The following five tips from The Travel Institute’s Wellness Travel Specialist Course are brought to you by Anne Dimon, Co-Founder, President/CEO of the Wellness Tourism Association (WTA) and Owner/Editor of TraveltoWellness.com.
1. Be intentional and confident. The first person you must convince that you are an expert in wellness is yourself. If your experience in the industry doesn’t give you enough confidence, take some online courses (like this one) to bolster your knowledge. Make the decision to be a wellness travel specialist, and go for it.
2. Be proactive. Emulate Steve Jobs. Give clients what they want before they know they want it. In the case of selling the wellness travel product, engage with clients and potential clients and make them aware of what’s available under the wide umbrella of wellness.
3. Be in the know. Know the trends and what consumers are telling you they want, what products are available, what properties and geographic destinations are legitimately offering wellness assets, amenities, and activities.
4. Be the expert. In travel as in other industries, people want experts, but they don’t know where to find them. So, become an expert and make it easy for potential clients to find you. Then, it’s time to tell people that you specialize in wellness. And that means you must inform everyone in your network—not just family, friends, and existing clients but everyone, including suppliers, your local community, and both traditional and digital media writers and editors. You can have the best product and service out there, but, if only your mother knows about it, then only your mother is going to buy it.
5. Be out there. Leverage every opportunity. Does your specialty appear everywhere? Is your website search engine optimized (SEO) for key wellness travel word searches? Write articles, blogs (short for weblogs) and/or vlogs (short for videoblogs) and share them on your site and on other wellness travel focused websites—such as TravelToWellness.com for wellness travel specialists—that attract the audience to whom you are trying to promote. Write an article for a client—linking the article to your site—and interview a supplier or two. Post a client’s questions and answer them for others to read and be inspired. Produce videos of places you visit or tips from other experts. Good content goes a long way to showcasing your professionalism and status. Take advantage of social media platforms. Always post with a voice of knowledge, experience, and authority. And make it easy for people to find you. Become the go-to expert on wellness travel.
