Who Else Wants to Know the Top 5 Ways to Grow Your Travel Agency?

As you sit in your office, you stare at your phone.

It hasn’t been ringing that much and you wince when you think about the clients you could handle travel for because you know and understand the industry and can be an asset to them. You want to grow your travel agency but you’re not sure how.

As you sit in your chair, you sigh.

To develop your agency, it’s important to attract new clients and retain them as repeat customers. The following are the top five ways that a new or experienced travel agent can use right now to increase their clientele.

Top 5 Ways to Grow Your Travel Agency

Partner with a Host Agency

Avoid the stress of growing your travel agency alone by partnering with a host agency. At TPI, we offer agents education through our T.E.A.M. program (Training. Education. Ambassador. Meetings). With 27 local markets currently served and plans to add more in 2016, TPI and non-TPI agents are able to gather together to network and share best practices. We’ve partnered with Agent Studio to provide agents with a better way to connect, communicate, and share travel content. Whether you’re a new or experienced agent, work with a host agency that will help you every step of the way.

Use Social Media

Facebook and Twitter are the largest social media networks. But, you may consider using Pinterest and Instagram too. When you use social media, you want to be mindful of your URL. For example, if the name of your travel agency is Travelers Excursions, your Facebook URL will look like this: https://www.facebook.com/travelersexcursions. Do you see the problem with this? Look closer. Part of your agency’s name looks like ‘sexcursions’. You can avoid this faux pas by using hyphens:  https://www.facebook.com/travelers-excursions. Keep in mind that you must be active on social media. Post a mixture of promotions, business updates, Q&A, video, links, and images at least 10 times per week; respond to comments and messages in a timely manner.

Direct Email and Digital Email Marketing

According to a Harvard Business Review study, direct mail has a better response rate than email marketing – 25 percent vs. 23 percent – but direct mail costs 100 times more. However, studies have shown that people recall more from reading on paper than on a screen. If you use direct mail, keep in mind that you can ask potential new clients to connect with you via social media and sign up for your newsletter –include a link to a website. When you combine direct mail and email marketing, you can double or even triple your ROI (return on investment).

Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce

If you haven’t joined your local chamber of commerce, you’re missing out on the opportunity to book business and or personal travel. You’re also missing out on the opportunity to be a guest speaker at events where you can show and tell ‘why’ it’s better to work with a travel agency. Remember, you are the expert. Peel back the curtain on the travel industry, but not too much, and show chamber members the value of working with a travel agent.

Word-of-Mouth Advertising

Believe it or not, word-of-mouth advertising is still the best way to attract new customers. Why? Because people trust those closest to them when they’re making decisions from booking travel to buying a new car. If your clients are happy with you, they may tell 10 or 20 people. And then those people may tell 10 or 20 people. Numbers don’t lie! Before you know it, you will be known as the ‘best travel agency’ and your business will grow quicker than you may have expected.

Imagine sitting in your home office, but this time your phone is ringing non-stop. You can’t catch your breath because you’ve become a preferred travel agent.

Instead of worrying about how you will attract new clientele, you consider hiring a part-time assistant to help you keep up with the demand.

All because you followed the five steps above that show you how to grow your travel agency. Not only are you gaining new customers but you’ve finally started to see how you can grow your business.

Seem impossible? It’s not.

Devote your time to what works instead of what does not work. Take control of your agency.

You have the steps – now all you have to do is follow them.

Contact Travel Planners International and start growing your home based travel agency.