Identifying "Shoppers"

by: Phil & Doris Davidoff, CTCs, CTIEs, MCCs
There is nothing more frustrating than spending an hour or two with potential clients and having them leave without any commitment to buy. Too often, the unprepared sales agent has been taken in by shoppers who have no real plans to travel or who are collecting information to determine what to book with a no frills, discount travel promotor (or with a relative).

While these situations cannot be avoided 100% of the time, there are some tell-tale signs of shoppers which should be easily identified. We believe most shoppers can be spotted within the first five minutes of a sales conversation.

Make sure that you (and your agents) understand the following:
Always get the full name of the clients you are working with, whether in person or on the telephone. If the prospects won't identify themselves, they are not really potential clients for you.

Obtain a phone number (and an email address if they have one) early in the transaction. Sometimes, a prospect will provide a good reason why no number is available or why not to call, but failure to provide a contact is a major sign of a shopper.

Be specific in determining when the prospects are planning to travel. Those who cannot even be sure of a range of weeks are either dreaming of the future or collecting information for their children's school projects.

If the prospect appears to know all the details about a prospective trip (even more than you do), they can easily have been discussing it with one or two agents before coming to your agency. Beware of the price shopper. A "real" prospect may have obtained some information from the Internet, but, when a prospect has a great amount of information before coming to you, they should either be ready to book right now or they are probably shoppers.

You should spend as little time as possible with people who do not provide contact information. Politely advise them that you do not provide information to people you don't know and cannot contact.

The dreamer (including the prospect who might travel at some time, but definitely isn't ready yet) can be dealt with by quickly giving him or her a brochure or two and asking to be contacted when specific travel time is known. DO NOT do this with a prospect who is ready to travel. For a "real" prospect, you want to interview them before offering them any brochures.Yes, you might (very rarely) turn off a "real" prospect, but the hours you save not spending a lot of time with shoppers will more than make up for the one in fifty or a hundred you misjudged and lost.

The price shopper has real potential for travel, but probably wants such a large discount (or rebate) that is may not be a profitable transaction. Try to close the sale, but if this type client refuses to commit, move them out politely, but quickly, by suggesting that they check around for the best price they can find and then contact you to see if you can match or beat it.