Being a boutique tour operator who has marketed packages only through travel professionals, I’ve spent many hours over the years helping travel advisors book their clients for our sports and special event packages. In many ways, our company is similar to other small tourism companies, so it’s my pleasure to share some of the best tricks and tools I’ve learned along the way!
1. You need a business and marketing plan. It does not need to be designed for the Harvard School of Business…just a one-page plan will do! Areas to cover include:
- Budgeting – Be sure to include a couple of options for revenue and expenses.
- Operations – This probably is the easiest and best part because the category includes the travel planning process and customer service.
- Marketing – There are so many simple and affordable guerilla marketing strategies available. These range from social media marketing to email marketing (your client database is the most important tool) and, to the best strategy of all, referral or reward options. Partner with your suppliers – we’re here to help!
2. Choose a niche but remain a generalist. Be passionate and share that enthusiasm and expertise with your customers, whether you are offering your specialty of culinary tourism or a quick and easy getaway to the Napa Valley. Spend most of your time marketing your niche, and the Las Vegas weekends and cruises will fall into place. And don’t sell from your own purse; package with your clients’ tastes and budgets in mind. Beware of the client buying on price alone; that may not be the type of traveler you want to build your client list with.
3. Set goals as part of your overall business scheme. Remember that goal and plans are meant to be tweaked and changed often! Here are some issues to consider:
- Do you want selling travel to be a full-time or a part-time job? How many hours a week do you plan to work?
- There is a lot to know in the tourism industry, so how do you plan to keep current?
- How much time should you dedicate to marketing the business (half a day a week, for example)?
4. Require a non-refundable plan-to-go deposit (not a fee) for custom-designed vacations that are not easily booked off the shelf. We are in a service business, and what we offer is knowledge and expertise for our customers. So why would we give it away? From personal experience, I’ve found that our small boutique tour company has had great success with this model, allowing us to maximize time for our mutual clients and not waste time with those who want our knowledge for free.
5. Be passionate about our profession, and the sales will fall into place! We all love what we do in tourism – offering trips of a lifetime – but, we are sales people, after all. Our job is to create memorable vacations for our clients – but, if we can’t get the vacation booked, we can’t make a living to continue doing what we love. And, keep in mind that it’s okay to fire a client. I had one of my best days when, about five years into our business, we decided not to partner with a particularly difficult travel company. We all like doing business and working with people we like. Be professional and share the joy daily!
Suzanne Slavitter CTP, CTIE, is the vice president and co-owner of Sports Empire, Inc., a sports and special events tour company, including the Authentic California Vacations receptive division, and co-founder and owner of Red Hot Celebrations. Suzanne is a graduate of Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She earned her Certified Tour Professional (CTP) designation in 1996 and her Certified Travel Industry Executive (CTIE) designation in 2005.
