How to Sell Travel: Reel Them in with the Head, Clench Them with the Heart

Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t like being sold to?”

Or how about this one: “Sales techniques don’t work on me.”

Um, duh.

Nobody likes being sold to. Or, more accurately — nobody likes feeling like they’re being sold to.

And we all like to think we’re too smart for sales tricks. But we’re not. (Most of my wardrobe consists of things I’ve purchased from Facebook ads …).

So how do you sell your travel services to people who swear up and down they can’t be and don’t like being sold to? It’s a two-step process:

1) Hook ‘em with emotionally resonant language they can really “see” themselves in, which undoubtedly uses some persuasive copy techniques.

2) Give them some cold, hard facts about your services to sink their teeth into. That way, they can tell themselves they want to work with you based on these facts … but really, it’s the “salesy” approach that did it 😉

How to Sell Travel: Appeal to the “Head” with the Facts

For travel pros, the cold hard facts that clients can use to justify working with you include things like:

• Your industry certifications
• Any awards you may have won
• Your years of experience
• How often you’ve visited the destinations you specialize in
• Any guarantees you may have (like price matching, 24/7 on-call support, etc).

But SELL to the Heart

The REAL reason they’ll want to work with you, however, is less tangible. More of a gut feeling they get when you express things like:

• Understanding the pains your clients struggle with (whether it has to do with travel or not)
• Your own emotional, personal connection to the destinations or types of travel you specialize in
• Heart-felt testimonials from your clients

In other words, a prospect will decide to work with you if they feel you really “get” them (which is why writing sales copy that resonates with your ideal prospects is so crucial). But what they tell themselves — and their friends and family — is the reason they’re working with you?

The facts.

That’s why it’s so important to include both in your marketing.

Make them yearn to say “yes” to working with you through persuasive, personality-packed copy that speaks to their specific pain points.

Then make it easy for them to say “yes” by providing the facts. Things they can point to that say, “This travel pro knows what they’re doing.”

Make sense?

Go check out your own website to see if you have both elements in place — the persuasive, pain point-driven copy and the “just the facts, please” content.

Want more tips on writing persuasive copy that connects you to your best travel clients? Then be sure to follow Bon Vivant Copy on Facebook!