Why Should I Book with You - Our Answers

Every travel advisor has been asked this question: "Why should I book with you?" Michael, Chris, and Scott share how they answer this question when a new client asks.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Beyond the Handbook. Practical inside from the monuments behind the menu. Your host of the authors of the best-selling travel advisors handbook series. All of fame cruise counselors, Michael McConnell and Chris Cornell. And the late cruise counselor, Scott McAllister. It's time to go beyond the handbook.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

One of the most asked questions that we get as travel advisors, have you worked today in the industry? You've had a version of this question. Why should I work with you? Why should I book with you? What value do you have for me? I can book online or I can call the cruise line or I can call Disney World or wherever it may be directly, so why should I use you? And we thought we might give you a few answers to put in your quiver of arrows, so to speak, uh, so that when customers ask this, uh you feel comfortable answering the question. Michael's smiling. I'm going to start with him. When somebody comes to you with a variation of this question, how do you position yourself and answer the questions so that they come and book with you?

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Well, as uh most things, um, I kind of handle it backward. Um I I I try not to really oversell myself, really. I mean, um a question that I always ask is, well, why did you why did you call me? Um And if they say, well, you know, I have some friends and um, you know, they uh highly recommended you. Um I think that my response would be, okay, well, then why are you asking me why you should use me? Sounds like you already sounds like you already vetted that with your friends. Um another one might be they may have found me through um you know the cruising.org agent finder. Right. So I'll ask the question again. Well, why did you think to call me? And they might reference uh certifications or uh proximity. Um and um you know, so so my prompt is really you know, well, then what motivated you to call me? And one thing I find sometimes is I might not be the first one that they called. Maybe I'm just the first one that answered the phone. But again, that gives them the information they need. And I think usually if I'm pushing for how somebody should book, I usually push for, well, be sure to use a uh an experienced travel advisor. And then I point to a few sources where they might find them. An agent finder on um cruising.org is a great place to look. And there'll be times where somebody maybe from 500 miles away found me. Um, but also there are some very qualified um travel advis Oh, we lost Michael's audio.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

What happened there? Scott, can you hear me? Okay, and I don't have your audio coming back now. What the hell is going on? Passages from Windows. So we'll do an edit. So go ahead and finish back up a bit on that thought, Michael, and then finish it up.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

So um one of the things that um I look for is um Okay, let me actually back up a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

That's fine.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

I always recommend that uh uh those that are inquiring about why they should use me uh as as their cooking um uh intermediary, uh I usually encourage them to look for an experienced travel advisor. Somebody ideally that's in their neighborhood, but if they're not, somebody who works really well um you know virtually or over the internet, I can certainly do that, but perhaps if they're calling from 500 miles away, there might be someone who um you know is a few blocks away that's fully qualified, and I'm fine with that. I I'm happy if somebody calls me, I'm able to give them the next step in their travel experience. And if that's working with another experienced travel advisor, I'm happy with it. If they choose me, I'm honored.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

And I like how you say that, and I do a variation of that as well where I say, you know, I think you should always be working with a travel advisor, uh, a qualified travel advisor. Now, I always hope it's me, but if it's not, I hope you find someone because you don't know you need us until you don't know you need us, or you until you realize you need us. Scott, what do you say when somebody asks that same question?

SPEAKER_02 4:29

You know, uh kind of like Michael said, you know, I talk about being properly trained and certified in the area that they're that they're calling about. Or if I'm not, like Michael alluded to, you know, I might refer them to somebody that I've met uh over the past 15 years who I know attends conferences and gets, you know, invests in themselves and gets certified. You know, for instance, if somebody calls me about theme parks, I'm probably gonna do an internal referral to Danielle because that's a world she's worked in, she's lived in it, and things like that. And I know she's gonna serve them better than I could. If they it's not that I don't want or need their business, at the end of the day, I'm here to serve clients. And sometimes that means putting the client's need above my own. In fact, we should always take that fiduciary responsibility and put our clients' needs above ours. They're gonna remember that, and I'll do a shameless plug. Now remember, when you get ready for your cruise, tell Danielle, love you, girl, but I'm gonna use no, just kidding. Stay with Danielle. But if you if you have some friends that are looking for an advisor to help with cruising, you know, just give me an opportunity. Say, hey, I called Scott, found it real nice to talk to and everything. Give him a shout.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

I love that. And when Scott is not poaching business, uh, he really does have good advice. You know, and I'll I'll say this. I I think that um I like what you said about, you know, that not all business, and both of you have alluded to this, that not every customer is going to be good for us. And there are times where I'll have somebody call me and they'll say, I'm looking for a trip that does this, and I'll say, look, here's our portfolio of what we are experts in and what we offer. That really doesn't fit into it. And while I would love to take care of you, I really can't bring any value to you here. And so it's kind of like on Shark Tank, you know, I can't bring you any value, so I'm out. And then if I can, like Michael said, I might refer them to someone else and say, here's somebody I know, and it might be somebody within my agency, whether it's Scott or Danielle, or it might be somebody I don't know, and say, Listen, you really need an expert that knows this, this, and this. Here's where you can find it. And hopefully when I can meet your needs within my portfolio of offerings, I will hope you'll remember this and come back to me. And most of the time they do. What I have found, guys, is that um there's usually three reasons that people will, well, I guess four, that people will come to your agency and then ask these questions. Uh, one of them is, and Michael joked about it, but it happens, people get recommended to you and they still ask the questions. It's like, well, you didn't trust, you trusted your friend enough to call me, but you don't trust them enough to that that I'm legitimate. Um, another one is that they just find us out of the blue and they want to test the ground, which is completely understandable. You know, we don't have a relationship at all. We didn't come recommended, so you're you're just guessing and you want to understand why you should work with me. But I've also found that the majority of them are asking for one of two reasons. One of them is that they're wondering if we're going to charge fees or not, and they want to know if they're going to get nickeled and dimed along the way. And I'm not criticizing agencies that do charge fees, but that's the question, that's the reason they're asking. Is they maybe have never worked with a travel advisor and they're wondering how we get paid. And that's one of the things that I set up up front when I do an initial consultation with a new customer, is I'll say, if you will allow me a moment, I would like to go over what it's like working with me so you'll understand. And I talk about, you know, that we get paid by the supplier because that's a question we get all the time. Well, if you're charging me the same amount of money or if yours is cheaper, how are you making money? Where is it coming from? It has to be coming from somewhere. So I set that right away so they know that they're not paying me. And then uh the second thing that I will do is go through and say, you know, these are all the ways that you work with me. And, you know, don't call the supplier because they're just gonna tell you to call me back and so on and so forth. But getting back to the other reason they call, um if we set the stage and make them understand we're not gonna nickel and dime them, the other reason might be they're looking for perks. They are shopping for the best possible price and the most things that we can give them. And the way that I set that up, because sometimes you're never gonna be able to beat that. All they're looking for is that $25 gift card from some other place, and I'm not gonna name the name of it, but we've all been down this road before as well. You're never gonna win on battling price. You're never, and they're never gonna be loyal because if they can say $5 somewhere else, that's where they're gonna go. But what I do is set the stage this way. I say, listen, I can give you the best available pricing, the best available amenities, and I'm very careful in that. I don't tell them that there might be something lower or higher somewhere else. I just say, this is what I've got for you, but also you're going to get the best level of service. And I tell them you're gonna have my cell phone number and a person that answers emails. And so the question is, why should you book with me? Well, with no offense to the cruise lines or the other suppliers, their call centers closed. Their call centers might not be open on the weekends. You might want to book a trip at eight o'clock at night. And if I'm available, I'm happy to book it for you. Um, but they might be closed. And also, even if they're open, do you want to wait on hold for 30 minutes listening to It's a Small World on Loop? Or do you want to be able to shoot me a text and say, hey, are you available? Yeah, let's get on the phone right now or let's get on the Zoom. Those are the things we can offer to our clients that a call center can't, that a website certainly can't. And those are the things that I will position to my clients. Back around the horn one last time, Michael. Um when it comes to pricing and things like that that I just brought up, how do you position yourself on that subject? And how do you um answer the questions that invariably come up?

SPEAKER_03 10:14

Well, you know, I I usually don't get deep into uh pricing or discounts or promotions. I mean, when I'm when I'm quoting, um I I'm I'm usually I pat out that quote to include a lot of things that they might not consider when they're going to a discount um uh service. And I explained to them is you know, the price that we can settle on may actually be lower than this, but I want to make sure that you have some realistic expectations. And and what that does is often, you know, once we settle uh on an itinerary, is uh my clients tend to um you know stay within that budget. And they're usually pretty happy with it. And they're often surprised because um, yeah, I didn't mention that uh that promotion that is available until Monday. Because I didn't know if they were gonna book by Monday. Um and um when I have somebody who I can really tell that they're looking for, okay, you got me the best price, and then I've done some comparisons, and then they're giving me a kickback on onboard credit. What more can you do for me for me? And I say, Well, you know, I I'm not sure I'm the right travel advisor for you. Yeah. And I've had situations where um, you know, there's one in particular that I love to tell. Um there was a client who had a family, specific time that they wanted to travel, specific ports. I found them the ship, I found them the one stateroom that was perfect for them at a good price. And I sent them um pictures of what it looks like with the um um you know, additional berths lowered, and what it looks like when um um they're they're they're all in place and and and and and and they were the layout of the stateroom, everything. It's uh you know where it was in relation to the rest of um you know uh the features of the ship. And it finally came down to well, you know, we have um another competitive quote and we can save another fifty dollars here. Um and then they finally said, What more can you do for us? And I said, Uh what I can do is uh tell you that two o'clock today I'm gonna release your room so that you'll have the opportunity to work with your other you know, travel source and uh procure that room for yourself. And that's what I did for them.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Sometimes it's about doing the right thing for the client and also not battling over the fifty dollars.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Scott Yeah, it's hard to follow that. It really is. Yep, if again, qualified, you know, I'm gonna always go to that, but after asking the right questions and everything, if I find out they're kind of local, I'll play this card. You know, if you you know, when you book with me, I want you to know that we through Premier Custom Travel, me and myself, Scott McAllister, we give back locally. So I don't know the last time you saw Carnival sponsor a child's baseball team. All right, I'm not picking up Carnival, they do a lot of good. They sponsor, they sponsor stuff bigger than I can. But seriously, when was the last time you saw a major corporation's name on the back of Johnny's Little League uniform or Sally's soccer jersey or what have you? Uh so I I I go into that, but I could also back it up because I could tell them this is what I'm involved with, this is what I support. And by supporting me locally, you're also supporting the local economy. If you, you know, book through 1-800 cruises, who knows what they're doing with with the funds and and everything. If you're if you're bringing your money to us, you know where it's going, you know what we're going to use it for, in addition to keeping the lights on.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

I love that you told that story, and it's actually interesting you brought that up. Um, Premier Custom Travel, the agency Scott and I work for, we sponsored a local readathon because my girlfriend is a school teacher and begin to the reading. And so we were the only company in the community that sponsored that readathon, sadly. You know, I was thrilled that we're the only one on the flyer that went home with the kids. But some of the kids were arguing about taking the flyer home. And Melissa said to them, No, you need to take that home. Look on there. There's a company on there, and I know the person that runs that company. They spent money to sponsor you guys. And part of the deal was getting this flyer home. And the kids thought about it and went, oh, wait, they spent money on us, they sponsored our thing. Yeah, they had no idea, but the idea is they're suddenly like, oh yeah, well, they deserve to have that go home then. You know, and it it that community reach is what we're all about here. And yes, the big guys can't do that, but we can, and we can we can put that money back into the community. And so I I love that you brought that up. And I loved uh um that the kids thought it was important once they realized, hey, a local business supported you guys. Oh, well, we want to support them then. Great, you're learning economics, kids. I love it. But the uh other story that I'll tell, and this is where I think at the bottom line of this whole lesson should be value over price is the is what I like to preach. Appreciate it. And I think we all preach. But I'm gonna wrap this up with a story that is a true story, uh, and I'll do the shortened version of this because I believe it's in one of our books. But um, I had a friend of mine who reached out wanting to book a cruise, and she wound up booking with a big box retailer. Uh, I'm not gonna say the name of it, but it rhymes with Ghost Go. And um she booked with him because she got a $25 gift card. And so the difference in doing business with me and that was $25. And there's a lot more to this story, but the bottom line is she wound up booking this cruise and then got mad because they were not giving her the service she needed and the answer she needed. And she came to me wanting me to help, and I said, Well, I can't. And and this is an industry rule, and travel advisors know this. We can't service bookings we didn't do. There's a lot of reasons for it. There's some legalities, but literally, if you give me your booking number to Carnival or Disney, whoever it may be, and I punch it into the system, if it's not under my agency, I can't see it. It's not that I'm being mean or being awry about it. I literally can't see the booking. The computer says, not yours, you can't have it. So I couldn't service her booking, and she got all upset with me. And it's not fair, you know. I said, Well, you got to go to who you you danced with. So that was her first problem. The second problem was they gave her the wrong return date. And this is back before COVID. So airlines were charging change fees, and she texted me and said, Oh, wait a minute, I didn't realize you were on the next sailing after me. And I said, Yeah, I'm sailing right after you. Well, we should have dinner out there in San Diego. I said, How are we gonna do that? Well, I get off the ship the day before you. No, you don't. Trust me, the ship comes in that morning and leaves that afternoon. Well, they'd given her the wrong return date. They had somebody had mistyped it, and so she bought her airfare thinking she was gonna get off the ship on this day when she was really giving off the next day. And getting off the ship and getting to the airport the day before would have required a very long swim to San Diego, and ain't nobody doing that. But the bottom line is this she got bad service and saved $25. And that $25 could have prevented and her change fee, by the way, was like $150. So really, she lost $125 because she didn't work with a qualified travel advisor, and on top of that, um didn't get the service she deserved and the value she deserved. And sometimes paying $25 more is the better value. And that's what I'll tell my customers, and I think I've noticed a theme here, guys. Sometimes it's okay to let them go and let them go off on their own and find the world, and then they sometimes come back to us and say, you know, I just realized what I missed with you guys or with your agency because of this. Uh, but the bottom line I think is, you know, do your best to answer those questions. Do your best to explain why they should book with you. And if they don't, maybe it was just never meant to be. One last thought from each of you. Michael, wrap us up.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

Um, well, uh, if somebody's thinking about going directly with a cruise line, one of the things I say about working with a travel advisor is you know, the cruise line is going to find solutions only within their portfolio and often only within the decision trees that they've been given from higher up. And so if you're working with an experienced uh travel advisor that knows multiple brands and uh kind of knows knows the industry and has contacts in the industry, uh a lot more choices are available to you. Scott, what is your final thought on this whole thing?

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Michael keeps taking all the good ones. Um but to piggyback on that, you you know, Michael's absolutely right. You know, for myself, I represent work with uh over 30 cruise lines. The the person at that call center represents one, that's all they know. So if a client calls me and says, Hey, I saw this ad for cruise line XYZ, okay, qualified questions. What is it about that cruise that you like? Which board are you really excited about? Well, I like the price, okay? What if I can get you a very similar or maybe even a better price on a line that's gonna provide you better quality because you've already said you like this, this, and this. We could do that. A properly trained, educated, certified travel advisor can bring more value to the table than a one size doesn't do all.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

That's right. Position yourself as the expert because you are. If you're listening to this, you're a travel advisor who's invested in their business. So share the fact that you've done that. Share those contacts you have within the industry. And another angle you can also take to wrap this up is you've worked hard to establish contacts with your BDMs, with some of the higher-ups and maybe the cruise lines or the other brands, and you can leverage those when there's an issue the client might have. I always tell my customers, and I'll wrap it up with this, uh, you know, one other benefit that I can bring to you is problem solving. Now, if you run into an issue and you're booking direct, if you book on a website, good luck finding somebody to talk to. If you book with a call center, you've got to call and talk to the frontline person and then escalate it and elevate it, and that can go around and around and around with a bunch of emails. I can reach out to somebody who is a decision maker. Now, you might not always like the answer, and I always jokingly say this and they always laugh. You may not always like the answer they're gonna give us, but we'll at least get you an answer and get you a resolution, Scott.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Well, on that fact, Chris, the other value that we can bring as independent travel advisors, do you want to spend time on your vacation handling problems, or do you want to pass that off to me and let me handle that for you? Meanwhile, you're enjoying an excursion in, you know, Cancun or what have you. Exactly. That's value. You get to continue enjoying your vacation. I'm working for you while you're playing.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

I love that. And you know, and I think wrapping it up, the one last thing you guys brought up, and I can put a button on this because it just popped into my head. You know, you talk about that we have the responsibility of being uh neutral. We work with all the different brands and everything and don't necessarily have a favorite, whereas the call center person obviously is getting a paycheck from brand X, Y, or Z. And so that's who they're gonna always pitch as the best option every single time. We're kind of like uh the call centers and the brands and the websites are that guy in the Schwab commercial. And I don't even remember what his name is, but he's the one that's always getting frustrated because the other company is putting the customer's best interest ahead of it, and he just wants to make their money. And that's, I guess, the best way of thinking of it is we are not the schwab guy. We are schwab in that in that scenario, you know? And we're always here as advisors for the customer, and we always want to put them first.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Thanks for listening to Beyond the Handbooks. Visit tahandbook.com to order our books. See our upcoming schedule of seminars at sea, and listen to episodes on demand. We'll see you next time when we go Beyond the Handbooks.