The Travel Agent Guide
The Travel Agent Guide is a podcast created for travel advisors at every stage of their journey.
Each episode shares practical tips, real-world experiences, and honest conversations about building a successful travel advisor business—from client boundaries and workflows to marketing, growth, and sustainability.
Whether you’re new to the industry or looking to refine how you work, this podcast is here to help you work smarter, feel more confident, and grow with intention.
The Travel Agent Guide
The Clients We Outgrow — And Why That’s a Good Thing
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
As travel advisors grow and specialize, not every client will continue to be the right fit—and that's okay.
Join Byrd and Haley for a candid conversation about recognizing when a client no longer aligns with your business goals, expertise, or ideal customer profile. They discuss how specialization can transform your business, why setting boundaries matters, and how confidently saying "no" can create space for the right opportunities.
Haley and Byrd share experiences navigating client relationships, evolving our travel niches, and knowing when to refer clients elsewhere. We also explore the emotional energy that different client relationships require and why understanding your value is essential to long-term success.
Whether you're refining your niche, raising your fees, or simply looking to work with clients who better align with your expertise, this episode will help you build a more sustainable and fulfilling travel business.
🎯 Challenge for the Week: Identify one client or opportunity that doesn't align with your goals and practice confidently saying "no."
Connect with them and learn more at the Travel Agent Guide community.
Time Stamps:
00:00:00 - Recognizing Client Evolution
00:02:14 - Starting Out as a Travel Agent
00:10:50 - Breaking Up with Clients
00:25:06 - Emotional Labor in Client Relationships00:29:39 - Setting Boundaries
00:32:32 - The Importance of Trust00:34:02 - Challenge to Say No
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So I think when we talk about today's episode, it is how can we recognize that, hey, that cheap Caribbean deal I got my client, you're no longer the client that I truly want to work with anymore. And this is why I've had to bless and release a lot of clients at this point, or at least give them to other advisors, right?
SPEAKER_01Which I was about to say, we don't always have to release them. We can create strategic partnerships where we still benefit from them.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. So I've done that a lot and I'm still doing it today. Cruises are another big one. I'm not big into booking cruises, right? Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, all of that. It's just not the niche I've ever developed. And I I mean, I'll do a Mediterranean cruise once in a while, depending on the pre and posts. But other than that, I'll oftentimes send off to clients. And I'm basically just explaining to my client, like, you know, after four years, I really, you know, I'm I love Europe. I book Europe now. This is what I do. 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.
SPEAKER_01All right, guys, welcome back. I'm super excited because we have an episode that's all about growth and basically making sure that your mind is in the right spot when it comes to our clients that we're we're handling. So by the end of this episode, you are going to learn how to really truly identify which clients are still for me and which clients I have outgrown. We're gonna help you deliver that message to the client in a um in a caring way, uh, with some candor around it so they understand what it is that you're focused on. So I'm excited because this isn't necessarily for the travel agent that is starting day one. This is for the travel agent that's three, four, five years into this game and they are ready to change the way they approach things. Haley, have you ever outgrown a client before?
SPEAKER_00Oh, many. Absolutely. It many. And it's not easy to tell them that, but you have to get to the point where you start making decisions of what works for your business.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So when did you, I guess let's start in the very beginning. When did you first feel that you had started outgrowing a client? What does that really mean?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's I think there's so many different ways to look at it, right? When I came on board, I started with the bare basis of any trip, which I think a lot of travel agents do, right? I'm booking the VRBO on Expedia Tap. I am, I'm booking a lot of domestic trips for friends who just want to go to the Berkshires for the weekends, right? Taking any opportunity that I can just to get that sale so I can learn. And that's how a lot of advisors start. Nothing wrong with that, right? That's it makes sense. Right. So moving into that, you know, obviously the time I came into this, right after COVID, when it was really only domestic travel and Caribbean, I started a lot of Caribbean, right? And getting in and I realized two years in, two and a half years in, that I don't really love Caribbean, right? I started venturing off into other destinations. I got into Europe and I got into Asia and I realized I love this. This is where the money's at. And I put a lot of time and education into those destinations. And I had clients that I was booking for the cheapest package to go to the Caribbean because that's what I truly thought was the right way to do things, right? So I think when we talk about today's episode, it is how can we recognize that, hey, that cheap Caribbean deal I got my client, you're no longer the client that I truly want to work with anymore. And this is why I've had to bless and release a lot of clients at this point, or at least give them to other advisors, right?
SPEAKER_01Which I was about to say, we don't always have to release them. We can create strategic partnerships where we still benefit from them.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. So I've done that a lot and I'm still doing it today. Cruises are another big one. I'm not big into booking cruises, right? Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, all of that. It's just not the niche I've ever developed. And I I mean, I'll do a Mediterranean cruise once in a while, depending on the pre and posts. But other than that, I'll oftentimes send off to clients. And I'm basically just explaining to my client, like, you know, after four years, I've really, you know, I'm I love Europe. I book Europe now. This is what I do. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01All right. So we're gonna talk today, not really necessarily about that evolution from the Caribbean to Europe or any other way, because there's a lot of advisors, and I would say most American advisors really do specialize and focus on the Caribbean, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's simply a volume game. But even in the Caribbean, there are clients that we outgrow, right? I remember in 2021, 2022 when we were stuck in the Caribbean and we could only book that. We were absolutely like, you know, emailing the price match at funjet.com or whatever the email is and doing this kind of work consistently because those were the type of clients that that we had. And it is a little bit, the industry is a little bit of uh my dad always says, make hay why the sun shines. Like that's the idea behind it is what you're given in the beginning. You need to be a little hungry. You need to not turn up your nose at the lower dollar booking. But once you begin to build that book of business, this is where this conversation is going. So I've built a little bit, I've got a foundation. Now I can start to get picky. But I want to back up and talk about why you should be picky. Cause I think a lot of advisors are really scared to take that step. And what happens is they end up just aggressively overworked and they don't understand why. And it's because they're saying yes to everything. And I just want to take the space and remind you that every time you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else. So even though the $20,000 lead may not be in your inbox and there's a $4,000 lead that's in your inbox, you're like, well, I'm gonna say yes to this. It doesn't mean that the $20,000 lead wasn't attainable. What was probably happening is now you don't have the extra two hours this week or however much time you're gonna take on that $4,000 lead. Now you don't have the extra couple of hours to go and prospect, to go to a networking event, to go and do these things. So while it may not be obvious that you're saying no to something, you are absolutely saying no to something. Is that fair? Haley, when did you kind of start seeing that happen in your life where you're like, I've got to start saying no to some of these leads so I could say yes to something else?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was probably year two, right? It's when I just started kind of elevating and realizing that you only have 40, 50 hours a week, depending how many hours you work. If it's 20, then stick to your 20, right? And I had to find the time and space for each client, but some four thousand dollar trips are way more time consuming than a $20,000 trip. And that's just always yeah. And it's it's the budget shoppers where they are trying to find the best deal. Everything you go back to them, they're going back to see if they can find a better deal. And it's just it's too much. I don't have that bandwidth anymore to go back and forth with clients like that. And I've gotten to the point where I've basically said, Hey, like this is just not how I work, right? And I just want to kind of stop it right here, if that's the case. And I've had to put some perspective for clients. So again, it goes back to me not saying no from the beginning, right? And and not recognizing that I don't have the time for this.
SPEAKER_01So it's a little bit hard because you don't always know what you're getting into when you get on a consultation. I have absolutely gotten on a consultation with someone that I know has real money and they're talking to me about a $5,000 trip, right? So it's a little bit, you need to figure out is that this trip or is that every trip? When a client openly expresses travel is just not where he likes to invest his money, that's okay. But I'm also not your travel agent, right? Like, so just because someone has money doesn't always mean that they're going to book these high dollar trips. And I think where I really want to make sure that we touch on is like what happens when I'm already in the consultation? And what happens when I'm already like he's telling me all about the trip, da-da-da-da-da. And it's just not what I want to book. How do you break up like once you've already done the consultation or what is it you typically do in that scenario?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I just tell the clients, depending on it, it just really depends. If it's an $8,000 trip to let's say Portugal, right? I'm just throwing this out there and they want to go for two weeks, then I have that budget conversation first. I think that's important. Some people go from just not having clear expectations on cost to okay, I trust you, that makes sense. So I guess we're spending 20, right? And that I think is the first um conversation you need to have. If they come back and say no, like there's we it has to be 8,000, then I look at okay, so for 8,000, maybe we can look at just a week. Are you willing to give up some time here? And we kind of go back and forth at that point. If we can't come to a compromise, then I basically just tell them, listen, for you know, I can look and see if there's another advisor. And I kind of go back to my fee on things too. So I charge pretty hefty fees. Then I'll explain to them if your trip's, you know, only five grand and I'm charging you a four or five hundred dollar fee. Right now, that's already eating up a lot of your budget. So I'm happy to look for another advisor who maybe wants to work on this and and see how that goes. Of course, I would prepare the advisor for what our consultation was like. And there are some advisors who'd be like, okay, let me, I'll get you where you need to go and I'll book you three stars all day. And absolutely that's the case. But I basically tell them that I can't compromise what I provide to my clients, meaning I'm not gonna give up four star properties, five star properties. I want to make sure they're actually having the trip and I'm doing my job. I just had a consultation two weeks ago. Um, a woman came to me for an Italy trip and she's going to Sicily and it's gonna be a road trip, but she one couldn't give me a budget, two didn't want any tour. She's like, nope, we're not tour people, right? So I'm like, okay, we're just doing a rental car and properties. And I told her, I'm like, I'm gonna be honest. I'm just an I'm a travel agent who does everything from start to finish, and this is kind of not what I do, right? So, and there's nothing wrong with that. She appreciated me being honest with her and there, and then she's like, Oh, I think I could probably do this on my own, right? So I think every situation, every scenario, you have to kind of just recognize it when it's not gonna work for you and not be afraid to say something. Cause I will tell you right now, I have said yes to too many things that I should have never done. Oh my gosh, yeah. I I regret it. I regret it so much. So I will always try to make it easier for you. I I that's my goal.
SPEAKER_01So I word it slightly different, um, but definitely take the same approach. So if I'm in the consult and I've already gotten, you know, 20 minutes into it, they've told me all about their dream trip and it's just simply not something I want, I would challenge everybody out there to have somebody that's been in the industry for less years as kind of a partner in crime here. Um, so at Sava Travel, we basically have a hot leads channel. So if there's something that you don't want, you would go post in the hot leads channel. So a great example would be Disney. I have no interest in working a Disney lead, it's just not my expertise. So if I have one come to me, I don't just tell them, no, I'm not helping you. I go and post it in the hot leads channel. And we encourage our advisors to ask for a referral fee. There's nothing wrong with saying, hey, I've got a Disney lead. They're looking for a Disney cruise for a whole week and I want a $50 referral fee if you book them. Now you still make some money. You have another advisor that knows it and is excited about it and wants to run with it, and you have this great avenue. But if you don't have something like that within your agency, I would tell you to find a friend in the in the industry that you can rely on, that you, you know, takes the leads you don't want. So the way that I typically word this is I say, okay, now I really understand what it is you're asking for. I am absolutely not your travel agent. There's a couple of reasons why. I really specialize in five-star hotels. You know, it's really hard to learn every hotel in the world. So what I do is I'm focusing around Europe and I'm focusing just on these like, you know, three to five really high-end properties in each of these cities all over Europe. So the reality of what you're asking for, I'm just not a good fit. Like I just don't know it, right? It's not something that I take time learning about. But I've got a partner that actually does kind of that, those lower end, those three-star properties that you're asking for. And they would be a really great fit for this. I've taken fantastic notes, trust me, on everything that you've asked. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have a call with them this afternoon. And I'm gonna go over all the details that we talked about today. And I'm gonna have them meet with you to do the proposal call because they are actually the experts in what you're asking for. Sadly, I'm not. Is that okay with you?
SPEAKER_00No beautifully put, Burn. I love that.
SPEAKER_01My apprentice, right? Like my partner in the industry, whatever you want to call it, it's just goes to somebody else, essentially. It's not for me. Um, and I think everybody can relate to like there's only so much time in the day, and I can't know anything. I can't know everything, right? Um, so hone in on what it is you know. So if they have like be very specific, because if they have a friend that is asking about something and that friend is asking about five star properties in Europe, you're gonna come to mind. They know exactly what you're looking for. Um I will absolutely book four star hotels, but when I'm describing what I do, it's five star.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01I love that. Okay, so there's ways to break up with them before you've actually been booking. Can you break up after you've booked the person and realize they're just the wrong person? What does that look like?
SPEAKER_00I think you absolutely can. I think it's determining, you know, what is the situation that happened that you are giving this trip up and you no longer want to serve them. I'm gonna guess it's just a level of disrespect. That would be my only reason to be like, hey, I'm no longer servicing your booking. What I would do at that point would basically just give them every information that they need and say, okay, here's your direct contact. You can go ahead and do it through here. That's exactly how I would handle that.
SPEAKER_01Okay. I've actually never done it. Okay. I've always, I've always grinned and bared it until they travel, but I've I've broken up with people on the welcome home call lots of times. Um, I tend to say, like, if you've already booked them, try to get through it as best you can because it is a little awkward to be like, okay, now you're on your own. And it is a it's a bit more of an awkward conversation than in the consult. So if you could catch it in the consult, even if it just feels like, oh God, this person's gonna need a lot from me, like catch it in the consult and just back out before you even get to that space. Because I will tell you every time I've said yes and had an icky feeling, 100% of the time I've regretted it. And 100% of the time I've wasted way too much of my life and could have made way more money had I had that time back. Right.
SPEAKER_00Agreed. Agreed. What I would say is for anybody listening to this right now, if you have broken up with a client pre-travel, I want you to go to our travel agent guide Facebook page and I want you to share it with us. Like I want to open conversation on this to hear what you did, why you did it, and how you did it.
SPEAKER_01I love that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So if you could do that, if not, I'm gonna get a thread started because this topic I think is really important and I think we could all learn a little bit more from that.
SPEAKER_01So it's our Facebook group and it's simply called the travel agent guide, just like the podcast. Go, go, there's like four or five thousand people in it now. Go crazy. Yeah. Um, so one of the things that I really love that you mentioned earlier that I wanted to highlight and bring to everyone's attention is your ideal client is allowed to change over time. Who you wanted in the beginning may not be who you want now. Um, and who you want now may not be who you want in five years, right? Like I think about who I booked year one, and I think everybody changes from year one to year three, but most people kind of settle into this is the right person for me now. This is who, you know, I love cruisers and this is what I'm looking for. But you'll hear travel agents. I'm gonna stick with cruising because it's easy for people to understand this concept. I think travel agents naturally try to grow with their clients. So think when you first start the industry, you may be doing Royal Caribbean and Norwegian and carnival. And then as those clients age, you may be able to move them up into celebrity and princess. And as they continue to age, you may be able to move them up into canard and silver sea and so on. And I think that people think that that process just naturally happens, but I disagree. I think it's gotta be very, very intentional. You have to change in your mindset, okay, I used to book this and now this is what I want to book. So let's say I've got a client that always travels Royal Caribbean and I know for a fact that they are only interested in Royal Caribbean and they're never gonna accept anything else. Great. At least once in every proposal you do for them, throw in princess if that's who you want to start booking. So you don't necessarily have to change and say, I only book princess and I'm turning everything else down. All you have to do is begin making princess an option. And make princess an option over and over and over. And I love the saying if you throw enough spaghetti at the wall, something's gonna stick. And then when you're ready to move into those higher end ones, be like, look, I know you've done princess for years and that's great. Have you ever thought about maybe really stepping out? Oh, this is an anniversary trip? Let's be more indulgent. Let me just throw this one option in there. It's gonna be off the wall, but I think you might really love it. And get better and better at moving yourself through that pipeline as well as your clients. Haley, have you had success doing that kind of approach?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. I mean, I have so many clients that started with a Caribbean trip that now go to Europe, right? So I think exactly like you said, it's all intentional. The clients have grown with me and my business. And it's all how I've approached it, right? Yeah, Jamaica was fantastic. If you want a quick, all-inclusive getaway, great. But what type of travel are you really hoping to do? So on Welcome Home Calls, I really dive into this, right? And I dive into what are your bucket list trips? Like what are your dreams? If you were to go anywhere next time, where would it be? And then that keeps top of mind while I'm building out a trip to Italy. My clients, oh yeah, that's right. This client said they really want to go to Italy one day. So I kind of look at it as okay, here's the starting point, but you know, people don't know what they don't know until they know it, right? So yeah, they think Jamaican all-inclusive is the best way to travel until they go experience something else. And then it's just a game changer for them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a great way to put it. Okay, one other tip on this subject and moving our clients to the next price tier. One of my favorite questions, if you're not asking it, is around the budget. So, yes, I asked for a budget. Don't ever give them a number first, always have them speak first. We know all the budget conversations, but I love following it up. Once you have a number from them, follow it up with, okay, can you tell me what your scare point is? And what I mean by that is I am not a used car salesman. I am not going to try and nickel and dime you and add on all these things. What I'm gonna do is present you a full package, but it's gonna have options in it. So I love kind of understanding what is the price point where you're like, hey, don't even show me an option over X because I'm not willing to go there. That's not the investment I want to make. So if your budget's a 10, what does your scare point really look like? I'm going to give you packages and options that target your budget absolutely. But I don't want to miss out on some great experience because it was $100 more than 10,000, right? So tell me where your wiggle room might lie and let me see what you get. You guys, I've gotten like literally, people have gone from 10 to 15. And I'm like, those are so dramatically different trips. And once you show them the trip in the 15 range, they won it every single time. I don't know that I've ever had somebody actually book their target range when I've shown them what the indulgence could look like. Haley, have you had success with this as well?
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. I think what's really important as well is having that conversation of what you're presenting to the clients. A lot of people don't think like, oh, tours are maybe not included in this. Where I'm saying, hey, what is your all-in budget? We're talking accommodations, transfers, um, tours, everything but your dinners, right? And that changes the conversation and it changes the ask around budget and kind of knowing, okay, well, that makes sense. Well, maybe now we have five grand more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I absolutely love it. Okay, one of the things when we were preparing for this episode that you wrote down, Haley, was that time becomes more valuable. Tell us what do you mean by that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, as you start growing with your business, right? You are, I always say it's all wonderful and you're booking all these great trips until you get to the point where clients are actually traveling too, right? So that changes a little bit of your, you know, work and what your week to week looks like. Like this week, I have four or five pre-departure calls scheduled, right? For the month of June. So it's great, but while you're still staying on top of sales and servicing the clients and what their expectations are before travel, then that changes things a little bit. And now I'm giving up four or five hours this week to those pre-departures. So I have to be mindful of trips coming in because you will get to the point and it's a blessing. When you get to the point where you have clients traveling peak travel seasons and you're still trying to do sales, that's when you have to be very mindful of your hours and what what you're giving out to clients. Because if not, you're going to just lose your mind and rip your hair out. Cause I feel like that's very common in peak travel season. So when I think of time, that's what I think of. It's all great now until you're actually servicing the clients, getting through that, right? Where of course, that's where making sure you have an assistant to help you too is going to be really. Important.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I mean, honestly, at the end of the day, I like to think of it as I'm giving myself a pay raise. Like, you know, when you first start this, you're probably only making 34 cents an hour. I think that's the average uh pay for a travel agent their first year. But the reality is after a couple of years, you should be making hundreds an hour, right? You should be making a lot more. And I think of giving up and saying, giving up clients and saying no to the right clients. That is basically at the end of the day, giving yourself a raise. I only work for this higher dollar amount. This is when I'm willing to invest my time. And if you really stay focused on that, more and more of that will grow. Um, so I really love that idea as well. Okay. Another comment that we made as we're talking through this is just sometimes there's a mismatch and it's all about price resistance. What do you mean by price resistance? And tell us a little bit about how you've encountered this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, clients will definitely be resistant to the price that you're presenting. And it's really up to you on, you know, matching the budget and making sure and giving them the options that they need to make the decision and close the sale, right? So again, if you're getting an $8,000 budget and you're showing up and you're just showing your client one option, give them three different options, get on a call with them and have them, you know, walk through it with them live. So now they're not gonna be resistant about that price. If you're just sending over here's an option for beaches, it's just gonna leave a lot open and they're gonna be more resistant to closing the deal and they want to see more options. So I think how you approach that is gonna be important.
SPEAKER_01But is that a client that's a mismatch or your sales process? It's a mismatch here.
SPEAKER_00I suppose that example is probably sales mismatch, right?
SPEAKER_01So I kind of think of it. Oh, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00No, after you go.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, I kind of think of it as like a client that is consistently pushing back on me or asking for an itemized list, or a client that's just uh, let's say just not trusting me for some reason. I think that's where it's kind of like, look, even if we work this out, at the end of the day, the reality is that client doesn't, I haven't been able to build trust for some reason. So when it comes to the departure, and did you book the dinner reservations and did you do the thing? Like, I feel like that lack of trust just ends up overflowing into all the other aspects of the experience. And it's just not enjoyable for either of us. So I feel like when I get someone that's pushing back on pricing quite often, it is a good moment to kind of take some time and say, like, look, is there, you know, is there a reason here? See if you can call it out a little bit and see if they'll help describe, you know, if I'm like, hey, you gave me a $10,000 budget and I put all of this stuff into it, you know, private tours cost a lot of money, sir. And try to kind of understand where the problem is. And if the problem's just you don't have trust, I'd break up with them all day.
SPEAKER_00I think my big example, I guess, for that would be fees, right? I've been in situations where I've had repeat clients, and I think this is a very important factor in how you outgrow a client. When you start, you're not charging fees, you have to build up, you know, being comfortable doing so. And I've had clients where I've started I haven't charged fees, then I've tried to implement them. And I just probably like six months ago, I had a repeat client coming to me after two years and wanted to go to Italy. Very exciting. And I pitched my fee, and she came back and was like, okay, but why are we doing a fee? Like you didn't charge me a fee the first time. So, perfect example of I had to go in, I had to, I sent a nice email. I explained to her in the past several years, my business has evolved and I have my fees implemented for everybody across the board, and this is why. And my big, my biggest explain is typically if I don't charge you a fee and I charge my other clients a fee, I'm not gonna prioritize. I'm I'm gonna prioritize the people who pay me a fee. So I've put that together in a nice email of you know what my expectations are and how I've evolved as a travel advisor, and then that was it. She walked away because she didn't want to pay the fee, and that's fine. But again, great example of I've outgrown this client. I already knew kind of what the previous experience was like. And if I was gonna do it, here's my fee of what it would be. And yeah, she walked away. I'll only do it for X. And honestly, I was relieved. I was more relieved than not, to be honest, because then that saved me the conversation of having to bless and release, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Well, honestly, it sounds like uh if there is relief, you know it was the right choice, right? And I think what I'm hearing from you more than anything is the boundaries themselves will often tell you who the right clients are. And if fees for you are the boundary, the right client is not gonna question that. For me, it's my time. I've got a three and a six-year-old. I'm obsessed with them. I have no interest in talking to you at 5 p.m. I'm gonna be hanging with my kids at 5 p.m. So if you can't take a call during the day, we're not going to be the right fit ever, right? I'm gonna, I'm, I'm not gonna do it for the consultation because then you're gonna have expectations that I will also take a call at 6 p.m. for the pre-departure call, for the welcome home call. No, I'm not gonna talk to you on the weekends. I'm gonna hang out with my six-year-old and we're gonna laugh and giggle and do all the things, and I'm not even gonna reply into your text. So, like, I think it's really important for me, at least when I go into these relationships, of if there are hard and fast boundaries for you, say that up front. And that's more likely to get rid of people before you have to say any of the other things we've said here today.
SPEAKER_00Agreed. I think that's a great call out. It's again, you when you evolve, right? Your business evolves. I used to work nights and weekends, I would do 8 p.m. calls for pre-depart. And all the time, I won't do it anymore. And I think it's even okay if I've started with a here's my proposal. We did this at eight o'clock, and then I tell you after that for a pre-departure or any other call, it has to be through nine to five. It's just set your boundaries, and the sooner you say it, clients should get it. And if moving forward, they just want to meet with you at seven o'clock, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_01So I blame it on my kids. I genuinely use the words like, hey, I've got these little kids, I'm really obsessed with them. I want to spend my nights, I reserve my nights and weekends for them. But I don't think you have to have kids to have that right to have a nine to five job in this industry. So I want to make sure everybody feels empowered that even if you don't have something to blame it on, you don't, I want to give you permission that you don't need something to blame it on. You can simply say, This is my full-time job. I work nine to five. If you can meet during that time, I'd really appreciate it. If not, though, I have partners in the in the industry that do work nights and weekends. I'm more than happy to introduce you to them. And I love, Haley, that you mentioned it's okay if you did bend over backwards to get the sale to set the boundary after. I think it's important to try to set the boundary ahead of time just because it makes for an easier working relationship. But let's say they said, hey, it's a $20,000 river cruise and you really want it. So you met with them at 8 p.m. I think it's absolutely fair to say, hey, by the way, I typically wouldn't have done this. Is it okay if our next call is during office hours? It's really important to me, right? Like it's okay to set a boundary anytime you need to set a boundary. And they're gonna have to do it in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're gonna say to you, Oh, we so appreciate you. And absolutely it's not a big, absolutely. We have seven months to pick a date and time, right? I think it it shouldn't be a problem.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. All right. One of the last things that we talked about here was that emotional labor is real. What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00It means that client some clients just consume and take more energy from you than other clients do. And they're more needy. They are texting you, they're emailing you all the time, they're asking you the silliest questions and expecting a reply immediately. So yeah, that's you know, constant hand holding and just unrealistic expectations of of what you do and and how busy you are, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I also I also would put out there that lack of trust, like you could feel that, right? You could feel when a client doesn't really trust you. And for me, that's a very emotional experience. Um, I definitely beat myself up a little over it because I'm like, well, why what did I do wrong that they don't believe that I'm the expert in this? Like, what what's the problem here? Where did the miscommunication go? And I find that that drains energy for me for the rest of the day. You know, I'll be on a 30-minute phone call with this client and it just feels very emotional to me. And now I don't have the energy to give in to something else that I really want to. So I think it's important to recognize that in ourselves and say, like, hold on, every time I talk to this client, I end up drained and it's not fun and it's not enjoyable. And I would almost challenge you guys to think about each and every one of your clients. And if their phone number popped up, not when they're traveling, because that's a whole different level of stress, but if their phone number popped up on a random Monday at noon on your phone, would you feel excited about that? Or would you immediately have a sense of dread, angst, regret coming over you? That's your decision. Like you shouldn't, you should follow your gut all day long. I always love the saying of when someone tells you who they are, believe them. If they are just the type of person that's gonna question everything no matter what all the time and make life hard for you, don't work with them. There's lots of fish in the sea. Like, just move on. Do you do you agree? I mean, is that kind of how you is it a gut reaction thing for you?
SPEAKER_00It's it is a gut reaction thing for me. And it just, you know, you have clients who you've worked with and then they reach out to you because they want to work with you again. And the second you know, like you just know. If if something's telling you, hey, I can't work with this person, you have to figure out right then and there how to find another advisor who will work with them. It just I've done it. I've taken on clients that I knew I didn't want to work with, and I did it anyways because I thought of, okay, here's a sailor, I am their travel agent. Maybe this time it will be different. And it's not gonna be different, it is not going to be different, and I promise you that. So learn from my mistakes.
SPEAKER_01It's never different. How many times have you gotten together with an ex? It's never different.
SPEAKER_00Great example.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't happen that way. Um, I I love it. And I think at the end of the day, what we're really trying to say here is your business model shouldn't be for everyone. Your business model should absolutely evolve over time. It should grow. There should be people that are not a good fit for it. And if you're seeing that, I think that's what's really exciting about it, is that means it's working. You're doing the right thing if you're turning people down, if you're turning people away. And really at the end of the day, if when you hear from a client, if it's not an absolute in your gut, hell yes, it's a no. Like it needs to be a no because, again, there's a lot of opportunity. We're in this like really fun time in the travel space where post-pandemic, so many people began being open to using travel agents. I don't know if you guys have seen statistics, but the usage of a of travel agents by American citizens is skyrocketing and has been since the pandemic. I think it first started because people were like, oh, what paperwork do I fill out? And then so many people realized how nice it was to have somebody else do this for them, that we're seeing those rates go up and up and up. And what I want to point out from that is that the book of business you have right now is most likely not at all going to be the book of business you have in five years. So allow it to grow. You have to say no to things so you can say yes to something else. And if you're consistently saying yes to these clients that just aren't a right fit for you, you're never gonna be able to grow into the next level. So start small with something that's a hell no and then move into anything, even if it's like a yeah, I guess I'll do that. No, that's a no. That's a no.
SPEAKER_00I love it.
SPEAKER_01Haley, how often are you saying no at this point in your business?
SPEAKER_00Quite often. Quite often. I just said no to clients last week and another advisor who could work for them. So it's definitely to the point where again, you grow and you just know who you're aligned with and who you're not. And yeah, you kind of just trust that gut exactly like you said, Bird. You know when you know.
SPEAKER_01I love it. All right, guys. So we're gonna give you a challenge to depart today. We are challenging you to go out and find a space at some point in the next week where it wasn't a hell yes. And whatever that is, make the move and say no. Yes. All right. Thank y'all so much. Don't forget that we do have an in-person event coming up in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 6th. That's a Friday. It's gonna be an all-day event. We're gonna be doing a live recording of the podcast, but we're also going to do some really in-depth workshops. Haley and I have been working on the content and we're super, super excited. We, of course, will have vendors there, but we are not allowing the vendors to do the standard like, hey, here's the new sandals resort. Nothing against sandals, love them, but there's lots of opportunities for you to see that anywhere else. We are going to focus on workshops that help travel agents that are already in the business learn how to take it to the next level. So we're super excited. We will be dropping that link sometime in the next two weeks for you to start signing up. Um, and can't wait to see you. Mark your calendars. Can't wait. Bye, guys.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Travel Agent Guide podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow travel advisor. We truly appreciate your support. It helps us continue bringing valuable content to the travel advisor community. Be sure to join our Facebook group, the Travel Agent Guide, for more tips, training, and connection. Until next Wednesday, keep growing, keep learning, and keep building the business you deserve. We'll see you next time.