FRONTLINE
DAVID WALKER aka The Travel Snob, a Not Just Travel agent based in Nottingham
As we head deeper into December, I’d
like to reflect on what was a phenomenal November. It was the second-best month this year in terms of sales, number of bookings, average booking value and margin, and our best-ever November on record. So what do I put it down to? Is there a magic formula? October was not a particularly good month, and I went into November half expecting it to be a similar story. I wondered where the sales were going to come from and pondered if, for the first time in a while, I would have to pick up the phone and ask for business (which is the part of the job I hate) rather than wait for the calls to come through as usual. Thankfully it was the complete opposite and the phone just rang and rang.
LOVE IS IN THE AIR What I find slightly surprising is that there was no “massive booking” in November – the biggest being for £62,000 – and only five others topping £20,000. It was a good month on the weddings front, though. I had an enquiry for a wedding in Jamaica one Friday morning and by the afternoon the couple were booked, with a date confirmed for 2025. On the back of that, six of the
couple’s wedding guests got in touch to make bookings for the happy day. I’d designed a “save
30 7 DECEMBER 2023 AGENT
The phone rang off the hook in
November – now we are looking forward to the January peaks
the date” presentation for the bride and groom to send out to everyone on their guest list, including all the resort and flight information, as well as the costs (with a choice of room types), how to book, the deposit required and my contact details. This made it easy for invited guests to call me to make their booking, as they had all the information to hand. I love a quick win!
GREAT DEALS The Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals this year have been, in my opinion, the best ever. To be honest there were too many to keep up with but there were
some amazing deals with genuine savings to be had. One New York offer sold five times and I also sold three cruises that I would not have sold had it not been for the special offers. The New York offer and one of the cruise deals are short breaks and were sold to regular clients, so hopefully they will be extra trips and won’t affect their usual holiday bookings. The new clients were people who had been given a recommendation to try me, or who had remembered meeting me. When I used to mentor new starters at Not Just Travel, I would always say you must be memorable and stand out from the crowd. I always make an effort to impress new people by being knowledgeable, trustworthy and likeable. I am also lucky in that my business name, The Travel Snob, is memorable and, as November has proven, it’s easy enough to track me down and reach out to me. I also figure that if they have taken the time to research to find me, their enquiry is more serious than those who stumble across me by chance. So, with the practice-run peaks over and Christmas around the corner, we’ll all be back for the new year and for the ‘real’ peaks. Have a wonderful festive season, one and all!
LUXURY MEANS NO HIDDEN EXTRAS
I recently had a new-to-cruise client who, along with his
brother, wanted to treat his mum to a Caribbean cruise for her 70th birthday. I looked at a regular four-star, seven- night cruise and by the time I’d added on drinks packages, excursions, Wi-Fi, and
speciality dining, the cost had jumped significantly. Out of interest I looked at a swanky five-star cruise for the same dates, which included all the add-ons they wanted, and it worked out at £419 more per person – but for three additional nights! It was a no- brainer. Now, when mum next goes to bridge club and tells her friends what her wonderful sons did for her birthday, they sure are going to be impressed.
Birthday cruise
travelweekly.co.uk
Sharon ColinKimHelen Clare Sharon ColinKimHelen Clare diary diary
David
David
PICTURE: Shutterstock/
Rawpixel.com
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