Get To Know Your Client or Prospect

By Phil and Doris Davidoff, CTC, MCC

The more you know about your clients or prospects, the better you can advise them of the best travel program to meet their needs or evaluate what they are asking you to book. The more time you invest up front (within reason of, course) to learn about their likes, dislikes and desires, the easier it will be to recommend a cruise, resort or tour and close the sale.

Unfortunately, most travel agents view their clients' requests as orders and fill them like a waiter in a restaurant, without any analysis of what they are asking for. They do not take the time - or show the personal interest - in what their clients really want.

We can remember prospective clients asking us to book a trip to a large resort hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. If we had taken their request at face value, we would have booked the hotel and the clients would have had a "so-so" trip at best or perhaps a miserable trip.

We took the time to ask a few questions:
Where had they traveled previously?
What did they want to do on this trip?
Do they like lavish shows?
Do they enjoy gaming?

Their answers showed that they like small hotels, long walks on the beach, just relaxing, entertainment from small combos and they did not gamble. We booked them into a small, oceanfront hotel on St. Croix. They loved it and traveled with us every year. When we asked why they requested the San Juan hotel, they said a relative suggested it. They also admitted that their tastes and lifestyles were very different from the relative's lifestyle.