Successful selling relies on the ability to forge strong connections with clients. (Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/Matthew Cerff/peopleimages.com)
As virtually any seasoned sales professional will tell you, successful selling relies not on formulaic strategies but rather on the ability to forge strong human connections with clients. Part and parcel of creating that human connection is travel advisors listening to what clients have to say to create trips that overdeliver.
We asked a handful of advisors what they viewed as their most valuable sales tool. Here’s what they had to say.
Listening First, Selling Second
For Stepping Out Travel Services CEO Mandee Migliaccio, it’s all about listening first and selling second.
“I spend time getting to know my clients and asking questions about how they want to feel on their vacation, not just where they want to go.”
The more Migliaccio understands about what’s important to her customers, the easier it is to narrow down travel options and explain why one choice is a better fit than another, she noted.
“It’s so effective because people don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to,” Migliaccio said. “They want someone they can trust to guide them and look out for their best interests.”
Uncovering the ‘Why’ Behind the Trip
Rubys Travel Owner Ruby Stanfield capitalizes on a similar sales approach. “My most valuable sales tactic is to listen first and tailor the trip around what the client actually wants to feel on vacation, not just where they want to go,” she said.
Attentive listening enables advisors to then ask the right questions about such issues as budget and travel style, which provide the “why” behind the trip,” Stanfield said, adding that she can then match the customers to the “right destination, resort, cruise, or itinerary, and if it’s a destination that calls for deeper expertise, I can connect them with the right advisor on my team who specializes in that area.”
Building Personal Connections
Building trust with destination wedding couples is paramount to closing sales. (Photo Credit: A bride and groom pose on the beach at a Grand Palladium resort.)
For her part, Alexis Burnett, destination wedding manager for Love to Travel, makes it a priority to “truly get to know each couple on a personal level before making any recommendations” to build trust.
“Every couple has a different vision, budget, personality and group dynamic, so I spend time asking questions, listening to what is most important to them and understanding who they are as a couple,” Burnett said. “This allows me to narrow down destinations and resorts that genuinely fit their wedding vision rather than simply presenting a list of options,” the end goal of which is to “help them make the best decision for their unique needs – not to simply make a sale.”
Burnett also places a high premium on transparency. “I explain the pros and cons of each resort and set realistic expectations – especially the difference between planning a wedding versus planning a destination wedding – and provide guidance based on firsthand experience and feedback from past wedding couples.”
“This approach is so effective because a destination wedding is one of the biggest and most personal trips a couple will ever plan,” Burnett added.
When couples come to understand that Burnett genuinely understands what they’re looking for, they invariably trust her recommendations, she said.
Prioritizing Openness and Transparency
Transparency is also at the heart of the selling process for James Berglie, president of Be All Inclusive, which also specializes in destination weddings.
“Being completely honest with our clients about how things actually work, even when it’s not the flashy answer, and being their advocate the whole way through the wedding process instead of just the person who books the trip,” he said, adding noting that clients “can tell the difference between someone selling them a vacation and someone who’s actually in their corner.”
“When you’re transparent and honestly assessing the good and the bad about resorts and honestly advising based on if we were in their shoes, trust builds fast, and that trust is what actually closes the sale,” Berglie said.
“It’s not a pitch, it’s clarity. “People don’t want to be sold to; they want someone who’ll tell them the truth and fight for them,” he added.
In the end, it comes back to engendering the customers’ trust. “When clients feel and understood, trust builds quickly – and trust is what closes the sale,” said Stanfield of Rubys Travel.
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