Being smart is a good thing, right? Of course – however, there are a few common travel agency problems that smart travel agents need to overcome.
SMART TRAVEL AGENT PROBLEM #1: THEY OVER INTELLECTUALIZE THINGS
Smart travel agents and smart people, in general, tend to over-intellectualize things, sometimes to the point of analysis paralysis. Ever been guilty of this? I know I have.
When it comes to a major life decision or a complex strategy, this can be helpful. But when it comes to the day-to-day stuff, spending gobs of time over-analyzing every little thing will hold you back.
Time is the one truly finite resource you have.
SMART TRAVEL AGENT PROBLEM #2: THEY’RE PERFECTIONISTS
You, of course, want to have high standards for everything you do, especially when it comes to caring for your clients. There’s a difference between high standards and perfectionism.
Perfectionism will slow you down and can cost you dearly.
There’s ALWAYS so much to do and handle every day in business. With high standards, you can keep moving forward getting things done and not stressing about the fact that whatever you’re working on isn’t perfect.
Nothing is every truly perfect, embrace “good enough”.
SMART TRAVEL AGENT PROBLEM #3: THEY WANT TO SKIP THE BASICS.
I see this with travel agents… ALL. THE. TIME. They think they have the basics down so they want to skip to the advanced marketing strategies. Here’s the deal, those advanced marketing strategies won’t work for you until you’ve MASTERED the basics, all of them.
Ramit Sethi sums it up best:
“Stop getting too advanced for your own good and stop trying to skip ahead. There’s joy in mastering the basics.
And once you get good, you’ll recognize that the very best earn the right to focus on the advanced stuff by becoming truly world-class at the fundamentals.”
As a smart travel agent, I’m guessing you have at least one of these problems from time to time. In the comments below tell me which common travel agency problem you struggle with the most.
Love & Success,
Heidi and Your Marketing Team
P.S. I’m gonna sneak in one more common travel agency problem down here in the P.S. 😉 – way too many travel agents are not consistently (if at all) sending out high-quality enewsletters to their prospective clients. The good news is that I have an easy-peasy solution to this problem!
I am hosting my ever-popular FREE class on Email Marketing for Travel Agents this week (via on-line webinar) and I would love for you to join me and learn how to grow your travel agency with more IDEAL clients though email marketing. To register, click here.
Hello Heidi,
My struggles are definitely 1 and 2. I tend to be over-analytical to the point where it’s become an impediment for me to have a successful travel business. I think it goes hand-in-hand with “Problem #2”, I tend to want perfection. With that, I have this all-or-nothing mindset. Everyone around me, my wife especially see the potential I have to make this business successful. I’ve owned this business for 7 years now and I’ve pretty much mastered the basics. Now it is past time that I step it up and get more than a few bookings here and there each year.
I purchased your e-book yesterday that your promoting for $.99 and found that it contains really good information. My question about setting up a website is: What if my franchisor already has a website dedicated for my franchise? How can I make it better since the sites they provide are homogeneous?
Thank you for the content that you publish in this community and for the inspiration and guidance you give to us travel professionals.
I relate to what you’re saying Steve, I’ve had those same struggles. Thanks for your kind words, and thank you for getting the book, and reading it!! Please considering leaving a 5-star review for it and in your review stating why you think it’s helpful for travel agents who want to be successful in today’s market. I’d really appreciate it! As far as your franchisor website, I made a video about that which is located here (in the video I say “host agency site” but the concept is the same) ==> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVEyrNwqaag