Selling Travel September 2016 by SMP Training Co

9/2016

THE HOW-TO MAGAZINE FOR TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS 3

EDITORIAL

NEXION KNOW-HOW

SELLING SPECIALTY

SELLING POETRY

SELLING CEMETERIES

SELLING EXPERIENTIAL

SELLING FLIGHTS

SELLING THE SKY

THE POWER OF HOW WEBINAR – SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

CLASSIFIEDS

The DESIRE to travel starts early and continues throughout one’s life – are you marketing to Generation Z?

Share your money making ideas in SELLING TRAVEL. CONTACT Steve Crowhurst steve@sellingtravel.net 250-760-0893 www.sellingtravel.net

Publisher: SMP Training Co. www.sellingtravel.net

Contributors Steve Crowhurst, Anthony Dalton, Steve Gillick.

Attention Suppliers: Advertising in SELLING TRAVEL reaches the serious business-minded travel agent. Promote your products and services using Selling Travel’s unique promotional formula – you write the articles on how to sell your own products offering step-by-step selling tips, tools and techniques that you know have worked for your agency accounts. Full page rates range from $399 to $499 based on number of insertions. Remember, if you can’t sell it to them, they can’t sell it for you! Please note that Selling Travel, owned and published by SMP Training Co, is not connected in any way to Selling Travel magazine published by BMI Publishing Ltd., and based in the UK. The latter publication focuses entirely on destination and travel/tourism product training and is circulated solely to the UK and Ireland travel industries. To benefit from this resource visit www.sellingtravel.co.uk and be sure to subscribe.

SELLING TRAVEL is owned and published by Steve Crowhurst, SMP Training Co. All Rights Reserved. Protected by International Copyright Law. SELLING TRAVEL can be shared, forwarded, cut and pasted but not sold, resold or in any way monetized. Using any images or content from SELLING TRAVEL must be sourced as follows: “Copyright SMP Training Co. www.sellingtravel.net” SMP Training Co. 6171 Strathcona Place, BC, Canada, V9T0A1 Note: Steve Crowhurst is not responsible for outcomes based on how you interpret or use the ideas in SELLING TRAVEL. T: 250-760-0893.

SALES & MARKETING TIPS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES FOR ALL TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS

Steve Crowhurst, Publisher

SELLING SPECIALTY On August 19th I spent a terrific couple of hours with friends Dave and Tamaki on the beach at Qualicum. The tide was out, way out, families were under sun umbrellas and I was fully dressed in jeans, shirt, a Silly Tilley, socks and hiking boots! I don’t do sun. But I do, do beach. Dave was up to his ankles as the wave receded then he chose the best path for his skimboard. Running down the beach, he threw his skimboard down in front of him, then leapt on the board to “skim” across the inch of water parallel to the receding wave. Dave was enjoying flatland skimboarding. So I shot a few hundred images and eight movies of Dave’s moves and in doing so it came to mind that there is a market here. Skimboarding Tours of… your choice: The world, North America, The Top Ten Beaches anywhere. If you happen to be a skimboarder, then your chances of success, selling what you love to do, must be high. This issue then is all about selling a specialty and not perhaps the usual ones you associate with specialty travel such as barge cruises, cruises in general, or swimming with dolphins. For sure some clients have weird travel outlets… but then, where there’s one, there is always one more. Keep at it and you’ll build a group. Let’s get busy and get you into selling a specialty of your own. Read on. Don’t forget you have a series of e-Guides you can purchase from The Travel Institute that will help you move ahead in most things related to selling travel. Here’s to your continued success! Best regards. Steve Crowhurst, CTC, CTM Hon. steve@sellingtravel.net www.sellingtravel.net

Nexion Canada Provides Agents with Easy Options to Boost Online Presence Nexion Canada agents have three options for building their website: a micro-site, a personal site in conjunction with Nexion Canada or building their own website independently. Nexion Canada is now offering agents three new website options for members to build their online presence. The first, is a fully designed and ready to use micro-site featuring the travel agent’s business and is an included benefit for all Nexion Canada agents. The second option is a more robust personalized site, built at a discounted rate when using Nexion Canada’s preferred Web developer; this website allows Nexion Canada staff to populate the website with content relevant to each travel agent’s business. The third option allows Nexion agents to build and manage their own website. “A strong online presence is an integral part of doing business today; it’s where our agents make their first impression with clients and potential clients,” said Mike Foster, President of Nexion Canada. “The response to this technology offering we’ve developed for our members has been tremendous. I highly encourage all Nexion Canada members who want to start or improve their online presence to take advantage of this complementary opportunity. It’s also a great reason to join Nexion.”

One of the many benefits to this offering is that Nexion Canada agents don’t need to have any website management experience to keep their site up to date. The micro-site and cooperativebuild options allow Nexion Canada’s member services team to continually update agent’s sites directly with information about destinations, travel news, special offers and more. This provides a constantly fresh and robust site and removes any perceived barrier to a professional online presence for travel agents who are neither familiar nor comfortable with updating and managing their business website. Thanks to the professional set up and ease of use, 53% of

Nexion Canada agents have a published site or are in the process of publishing a micro-site through this program. “Our agents understand the ever-increasing importance of having a robust online presence, through a professional website and social media,” stated Esther Roemmele, General Manager of Nexion Canada. “We want to support our agents with all the tools necessary to flourish. With this simplified and ready-made option, our agents can focus on what they love and do best, creating memorable travel experiences for their clients.”

To learn how to succeed as a professional business owner, backed by Nexion Canada’s many great benefits, call 866-399-9989 or email sales@nexioncanada.com.

There it is. In two words. Your next money maker. Selling a specialty form of travel can be a more than interesting path to follow and especially if you partake of the specialty travel theme yourself. If you do pursue a certain interest then chances are you are connected with others of the same mind. Suffice to say, the connected travel agent who pursues a particular travel interest will, or should be able to build sales, faster. Let’s explore. The first thing you realize when investigating a specialty is that NOT everyone is into it. Which could be why it is special. Knowing this, you will appreciate that you’ll have to work harder at putting a group together of like-minded individuals with a common, albeit not well known, interest.

HERE’S HOW:

Ask Your Friends Start here by asking your friends what they do when on vacation. Ask if they follow any specialty sport or have a special interest that they follow when overseas. By asking your friends you’ll gather important information before you approach your clients.

What I need to know is this: what type of special interests do you engage in when you travel? So, if you go to Hawaii for 2 weeks, what do you do? If you travel Europe for 6 weeks, what do you always do?

HERE’S HOW: “Hi guys, hey I need your help. I’m working on a new marketing plan that highlights my new service which is to sell special interest travel and I’m in need of some input. Can you tell me if you guys follow any special interest or rituals when you travel…?” Social Up You should also ask your social friends to respond to the same question and get them involved online. You start the conversation, then let them finish it for you.

“Hi Everyone! Hope your day is going great. I need your help on the topic of specialty travel and would appreciate your input and comments when you have time.

The reason for starting this conversation is this: I am launching a new service that focuses on specialty travel products and tours – your input will make sure I focus on the typical core interests…” Okay, see how easy that was to gather the primary data you need? Secondary data can come from your suppliers and also from online resources. Supplier’s Data This type of information should not be proprietary as it is used to promote a product.

What you want to know from your BDM is this and it’s the same question as before: HERE’S HOW:

HERE’S HOW: We provide a Custom Travel Booking Service. Bring your dream trip to us and we will arrange it.

What do consumers do when booked on your tours? Out of all the excursions offered which are the top three that tour members like to do? Out of all the activities, offered which is their favourite? Out of all the activities your state, province, country offer, which one is the most sought after by visitors? Once again, so easy to do, to ask, to request by email. Just make sure you gather this important information and then you’ll be ahead of the selling specialty game. Specialty Is In The Eye Of The beholder A true statement. If the consumer believes what they do to be special then it is. Slam dunk. Job done. Your job is to discover your client’s special interest. The thing is, if you are invested in a certain type of travel activity or destination then you will have success. On the other hand, your clients might know everything there is to know about their own travel special interest – and all you have to do is arrange the travel for them. This in turn means you can offer a complete Specialty Travel Booking Service and this works much the same as if you offered a Group Tour Booking Service, or a Custom Travel Booking Service. The common theme here is that you DO NOT market the activity, you market the service you provide in order to capture ALL or AS MANY activities as possible.

Whatever your special interest when you travel, we can arrange it. Contact our Specialty Travel Booking Service today.

Dream Trips are our Specialty. Let us make yours come true. Call our Dream Trip Booking Service today!

To add some passion to the text you could use a background image that features the place or the activity or mode of transport involved. You could go from text to video and shoot a few frames of you on camera saying the very same words, starting and ending with a smile and pano’ of your agency and staff. You could create a full page poster and place that in your agency window and on your website landing page.

Here’s HOW – see next page:

To recap: every TA can sell a specialty. Better if you participate and can show you know. Ask clients, friends and suppliers for input and data. Create top quality posters and imagery to capture the essence of what you are selling. Make sure you are up to date in terms of product knowledge and make sure you advise and train your staff before promoting the service or product. 

SKIMBOARDING IN HAWAII IS OUR SPECIALTY BOOKING NOW FOR FALL & WINTER GETAWAYS

Tours for poets? I’m kidding, right? Well no. There is an entire world of words that you can delve into and in doing so you will literally travel the world. Poetry is not something most people talk about unless they belong to a group or association of fellow poets. So chances are you would never know about your client’s interest in poetry unless you asked them that question about: what do you like to do, enjoy when you travel? Just to set the scene here’s a string of book covers that popped up when I searched for poetry:

So here we are – 195 to 210 countries each with their own top ten poets both ancient and modern and everything in between. Of course as we know, some countries do not allow all forms of poetry. Other countries are well known for a certain type of verse: Japan for Haiku for instance. Selling Haiku Tours of Japan I’ll focus on Japan and Haiku as I have had a love affair with Japan since a teenager and the ideas come readily to mind. You can adopt the ideas for any country, poet and style of poetry that you are interested in. If you explore the world of Haiku you will find that many non-Japanese are writing them. That would translate into opportunity.

Chances are, right where you live there is a group who meet and discuss and produce Haiku poems for the love of it and competitively too. Art and Poetry Quite often you will find an artwork that also features a Haiku poem. It might well be that the poet also brushed the artwork. So now you have two clientele to approach: the Haiku poet and the Japanese painting enthusiast. As mentioned before, it would help you succeed if you too immersed yourself in writing Haiku or at least reading about it to understand the how and why. Ah so.

Let’s add another activity to the Haiku and then create a poster to promote your new idea. HERE’S HOW

Is Anyone Selling Tours for Poets? From my experience, it has usually been or done, about to be done – hopefully by YOU! The answer is, yes, there are travel agents who have factored in such a tour to their overall list. You could do the same if the interest is there, or specialize.

From Prose to Limericks Well now. You might just have some luck promoting a tour to Limerick, Ireland and build in a Limerick Poem Contest. At the very least, this trip would be fun, funny and perhaps slightly bawdy. To kick off the event I have created this, clean, Limerick.

You might want to use one of your own images taken on location and combine that image with the Hiking With Haiku slogan. See the opposite page for HOW it is laid out. This beautiful shot was taken by Steve Gillick whilst visiting Aizuwakamatsu. The Lady in the Frame Moving from present day Aizuwakamatsu to 16th century Dubrovnik (then known as Ragusa) and the lovely Cvijeta Zuzoric. I had not heard of her until I was searching online and as always, something pops up to say, “Hey, there’s a tour opportunity here too.” Quite often you can discover something new to build a tour around or at least fashion a call-to-action based on the topic or subject matter. You could mention this woman to your poetry loving clients and see what kind of response you get.

There was TA from Ealing Whose sales went through the ceiling. She took a good look Through all of my books Now she does nothing but so sailing.

HERE’S HOW When you come across a poem you like, or catch a specific line from a poem, hunt it down, check to see who the poet was, where they came from, their life and times and then you’ll have more information on which to base your tour. 

THE GREAT TRAVEL LIMERICK CONTEST Now’s your chance for fame! Send in your best travel limerick and I’ll print it in the next issue of Selling Travel.

Photo credit: Steve Gillick

THIS IS A CEMETERY Lives are commemorated – deaths are recorded, families are reunited – memories are made tangible – love is undisguised. This is a cemetery. Communities’ accord respect, families bestow reverence, historians seek information and our heritage is thereby enriched. Testimonies of devotion, pride and remembrance are carved in stone to pay warm tribute to accomplishments and to the life – not death – of a loved one. The cemetery is homeland for family memorials that are a sustaining source of comfort for the living. A cemetery is a history of people – a perpetual record of yesterday and a sanctuary of peace and quiet today. A cemetery exists because every life is worth loving and remembering. Always.

I have to admit I love a good cemetery! Not looking for barking hounds ‘n’ such, more the headstones, the inscriptions the peacefulness and a chance to chat with Mum and Dad and long lost relatives. This specialty does not come under the tab of Macabre Tourism. This is different and I bet when you check in with your clients, many of them also enjoy a good cemetery. The verse to the left was hanging on the wall of the admin office of a cemetery in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada where a good friend of mine, and perhaps yours, Marie Mah is buried. I found it when I went to pay my respects to Marie some years ago. Alright. Let’s make this idea work for you. There are as you will appreciate, so many types of cemeteries and they support the different faiths we follow.

The Dead Center of Town Yes it’s an old one, as the wry old fella knuckles his forehead and says: “Did ya know this cemetery is the dead center of the city?”

I have walked amongst the special stones of an Ottoman cemetery in Bosnia, been mesmerized at the crowed stones of Jewish cemeteries and looked across a sea of calligraphic stone monuments of a Japanese cemetery. One cemetery I recall often is the cemetery in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT and also the city centre cemetery in Halifax, NS

Then comes the other one: “Do you know how many people are dead in this place?” Yeah, yeah… all of them.

There are skull & crossbones on old English headstones, curses too, and even family history. To find someone who died aged 65 or more in an 16th century cemetery is quite a find. To find yourself, in name only of course, listed on a headstone can be quite sobering. This I experienced when, after much searching and hiring of a genealogist, I found relatives from the 1800’s in a small church yard in Surrey, England. And there I was, died I did in the 1700s. A lot of Stephens in the Crowhurst line.

Whose Tomb is Interesting to Visit? Now that is the question you’ll be asking your clients. There are famous people buried in every country and that usually suggests a memorial. There are memorials to the war dead, mass graves and to long and recently lost entertainers. The tomb to visit is in the eye of the beholder. All it takes is a little promotion. As you well know, a good image of what it is you are trying to sell is one way, the best way to engage a prospect. This means you’ll need to track down famous memorials and headstones and the use the image to attract.

Pocahontas Maybe you do and maybe you don’t know that Pocahontas was buried in a church in Gravesend in the United Kingdom, but the exact location of her grave is unknown. A memorial exists. Entry in the Gravesend St. George composite parish register recording the burial of Princess Pocahontas on 21 March 1616/1617. This is a great memorial for kids. Here’s a couple of shots of my friends granddaughter with her Pocahontas book in front of the memorial.

HERE’S HOW The way you gain attraction is this: Step 1: Study the best, ornate, most visited graves and memorials at websites like these: http://www.findagrave.com/ http://www.gravestonephotos.com/ Or, you can Google anyone of historical note and their information will pop up plus their death / burial information. Step 2: Once you are familiar with tracking down cemeteries and headstones you may develop a keen interest in a certain type of grave marker. For instance there are funny sayings, there are love poems, words of regret, skull & cross bones, actors, singers, artists, authors and so on. If you are not sure about which theme to chase, try Authors. Step 3: Now you can promote to your clients that you have an AMAZING new tour idea – it is a sketching holiday, visiting old churches, their cemeteries (and now you know where they are buried… England’s best / old authors, artists etc.) and surrounding area.

As can tell, you have some reading to do and you’ll want to be interested in history and characters who live large beyond the grave. Take a look below. I found out I’d died back in 1817! Sheesh. And I was having such a great time. Who knew?

So that’s one person that might inspire some interest. What about all those others? Thousands in fact.

The image on the next page is the headstone of Mary Crowhurst, mother of Stephen. Info and image on next page from the GraveStonePhotos website.

I just like hanging around museums!

Somewhere along the journey of your selling travel career, pull over and rest up. Take the time to think about and decide what you are selling. There are so many labels attached to travel and travelling that you could get lost and or end up chasing the wrong market for you. Like every other industry there seems travel agents must stay ahead of the game which means deciphering new titles that rename a certain activity. Trying to be too clever can lead you down a dark and profitless alley. Take for instance the term ‘experiential travel / tourism’ – I guess there is such a thing according to the tourism gurus who have come up with the name. However, for as long as I’ve been in the industry, since 1965, every form and type of travel is experiential. How could it be anything else?

No matter the generation, when you are already involved in, participating in the experience of travel and whether you know or not at the time, the culture of the country being visited is seeping into your being. There is a caution here and it speaks to the travel IQ of the person travelling. Loud mouthed, door slamming, drunks who travel just to cause havoc are never going to reach the level where anything seeps into their being. Those that hang around museums can be a pain too! The device focused traveller who cannot sit and enjoy the peace and quiet of a sunlit forest with checking email as if they are more important than the view in front of them. The traveller who must constantly chatter to someone - these types of travellers are not going to experience what any destination or culture can offer them. It is a sad state of affairs isn’t it?

It comes down to the client being a traveller. Someone true to the world, our world, who respects the planet and everyone on it, eager to learn more about their fellow man and every religion practiced. Desiring to taste as many cuisines as possible and never shying away from an invitation to engage with local residents. Again: the generation, age, ethnicity, religion etc., none of these make a difference when a true traveller, travels the world. These people are forever on the experiential trail. They remove their shoes, they kiss, bow or shake hands, never leave a gate open, turn off their devices, follow local customs and just assimilate as if they were born there, wherever they happen to be. There is a joy selling to a pure traveller versus a thumb scrolling, device toggling, burger-scoffing. Non-stop chatterbox. Try it. You’ll like it.

There are flights and there are flights. The flights that are a specialty relate to bird watching. Boring to some, interesting to others, lucrative to travel agents who “get it” in terms of this age old interest. Even now, mankind does not fully understand how birds fly and to get to that end point, Stanford University has created a wind tunnel to complete the study. The study however has a twist. The data will help to design better drones! Okay, back to Selling Flights of the feathered variety. This is indeed a specialty. Chances are to be successful you’ll need to be more than interested in your feathered friends beyond Charlie the budgie.

HERE’S HOW

Like specialty types of travel there are clients who do it all, and those that specialize. Some clients will want to view only eagles, others have an interest in crows. Ravens as you may know play a huge role in First Nations culture, stories, art and totem poles too.

2. Explore online – Google: bird watching tours and see what returns you get.

Every country can boasts hundreds of bird species and yet only certain countries can offer a specific species. Australia has so many colourful varieties and Costa Rica is a haven also. This specialty once again leads you to offer a generic Birding Tours of… (you fill in the blank) program and customized FIT services for bird watching groups and associations who need help with their next trip. So, where to start?

1. Start by reading a few birding magazines. Get to know what the trends are.

3. Check with your preferred outdoor / soft adventure suppliers for existing birding products. 4. Step outside your preferred suppliers and explore dedicated bird watching offers. Once you are familiar with what’s on offer and the most likely destinations, species and price ranges then you can start to market your own birding tour services. Imagery Counts As with any specialty, you’ll need to woo your clients and prospects with excellent high res’ images of the species of bird you are focusing on.

The tourism board of the country you are selling to will help. The usually have images that are free to you.

What slogan could you add to the poster of the eagle on the rock? “Ready For Take Off. Are You?”

Now it’s down to your marketing strategy.

Slogans Are Important When you delve into any specialty you will realize that each specialty has its own words, term, phrases and slogans. In the world of selling travel the slogan must be carefully crafted.

Social Media If you are following the social media marketing trends, then you may resort to videos that show off the birds AND the country they inhabit. Video content is by far the best selling format for travel. A blog that includes a video would also top the list. Use your social media outlets to push your “friends” to talk about your birding tours and send your post to their friends. Email Still the best and fastest channel to let your clients know about your new product. Posters In Agency Window Never ever give up on your window real estate. Remember you are paying for it, it’s called rent. Use it. Huge images of a bird will generate interest.

You would have heard of Soaring With The Eagles – it’s a corporate team spirit slogan. It is also one you can play with – something like:

“We’ve got the eagles. Are you ready to soar with them?” We’re having a Talon Contest. Enter to win here. That last slogan would tie into a pre and or post photo contest. That HERE’S HOW can be found in my Photography eBook.

It’s For The Birds One more slogan I know you know and may have used yourself at some time. Well now you can attach this slogan to the country that is the destination for your bird watching tours – let’s go with Costa Rica.

to supplier someone. Perhaps a supplier to flies to, or has a product to the destination will help. Ask. Step 4: Prepare your PowerPoint with high resolution images of the birds you are suggesting your clients view. Also show images of people doing what you are promoting. Step 5: Promote your event via every means possible: social media, email, radio talk shows, ads in local community newspapers, post a flyer on the library cork board and on the digital / online bulletin board.

You may wish to add that there are close to 850 species of birds in Costa Rica. All you need to do now is arrange a consumer event… HERE’S HOW Let’s back up. You might wish to survey your existing clients as to their interest in birding, bird watching and bird photography. You may also wish to state that ‘here is a terrific retirement activity to get involved in…’ – such a statement encourages clients to ask questions, and or turn up at the event to find out more about the activity. Step 1: Make contact with a local birding group. Ask them to provide a guest speaker. Step 2: Secure a venue through your hotel contacts or use local facilities such as the library, community hall, church, school, university and museum. These types of venues could add some prestige to your event. Free parking is the attraction! Step 3: Be sure you are a speaker and strut your knowledge about the destination. If you are not knowledgeable, ask the tourist board

Step 6: Advise your staff in full so they are prepared for a phone call when it comes. Step 7: Practise your own speech/s and be well prepared. Step 8: Be sure to announce that you also offer custom planning for those who wish to do their own thing, and view the bird/s they are interested in.

Okay, you are good to go sell a flight of a different style. Don’t forget the spin offs of bird watching such as all the gear people purchase to follow this activity. From clothing to binoculars and more. Might be a good idea to tie in with a local outfitter and arrange a discount for your birding clients. Everything helps when marketing your product – and if you can help your client save 10% on their bird watching kit, your sales might increase. Worth the effort. Over to you. If you think this specialty is for the birds, good for you! 

Courtesy of Touch The Arctic Tours

Have you noticed how many people do or don’t look up? Not everyone turn their eyes heavenwards, but many do and those are the ones who are prospects for your Sky Tours of the World! “So what’s up ‘there’ that‘s of any interest? Someone might ask. When you delve a little deeper you will find out that many of your clients love to watch a sunrise, or a sunset, the moon, the stars, storms, rainbows and the Aurora. Yes, the sky, all by itself is the canvas on which nature paints. Some of your clients also do that. They paint the sky on their canvas. The sky offers you many new selling ideas, so let’s explore how you can profit from it. Its where every day, 24/7. You may not appreciate it as much as you could and should. Perhaps after reading this article you will view the sky as a selling tool. The sky can be viewed pretty much from any vantage point such as: ground level, from an aircraft window, from atop the Amazon canopy, mountain ridges, a hiking trail, a highway, coach bus window, tall buildings and beaches. Generally most travel agents do not focus on or specialize in sky based tours or tourism. But then when you come to realize that certain skyscapes are only visible from a specific location / country then the “Aha!” moment arrives. It has to be stated that the skyscape is enhanced by the landscape. For instance a rainbow over the ocean seen from a beach is different from a rainbow viewed beyond the gullies of the Grand Canyon. Hawaiian palms trees silhouetted against a sunset would be different from the Acacia trees of Kruger National Park, of South Africa.

HERE’S HOW Step 1: First things first is to find out if there is a market for such a product offering and you do this by surveying your existing client base. Here’s an example: Hi, we’re conducting a survey of our client’s interest in the sky. That’s right. The Sky. What we would like to know from the following list your level of interest on a scale of 1-3. 1=Not Interested, 2=Mild Interest, 3=Very Interested. Thank you for your participation and we will let you know the results once they are tabulated. Here’s the list: Rainbows Sunrises Aurora

Clouds Storms Stars

Sunsets Silhouettes Moon

Step 2: Once you have collected all the data, tabulate it and arrange the list in order of preference. Be sure to let send the results to your clients as promised.

Hello everyone: As promised here are the results of our recent Sky Survey. As you can see, SUNSETS are number one and we have to admit, all of us at XYZ Travel concur. So, what next? Well we have been busy and we are arranging a series of Sunset Tour products that you might enjoy. These tours include the best scenic locations to view sunsets. Start packing your camera and paint brushes… we’ll let you know as soon as the itineraries are published. What just happened? Well, you surveyed your clients, they advised their preferences, you investigated the world’s best vantage points and timing to view sunsets and by announcing the survey results you have sown the seed in the minds of your clients. Once your Sky Scape Tour product is developed you can also offer custom tours for camera and artist groups. Taking and Showing Your Best Images The main marketing ingredient here will be wondrous images of the sky in all its glory. Make sure you shoot the sky when you are on vacation or on a FAM. That sunset you snapped might be a little fuzzy. Now you’ll take the time to use a tripod and shoot a classic. Not one, but many. Look for those silhouettes too. Trees, people, buildings and so on. APPS I’m sure your smartphone will be used many times to capture the sky imagery - so you need to know that there are apps to help you shoot a storm and lightening. The app is preset and triggered by the lightening. Check out this link: http://www.i-lightningcam.com/

The Aurora Borealis It may be time for you to jump on the bandwagon and get your share of the Northern Lights phenom’. This activity is not new of course. It’s been going on before “we” got here. The interest in viewing the Northern Lights has grown tremendously and here you can work the world! Start with your own clients and promote the imagery, send videos and more. You can find all the information you need at this website: www.touchthearctictours.com – what isn’t on their website, is in their heads. So email, make the call and ask your questions. If you happen to be living in an area of the world where it’s a short hop to view the Aurora then you can think about attracting inbound visitors. Although most nations just need to head to the northern climes of their continent, not all locations have a tourism infrastructure. So the client seeks to view the Aurora from the best vantage point where there are also hotels, a pub and entertainment. So think sky for your next specialty idea. There’s a lot of it. It isn’t going away any time soon and remember, tie the skyscape to the landscape. 

Click to visit Gillickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World

CHECK THE SELLING TRAVEL WEBSITE OFTEN FOR NEW PUBLICATIONS

Hi, I’m Steve Crowhurst, and I’ll be presenting The Power of HOW webinar hosted by The Travel Institute. If you like a fast paced, no-nonsense, street-smart and travel savvy delivery, turn up on the September 27th! I’ll be explaining HOW you can get past the WHAT (to do) and get to the HOW (to do it). After this webinar, you’ll be asking all those gurus to prove they actually know by showing you HOW!

This is a must-have book for every travel professional! A great resource for those just starting a travel career and also perfect for those who need a refresher on the various segments of the travel industry.

A comprehensive geography book designed to give readers an overview of key destinations. A companion workbook is also available. Perfect for those who are wanting to perfect their destination knowledge.

Learn how to start your home-based travel business with a minimum of outlay and maximum return for your investment of time and money. Nothing is left to the imagination as every detail of the start-up process is disclosed in great detail.

VISIT OUR BOOKSTORE RIGHT HERE

Selling Travel is FREE to all Travel Trade Professionals â&#x20AC;&#x201C; click the image above, click on the FOLLOW button to get your copy delivered to your inbox each month.

No other travel speaker / trainer has written and published more articles, e-Books, and magazines on new business generation for travel agents than Steve. With well over 375 published articles in CT, 20+ E-Books and 50 issues of Selling Travel, he has given you a source of timely and cutting edge tips, tools and techniques to help you sell more travel.

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Are you tired of paying for a hurry-up-and-wait website guru to update your site? Do you need and want to change your website content instantly so that you catch the market trends as they happen? Of course you do. Time to go with WEEBLY so that you own your own domain, website and have access to it anytime you want. But who will build your agency website for you? Someone who knows nothing about selling travel, or someone who does? Let Selling Travel build your website for you using the Weebly platform and then hand it over to you, fully functional and ready to use. From that moment on, you can DIY your own changes, instantly. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the only way to go.

THREE RECENT CREATIONS

Pricing depends on the number of pages, links, buttons, icons, images, videos, social media required.

CLICK here for more information.

Someone asked about my former magazine IC TRAVEL AGENT and what happened to it. Well I was publishing three magazine with similar content and decided to go with Selling Travel as that is what everyone does regardless of being in a retail location or working from home. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the entire suite of issues with plenty of home-based selling tips. Click the image to view them online.

Download the ISSUU app and read Selling Travel on your tablet.

THE HOW-TO MAGAZINE FOR TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS

CLASSIFIEDS Wanted: readers to click on this link and make money selling more travel.

Looking for more fantastic graphics then click here for Presenter Media.

Get what you need to start using video in your travel marketing & promotions with this guide. Animoto is the BEST and easiest DIY video creator. Try it today.

When you need to write something and can’t – hire in a ghost writer like Steve Gillick. Steve produces scripts for your keynotes, webinars and brochures.

Had enough of working for someone else? Would you like to explore how you can sell travel from home? If so then click on this link and explore.

Your education station is right here.

DIY Websites. This IS the Best of the Best.

Contact Steve here.

NEED GREAT GRAPHICS? Click here for GRAPHICSTOCK and save 83% on an annual subscription. Many graphics in Selling Travel are from GraphicStock.

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SALES & MARKETING TIPS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES FOR ALL TRAVEL TRADE PROFESSIONALS

SELLING TRAVEL www.sellingtravel.net If you could refer us to your travel trade colleagues, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d really appreciate it. Many thanks.