Insight helps agents fulfilling their new year’s resolutions of creating a basic marketing plan with AMP 1.0
RYE, NY – In speaking with agents over the last 30 days, Insight’s Sales Managers have found many agents’ top business New Year’s resolution is to create a basic marketing plan for their business. Be it a large agency with multiple agents or a small one-person home-based operation, Insight wants to help. Marc Kazlauskas, President of Insight Vacations explains, “As a way of helping our agent partners, we have developed a simple 6-Step approach to create a marketing plan called AMP1.0 (Agent Marketing Plan 1.0). Based on our 30 years of marketing escorted tours, we are uniquely qualified to help agents create and implement their marketing plans.”
Step 1: Ask yourself if the plan is for the long term (6-12 months out) or the short term (today through 6 months). Phil Cappelli, Vice President Sales Development, said, “For example, if you were looking at selling European escorted tours then the booking season is highest January through March, with customers planning September through December. However, if it’s to capture customers with tactical offers, then January through April is the prime time. An example of a short-term plan could be taking advantage of Insight’s amazing Early Payment Discount where clients can save up to $1900 if they book and pay in full by Feb 28. An agent would be served well by having postcard and telemarketing campaigns in their plan over the next 45 days to take advantage of this and other short-term offers quickly.”
Step 2: Choose your suppliers carefully. Ask yourself, “Who are my long-term partners? Who protects and partners with the trade? Which products do I know well and can recommend confidently? Who has co-op money to help market and save you on costs?” Once you choose your partners, the next move is to prepare the offers you will be marketing.
Step 3: The offer. Choose an offer (either a supplier offer already in the market or your own) that is robust, relevant and realistic. Robust in that it is deep enough to get the phones to ring. For example, offering a $25 gift card to Target for a $10,000 Insight booking might not entice clients enough to book that tour, but a free round trip transfer to the airport might. It must be a relevant offer. Which would make more sense, an airport transfer as a value-add or a $500 gas card to a gas station 75 miles away from where your client lives? The offer needs to be realistic in that it’s available and easy to obtain and understand. Once you choose the offers, make sure you always have a strong Call to Action that has a limited time limit to create urgency.
Step 4: Choose your marketing venue. Will you telemarket, send direct mail, or send an e-blast? What has worked in the past in getting the phone to ring? What have you found generated the most new clients recently? Remember you can never communicate too much, and if you’re not communicating with your clients, someone else is. Emma Beckerle, Marketing Manager at Insight Vacations, offers this advice: “We have found at Insight that direct mail and e-marketing produce the best results, with direct marketing having the better results of the two. Always track and measure your results—How many calls did I get? How many clients did I book? This information is key to getting a higher co-op promise in the future from your supplier partners. I will let you in on a little secret, any agent that comes to Insight with good and credible measurements will always get more money.”
Step 5: Write it down! Put every point you’ve decided on from above on to paper. Plan it by month with short-term and long-term activities and goals, such as planning a Europe night in Oct for 2014 sales, or as noted above, taking advantage of short-term tactical offers that would go out immediately.
Step 6: Carefully choose the list of clients you address. Make it as targeted as possible. Elayne Raksnys, Director of Sales adds, “For example, if you were sending a direct mail post card promoting an Insight tour of Italy, you might want to send the card to past Mediterranean cruisers, past travelers to South America and Asia, and past tour takers to Europe who did not travel to Italy.” Targeting gives you a better response rates, lowers the cost of the initiative, and makes for happy clients as you are addressing their individual potential wants and needs as opposed to a blanket approach.
These six steps to a creating a simple marketing plan should help you with your New Year’s resolution and get you moving towards more sales and more effective marketing.
Insight guests enjoy more intimate groups, limited to just 40 passengers, the services of an experienced tour director and the assurance of staying in top selected hotels which are centrally or scenically located. Travel in style on Insight’s luxury reconfigured coaches with more legroom so the journey is as enjoyable as the destination.
Take advantage of the included sightseeing worth hundreds of dollars, ensuring your holiday budget goes further. With so many included meals, quality hotels and sightseeing experiences, you’ll be astounded at the value of an Insight Vacation.
Insight Vacations has accumulated an international following by providing outstanding service and quality tour packages to the savvy traveler who seeks better accommodations, choices in dining, and smaller group sizes all while staying in the most desirable locations. For over 30 years, Insight Vacations has been the leader in premium escorted tours and cruises to Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, Mexico, Canada and the United States.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
