The Step Most Travel Advisors Skip (And It’s Costing Them Thousands)

Are you tired of losing potential clients to objections? Feeling frustrated when prospects question your pricing or drag their feet on bookings? This power-packed episode of the Travel Agent Guide podcast is your roadmap to confidently handling every objection that comes your way.

Join us as we dive deep into the psychology of client hesitation and reveal time-tested strategies that successful travel agents use to convert skeptical prospects into loyal, paying clients. Whether you're dealing with price shoppers, trust issues, or clients who prefer DIY booking platforms, we've got you covered.

This isn't just theory – we're sharing actual client interactions, successful response strategies, and hard-learned lessons from years in the trenches of the travel industry. Whether you're a seasoned agent looking to refine your approach or a newcomer wanting to build confidence, this episode will transform how you handle client objections forever.

Perfect for: Travel agents, travel consultants, agency owners, and anyone in the travel sales industry who wants to close more bookings and build stronger client relationships.

Don't let objections derail your success – turn them into opportunities to showcase your expertise and value!

Time Stamps:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Client Booking Challenges

00:01:10 - Handling Objections in Travel Sales

00:02:13 - Client Feedback and Objections

00:03:41 - When to Walk Away from a Client

00:04:40 - Setting Boundaries with Clients

00:24:54 - Addressing Trust Issues with Clients

00:30:07 - Location Objections and Alternatives

00:33:16 - Safety Concerns in Destination Choices

00:39:10 - Preventing Clients from Dragging Their Feet

00:40:44 - The Importance of Timely Booking

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Transcript

0:00

My clients are dragging their feet and they won't book the trip. How do we prevent it? How do we make sure we don't get there? Explaining to them the timeline and your process, right? You're diving into this is what deposits gonna look like. You're very clear about it, transparent about why the deposit is necessary now. You're gonna get the best available rates, the best availability. In the long run, you're gonna save a bunch of money. You have to be knowledgeable to explain to them listen, if we don't lock this in in a timely manner, then you're gonna lose availability and we're gonna go back and forth several times and it's gonna create a lot of problems in gray areas. Just be open and upfront with your clients and let them know. It's explaining your process to the client because I think there's a few different areas where you can make sure that they understand that they need to put in a deposit quickly. Welcome to the travel agent guide, the podcast pulling back the curtain and 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. All right, so this week's episode is going to be a fantastic one. It's all about handling objections. The reality is we're in sales. This is a sales role, if you didn't know that. And what we are doing is constantly bumping into clients that aren't ready to book, that are dragging their feet, or that are questioning what it is that we're proposing. So today we're gonna dive into some of those objections. We're going to go over kind of price objections, what happens if you're getting price checked or they're asking for an itemized breakdown. We're gonna talk about locations when they want to go somewhere, but the price doesn't really, their budget doesn't really match where they want to go. We're gonna talk about trust issues because I think we've all been there where we know a client doesn't trust us. Um, and then we'll dive into a client dragging their feet because even though that's not an outright objection, it is. It absolutely is. So we're gonna dive into all those things today. Um, but Haley, let's first kind of talk about how often do you feel like clients throw up objections? Is this every trip you're working with? Is this not? Tell tell us a little bit more about it. I'll tell you what, Bird, when I get a client who doesn't say anything, I tell them you are my favorite client of my life. Um, I just had a client, he's actually surprising his wife's honeymoon, which I was a little skeptical at first. Um, go into Costa Rica. But I I am telling you not one objection to anything. And I'm like, Ryan, you're amazing. Like, you know what I mean? It was great. It it's how it should be, but it's not how it's always going to be. So you have to learn how to deal with kind of the feedback and what your clients are gonna say and suggest to you and how to work around it and if it's even worth working around it. Oh, that's that's a perfect way to frame this conversation. So, what we're gonna do today is we're gonna talk about what a client might say and how you should properly respond. But then we're also gonna call you out because there's a lot of moments where you shouldn't respond and you need to bless and release. So we're gonna kind of outline and put together a rubric for you for when you know when to fight for it versus when you know when to say, like, nah, this isn't for me. And and your line may be different than ours, and that's okay. The point of today's workshop is really to understand where your line is and to make sure it's a really thick line in the sand and you're not waffling because man, I have taken that client that I knew I shouldn't, and they it's not like you close the sale and then all the problems are gone. You close the sale and there are 10 times more problems every single time. I do you agree with that, Haley, or do you feel like once you get them closed, they're out of the way? No, they're not out of the way. They're lingering for however many months until they travel, right? And even after that, it's just I don't know. It's not they're lingering, trust me. So if you know you don't want to work with them, don't make it work because it's gonna be a problem that follows you for several months. Yes, yes. So I'm gonna start really high level with when we just uh like our rules for when we absolutely don't take on a client. Um, it's pretty straightforward. So if it's flights only, we do not take on those clients. If they want first class flights somewhere international, we could have a conversation, but we are absolutely charging a fee if it's flights only. And we just take the moment to educate the client on, hey, that's actually not where travel agents get paid. We get paid from hotels mostly and the commission's built in. So if you go to Marriott.com and book something, or if you go to me and book book through me, you're gonna be paying the same price and the commission's built in. So if I'm not booking hotels, I'm really not making money, I'm gonna need to charge you a fee for this. Pretty simple standard. So flights only is a no-go for me. Um, Airbnb is a no-go for me. Man, I've gone down the rabbit hole of saying, okay, well, I'll charge a fee and I'll find you the perfect Airbnb. And it's never, never been worth it. It's always such a disaster. Have you had a different experience with that? Nope. I don't book Airbnbs and I tell clients right from the get-go. Um, and I'll tell you what, I just had a client actually recently, she booked a VRBO in Greece for next or for the fall. And she came to me and I found the same property on St. Haven. So just FYI. The prices were so insanely different. Like after I actually sent it to her, it was embarrassing. So if a if a client's mind is already set on Airbnb and VRBO, it's gonna be really difficult to change them because they're used to using that platform, they're understanding the prices, they know how to look up another property you're gonna present to them. So yeah, I just politely tell them I can't book that, but I can work around it. And I explain why, right? I'm telling them I'm not booking at Airbnb because I've seen them get canceled on clients same day of travel, and I'm not willing to take that risk when you're spending $50,000. So I'm not willing to take that risk when you're spending $4,000, right? So I also do explain, like, I will so you don't technically have a contract with Airbnb. They literally can cancel even while you're staying in the property. If the owners decide they want to stay there right there or they want to sell the property or whatever the case may be, they can cancel on you at any moment. The only legal retribution you have is they do owe you a refund. But what's a refund gonna matter in August in Rome, right? Like, who cares about my refund? I have nowhere to sleep tonight. So I do explain to clients that I do work with like apartment-like hotel, you know, apartment hotels basically all throughout Europe. Um, but I'm not gonna book an Airbnb or a VRBO. We have to have a contract in place to make sure that you're not getting kicked out at the last minute. Um, nine times out of 10, they're good with that. They move forward with me, no problem. But if they are truly insistent on Airbnb, absolutely not. And then there's one third example, it's if they're only willing to do activities. So, hey, I've already booked on my hotels, I'm using points. I only need you for the transfers, train tickets, and activities. Come on. You're only giving me the hard stuff where I make basically zero money off of. No, thank you. Um, the one time I will do it is if the client feels like they are going to be this fantastic client in the future, but they just don't understand how we work. So people with a lot of Marriott points probably never going to be a fantastic client in the future. They're gonna want to use it, you know. So these are people that travel for business and they rack up all these points. Great, good for you. But the reality for me is I'm never gonna make a ton of money off of you. I probably wouldn't bend over backwards for them. But let's say, for instance, we had a um, this one we actually get pretty often. So uh another agent books a river cruise and then basically says, I'm not, I don't do the pre and post. Oh, okay. So you only do the part where you make a shit ton of commission and nothing else, good for you. But I will take that on and explain to the client, like, okay, I'll do all your activities and I'll do your transfers and I'll do your flights and I'll do this. But I need you to know that you're gonna be booking with a full service agent in the future and I'll get to book everything. Can we make that agreement that I'll get to work with you in the future as long as this process goes off exactly like you want it and they're always super excited, I'm willing to help. So that's the one where I'm a little flexible on. Haley, are there any others where you're like hard line, I don't book these people? No, I think back to your um talking about the tours, I think a lot with new advisors, right? Because I know a lot of new advisors are listening. I think it is a good opportunity to kind of get your feet wet and understand the industry, how to book through via tour, project expedition, whatever that looks like. And having the opportunity to maybe gain a client. Like if they came to, they already booked a month in advance. You just became a travel agent. I just had this happen with an advisor I coach. So that's why I'm saying it. Um, but at that point, yeah, use it as experience if you want to. I think once you get a couple years in, then you sit there and you need to reevaluate it, it's probably not gonna be worth your time and you're gonna learn that pretty quick. Um, but I did it. I remember doing it a few times for clients, you know, year one, year two, and they turned into great clients because I explained to them exactly what you said, Bird. I make my money off the hotel commissions. I'm not, I don't really make much, but I'm willing to do this. Yeah, I'm still gonna charge you a fee. And there will be people who don't care and they're like, yeah, charge me a fee, whatever it takes. And those are my people, right? I'm gonna, that's no problem. But exactly like you said, you're just letting them know next vacation, we're gonna start this from the beginning and make sure you're taken care of from start to finish. And I do love that. If you're new and you need the experience, take it on. Uh, there's no reason not to. It's simply gonna be a learning curve. Um, but if you've been in the industry more than eight, 12 months, you need to have some strong boundaries set. And these are the ones that I'd recommend. I that's what I've seen in in person. Um, there is one more that I forgot. It's hey, here's a proposal from another travel agent. Can you beat it? Fuck off. Yeah, absolutely not. Like I won't even, I will tell them I won't even work with you. Like, I if you're working with somebody, another travel agent, they've put time into this. And I'm sorry, like I'm not gonna price shop, I'm not gonna compare to them. That's not what I do. Go back to them and work with them, is exactly what I say. I always kind of explain, I'm like, oh wow, you know that travel agent actually took a lot of time put to putting together that proposal. And I'm not sure if they told you, but travel agents actually don't get paid unless they book it. So all of that time and effort is gonna be wasted unless you book through her. Was there something about the proposal you didn't really like? And if so, I think you should share that with her and let her fix it so she can get paid for her time. So I don't actually say F you, but I do absolutely throw it back on them and make sure they understand that what they're doing is a complete asshole move. Like, I want, I think clients need to be better educated on why that's not okay. Uh, we see this a lot in the all-inclusive space. We see it a lot in the cruise space. Okay, what onboard credit can you give me? Well, this agent says she's giving me this. Like, don't work with those people. Just don't work with those people. It's not gonna be good for your psyche long term. And honestly, at the end of the day, you're not going to make money and be able to do this full time. Haley, I hope it's okay if I call you out for a second, but Haley makes over $200,000 in commission every single year and has been for years. And you know how she does that? Not by giving her commission back to the clients. Like it's just not how it works. Like, you can't rebate clients, you can't try, you can't do the I'm gonna win the business no matter what, even if you're brand new. Like, all that's going to do is bring you more people like that. So draw that line in the sand, make it a hard one. Yeah, no, I I just had friends. We were probably like a month ago, we were, you know, it was a Saturday night. We were talking, how's business, Haley? And they told me for their um honeymoon, they used a travel agent. This was like eight or nine years ago. In town, we had like a small brick and mortar, so they went there first and they found another travel agent who worked from home. And they're like, Yeah, I we obviously went with the brick and mortar because it was like a $600 difference. And then I explained to them, like, okay, so obviously the person coming to you with that proposal, they're price shopping at the end of the day. And everybody's different. The person working in the brick and mortar is probably getting paid a salary, and the other person's a small business and probably trying to survive working from home, right? So it's two completely stories. So they're just trying to get the best deal, is what it comes down to. I never want to be the travel agent who's getting my clients the best deal. I want to get them the best value. So I don't know. That's just kind of how I work. And I want to give them the best service. I mean, at the end of the day, I want my clients to be like, yeah, it probably cost me a little more to work with her. But my goodness, did she take care of every single detail there ever was to take care of? Yeah. Period. Dot. Haley and I both average close to 18% commission on our trips. And yes, there is absolutely commission added on to the trips, uh, which we did a whole episode on that as well earlier on in the season, how to add thousands to a quote without getting questioned on it. And it's a practice that we believe in aggressively because we do a lot of things that really go above and beyond for our clients, right? I've talked to advisors that say they don't book flights or they don't do dinner reservations, they don't do spa appointments, they don't do the things they don't make money off of. And that's not us. We will literally do everything. You want balloons in your kids' room when they wake up on their birthday. I'm gonna have some balloons in that kid's room, right? Like you want suggestions on where to propose. I'm gonna put together a whole list, including pictures of suggestions for you. I'm gonna do the things that really make you wowed at the end of the day. All right, let's get back on track though. We are here to talk about objections. One of the biggest objections is price. Haley, talk to us a little bit about kind of what you've experienced when somebody is objecting to the price. Well, it's a couple conversations, right? Understanding, hey, you're going to Europe during peak season. Flights are astronomical. They're going to be between $1,200 and $1,500 per person, sometimes more expensive. You know, these are numbers that we can't control. So I think understanding, making them understand that they maybe want something that's really out of reach is helpful. So I just take it back to that. Okay, so this is what it looks like. And I tell people, most times for Europe, I don't like to start at less than $500 per person per day. So I use that combined with flights and saying, okay, is this going to work? If I start your budget here, is this going to work for you guys? If they've given me like a ridiculously small budget, I always let them give me a number first and then we kind of go from there. I mean, very seldomly do I have somebody come back. If I'm putting together a trip in the budget that they asked for, it's usually not going to happen. They're not going to come back and be like, oh, well, why is this so much money? Right. So yeah, what are your thoughts, Bird? So let's take it back to 2021 when we were all stuck in the Caribbean and we weren't allowed to book anything else. Um, if you remember that year, I'm so sorry. It was an awful year for me. Um, it was an awful year because I'm not a sand and sun person. Um, but my God, did I book a lot of sand and sun that that year? And the reality is I definitely got the, oh, well, I found this on Costco for this. How did you kind of respond to that and pivot? Because I think that was one of the hard ones. Yeah, I it's basically I'm not Costco. I'm your travel agent. If you have a question or a concern, you're gonna text me or email me. I'm gonna get back to you probably end of day. If you want to go talk to Costco and get on their customer service line and struggle with that, that's completely up to you. So yeah, you're gonna pay for service, right? And I tell them I'm a small business and you know, these are what my prices are and this is why. And I we're talking like a couple hundred dollars, right? If it were something a thousand dollars or more. And I'm gonna be honest, some people will come back and be like, okay, I get it. We're already this far in, just go ahead and book at Haley. And after I explain to them why the difference, I always say, I can't compete with a large company like Costco. I just can't. I'm a small business. Like, I don't know. I I've had multiple conversations with that. And other areas of opportunity is kind of pivoting destination, right? So, perfect example, your client comes to you, they want to go to Hawaii. We all know Hawaii is very expensive. And if the price isn't gonna kind of match or whatever this looks like, then you need to pivot on destination and where where's another opportunity for them to go where they're gonna be able to save money and actually do it. Well, let's talk location here in a second. I do want to empower and arm those that are trying to compete with Costco because we do have a handful of ways to actually compete with them. One of the things though that you need to know is we really need to make sure that we're comparing apples to apples. So either you go in Costco or ask them to send you screenshots, but you need to make sure a couple things, like our private transfers included. Is it the right cabin in the in the flight? Is it the right room type that we're looking for? But once you actually have apples to apples and there is a comparison, I know Pleasant Holidays will do Costco compare price matching. So there are some things like that where we can get. I don't think Pleasant Holidays does um the, because you also get like a Costco gift card a lot of times. I don't think they give you that. But if you do for some reason want to price match that, there are options. Um, and you also have price matching with really any of the big tour operators. So Funjet, Travel Impressions, Vacation Express, Pleasant Holidays, they'll all do price matching of sorts. I don't think it's the best experience, but if you are an advisor and you are just doing San and Sun, you are gonna have to have the reality of you will get price checked pretty often with those things because there's not a lot in the package. Whenever I was pitching in 2021 and I was just pitching Mexico over and over, I would always include the flight, I would always include transfers, and I would always include two to three different activities, even if they told me they didn't want them. I would still be like, and then you're going on a sunset sale, and then you're going to a Cenote, right? Like I wouldn't have the things included because what I was doing was trying to hide some of the commission that I was adding, or I would basically have the conversation with them of like, well, this is this is the total price, and it's it's less alarming when they feel like they're getting more for that price. Not everyone could do that every single time. Cruises are a great example where there's not a lot of addition to add in there, but you also can't add money on a cruises. So that's usually not as much of a concern as the all-inclusive. Um, so if you do want to compete in that area, you can. You absolutely can. And if that's your business and you're like, I'm a Caribbean expert, this is what I'm doing, you're probably gonna need to get really comfortable with price matching andor really comfortable with building out package pricing for the clients at the end of the day. Um, I have not had good experiences booking experiences like activities through Fungjet or Travel Expressions or Vacation Express. So I always star vouchers, yeah, I always book those separate, um, but I would still give my clients a package price and they wouldn't really see that until we're at final payment. And at that point, they're not really questioning a lot of things anyway, because prices for flights and stuff like that would have gone up. So it's too late for them to really know any difference, but it still gets me what I want at the end of the day. So, any other thoughts on kind of I found it cheaper at Costco? I just say if that's the case, go ahead and book it, right? I I personally don't fight it all that much because I know what my bottom line is. Like I know what I need to make per trip to make it worth me taking care of that client, following up with the emails, making sure they have a handwritten note in their room and all the things that we do. If that bottom line isn't met, then the trip itself is just not going to be worth it for me. Yeah, no, that's I mean, it's it's a great call out. And I do think the first step is talking about your service and why you're different before, because I do know the ones that do price match Costco, they still are going to um cut into your commission. And like, am I really trying to work for less commission? I don't know about you guys, but at the end of the day, that is not my goal. All right. So, what about can I have a pricing breakdown? Because that's probably what you and I experience more. The can I I found it cheaper on Costco is really applicable to the Caribbean, to cruises, to stuff like that. The pricing breakdown is really more when you're doing an FIT or you're working with a DMC or you're working something along those lines, and they just get a package price of $25,000. And they're like, but what, what, what is what is this? So, how do you respond to like, can I get a breakdown of the pricing? I just explained to them that, you know, our suppliers have contracted rates and legally they can't release the rate amount to us, and we're seeing it the way that you're seeing it. So we're, you know, we have this package deal and that's what we're reselling. Yeah, I I love it. I I use the terminology cons consolidator. So I say, like, oh, actually, for your trip, I work with a consolidator. So that's somebody that goes out and they negotiate better rates than are available to the public. And since they're not available to the public, we actually have to have them packaged to be able to get those rates. So this is the price. This is we kind of ballpark and know what needs to go into the package and put it together for you. But this is how things are presented on our end. So I kind of allude to the fact that it's almost like a completely different booking system for travel agents, which it is. You know, they don't have access to beds online, they don't have access to rate hawk. Um, and and you can put together a full FIT just on beds online, you know, the transfers, the activities, the rental cars, the hotels, everything is there if I really want to do it in one space. So I always push back on the itemized breakdown, but here's the space where I would warn you if you're working with a DMC that pushes back on the itemized breakdown, they're probably doing the same thing. So if your DMC won't give you an itemization, they're probably adding a shit ton of commission. On and you might want to question them a little more strongly. We've seen post-pandemic DMCs come in and just like add thousands onto packages. Um, and it's really frustrating at the end of the day to kind of see that happen because a lot of advisors feel the need and want to partner with DMCs, but then they get pricing back and they're like, that's absolutely obscene. So just word of the why is your DMC. Have you had a DMC actually provide a price breakdown? Yeah, yeah. There's a couple in Italy. Um, there's a couple. We I will make a post in our Facebook group. The the Facebook group is called the same as the podcast, the travel agent guide. But I'll make a post because there are a handful that absolutely do pricing breakdowns, and I just find it incredibly helpful. And then of course there's ones that don't, right? Like I know travel live will never do one. That's super frustrating, but you can also work with a tour operator such as Europe Express, and you'll always see the itemization there, but you will absolutely see that their transfers cost more than most other transfers. Their activities cost more than if you go to Via Tour. So just a little frustrating. I will say I did take a Europe Express transfer and it was absolutely unbelievable. Yeah. So I was pleasantly surprised. But the hotels, I think, are where it sometimes are just out of control. Yeah, just kind of be smart, right? Put together and go price check your DMC to be like, is this worth it or not? And I'll tell you right now, if you give a little kickback, all of a sudden the price changes a little bit. So it it definitely is worth it. Okay. Have we ever had the client that comes back with the full spreadsheet and then says, like, hey, I broke everything down and your price is too high? How do you respond then? I don't even know. I it's happened multiple times to be honest. And that's where I go into the apples for apples. Like, you know, I don't think you're understanding my transfers. Like, these are premium business class. This is what, you know, I give. My hotels are not, I'm not booking direct with hotels. I use third party, my preferred partners. And that's kind of where I go. Like into the tours too. These are my preferred partners. They're highly vetted out. This is, and then that's where I tell them, listen, if you already have this completely mapped out to the way that you like it, what can can we just go back to, you know, step one? Why do you feel like you need me? And that's where I kind of just say, okay, do you need my expertise? Or some people come into it because they're nervous to pull the trigger and book their trip themselves. And they just want you to be the professional to tell them what they're doing is the right thing and it's great. I've told clients plenty of times that, hey, you've put together something amazing, and I really don't want to step in right now and start working all over what you're doing. So I'm gonna respectfully back away. And I've learned that after about five to 10 spreadsheets. Um I mean, I had one client who wanted to do a working Google Doc with me. And this was, I was like a year and a half in, and I'm like, yeah, screw it, let's do it. And it was just awful. It was the worst experience. I charge her like a $300 fee, too. And I, she was my first client. I charged a fee to that I had to release because I just told her I felt defeated because everything that I wanted to provide to her and pitch to her, she didn't like it and it was a problem. And then that's when I said, okay, clearly this is just not going to work, and there's that, right? Oh, I love that. So it is a good moment to bless and release. I will also tell you if I've received the spreadsheet after I put everything together. So basically they took my proposal and priced it all out. I do the same thing where I bless and release, but I absolutely ask for a research and design fee if I didn't charge it the first time. So it's a good opportunity to come back and basically say, like, look, it feels like you have it. It feels like trust is kind of broken down here a little bit and you want to book it your way. That's absolutely fine. I will tell you again, like, the only way I get paid is if I book things. So I can book it for the price I gave it to you. If you want to book it on your own, that's fine. I would typically have charged a $245 design fee to create this. So I think it's only fair for me to ask for that. Now, they could absolutely tell you no, and there's nothing you can do about it at that point. But I want to empower you to make the ask. I don't think it's inappropriate. You did put in the work, you did put in the time, and they're basically asking to do it themselves at this point. Um, so I like Haley, often will release at that point and just kind of explain look, I can book it for the price I gave you. And if that's not what you want, I completely understand that's you know your prerogative to leave, but period dot kind of thing as we move forward. Cool. Yeah, I wouldn't recommend like getting off the call than going back and being like, all of a sudden it's $800 cheaper. I think that's just gonna create a lot of gray area. And now that trust is going to be really broken. So I don't recommend that at all. Feel confident in the price that you're pitching and know that's the bottom line and what you're kind of putting out there and don't go back on it. Do not go back on it. I I would also say when you go back on it, it it's not gonna be a good relationship the rest of the time because they're gonna question anything and everything you send their way. Um, so it's just a matter of now, now what I will say sometimes, if if they don't have a full breakdown and they just say this just feels too high, I'll say, Oh, I understand, you know, and if if this is what I did, if I book private transfers and uh first class train tickets and private tours, I'll point that out to them and I'll be like, look, you're not wrong. You gave me this budget, so I was a little indulgent. I've got a lot of private tours here, private transfers, first class trains. We could absolutely make some cuts. What is the number that you feel more comfortable with? You know, you told me 25, but it sounds like that's not actually where you feel comfortable. And what I want to do is I want you really excited for this trip. I don't want you sitting in the airport being like, no, babe, we can't have the second glass of champagne because we spent way too much already. Like, I want you to have the second glass of champagne. So, what's the number that you actually feel comfortable with? And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go back to the drawing board and I'm gonna decide where cuts should be made to where it still really holds the integrity of the trip together, but to where we can get it a little bit cheaper at the end of the day. So, what's that number for you, Bob? What the fuck's a number, Bob? You should have given it to me the first time. Um, so I think that that's fair as well. Okay, there's a couple of others that came up several times when uh I was doing research for this episode. I found it cheaper on cheapcaribbean.com. We've seen that one. That one, um, basically, my easy response to that is like I would look further into that company. They have an F rating on the Biz Better Business Bureau, and there's literally thousands of complaints. So I'd hate for you to lose money um and just not get the support you deserve. So I would not book there if that was uh if it were me. So I kind of throw that one out. Trip.com is one that kept popping up in some of the comments as well. So this is a company that's based in Singapore. Um, basically, I kind of lean on hey, I wouldn't really book with a company that's a foreign company because you're not going to be able to get in touch with someone, you're not gonna be able to get that support. So, kind of thing, same as the Costco conversation. Um, book VIP is another one, same situation. Um, you'll see a lot of like scammy kind of reviews on those sort of things. So if it's a company you haven't heard of, do a little Googling, see what's on better business bureau, and you're probably gonna come up with some reasons why they shouldn't book with that company. So that is pricing. Anything else with pricing that I might have missed there that we want to talk about? No, I think that's all right. So if you are gonna price match, um, make sure it's apples to apples, make sure they're not pricing out basic economy versus main cabin, make sure uh whatever they're doing. But I would say at the end of the day, don't push too hard because they're probably not clients you want. Okay, so location was one you started touching base on earlier, Haley. Tell us a little bit more about location objections. What does that really mean? I think, you know, again, clients have this they want to go to Turks and Caicos. I want to go to Turks and Caicos too, but I don't want to spend 20 grand for my family of four for a week. That's just the reality, right? So I think getting into the conversations of understanding, okay, Turks and Caicos is the bucket list. It's one of the more expensive Caribbean islands. This is what it's gonna look like. And getting that number from them, and if it makes sense, and if they're like, oh my goodness, I'm not spending 20 grand on this, that's where you have to have the conversation. Okay, are you open to other destinations in in something similar to Tarks? Like I could probably get your trip down, I wouldn't say this, but I could probably get them down five or six grand and maybe we pivot to like Aruba or something, right? And I think knowing an alternative destination that could still make them really happy, give them the vacation that they want, and have them feel good and get that second glass of champagne is it's important, right? So having kind of that knowledge on the backup of what it is. I mean, Mexico and Dominican Republic, sure, I can find you guys your budget for the most part there. But if you want to go to a, I guess, more upscale, like St. John's USVI, I feel like it's just night and day, right? So having conversations around the destinations so they can understand where to pivot and maybe why. Well, and I I love that. And the conversation. So if anybody is brand new to the industry, your cheapest destinations are gonna be Mexico, uh, the Dominican Republic, or Jamaica. That's typically where you can get that, you know, under $5,000 with flights budget that you get asked for all the time. Um, I think a lot of the misunderstanding is the safety concerns around those areas. So I you could also address that and call it out for what it is. Hey, you told me you want to go to St. Lucia, but the reality is your budget's not going to get you there. Would you be open to talking about Mexico and talking about some different things? And if they say, like, no, we really don't want to go to Mexico, that's where you just push back a little bit and say, could you tell me more about why you don't want to go to Mexico so I don't make another suggestion that isn't a good fit for you? And if they say safety, I never, ever, ever want you guys to say Mexico's super safe. That's not really the answer there. The answer can be more along the lines of though, would you feel comfortable if I flew you directly into the Cancun airport and made sure you had a private transfer take you directly to the resort? And then any of the activities or stuff we did off resort, I would also make sure a private transfer picked you up but went with you the entire way and kind of was holding your hand. So it is, yes, Mexico has safety concerns. I'm not at all belittling that, but we could do it in a safer way. Is that something you're open to or still no-go? Right? You're just kind of better understanding their boundaries at the end of the day. Yeah. Um, I would say that Hawaii pivot to Mexico happens more times than people want to admit. They're like, it's Hawaii, it's gotta be cheap. It's just a beach destination. How much does the beach cost? The beach in Hawaii cost a shit ton, in case you're curious. It's a very expensive destination. Um, and again, if you're a newer advisor, don't forget about the resort fees in Hawaii. They can be astronomical. Um, and the parking fees and all the other things that pile up on you. Okay. Any other destination type stuff that we want to talk about for that objection? All right. My last biggest, well, there's two more that I want to cover. One of them is trust. Like sometimes we're gonna see clients just start nitpicking every single small detail. And I think that's just a sign, like that one woman that had the Google Doc, it feels like it's a sign that trust is broken down or never existed in the first place. How do you typically handle those? Is there a way to fix that? I mean, I don't know. I I'm still trying to really get this. I mean, good example is I just had a client who booked a trip in to Alaska, and I told her from the get-go it was gonna be a lot more money than what she thought it was, over $5,000 per person for the week. A rental car is over $2,500. Like we broke everything down as much as we absolutely could. And on her intake form, she declined trip insurance. But the reality is a lot like if you're flight seeing with Russ, it's gonna be non-refundable. And there's do you are you willing to not take that or to take that risk if something does happen? So, again, another client story of after we got everything booked, and I just sent an insurance quote because I wanted her to see the option. And the reply was, oh, another thousand dollars. Like, you know, and it came back in kind of that negative headspace. And I just went back to remind her, listen, we didn't talk heavily about insurance because you declined it on the form. So I just want to give you an option to protect your investment. It's there, it's no pressure, but I just want you to understand kind of everything that's revolved around it. And then she came back, she's like, okay, thank you so much. You know, so I think depending on the situation, you have to approach it head on and either make them, I guess, just change their mind and how they're perceiving it or realize, okay, maybe it's not a big deal. I don't know. I yeah, it's no, it's a great, it's a great call out. Um, and sidebar if you've never been flight seeing with Rust in Alaska out of Anchorage um or Talkeetna, like do that. It was one of the most amazing experiences to date I've had in my life. It was beautiful. Anyways, all right. So I do think trust is a hard one. And I think human nature is to avoid conflict. And I understand that conflict avoidance is normal, but in this case, I think you're gonna get a lot further in life if you simply pick up the phone and give breath to what you're feeling. Yeah. So I had a client a few years back that was kind of the same thing. She just kept nitpicking everything. Um she was being very difficult. And I just kind of picked up the phone and said, look, Angie, I I want to call it out that I feel like trust between us has been broken for some reason, or it just feels like it's broken down. I want to better understand where I might have misstepped for you not to trust me to handle this for you. You reached out and asked for my help, but it kind of seems like you don't want my help anymore. And that I need you to know that's okay. I think it's really important to call out what it is that's happening, but also to justify that their feelings are okay, right? At the end of the day. I need you to know that's okay. If this isn't for you anymore, I'll find a way to make this right. You can handle the rest of your trip. But I I want to call out what is happening here because it really doesn't feel good to me. And then just I love that. What a beautiful approach. Is that like pre-trip booking or after? That was pre-trip. So she was sending me spreadsheets and questioning, and we were going back and forth, and uh, we had booked everything, and then she wanted to cancel and rebook things, and it was just kind of everything was very messy. Yeah, and I kind of just couldn't figure out where I had gone wrong with her. Um, and actually it turned into a really beautiful conversation because the client highlighted like a very specific area. She's like, I just genuinely didn't realize that Europe was gonna cost me this much. And yes, I gave you that price, but my husband didn't necessarily feel aligned with that price. So then once I committed to everything, like it's just caused a lot of turmoil in our relationship. Like, oh, you spent all this money on this trip. And she's like, I think I was just anxious and trying to figure out where I can make cuts. And I was like, that's absolutely fair. You should have just said, where could I make cuts on this trip? I'd like to cut my budget back, right? Yeah. And that's not what she did, but it did. It led to a very good conversation and we were able to fix it and get things back on track. But had I not picked up the phone, what would have happened is I would have been aggravated with her. And in my interactions, I probably would have been a bit terse. She would have been frustrated with me because she was anxious about the price, and she probably would have been terse too. And there would have been no repeat relationship because neither of us liked each other. Whereas I've worked with the same woman now for years and it's been fine. I know she's gonna spend 10 grand, not 20, and that's okay, right? You kind of know what you're dealing with. So I think it's important with trust if it has broken down to call it out in a gentle manner. And if it genuinely is a problem, you probably don't want to work with the client anyway. So just go ahead and hand them their trip. I have multiple times had people where I've said, okay, you don't want to work with us, it's fine. Everything's booked. You have all your information, the trip is yours. You can't hand over the booking, right? That's not how that works, but they don't know any difference. So you just say, Here's all the information you need. Let me know if there's anything you need from me after, and you just kind of back off communication at that point. Hopefully, that is something that doesn't happen. It's never happened to me directly, it's happened to advisors that have worked for me, which is a little bit different of a situation. Yeah. All right. So last big objection that I think we need to address is my clients are dragging their feet and they won't book the trip. That's not an objection because they're not outright giving you an objection, but it is absolutely an objection. Haley, how do you handle this? And let's maybe first start talk about how do we prevent it. How do we make sure we don't get there? Yeah, I think by not getting there, you're explaining to them the timeline and your process, right? You're diving into this is what deposits are gonna look like. You're very clear about it, um, transparent about why the deposit's necessary now. I always look at, you know, the when clients are booking 10 months a year out, I always tell them you guys are booking at the perfect time, right? You're gonna get the best available rates, the best availability. Let's go ahead and lock this in to secure all that right now. And in the long run, you're gonna save a bunch of money. Then clients who are trying to book something three months out or, you know, five to months out, depending on destination, you have to be knowledgeable to explain to them listen, if we don't lock this in in a timely manner, then you're gonna lose availability and we're gonna go back and forth several times and it's gonna create a lot of problems in gray areas. I just had a client who wanted to go to Asia in June and we started in January consultation, fee paid, proposal all within a week. I'm not kidding you when I told you I finally locked in that trip seven weeks later, and it was insanely frustrating. And again, I think that trust was lost. They were just hesitant about the money. But the problem was when we got to seven weeks later, and I said to them, if you guys aren't gonna travel anymore, that's fine. You need to let me know so I can just check this off. But if you are, you cannot wait any longer because now we've reworked the entire itinerary. The itinerary is different, every hotel is different now. And once you put that into perspective, they're like, okay, if we're really doing this trip, we have to do it now. And they locked it in. And the husband called me and he's like, Hayley, can I just ask you, like, how did we go from 14,500 to 17,000 on this trip? I'm like, you know why we went from this is because you waited almost seven weeks to lock it in. And I tried to tell you every week I followed up with you guys if you're ready to get that deposit. And I tried so hard to get you motivated to do it. So I think stories like that are going back to the client saying, hey, listen, I this is why you can't do it. It's important. Just be open and upfront with your clients and let them know. I love it. I love it. You you said something in the beginning that I think we need to dive a little bit deeper into. And it's it's explaining your process to the client. Cause I think there's a few different areas where you can make sure that they understand that they need to put in a deposit quickly. Um, so when's the first time you really talk about a deposit with a client? That's gonna be in the consultation, right? We're gonna dive into it. I want to know when they have money, if they have money, if there's any issue with a three to five thousand dollar deposit, especially if flights are gonna be booked, you know, separate, then you know, we already have to assume that's three thousand there. What does a land deposit look like depending on how you're booking? So I definitely go into it with okay, we're probably gonna need between three and five thousand dollars for a deposit. Does that sound doable for you guys right now if we get working on this? So is that how you do it? You give them a ballpark number. So I always I also yeah, like a percentage of the trip. I'm I if they're telling me 10 grand, then I'm saying like three to five because I know that's typically what it's probably gonna be. Yeah, but yes, you're absolutely right. You can present it with a percentage, which is 20 to 30 or whatever that looks like. Yeah, I typically say 25% of the cost of the trip is what you'll find as a deposit. That that's different all around for sure. But yeah, um, I think it's easy because you just want to put a number in their head so they know I need to pay X. So just to make sure we're clear, we're saying that at the very end of the consultation, when you're sure you want to work with these people, when they've given you the budget that you think is doable, when you know all about the trip and you're kind of setting up the next steps, it's a really good moment to just simply ask the question of, hey, I'm gonna come back in three days and I'm gonna give you a proposal with all the best options within your budget. If I give you the option that you're excited about, are we ready to pay that deposit? Are we ready to pay three to five thousand dollars on Friday? And you wanna get that yes or no. Because if you get the like, well, I can't do it on Friday, but we can do it next Monday, cool. We're not gonna do the proposal till next Monday then. Or I can't do it on Friday. We actually need a month before we can get the money together. Okay, great. We're gonna do the proposal in a month and explain to them that I don't want to present you something that's this amazing option and it's perfect within your budget, and then the price changes and you can't afford it anymore. Or somebody else books it and now there's no available. Like they need to understand that I will not do a proposal, I will not take the time and build this out until you tell me yes, I could pay a deposit today. So I think that's a really important step that most travel agents like never take the time to even think about. They don't ask, is the client willing to make a deposit when I do the proposal. So I think that's the first big step. When what else do you talk about the deposit? I talk about it right after the proposal. So knowing that they have the money, I go into it and I always say, okay, are you guys ready to lock this in? Right. Through our workshop and I always say, does this look good? I every piece or element of the trip that I'm selling them, I ask them, is this exactly what you're looking for? Like how does this property look? Is there anything you'd want to change? And if they say no, perfect, we move on, right? Then if we get to the bottom and they just want to take off one tour, I tell them, okay, let's go ahead. I have, you know, I'm going to be working on this for the next couple hours. I'm going to get over to you final package price and you're going to give me the go ahead and we'll get this locked in by end of day. And most people are like, oh, okay, Haley, that's what's happening. Let's do it. Right. And you've just set that expectation of I've calendar block this time. This is the time that I've put for your trip. If we keep prolonging it, what happens is you're moving on to the next client, right? And you're just going to create more stress for yourself next week and the week after and the week after that because you've lost focus on your sales process. Yeah, a thousand percent. So for those of you listening, we did a really, really deep dive into our sales process last week. So go back to the very last episode because we really talk about this particular objection more than anything. I think it's really important that on the proposal call the clients understand hey, this is how this works, but you can't just pitch it to the client that they're paying a deposit on the proposal call for the first time. It needs to be kind of an expectation that they have in their head from the very beginning of the relationship. So what we find works really, really well is explaining the sales process to them a couple different times. So I do it in the very beginning of the consultation. So they understand and I'm like, you know, is that what you're looking for? And then at the end of the consultation call I say okay you know let's set up the proposal call. Does Friday at noon work for you? It does great. And then I say we're going to take deposit right after the proposal call are you able to put down $5,000 on Friday at noon and they say yeah or they say no and we kind of adjust accordingly. And the idea is that now I've told them in the beginning of the consult and they're probably like oh I mean I'm not locking it in on Friday. Maybe she thinks Judas then we tell them again with a more specific price at the end of the consultation and now they're like okay I guess I'm doing this. And then on Friday when they get on the call their mindset is already I'm about to spend $5,000. As long as what she presents me is exactly what I wanted this is what is about to happen in my life. And that's what you want them to think. You want them to understand that the next step is paying for the trip. Yeah you're not here to waste my time you're not here to just you know look into things see if you like it. Like that's very different than the way we work. We work with intention to book the trip. You also said on the last call I want to highlight the piece of the booking being on hold. What is the wording that you use around that on that proposal workshop call. Yeah I just let them know that my supplier has your trip on hold for 24 hours or whatever that looks like end of day. So if you're doing a three o'clock proposal or whatever I I am very strategic how I plan my proposals by the way so I don't like to do them on Fridays because I don't ever want anything to roll into the weekend. So I try to do them at least midweek beginning of the week to midweek um I don't like to do it after Wednesday because then I like to always use that by Friday end of day. They're going to have to release it and then we have to kind of start at the drawing board for pricing next week. So I think that's important too if you're doing a five o'clock proposal and you don't want to work after five that's a problem. Change a proposal time earlier in the week that aligns with you actually getting in to make the booking because we know that takes time right to get everything aligned. So just calendar block, set expectations for your clients, set expectations for yourself and lock in the sale. I love it. I absolutely love it. I and if you're sitting there thinking like well I don't have it on hold and that's not what I've got going on, who cares? You need to have some way of setting urgency. And I've just personally found that flights are not the best way to set urgency because people know that flights go up but flights also go down. So they sometimes just kind of shy away and don't really feel strongly about that but saying like I have all of this on hold and I've already put in all the work to book it on the right dates. So let me know as soon as we get the thumbs up. And and I usually don't even say that part until they say we need a minute. I usually on the call am saying something along the lines of like okay is there any I I love asking what is your favorite part about the trip that I just proposed and it kind of raises their level of excitement. They're like oh my God I can't wait to do X, Y, and Z. And then you say okay great. Is there anything about the trip that you want to change or take out anything we didn't love? And they kind of it's always like a bit of an awkward silence there. And then they're like no I think do you love it? I love it. Do you love it? Okay, we love it. And then I don't even say okay are we ready to lock it in? I say okay I'm going to go ahead and lock this in by the end of the day. I'm going to my next step is I'm going to give you the exact price because one of the things I don't do is I don't take time to really price out exactly what the transfers or trains are going to cost. I just ballpark those so it's a little easier for me. So I tell them I'm going to I'm so sorry guys. I tell them that I'm going to take the next uh few minutes I'm going to make sure that I have the exact price and the exact deposit amount I'm going to text it to you and then I'm going to go ahead and lock everything in. Is there again anything at all that we want to change before I do that. So I don't really say like are we good to go? Are we ready to lock it in? I'm just like this is happening. Are you in? I always ask too I'm like are we using the credit card you have on file or did you want to update your credit card? Because at that point I already have names, dates of birth, I have their credit card on file for the fee I've already charged. So we're ready to go, right? I'm not and this is one thing I always suggest to advisors who are not pitching a fee is sending out the form to obtain the client information, understand if they want travel insurance. There's nothing wrong with doing that during the consultation. I it's always kind of your green light that the client is serious. I have found a lot of advisors who have found that very helpful to start doing that then versus okay we're done the call we know it's deposit time but now I need you to go fill this out they're in the middle of their workday now two, three days go by and you still don't have what you need. So I always like to make sure I have that information and I explained that to them prior like this is why I'm going to grab your information now so we're ready to go when the time comes. That's a wonderful call out. So I I was very much in that proposal workshop assuming that you already had the information. So if you hadn't already got the information it's just a great moment to say I'm sending you the email right now can you pop in your inbox and make sure you got it can you click on the link and make sure it works whatever it is to kind of get that process started to get their information. But I love what Hadley said like just adjusting the process ideally you're pitching a fee simply because of the fact that it's going to get rid of all your tire kickers and all of your negative Nancy's but if you're not pitching a fee for whatever reason there's no reason that you still can't have something a hoop that the client has to jump through. So all the systems should have a form that you don't have to use the credit card information. So you could get their names and birth dates and do they want travel insurance and accepting our turns and conditions. You can get all of that beforehand and just explain like look honestly it just helps me understand that you're serious about the process. I don't want to put in all the time and effort if you're not really serious about this. So please fill out the form however you want to word that from there. But um it's a really good step in again changing their mindset around we're going to book this now. I need to have everything so I'm ready to book it now kind of conversation. Yeah. All right Haley any other objections that you feel like you have run into that you want to make sure we talk through I mean I could think of dozens of objections um to be honest. I feel like you know after you book a trip or even before you're going to have a lot of objections come up from clients and it's just how you approach it you know be professional and if it's not worth it for you just walk away and and again do it professionally. Yeah I love that don't don't be scared to bless and release. Remember every time you say no to something you're saying yes to something else and uh I I want you all to hear that the pie can only get bigger. You're not necessarily like losing your piece of the pie because you said no to somebody there's there's lots of pie out there. There's so many people that are not yet booking with travel advisors that should be um and that's our job is to go out there and be really really professional and to get people excited about the work we do. So thank you guys for listening. I hope this is exciting to y'all we love talking objections because it is one of the hardest parts of the job and if you really get comfortable with that conflict if you stop being conflict averse life will get so much easier for you. All right until next week don't forget we have an episode every single Wednesday can't see can't wait to see you guys. Thanks, Bard