What Your Agency Can Do During Slow Season

It’s not uncommon for a travel agency to come across a slow season at some point throughout the year. Places that encounter bitter winters with people traveling left and right trying to escape the cold usually run into a slow season come summer when people are choosing to enjoy the weather in their home state.

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Other times it becomes slow on the front and back end of a holiday. If it happens to you, there are plenty of things to do to fill your time instead of worrying. Keep these things in mind the next time your agency has a lull.

Work on Marketing Projects

Marketing is usually what gets put on the back burner during the busy months. When business is flying in the door, it’s hard to prioritize taking time to keep up with these types of projects. However, the off-season is a great time to circle back to things you’ve been wanting to get done in this department.

Have you been wanting to update your website or photography? Maybe your Facebook or Pinterest page could use a good spruce or you’ve considered trying out a new social media platform. There are several to choose from, and slow periods are the time to try a new one out.

Host an Event

Hosting an event seems like the last thing you’d have time for during peak season, but how about now that the phones aren’t ringing off the hook? Hosting an event, whether it’s at your agency or at a local restaurant, brewery or park, can be a great way to pick up business during the slow months.

You can give your event a theme and highlight a specific destination or tour operator to talk about or simply have a “get to know the agency” event. You may find some people in your area never even knew your company existed. It’s a good way to put yourself on people’s radar when they do come around to thinking about a trip.

Organize Your Office

Cleaning is another thing that often gets bumped to the end of the list. Now that clients aren’t reaching out left and right, it’s a great time to clean the office and make sure it’s presentable for when your business does start picking up again.

Whether you’re a home-based agent or a storefront agency, there is usually always a desk, drawer, room or closet that could use a little bit of organizing.

Grow Your Knowledge

Do you have a folder in your email of all the webinars and training events you want to do and never got around to signing up for them when you were busy booking trip after trip? Slow season is a great time for learning.

Webinars, whether hosted by a tour operator, hotel chain or tourist board, can provide you with great information to assist in selling trips to your clients. In addition, live events not only provide you with product knowledge but also opportunities to interact with other travel agents.

Go on a Trip

The slow season is a perfect time to expand your destination knowledge by visiting a new destination. If business is slow at the office, use the time to spend more days immersing yourself in an area to really get to know it and bring home tips to share with your clients.

If you’re heading to Hawaii or the Caribbean, choose to see a few islands in one trip or book that two-week Europe vacation you’ve always talked about. Whether it’s an escorted FAM trip or a tour you put together yourself, traveling, in general, is always beneficial when working in the travel industry.

Slow seasons can cause stress but try to allow yourself to enjoy the breath of fresh air between the busy times. Just know it won’t last forever, and soon your phone will be ringing off the hook again.