Looking to learn how to generate leads for a travel business in 2021?
What I’m going to cover today is a way of generating unlimited leads for your travel business that you may have not heard of or thought about before.
This concept works whether you’re a tour operator, lead expedition adventures, or are a travel agency of any kind. What we’re covering today can revolutionize your business if you implement this under-the-radar tactic that I’m talking about today.
Sure, you can search for ways to generate leads that are going to give you all the old outdated ways of generating leads – the way that everyone else is trying to do it (where they’re working incredibly hard with really meager results, to say the least!).
Or you can learn something new that’s been tested and proven in the online business world for years now, and use it to amplify your business online in ways you’ve never even dreamed of before.
Businesses of all kinds have been using these methods with great success – interior designers, car dealers, dentists, general contractors – you name it.
Creating an online funnel for your travel business can do more for your business than just about any other marketing tactic and it will fill up your funnel with unlimited leads.
So, today I’m going to show you how to put together a fast and easy sales funnel so you can start to generate unlimited leads for your travel business!
How To Generate Leads For A Travel Business
When I was doing my research for writing this post I saw the other posts that were popular for generating leads for a travel company and I was sorely disappointed.
It reminded me of the stuff I used to see that I ran into when I worked in sales a lifetime ago.
All stuff that was right out of the 1970s without an original thought to be seen anywhere.
So I created this post to help you understand what online businesses have been doing for years now to fill up their sales funnels and book themselves solid in their businesses.
And that’s by using online sales funnels.
In an online sales funnel we’re going to figure out who our dream customers are, where they’re hanging out, what they’re struggling with and then very tactfully introducing them to opportunities to learn about how you as a travel company can help them find the answers they’re looking for so they can get the result they want.
Sounds intriguing, right?
Yep – I thought so too, so keep reading!
Who is your dream customer?
It all starts by making sure we’re targeting the right people.
Before we start getting too far down the road learning how to generate leads for your travel business, we need to first figure out who you want to work with.
And we do this by figuring out who your dream customer is.
Think about it this way:
If you could work with anyone in the entire world, who would that person be? What are they like? What does their travel budget look like? What’s the biggest thing they struggle with when it comes to making travel arrangements for them?
Here’s another aspect that you have to consider:
Who do you NOT want to work with?
This question is almost as important as the first one.
And all industries have these people in them – the ones you don’t want to work with.
They may be the small budget clients that are hard to help.
Maybe they’re the really needy ones that call you every couple hours about their arrangements after you already told them you’re going to contact them as soon as you can with more information.
Now that you’ve figured who it is that you want to work with and who you don’t want to work with, now you can answer the million dollar question:
How can YOU help your dream customers solve those problems?
What questions or concerns are common among your dream customers, but NOT common among your nightmare customers?
You want to find the things thar are native to your dream customers so that you can eliminate the ones you DON’T want to work with from your plans.
We’re going to be answering issues specific only to your dream customers and not the ones that give you headaches.
For instance, say your dream customers prefer to work with a concierge service at their destination to get the high-touch treatment they enjoy, but your nightmare customer doesn’t care anything about concierge services and couldn’t afford them anyway.
We then take that one instance of a quality that’s specific to our dream customer and build on that.
That way we’re talking specifically to our dream customers while discouraging the headache customers from engaging with us, because the headache customer doesn’t care about what we’re talking about.
What is their biggest struggle when it comes to travel?
This is where your expertise comes in. You’ve been doing this long enough to know that there are some core areas where people really struggle when it comes to booking travel – whether it’s for vacations, or business travel.
So what are those things? Write ‘em down – fast. Capture as many of them as you can, and then rank them from most painful to least painful.
Now we’re getting to the good stuff 🙂
What’s the ultimate, no-holds-barred, result you can deliver for your dream travel customers?
Since we’re already talking about our dream customers, what is it that you specifically could do for them if there were no budget limitations?
Think of all the different ways that your business can deliver a world class experience for your dream customers.
Yes – this is partially about the travel experience that they book with you, but it’s more about what YOUR agency does for your dream customer to make their entire experience unparalleled.
So think about what your most expensive, high-touch experience would look like with all its various parts & pieces.
We need to figure all of this out because, not only are there some things that you may need to add to your core service, but we’re going to use the parts in the next step.
What do you do to deliver that ultimate result through your travel business?
What are the things that you do that make things faster and easier for them? What sets your business apart from all the other options they’ve got out there?
Maybe you can get them into that super exclusive Etihad lounge while they’re traveling.
Is it your expertise about a particular destination? Is it your connections with people who can make your dream customers’ experience incredible?
What you want to be thinking about here is this:
What is the inside scoop that your dream customers need to know in order to have the best possible experience on their trip?
What’s the most exciting thing about those various parts in your travel business?
As with all businesses there is a process that you go through to make your customer’s experience amazing.
So at this point, let’s break it all down.
In travel it could be:
- Air travel reservations
- Hotel reservations
- Tour reservations
- Event reservations
- Restaurant reservations
- Rental car reservations
- Among many other things
Write out a list of the biggest chunks of things that you do on behalf of your customers.
This includes your secret sauce that you top it all off with to make it amazing.
Once we know what these various pieces of hte puzzle are, we’re going to find the most sexy and exciting part of all of it.
So it’s time to put pen to paper – what’s the most exciting part about everything you do?
When we’ve got that figured out, we’re going to use that one thing to create a lead magnet that will have you generating leads from dream customers on autopilot.
Travel agency leads on autopilot
Now it’s time to create something that your dream customers (not your headache customers) are going to find irresistible and give it to them for free.
This is called a lead magnet, and we’re going to use this to promote your travel business.
Your lead magnet should consist of just one thing that’s the most sexy and exciting part about what you do to deliver the best possible experience and results.
In this lead magnet you’re going to deliver 3 things:
- What – what that thing is that’s so valuable
- Why – why that thing is so important
- Validation – examples of how you used it to create results for your customers and clients.
We’re going to leave out one thing in our free lead magnet:
The “how”.
In a lead magnet the point is to help your dream customer become aware of what’s going on in your world and how you help your customers get results.
The “how” is what you do for them.
A long time ago, I heard a friend who was leading a conference say this:
“Teach the ‘what’ sell the ‘how’”.
And that’s the most important part of all of this.
But at this point you’re probably thinking, “not everyone who’s my dream customer can afford my ultimate flagship experience!”
That’s where we introduce them to low-risk ways to take the next step by giving them an opportunity to buy something from you.
It’s important that we identify the buyers and separate them from the freebie seekers.
Create a tripwire offer for your travel business
A tripwire offer is something that you can sell for a small amount.
Think about it this way:
In your lead magnet you gave your dream customer something sexy for free.
We didn’t go into a lot of detail in that free offer – we’re trying to remove barriers for engagement, so it makes sense to keep the scope of what you do there limited.
But now, we’re going to go deeper.
Your tripwire product would be something that you can charge $7-$27 for and deliver a TON of value.
This product should be something that makes the thing they learned about in the free lead magnet faster and easier.
So much so that it’s a no-brainer for them to enter their credit card info and buy this product.
Create a one time offer for your travel business
Next up, for those who buy your tripwire product we’re going to give them a one-time opportunity to get a great deal on a bigger resource at a reduced price – somewhere up to around $297.
This product is going to be created around doing something that’s even deeper, and broader and delivers the behind-the-scenes secrets that your dream customers need to know about so they can get the result they’re looking for.
This is called a one time offer because the only place that they’re going to get this offer is right here, right now, and only at this step in your sales funnel.
This offer shouldn’t be available on your website at the same price anywhere else.
The whole point here is exclusivity and scarcity.
If they click to close the window the offer is gone for good.
The goal with these products is to separate the buyers from the non-buyers, and fill up your email list with qualified leads.
Generate leads for your travel business on autopilot for your travel business
The best part of all of this is that you can monetize your leads!
Here’s the plan:
We’re going to put everything together into an online sales funnel so not only will you be capturing contact info from your dream customer who’s interested in what you have to say, you can even take them to the next level by offering low-priced products to take them to the next level.
This is called a value ladder and it’s a core part of generating high-quality leads for your travel company.
The value ladder concept is an idea where you start your dream customers with something free then offer them increased levels of depth and service at increased prices.
Actually – this entire post is talking about building a value ladder.
By building a value ladder and creating products and services at every step that serve your dream customer wherever they’re at in their customer journey you’re expanding your pool of potential customers exponentially!
Think about it this way:
If you’ve primarily focused on the “done for you” service that’s common among agency-style work, if you build your value ladder correctly you can create additional streams of passive income that will not only support your business, but also grow your business!
Here are the steps we’re taking to fill our funnel tons of leads for your travel agency:
1 Free lead magnet
2 Tripwire offer $7 – $27
3 One time offer – up to $297
Create content for your dream customers
I can hear you saying, “but how do I get traffic to my lead magnet?”
That’s a great question.
There are ways:
You can pay your way in or work your way in.
And my recommendation, and what I’ve seen most successful is a mixture of both.
First off let’s talk about buying your way in.
Buy your way in with paid ads
The first way to generate traffic to your lead magnet is by using paid ads. The opportunities are only limited by your imagination and budget!
Using paid ads on Facebook has helped me immensely in my business and many others too.
Among the many great things about using Facebook ads is the way you can specifically target your audience.
Everyone gets mad about privacy online these days, but what makes them mad is the same thing that you as a marketer get great benefit from – and that’s the ability to be very specific about how you target your audience.
And Facebook ads is just one opportunity.
You can buy ads on just about any social media platform: TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and more.
Want to know the best part?
Since you know your dream customer so well, you know exactly where they’re hanging out online!
Speaking of hanging out online…
Work your way in by creating content your dream customer loves
There is no substitute for organic traffic.
Free organic traffic is exceptionally helpful to your business because in most instances it’s search or query driven, and when it’s not, it’s driven through existing social media connections.
Let me explain.
There are two things that you want to do to start driving organic traffic into your funnels:
First – you want to start creating content that your dream customer is searching for.
One of my favorite examples of all time is AJ and the Disney Food Blog.
AJ and her team have created an amazing channel full of outstanding videos that are targeted specifically at her target audience – Disney fans.
Her videos serve as a bridge to her lead magnets and paid products and she does an amazing job!
If you want inspiration about what’s possible you need to take a look at her site and her YouTube channel.
That example alone should have your mouth watering at what’s possible for when it comes to generating leads for your travel business.
The second content method we’re going to talk about is social media.
I realized a couple years back that I was doing it all wrong when it came to marketing online.
But I eventually figured it out and it’s made all the difference in my business – my Facebook Messenger stays full of people reaching out to work with me!
Here’s the deal when it comes to social media:
You have to start thinking about social media – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc. as a marketing platform.
You want to be a creator of content – not a consumer.
Find the influencers in your space and model how they’re using their social media platforms to broadcast their content, connect with their dream customers, and build their businesses.
You’ll notice that when you start looking at social media as a way to share your message instead of something where you’re watching the latest cat video, or something else, that it can absolutely revolutionize your business.
How do I create an online sales funnel?
Now at this point, you’re probably asking, “I’m not techie – I have no idea how to create an online sales funnel!”
Don’t worry – I’ve got you covered.
First off – know that you’ve got options.
You can hire a web developer like me to build it out for you. When I’m building a funnel for a customer I walk them through the whole process, cover everything you need to know, and put it all together for you to bring your online sales funnel to life.
But sometimes, you want to do it yourself, and I respect that.
One of the best things about doing it yourself is you learn so much
But get this:
You don’t have to be a tech person to do all this!
One of the things that I would recommend to you if I was doing your custom online sales funnel is a platform called ClickFunnels.
What is ClickFunnels?
ClickFunnels is a web-based website building platform designed specifically for building online sales funnels. It’s used by businesses across the spectrum from online businesses to traditional brick & mortar businesses extending their presence online, and can be used by everyone from beginners to seasoned web pros.
Once you have your online sales funnel up and running, you’ll be filling your lead funnel up in no time at all!
Next Steps
Need help implementing what you’ve learned here?
If you want help, reach out to me – web design & development work is what I do after all.
Or if you’d like, you can learn more about this whole online sales funnel thing by joining my private Facebook group – Digital Marketing Mastery. I’d love to have you over there!