steps to take to keep your reputation intact (unless your desired reputation is as an impulsive hot head, in which case carry on).
Take a Beat, Take a Walk, Take a Breath Of Fresh Air
No email requires an immediate response, especially if you’ve just been informed you’ve lost a booking. Give yourself space and grace to be able to cool down (I know that’s so much easier said than done, I was an advisor too and I felt that gut punch for her).
Get Curious
Every interaction with a client is an opportunity to learn more about yourself and how you operate as a business. I would thank them for the opportunity to have prepared the proposal for them, and then follow up with, “I must admit I’m terribly disappointed that I won’t be able to work with you, I was really looking forward to working with you.”
When they come as a referral it’s always great to add in something like, “Especially because Cindy and John were so fun to work with and if they referred you to me you must be as well” and finally add in, “In order to be able to serve my clients better in the future was there something in particular that I could improve on that could have helped me to earn your business?” This last question you must go into with complete openness, you may hear something you don’t want, and while you don’t have to internalize it (best if you don’t) I do encourage you to track it, and if you see these similar comments arising over and over, it’s important to take note of that and see where in your sales process you can create a different path forward.
Ask Where They Went
Finally, ask them, “If you don’t mind, could I ask what you ultimately went with?”
That third step, that final question can potentially unlock a whole world of possibility. Maybe you will find out that they booked the same trip that friends were booking and so they tagged along. Or maybe, like in the example above, they found a highly recognized brand, did some research and then, as if the cookie monster himself was chasing them through the Internet, they couldn't get away from that company's ads.
As with all things, take a step out of your perspective and instead step into the perspective of the clients. What are they seeing in their newsfeed? What are they being shown? Those countdown ads to drive scarcity and urgency can really drive panic when we both know it’s not as it appears to the client.
In asking them how they ended up booking, depending on the supplier, there is always a possibility of being able to take over a direct booking. Either way, it’s curiosity towards ensuring they have a great vacation, and then sharing excitement with them about the great trip they have coming up.
People don’t remember what you say, but they will absolutely remember the way you made them feel.
How you make people feel has one of the biggest impacts on whether or not they book with you in the future and if they will refer you. In years past, when I was a travel advisor, I had someone who I never booked, they were DIY’ers and I celebrated their choices, refusing to play the price match game when I realized they would try to price match the same trip over and over with multiple sources. However, I would give them tips and suggestions and was kind, and ultimately, they became my best source of quality referrals. Not everyone is going to book with you and that’s okay, you don’t get to control that, you do however get to control how you respond when things don’t go your way.
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