The Most Overlooked Call That Can Explode Your Business Growth

Most travel agents think the job ends after the trip—but that’s the mistake, because the real growth doesn’t happen before the trip, it happens after.

The simple “welcome home” call is where you understand what actually mattered to your client, what needs to be better next time, and what they want to do next, and when you skip it, you lose the relationship, but when you do it right, you create repeat clients, referrals, and your next booking.

So are you ending the experience too early, or are you using the one moment most people ignore?
This podcast is for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Look, a welcome home call is not for them. It is for you. At the end of the day, it is your opportunity to get the pat on the back that you deserve, but it's also your moment to kind of understand and listen to them what worked well, what didn't work well, what they want to see next time. It's your opportunity to become a better travel advisor for this person and already assume the next sale that is coming in the door. So don't let it be this optional thing that falls off your to-do list because you don't have time for it. This is the moment to make your next sale. This is for you.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Welcome to the Travel Agent Guide, the podcast pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to be a travel agent. We're talking real life, the challenges, the wins, the money, the mistakes, and the growth. Whether you've been in the travel industry for years or are new to it, we're in this together and you're exactly where you need to be.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Welcome back to another episode. This is one of my favorite topics because this is the most overlooked call that will really explode your business. And what I mean by that is I think it's one of those calls that is on the to-do list but never actually happens. We're talking about the welcome home call. So, Haley, tell us a little bit. Are you just religious about doing your welcome home call? How great are you?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

I mean, probably 90% of the time, there will definitely be some clients that it's a hard sell to get them on the call. But I kind of push back. I use it as it's kind of part of my sales process. And I make all my clients know before they travel, I can't wait to talk to you within two weeks when you come home to hear all about your trip because it's making them know that there's this extra process that they need to follow through with to set up this meeting with you so you can better understand their trip. Um, yeah, so I'd say 90% of the time, you always get a one-off, but even with those clients who won't get on a call, I still kind of push them to.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah, no, I absolutely love it. Okay, so I'm sure most of you are thinking, welcome home calls, that's a boring subject. I'm going to promise you something. I'm going to promise you that by the end of this episode, you are going to understand how to use this as leverage for yourself when it comes to moving your business forward. So we're going to talk about a lot of things today because the welcome home call is not just how was your trip. And I think a lot of people think of it like that. They think, okay, how was everything? Anything I could do better. Thanks for the notes, and they move on. But it's such a strategic moment because your clients are coming back on a high. So we'll start with the how is your trip stuff and tell you about some key questions to ask, but then we'll dive into the perfect way to end it to begin to grow your business. Um, so let's talk about just asking them how their trip was. Haley, do you have any specific questions that you like to get on the books to make sure I'm getting the insight I'm really looking for for them?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Yeah. So when I set up my meetings, I typically carve out a good 30 minutes with my clients and I will have their itinerary pulled up with them or on the call, and we go through it step by step. So I want to hear how was your transfer experience? How was, you know, flights are always the question I don't love to ask, but I do. It's not gonna change anything. Um, but then we kind of just dive into this piece by piece. Not only am I understanding, okay, how well did my tour operator um, you know, provide transfers for my clients, the hotels, I get some great feedback. If it's a new hotel, I haven't necessarily booked, if it's a different room type, I get a better understanding of how their family fit in this property. Um, then we dive into the tours and I kind of understand, okay, was this for you or maybe this wasn't for you? But absolutely, I ask the questions, we walk through the itinerary piece by piece, and I get feedback on every single item for the trip. So it's not really just a casual, how was your trip? Tell me the answer. It is, okay, let's dive in. Kind of like with your pre-departure call, we dive in and do the same on the welcome home.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Okay, okay. So I do things a little bit differently, just to have another perspective on it. I love to play with whatever high they're feeling, whatever they're excited to tell me about, that's kind of where I start. So I typically get on the phone and I'm like, oh, I can't wait to hear all about it. Tell me your favorite memory. And like, I just like starting with the high so it feels good. Um, it's a little bit of a compliment sandwich, if I'm gonna be honest, because we'll talk about what's good. Of course, we have to get to what wasn't so good. Um, but I like to start on the high and end on the high as much as possible. So the overall feeling of the trip stays really, really good. Um, versus if I start on the flights, like, does anybody ever have a good feeling about flights? No, okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

So just just like I just had clients come home um two days ago from London and Paris. The first question I asked was, all right, so I want to know which destination did you love more? Did you enjoy Paris more or London? That definitely sucks the so better. I'm not like, all right, so how terrible were those American Airlines? Like that's did you love the back of the bus? Yeah, exactly, right? But I think too, when I look at flights, I, you know, for perspective for next time, were you comfortable in Maine Economy or would Comfort Plus be a better choice next time? Or just kind of understanding a traveler overall with every aspect of the trip for sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

My husband would answer that I was not comfortable, but my wallet was. I could already tell you. So funny. Yeah. All right. So getting them on the call is a little bit hard. And we've kind of I'm gonna jump back just for a second because I do want to make sure that we feel that pain and we acknowledge that not every client wants to. And a lot of times, especially in the beginning of doing this, I would kind of send the text the day they get home. Welcome home. Can't wait to hear all about it. I'm so excited. And then I might follow up once and be like, hey, like when's a good time to talk? But I wasn't pushy. And when I realized I've gotten deeper and deeper into sales, I do have to kind of be a little bit pushy about this one. Now, I lower the bar for the quality that I need. I kind of tell them, especially if it's a second follow-up or something, I'll just say, like, hey, this doesn't need to be like a sit-down video call for me. Like, if you just want to call me on the way to work or something and we have a 15-minute conversation, that's all I need. I just want to make sure I'm best serving you, is kind of how I pitch it for those people that are a little bit more hesitant to get on the phone. So if you're out there and you're like, oh, they just won't get on the phone, I ask every time, well, I hear you, but are you asking two and three times? Because they'll almost always, I don't know that I've ever had anyone just say, like, no, I've had people that kind of blew me off a couple of times and made it hard to schedule. But if you follow up, and by again, by the end of this call, I think you'll believe that the follow-up is worth it. So, or by the end of the podcast, sorry. Um, so hang tight because I just wanted to point out it's not always easy to have this conversation. All right. So once you get on the call, are there any other specific questions where you feel like it's really drawing out some interesting facts or interesting feedback from clients?

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Yeah, I mean, I did think just overall, just asking about the logistics. Did they feel rushed at all? Were they happy? What was their favorite experience out of the entire thing? What would you do again if we could do it again? Just more broad questions like that versus the full itinerary, right? But I do like to get feedback. Like if I booked a FIT and I used a new tour operator, like how was that day? How was the guide? Tell me a little bit about your experience.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Nine out of 10 times, it's always positive. You'll get some people like I just had a welcome home call last week, and I've used this tour guide four times. So I have no idea what happened, but I realized that maybe my clients, I just went off of the guide that I knew, but I wasn't looking at the clients as a whole and understanding what maybe they needed. So now I pivoted, right? So your go-to isn't always gonna be your go-to for every client, it's gonna be definitely dependent on your um so yeah, we asked all the questions, but just to kind of go backwards a little bit um in how you get your clients on a call. So I I I'm very persistent, right? I think when the clients come home, some people text while they're in destination, some people don't. I usually try not to. Um, but usually the day or after on that Monday, I'll mark my calendar and text them and get the call scheduled. And most people are really excited to talk about it. So I think don't wait. Don't wait four weeks to try to get them on a call because at that point they've completely moved on. Um, so I think that's important. I know some advisors who actually will schedule their welcome home call while they're on a pre-departure call, right? And say, hey, listen, yeah, the next two weeks, like when you come home, let's give you two weeks, but I'm gonna get this time on the calendar with you now. Um, and I'll just remind you. So that's another good option as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

That's a great idea. And I will tell you, in our workflow, for anybody out there that has like a really built-out workflow, we have two kind of steps to it. We have the welcome home text that um that alert goes off the day they get home. So the idea is again, just like welcome home, can't wait to talk about it, can't wait to hear all about it, whatever. It's a short sweet, just I'm here. And then we have another alarm that goes off three days later that is the welcome home call. And the idea for that one is when you get that alert, you're like, okay, let me try to push again and get this call scheduled. But I love the idea of scheduling on a pre-departure. And then it's just there. What I wouldn't do is schedule it the day after they get back or a couple days after. I would probably schedule it a week out so they could get home and they could get back to work and get out the inbox clean and the things, and then they have the space in their mind to give you really quality feedback at that point. Um, Haley, I love that we keep trying to move on in the welcome home call and we're like, well, wait, but one more thing about moving back. Right. Anything else about scheduling or getting them on the call that we need to think through?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

No, I think you just need to want it, right? As long as you want it, your clients are gonna know you want it and they'll make it happen for you.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

And by the end of the podcast, you're gonna want it for sure. Okay, so uh there is a question that I always ask that I think has given me the most insight in how I should better prepare my clients. So the question that I typically ask is was there anything you didn't know during the trip that you wish you would have known before you left? And I've gotten a lot of uh, again, just very detailed feedback from that question. And I get everything from, you know, exactly which ATMs to trust, and they don't feel very comfortable about money, or well, I really wish I would have realized that uh this tour guide was this way or this, I needed to expect this, or especially rental cars. Like, think rental cars in Italy. Now there's 400 things I tell them about renting a car in Italy that I used to never. So especially if you're newer to being a travel agent, this is the call that helps you become a much better travel agent. The idea behind it is okay, next time I have a client going to Italy, I need to tell them this, this, and this. So the question again is just what is there anything you didn't know that you wish you would have known? Every client has something that would have made them feel more comfortable, more at ease, having a better experience. Another good example is the way that trains work in Europe. You know, you don't exactly know which platform you're going to until just a few minutes before the train leaves. And when I first started this, I would have clients be like, yeah, I was just sitting there anxious because I didn't know where to go and my train was leaving in 15 minutes. And then I had to run and I'm like, yeah, that's how trains work in Europe. So these little things that just made me a better and better travel agent over time came from that one question. Um, I'm trying to think of any other questions that are kind of unique with a little bit of a twist. But again, it's a lot of tell me what was great, tell me what wasn't. Oh, I know, Haley. You mentioned you ask about the cadence of activities. That piece is super important because it's different for everyone, right? Like some people want to be go, go, go, go, go. And other people are like, an activity every other day is more than enough for me. Like that's plenty. Do you see that with your clients and kind of understand how someone more and somewhat less?

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Exactly. I think, you know, the pre-departure or the welcome home call I just did, it was okay, we had a full day planned in Dororo Valley. Then the next day they had a one-way transfer from Porto to Lisbon. Then on the next day, they had a full day Sintra private tour. So when we went back and looked at this, that day in between, we didn't realize that, okay, you're gonna be in a car for three consecutive days. You know, these clients were big, you know, six, four big people didn't really want to be in cars that long. They loved it, but they just said, for next time, I think we'll kind of, you know, just stay put for an extra day or move the tour towards the middle of the time in Lisbon or whatever that looks like. So now, next time, you know, I'm sitting there talking to them, like, yeah, for next time, we're absolutely gonna make sure this is perfect. And I'm already putting in their minds that we're gonna start planning another trip. We're gonna start working on this. And I promise you, next time we'll have it perfect, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Okay, so where do you keep your notes? Because that's that's what I think is the most um important part here is again, every client's a little bit different. And the feedback you're getting from them, you should not just be like, okay, great, thanks so much, bye. And then it you may think you're gonna remember you're not. Six months down the road, nine months down the road, a year when you plan their next trip, that information will not be retained. And if you're a really great travel agent that gets a ton of referrals and a ton of repeat clients, it's because you made your client feel listened to. So, Haley, where do you keep your notes?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Yeah, so whatever, you know, workflow system you're using, whether it's TAS, whether it is turn, um, underneath the client profile, there should be a note option where you can store everything. So I have anything from, you know, passport numbers to are my clients vegetarian? Are they vegan? Like these specific clients, this is the third trip or the second trip. So the first trip, I know that they will not fly unless it's premium economy. So that's notated premium economy only. Then we have one's vegan, one's vegetarian. Perfect. Then we have, okay, there's six four and six five. They're tall people. So I'm keeping track of all this here and understanding. So every time I go in and when I hop on another call, when we start planning the next trip, I just pull up that client profile and then I remind them, like, okay, so we're doing premium economy only. And they love it, right? You're keeping track of who they are and what their travel ideas are about. So it just shows that you really truly care.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Six, four and six five. Are they even saving for college for their kids? Are they like, it's fine. We we clearly have a basketball scholarship here. Like volleyball, something, some scholarship will come your way. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Okay, so I I agree. Um, we use as Sava Travel, everybody is given turn for free. That's part of uh what our admin fees go to. And in turn, it's right below the client profile, like Haley mentioned. But any of the systems, whether you use Tess or Travel Joy, they all have kind of that notes box. And while it's not some CRMs are very structured, like what's the preferred airline and there's a drop down, and do they prefer aisle or window and there's a drop-down and all these? I kind of love just a free forum box where I get to throw in any and every type of feedback that they throw my way because you never know. Everybody's got weird little, you know, weird little things that they need that are very specific. Um, so for me, make sure it goes in the box, make sure it goes in the client profile. I think it's going to be a huge game changer if you don't pretend you're going to remember everything. Especially if you want to become a million-dollar agent, you cannot rely on your memory. I'm sorry, you can't. Like, you need to have a system to back up uh what you learn. Okay, so then I would say we've got the clients on the call, we've asked about the trip, we've kind of dug into a little bit what they liked. Tell me how you react to what they don't like. Because I think that's why a lot of people don't get on these calls. They don't want to hear about the train that got canceled and they didn't get their refund or the tour guy that sucked for whatever reason. And it's hard to face bad feedback.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

What do you do? Depending on the circumstance, I feel like if it were something dire need and they really needed me to know, I probably would have known prior to this phone call. So that's like first and foremost, right? I know they're just bringing it up because I asked, which is completely fine. Um, when it comes to trains, right? And I hear like I have heard these disastrous things happen in destination where I didn't know until they got home and we hopped on this welcome home call. Um, so for example, I had clients who were taking a train from Valencia to Madrid and the train completely shut down. They had no way to get there. Um, they never called me in destination. So during the pre-departure, I fully equip them what they need to do. So they tell me, you know, this is what happened. It was, you know, a pain when it happened. We didn't get there till, you know, five hours later. And I say, Oh my goodness, like I'm so sorry that happened. This is, you know, how the rail happens in Europe. But I'm glad we were able to equip you with what you needed to deal with the situation right then and there. And it's terrible when these things do come up, but that's part of travel. And most people are understanding, right? The it's already happened, it's done and over, they're not fired up about it anymore. So it's just a typical conversation.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Well, so I I have an advisor that works on our team, and uh there's a particular client that she really wanted to impress. And there was this whole snafu with the transfer, and none of it was the woman, none of it was the advisor's fault. And she got in her head about like, well, I don't want to get on the call because she's gonna yell at me and I've I've let her down and she's so frustrated, she's never gonna work with me. And I finally got wind of this uh probably about a month after the client had traveled. So a lot of time had already passed. And I was like, look, this feels very much like a mindset issue because I think the majority of human issues are just communication issues, right? Like people aren't usually as mad as you think they are. They're not usually as disappointed or as anything as you think they are. You tend to build it up in your head. And I was like, I bet if you just get on a call with her and talk through, hey, I was embarrassed to call earlier. I want to be honest with you. I hated that that went wrong. And that made me so frustrated. And I just couldn't, I couldn't face it. But I want to face it now because I want to get your feedback and I'd love to work with you again on the future. And she finally did. It did take literally a month after the trip before she did, but she finally got on the call and the woman came back and booked a $70,000 trip with her. And I'm like, see? Like, had you never made that call over a silly, you know, it's not silly. It was a very frustrating, it was a water taxi issue in Venice. Like you guys can feel how frustrating that is because it's not like there's just a ton of other options around. Um, and and again, like it was the vendor dropped the ball, not the advisor. But the advisor was like, I just don't want the bad feedback. And I just want to put it out there and put it in your head that the bad feedback is usually not as bad as you think. Like, even if they called and they're like, we hate this resort, you have to move us immediately. I would still get on that call because you could at least talk through like, what could I have done better? What should I have known about this? And maybe they do yell at you, and maybe it doesn't go great. And maybe it's not the pat on the back you were hoping for, but you're gonna learn something. And I think that's what's really important is every call, good or bad, you will learn something from it.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

I think this is so important for travel advisors to understand, right? When you come into the industry, you haven't necessarily been everywhere. It takes you years before you get to a country that you've booked five or six times. You know, a lot of feedback that I hear when I am doing coaching is, you know, how can I position myself as a professional? What can I do here to make me, you know, sound like I really truly know what I'm doing? Hop on those welcome home calls, right? Gathering that information from your clients and putting it all together for the next conversation you have. Your client's never gonna ask you if you've been to Venice because you just told them that, you know, with water taxis, the water goes up and down, the levels change all the time. So maybe you didn't understand that prior, but your client just told you, so now you're using this for the next truck. Um, so I think that's super important. Use welcome home calls to build your business. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

I love that. Um, and I, you know, we've all had bad calls. I don't want to sit here and be the person that's like, everything's so hunky dory. They all love you. It's amazing because it's it's just not the case. Yeah. But I just feel so strongly about the relationship gets so much stronger when you face the hard conversations or when you make space for the really good conversations. That's when you foster that client relationship, which is the cornerstone of what we do. Like if you're not here to foster relationships, get out of the business, it's not gonna work for you long term. You've got to be here to foster those relationships. That's what's really important. Um, and for me, the welcome home call is usually how you do that. Okay, so 9.9 times out of 10, it's a good call. Yeah. And from the good call, this is the one aspect that even if you don't want the feedback and you don't want to learn and you don't want any of these other things. This is the moment that you finally typically get this like great pat on the back from your clients. Have you had that, Haley, where it's like, oh, you did such a great job. We loved our trip so much, you're so incredible. Like,

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yeah, then you get off that call, you get the biggest smile, you're on cloud nine, you're like, I'm awesome. Like this is perfect, right? And it just builds you, it builds you up, right? It it reminds you of this is why I do what I do, and just keep going, right? So any fire you were fighting that day, don't worry about it. It's tiny at the end of the day, and you're doing good for people.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah, that's a great way to put it. Any fire you're fighting, it's it's we don't do heart surgery, right? It's no one's gonna die from what we do. I mean, hopefully nobody's gonna die from our travel experiences. Um, all right. So there are two big things, two big opportunities for you at the end of the call. Um, one is getting reviews and one is getting referrals, but there are different approaches to how you can do it. And I think most people kind of end the call at the pat on the back. They say, How is your trip? Tell me the highlights, tell me the lowlights. I've learned all the things. This is great. You're an amazing travel advisor, awesome. Talk to you soon, right? Like that is the typical end of the call. I've listened to so many of these from advisors, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you missed the best part. So, Haley, do you ask for a review and a referral? Do you ask for both? And if so, do you is one before the other?

SPEAKER_00 23:11

I ask for both. So with reviews, my strategy is a little different. I think, you know, if you're big into reviews, you want Google reviews, Facebook reviews, whatever, business page reviews, ask for them from clients. Clients will do it, but if you ask for them, then they're gonna give you a good review, right? Um, so the way that I do it, we have um automations that go out on the welcome home, right? And here's a review if you can leave it. If they don't acknowledge it, that's fine. But what I do when I go to confirm, like, hey, I just want to make sure you didn't forget about our meeting on Thursday. I'm really excited to hear about your trip. Also, here is a link to my review if you have time to do that for me. I really, really appreciate it. So basically, what what I feel like that does, right? Is it's like, oh crap, I have to get this review done before I get in the call with Haley. Because if I don't do it, then I have to tell Haley I haven't done the review yet. So it's kind of like that little bit of homework, but clients love to do it and I never get kickback or you know, it yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

So giving that the link makes a big difference too, because the idea that I think a lot of people miss is you're asking a favor, you need to make it very easy for them to give you the favor. So wherever it is you want to, if you want Yelp or Google or Facebook, whatever the review system that you want, great. You need to make sure you have the link handy and the ask. I like that a lot. So you ask for the review first. Oh, let me add something to the review. We we absolutely coach all of our advisors to ask for a review and referral on the welcome home call, but I also have some automated emails in our workflow that uh speak to the review. So one goes out seven days after they get home, gives them time to calm down, do all the things, and it says basically this is why a review is so important and meaningful to my business. This is how reviews help me grow my business. This is, you know, we get into some detail and then we say, please click this link. But there is a second email, and I think this is a step a lot of people miss and when it comes to reviews, we'll do a whole episode on reviews, but high level, there's a second email that goes out 21 days, so three weeks after they get home. And it just is a review reminder. And the idea behind it is it is very, very common for people to get the first email and they're caught up in this space of life and they want to leave the review, but they don't remember for whatever reason. And the second email is actually where we get over 80% of our reviews. So if reviews are important to you, you have to make more than one ask. You just have to know how to do it in a, you know, please help me kind of way. I'm excited to grow my business. You could be a big part of that. It's all in how you make the ask, but you want to make sure to make more than one ask, just like getting on a welcome home call. You can't just ask once and be like, I did it. They didn't get on the call. Oh well. Like that's not how this game works. If you're in sales, you gotta follow up. Um, okay, review first and referral second, Haley.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Yeah, I usually throw in the referrals towards the end of the call. Um, so at this point, we've established how amazing the trip was. We're talking about the potential next trip they want to book. Then from there, I kind of say, all right, so with all of this, did you another thing I touch on is kind of social media. Sometimes clients will tag me in destination. Um, but I always ask them if there's if they know anybody who travel or did anybody comment on their social media that they loved your trip to Italy. And if you know anyone, please send them my way, right? Um, people love it. I I've never had a client, I mean, clients send referrals all the time. If you they know you want it, they're going to send them to you and be specific about how you want it. Be like, yeah, just any of your friends and family, send them my personal number. I would love to prioritize them. Just send them my way. And you'll see a couple months all of a sudden, hey, so-and-so sent me and about your services, and it's a beautiful thing. But if you don't ask for it, they're not gonna know that you want it, right? So you have to put it out there. You have to say, give me all your business, tell all your friends and family, and that's it. Your good clients who love you are gonna tell everyone.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

I'm also going to encourage you guys to ask for a very specific referrals. And what I mean by that is, hey, I'm really looking to grow my business. Do you know anyone that's looking to go on an international trip to Europe anytime soon? What you ask for is what you get. If you just say, Do you know anyone traveling? Can you send them my way? And you might be an agent that just wants everything. Haley plans the whole damn world, and that's great. I have no problem with that. She's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Not anymore. Not anymore. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

You're getting back.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

I have to figure out what I loved, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

And and that's fair, right? Sometimes you want to plan the whole world so you can figure out where the happy spot is, and that's fine. But I think it's important to, as you grow in that space, to ask for something particular. Like I was talking to an agent the other day and she was so frustrated because she's like, Well, I get referrals all the time, but I don't want any of them. They're all for like, you know, cheap Caribbean cruises or something. And I was like, Well, tell me how you ask for the referral. And she basically said, Can you refer me anybody? And I'm like, Well, but you're not even asking for what it is you want. And I think in life in general, this is not just about referrals. In life, if you ask for specifically what you want, you're much more likely to get it. Anyone that is married out there should know what I'm talking about. The idea of just saying, like, I want X and hoping they read your mind is not the way to go about this. So if you are a Caribbean cruise person, you would say, like, if you know anyone going on a Caribbean cruise, that's my specialty. I love doing it and I want to do more of it. I really want to grow my business. Can you keep me in mind? Right. Like, it can be a low pressure. It doesn't have to be like, do you have a name you can give me right now? Like it doesn't have to be that.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Um, okay, so perfect. We skipped the middle step because the steps are review, right? Because you want the warm fuzzies, you're amazing. I love you. I'd love to review. You got review. Then you get their repeat. Where are we going next? And then you get the referral. We really skip that repeat. How do you not so subtly ask about it without it coming across salesy or pushy?

SPEAKER_00 29:30

I don't know if it does come across salesy or pushy. I think it's just more like, I feel like at this point, if you're now we've done a whole process, eight months, a lot of my clients become my friends. We've had a lot of open, honest conversations. So at this point, I feel very comfortable saying, all right, so I know you guys were already thinking about another destination because everybody does this. When we all travel, we're on this high. We want to already plan our trip of where we're going next, right? So I just throw it out there. I'm like, all right, so where did you guys talk about going back? Do you want to go back to Italy or do you think you want to explore more of Europe? Right. And at that point, they're like, yeah, we're definitely planning on Europe next summer. Okay, perfect. Let me just what we'll do is obviously I'll reach out in a couple months. We'll go ahead and start some planning. I suggest we get planning a year in advance to try to save on some costs and we'll kind of go from there. And I've had plenty of welcome home calls that have immediately pivoted into a consultation. Yeah. So it's it's and it's a wonderful thing when it happens. Um, then you understand, okay, this is the client. This is my client that's gonna be traveling all the time. I have tons of families that I book a few trips twice a year for. And again, on uh they just came home now from Europe and already I'm like, all right, let's plan our call in a couple weeks, guys. We'll dive into winter break because I want to get it done sooner than later to save you guys money because you know how it is, right? So yeah, I think just open, honest conversations, people love it. This is a relationship that you have fostered at this point. It's people that you truly care about, you've gotten to know their family, and you're just doing your job, right? But you're showing that level of service that you provide. And it's gonna be hard for a client to ever walk away from you if you do it the right way.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Well, and I specifically use the word salesier pushy because I've had agents tell me I don't ask for the repeat on that call because it feels too pushy. And I would push back, Haley, you nailed it just now. You have earned the right to ask for the business. So ask for it. You've earned the right to be in their lives. So the way that I typically word it is I say, okay, give me two seconds. I've got to hear about your bucket list. Like what is what's on the wish list? What are we doing in the future? I want to know all about it. And they just start spouting off in Haley, you're right. It turns into a consultation so often. And if it doesn't, this is what I would do. If it doesn't turn into a consultation in that moment, which is absolutely okay, take the moment to educate them. Take the moment to help them understand, hey, on this trip, I'm looking at it. And on this trip, we actually planned it four months in advance, which is good. There's nothing wrong. This trip obviously went wonderful. But the reality is if we start planning closer to six to nine months in advance, that's when you're gonna have a lot more availability and a lot more, um, the prices are gonna be a lot better. And honestly, my best trips, they're planned 11 months in advance. So, do you know when you want to take your next trip? And don't worry, if you need some time to decide, feel free. But I, my job is to kind of keep you accountable. And basically, you tell me when, and then I count back nine months and then I reach out and I say, hey, Sandy, it's it's time to get the ball rolling on the next trip. Are you ready to do this? And you don't really have to do anything, right? I'm the one that'll do the heavy lifting, but I'm gonna do it in a way where you get the best deals, you have the best availability, the best options out there, and it'll help you understand that if we get in front of it, it's really beneficial for you, right? So it's a great moment to kind of educate the client as well. Haley, do you do you do that? It sounds like for years, yeah, it's always just get the next sale in the door.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Oh, no, it's not. I mean, you know, some clients are all about it, and some clients will be like, you know what? This year we're actually putting a new pool in the backyard. So we're gonna save this year. Okay, so that means we're gonna do bi-yearly travel. And now we start to understand what that looks like. And I still follow up, right? I still send clients Christmas cards and all these things to keep me top of mind when they want to travel. I still remind them that, yeah, send me any referrals that you have, even if you're not on the books with me in the next year or two. I appreciate it. Um, and then these clients I will still continue to follow up with to see what happens in the next coming years. Um but during the call, I mean, you'll get some people who are ready to travel, other people who aren't, right? And you just have to base the conversation off of that moment.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

So there's some psychology and the order that we're doing things, everyone. So again, uh review, repeat, referral. And the psychology behind it is the review gives you the high. Everybody's happy, they're telling you how amazing you are. The repeat, you're almost always gonna get a not yet, right? I mean, it's not turning into, I don't want to set the expectation that it's normal to turn into a consultation. So you're usually gonna get a like, oh, maybe, but the the moment the answer is like not yet, typically. So it's a little bit of a no. And then when you ask for the referral, the human brain wants to say yes. Sadly, that is how we're wired. It's not always great for boundary setting. But when they say no or not yet to you, when you follow it up by strategically asking for a referral and you do it in a manner of help me grow my business, can you help me? I'm excited about this. They want to say yes because they just said no. It makes the human brain want to say yes even more. So again, they're probably not gonna give you like a name and phone number right there, but they're much more likely to say, Yes, Haley, I will absolutely help you. The second anyone tells me they're traveling, your name will be at the tip of my tongue. And like that's just a great kind of high for them to end the call on. This was great. Thanks so much. I loved working with you. I can't wait to do it again. I'm gonna reach out in three months. We'll talk soon, right? I think that that's really important. Um, Haley, what do you do after the call? Are there any steps we're taking after the call to make sure we wrapped it up in the right way?

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Always tracking this, right? So between your notes and your CRM, now I'm gonna go put my client into cold call or into cold leads or warm leads, depending on where we are, sometimes hot leads, right? So I am tracking where we are, and this is how I know when to follow up with them. So, for example, if I put a client in cold lead, talk to them in the next six months when I'm checking in on this routinely, I'm like, okay, it's time to reach out to so and so. Um, that's right. I need to follow up on their trip. They were excited about it. Let's see where they are with the trip.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

Yeah, exactly. I I immediately go to my CRM, I put them in and I put a follow-up date, you know, three months out, whatever it looks like. And in the notes, I put bucket list, Italy, Ireland, France, whatever it was we talked about. So then when I reach out in three months, I'm like, did we decide between Italy and Ireland? I'm so excited to get started. Just let me know. I'm here for you, right? Like you already kind of did that. Hey, I heard you, I remembered you, I'm still here, kind of moment. It's a lot more meaningful of a follow-up. So again, if you want to be a million-dollar agent, stop relying on your brain. It just doesn't work as well as it needs to. Um, so have that CRM that like works really, really well, keeps everything on track, and make sure you follow up. I will also tell you guys, like in our workflow system, I already mentioned there is an email that goes out seven days and then 21 days asking for reviews. Well, we have a task that pops up three months after the trip. So 90 days after the trip, a task will pop up that just says follow up with the client. Um, and for us, it's just an easy if you forgot to put it in your CRM, you were too busy, whatever happened that day. Um, it's that trigger of a memory. So if you have a great workflow system or if you don't and you're building one out, I would recommend having that task in your workflow system as well. All right, Haley, anything with a welcome home call we've missed?

SPEAKER_00 37:20

I think the one last thing that I could put out there is I talk to a lot of advisors who always get so nervous to get on a phone call. Um, I think a lot of advisors tend to try to just email, text, avoid the phone call as often as possible. Don't do this. I know it's hard. If you guys ever if you're listening to this and you want to get on a call, role play, kind of learn what I teach in my group coaching, please reach out. Um, I a couple sessions will get you talking to clients clearly on a phone call where you truly enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

I love it. Haley is the queen of the phone call. She will pick up the phone constantly, but I do think it's a cornerstone to what has grown your business because it's different than every other person out there. You're you're not wrong. Societally, people are not trying to get on the phone a ton right now. But I'll tell you like, my financial advisor calls all the time. Hey, Bert, I saw you got snow. Hey, how are the kids? And like I genuinely would never hang out with this guy in real life, but I talk to him all the time and I would never move my money because he calls me and I feel obligated to, you know? So I'm like, it does make a big difference, even if it's a two-second phone call, um, even if it's not very long. Again, lower the bar for this call. It does not have to be the big sit-down video call that's scheduled on the calendar. It could literally be if they haven't answered in two or three texts, you just pick up the phone and call them in the moment and be like, hey, I just want to grab a couple minutes. How are things going? Like that's all it needs to be. It doesn't need to be anymore. All right, Haley. Um, welcome home calls, super important. It's definitely your moment to get your referrals, get your repeats in the door, get that rate up and through the roof. Um, I also wanted to let you guys know we are working on a really in-depth workshop for the podcast that we're excited about because it's going to be in person. And I don't know about you, travel agents, but I don't feel like we are ever in person enough. Um, so we are targeting the first week of November and we're targeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. So if you're interested in doing something like that, we're looking at an all-day, one-day workshop where we really dive into our entire sales process, talking about the proposal call, talking about the consult in-depth, talking about building out trips and utilizing different vendors and all of these things. Um, if you are excited about that and it's something you would attend, comment below. We haven't locked anything in yet. And honestly, it's our first in-person event for the podcast. And I don't know, Haley, you could probably chime in. I'm nervous about doing it. I want to know that people are excited and that they're going to show up. Um, so if you are interested in something like that, please let us know. We are super, super excited to make it happen. But we want to hear from you if that's something that you would benefit from.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

I'm excited. A little terrified, excited. You know, anytime you put on an event, that's normal. Um, but it's gonna be great. So, yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

It'll be amazing. All right, thank you so much for listening today. We will see you guys next week.