Daly Dish: Rounding Out Your Travel Selling Strategy in 2026

Editor's Note: The following is written by Drew Daly, senior vice president and general manager for CruiseOne and Dream Vacations.

In my November AGENTatHOME article, I reviewed the formalized sales process and focused on the second of six sales steps: qualifying. (Go back to the September issue for my column on the first step — greeting.)

Here’s a refresher on the six steps:

1. Greeting
2. Qualifying
3. Researching
4. Presenting
5. Asking for the sale
6. Following up

To help jump-start your sales strategy for 2026, we’re going to wrap up the remaining steps here.

After greeting — and once you understand exactly what your customers are looking for by qualifying — it’s time to begin researching options. Most of the research will take place automatically, based on your knowledge of the products you sell. The key is to review all the important factors your clients identified during the consultation, and then present a few options that best fit what they are looking for.

Here, the fourth step, presenting, becomes critical, because you don’t want to overwhelm your customer. People are reaching out to you because they need help planning. Making a final travel decision is difficult for most clients, and they value your insight as the travel expert. The maximum number of options you should present to travelers is three — anything more will just cause confusion and create unnecessary anxiety.

Once you present the options, it’s time to act and ask them to buy from you via the fifth step. Asking for the sale can be overwhelming for many advisors, largely because people don’t like rejection and fear hearing the dreaded “no.” But 90% of the time, a person will say no because they want to check with their travel companion before making the purchase. So, it’s very important to remember: Nothing is personal, and a “no” is usually a “yes” in disguise. It’s crucial to discover why clients are saying no and do your best to overcome any objections as they arise. Regardless, people must review the options before deciding, and this will require them to pause and get back to you later.

Finally, we’ve arrived at the sixth step: the follow-up. Make sure you’re always the one doing the follow-up work, because prospective clients typically book with the last person they spoke with. Do your part to make sure you build a solid connection with your customer, stay relevant in their mindset, and always check in with them so they know you’re there to help with their decision.

Put all these steps into place, and you’ll soon be on the road to selling success.