selling travel november 2012
DESCRIPTION
The Spiritual & Religious Travel IssueTRANSCRIPT
PLUS The O&M The EDGE The Frontline The BDM
THE E-MAGAZINE THAT FOCUSES ON THE REALITY OF SELLING TRAVEL
NO MATTER WHAT FAITH YOU FOLLOW
THERE IS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY TO
SELL INTO THE SPIRITUAL AND
RELIGIOUS TRAVEL NICHE…
THE
An amazing race we’re not. We still haven’t learned that PEACE is good. When will total world peace happen? Who knows. One thing you can do as a travel agent however is help spread the message through tourism. In other words, each time you send someone overseas to enjoy a different culture the closer we all get to a more peaceful world, sez I! Mankind is looking for spiritual places to visit and tours where faith based locations can be enjoyed. There is something for everyone in this niche.
Don’t forget, if you need help with anything you read in Selling Travel I am as close as your email or Skype button.
Best regards, Steve Crowhurst, CTM Publisher www.sellingtravel.net [email protected] www.facebook.com/sellingtravel Skype: smptraining1 T: 250‐752‐0106 CHECK FOR WEBINARS HERE
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 anyway monetized. Using any images or content from Selling Travel must be sourced as follows: “Copyright SMP Training Co. www.smptraining.com” SMP Training Co. 568 Country Club Drive, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada V9K 1G1 Note: Steve Crowhurst is not responsible for outcomes based on how you interpret or use the ideas in Selling Travel or on the Selling Travel Website.
NOVEMBER 2012
EDITORIAL – Selling With Spirit
THE O&M – Have Faith in Your Team
FRONTLINE – Selling Frontline Religion to the Masses
RELIGIOUS TRAVEL ‐ and how to sell it
THE EDGE – Getting a Peace of the Action
DREAM MERCHANTS
MANAGEMENT SOFT SKILLS
STEVE GILLICK – Faith, Spirits, Travel & Comic Books
SELLING SPECIAL PLACES
MIND, BODY, SPIRIT
THE HIDDEN CHRISTIANS OF JAPAN
THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING
TRAVEL AGENT REVOLUTION
THE EXTREME BDM – Faith Based Selling
GET THE BOOK OF IDEAS
In this issue THE SPIRITUAL AND
RELIGIOUS TRAVEL ISSUE
JOIN ST MAILING LIST
Does the spirit move you when you sell? I do hope so. Selling is a very religious activity. You must have faith and confidence, be committed to it, too. When you combine the selling of spiritual, religious & faith based travel with your spirit of selling then you have a perfect out of body experience about to happen. As a race we humans are still stumped when it comes to religion – hence there’s a lot of seeking and finding and testing and switching faiths to find the ‘the right one for me.’ Every religion climbs the same mountain – each seeks something at the top and hopefully through the trials and tribulations along life’s highway, it is found. You can help. It’s worth studying various religious beliefs and activities and all that goes with this or that faith. Who knows you might even become a multi‐faith religious scholar and in doing so you will gain insight into the religious travel needs of your local community and worldwide client base. Like many of you, I have experienced death and birth, walked in the footsteps of religious men and women, found special places where my soul is quiet and looked out over grandeur that tweaks an inner desire to become one with a very harmonious self. Then the #@%! smartphone rings! You cannot escape. Your spiritual place has been invaded. The spell is broken. The spirits have flown the coop. Call a travel agent (you) to get me someplace else. A special place. Let me know what you need! Creatively Yours!
editorial
Steve Crowhurst Author, Trainer, Columnist, Keynote Speaker, Publisher
and world traveller.
My religion is everyone else’s. Can’t actually claim one as my own other than Goodhism which is what I try to practice. It works for me and so far I am the only member in my ‘hood. Could be there are thousands of others who practice it each and every day, in fact there must be as there is a lot of good done in the world each day. We just haven’t connected yet. There is no tour for Goodhists. A new niche perhaps. I do enjoy a good graveyard though and like to read the headstones of who has gone before us. This of course is one more niche that’s happening now – although more geared to famous people and where they are interned. You see… so much to sell in this issue.
Do you have faith as an agency owner/manager? I’m sure you do, but I’m not referring to your religious persuasion. I’m talking about faith in your business, your sales, your plan, your head office, your board of directors, your suppliers… and most of all, your team. Got to have faith in the frontline. That’s where the battle is played out.
Having faith in your team means you know and trust their abilities and their talents. That in turn means you have conducted a skills inventory. Not an easy thing to do when you have to manage, run the business and herd it towards a profit. However, if you can take the time to sit down and investigate the talents, skills, education, knowledge, languages and anything else that comes to mind that can be employed to generate new sales – then add it to the inventory list. When we talk about skill inventories, the focus is on what each person is excellent at, next would be very good, with good bringing up the rear. You are not looking for mediocre or so‐so. You want best. Once you have an inventory completed per person on your team, you call a meeting and you share the results. You let everyone on the team know what everyone else has to offer, which becomes a component of team product knowledge – knowing what your colleagues are good at. After discussing the attributes of each persons knowledge and know‐how, you can, if you wish, ask each person with the best‐of‐best knowledge per given skill to train the team. These skilling‐up sessions could be GDS related, sales related, destination related and even language related. Also you must trust each ‘trainer’ to do the job well.
Your team teach program is developing well and here’s where you come in. You now teach the team self‐management and business acumen. You are rounding off your team to not only be the best travel agents in the community, but to also have more confidence in their own abilities allowing you to trust them to do what the job requires of them. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to cruise nine months of the year and manage for three – and all because you have complete faith in your team and in return they will have faith in you. Now with all that faith buzzing about you can sell more spiritual travel! Om.
Many people of your same faith might prefer to be low key and not talk so much about something so dear to them. On the other hand, they might want to chat and if they are open about their faith then you can ask questions about where they have travelled to, what they have seen and experienced and here’s the sales push, where they are planning to go for their next faith based tour. Timing is everything here. Your product knowledge should include the tour itineraries of all religious products and include the spiritual tours, too. You might be called upon to investigate a faith‐healing program, or visits to shamans, or psychic retreats. Here’s a list of the worlds top ten spiritual places – according to Viator Travel Blog http://travelblog.viator.com/ 1. The River Ganges, India 2. Bodhgaya (Bihar, India) 3. Jerusalem, Israel 4. Mecca, Saudi Arabia 5. Camino de Santiago, Spain 6. The Golden Temple, (Amritsar, India) 7. Adam’s Peak, Sri Lanka 8. Mt Kailash, Tibet 9. Mt Athos, Greece 10. Mashhad, Iran Looking at this list, I’m thinking you might even suggest a Top Ten Spiritual Place Tour. A custom FIT for all faiths. How about that? What do you think? Want to lead the tour? Why not. Call it a FAM. Om.
SELLING FRONTLINE RELIGION TO THE MASSES
Okay, don’t get concerned. There’ll be no ceremonial rites held at your desk, only rites of passage which equals a huge booking on a cruise. Wouldn’t that be nice. Playing with words, but suggesting there’s more to a religious travel product than meets the eye.
Most frontline travel agents would be focused on religious tours of Europe and other well known locations where artefacts remain and visions have been seen. There are tours to religious festivals, well known places and hidden places, too. A religious group could also be interested in a cruise – as I know you know there is a chapel on most cruise ships. There are spaces for prayer and for discussions, meetings and even bingo! Conventions are also well enjoyed by the religious customer as well as conferences. Many seekers like to seek out an old, current or new guru… and this means a trek to a temple, a shrine, a mountain village – or the local bowling alley. It all works. Depends on the everyday job of the guru. If you follow a certain faith yourself, you’ll need to be careful how excited you become meeting someone of the same faith.
The chart on this page can be found on the Adherents.com website as well as more information than you can handle.
“Adherents.com is a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations: references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. The religions of the world are enumerated here”.
There is so much research here and it could be just what you need to sell faith based tours to clients whose faith is other than your own. Pack a lunch! Okay, let’s go sell something.
If you are interested in entering the faith-based travel niche market then you have some decisions to make. There is much more to religious travel than having a faith to follow. There is also more revenue in servicing all faiths versus just your own. Whether that’s possible for you, only you will know. If you are dedicated to all religions for mankind then you should have no difficulty in making this niche work. It’s also a niche for atheists. You do not actually need a faith to develop a religious travel niche. All you need is a passion for business and the willingness to study the demographics and psychographics of the religious traveller. There would be a tendency for clients of a specific faith to book their travel with someone, a travel agent of the same faith. That’s true, however, as you well know, with service
supreme, you can win over prospective religious travellers through your personality, knowledge and overall creative offerings. When you Google “religious tours and travel” you will receive more than 3.7 million results. As you explore these results you will see that your preferred suppliers are represented plus a host of smaller firms and many faith-based couples arranging religious tours for their specific faith. It’s a fascinating insight as to what you can do if you put your heart and soul into this niche market. There is also a huge opportunity for those wishing to create something new and exciting versus following the same old well worn paths. You can work with your suppliers to produce your custom tour ideas.
SELLING FROM THE RACK When you look at your brochure rack, chances are you’ve got more than enough product to sell. You probably do not want to start thinking about creating your own tours. Not yet anyway. It’s a good decision to enter the religious travel niche by first selling the generic tours offered by your preferred suppliers. In this way you can learn the craft. As you read through each brochure offering religious travel tours, read the tour titles and understand the “pull” that a tour title has. This is very important as it is the tour title that attracts the travel soul of the religious traveller and causes them to read on and read more. Study these tour title slogans and then see if you can develop your own versions. Consider this a creative exercise in sloganeering. It’s important for when and if you decide to offer your own, customized religious tours as the tour title is similar to cover of a book. It must appeal at first glance by the traveller. Second, the itinerary must match and support whatever the title “promises”. Next, ask your preferred suppliers which of their tours sell best. You will want to know the itinerary, the dates, the pricing. Do your due diligence – it’s important. The information will help you focus and sell the tours that the religious traveller in your community actually purchase. SELLING CHRISTIANITY TOURS Take another look at the chart and the Christianity pie. You will see 13 groups listed and there’s many more not listed. So what are you to do? You can sell tours that feature Christian related sites to any and all groups. Then you could go niche‐within‐niche and target let’s say Catholic only, or Protestant only, or whatever your choice might be. When you target a niche within a niche your focus will be purely on that branch of the main faith / religion and there might be different activities to include that you would not normally include in a generic tour. SELLING ISLAMIC TOURS Check the map on the next page showing where the main religions are located around the world. The green colours represent Islam and what fascinating countries are included. Unfortunately, some areas are still a challenge to travel too, however at some point in time peace and goodwill will prevail – and when that happens, you could be first in with your Islamic tour product. One particular element of Islam that I enjoy is the cursive script. A tour of holy writing would be something artists and people of faith would appreciate.
SELLING OTHER RELIGIONS Go back to the pie chart and take another look. Are you interested in tours featuring Hinduism and or Buddhism? There are more than enough countries that offer wonderful sites and experiences for followers of these two faiths. SELLING TO THE NON‐RELIGIOUS I know it sounds crazy, but you can sell religious tours to the non and not religious clients on your list. Many people are interested but not followers of the faith. The sites and sounds are intriguing and attractive to so many non‐believers. When you promote religious tours to the non‐believers you will need to promote more than ‘going to church’ – perhaps the focus would be more spiritual than religious. The conversions you are seeking here are not religious conversions but travel type conversions – from cruising to touring for instance. ATTRACTING TOUR LEADERS If you click through the websites that come up in the Google search for religious travel & tours you will notice that many religious tour websites have an offer for tour leaders. This is a great way to attract tour leaders and association directors who are the people who search for the next tour for their congregation and/or their client base. Tour leaders are not travel agents. They organize religious tours and then give the business to the company, could be a travel agent or a supplier, with the best pricing, itinerary and additional perks. Now you have two channels to attract: you have the religious client/traveller on your mailing list and these pied‐piper tour directors. Another person of influence would be the man or woman in the pulpit. The priest, the pastor, the leader – each and all could be a conduit for business. WHERE AND HOW TO MARKET YOUR TOURS With the abundance of technology, media channels and choices of message‐medium open to you today, the best choice for getting your message across would be video. Your suppliers may have pre‐recorded videos you can upload to your YouTube channel, your website, Facebook and other social sites you use for business purposes. If you work from a bricks & mortar street location agency then your agency window is an obvious outlet for quality posters and window lettering. You could also arrange for a 50 inch TV to be located in your window and play the videos on a loop to catch the attention of people walking past your agency. Add a COME IN AND CHAT call to action on the agency window, too.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prevailing_world_religions_map.png
SOCIAL SELLING Let’s focus on Facebook for a moment – and this means your business page, not your personal page (the difference being your business page has Likes, your personal page has Friends). Here’s where you can start to ask your Facebook loving clients to help you fill your tour. That’s right, you appeal to your fans to tell their friends about your tour and ask them spread the word. If you have uploaded a video, this is an easy thing to share with one’s friends. Done right, the ‘word’ could be sent to thousands of people in just a few minutes.
CONSUMER PRESENTATIONS If you are a budding preacher, you could arrange for a special event and invite your clients to an evening of videos, brochures, discussions and presentations. Chances are your preferred supplier BDM would like to participate in order to win the business to their brand. You could offer a small religious token for showing up. There are religious stores now, selling bookmarks and other low cost items that could work for you.
USING YOUR FACEBOOK COVER As you know you have a large space at the very top of your Facebook page. This is free promotional space. Why not insert a religious tour image that represents your tour. You can change the image each week to feature a different city, scene, location or event. You can also add a slogan that entices the client to think quickly, to hurry up, we’re leaving soon and without YOU, if you don’t book soon! We leave on July 15th… hope you’re coming with us.
PILGRIMAGE 2013
I’m looking for real‐time challenges that stop you from being the best you can be. Be sure to include your email and website links. Thanks!
ARE YOU SELLING RELIGIOUS TOURS? ARE YOU GETTING YOUR PIECE OF THE PEACE THROUGH TOURISM PIE? HOW ABOUT YOUR PIECE OF THE ALL‐THINGS SPIRITUAL TRAVEL PIE? THAT’S THREE PIES WITH A SIDE OF REVENUE IF YOU ARE ON TOP OF THIS LONG LASTING NICHE.
Are you aware of the Peace Through Tourism program? There are many initiatives and you can find them at the link opposite. I equate peace with understanding the world and there are many faith‐based clients who might like to get involved with your local Peace Through Tourism program. Needless to say you will have to immerse yourself into this exciting segment of the religious/spiritual niche. Chances are that few if any travel agents in your community are aware of the IIPT program and this gives you the edge and a chance to get your piece of the peace pie. It’s a worthy thing to get involved in plus you can tie all peaceful actions to your faith‐based, spiritual and selling special places tour products. If you have some pull with your suppliers, why not chat with them to get involved with one of the IIPT programs. It’s a Kodak moment I know – you can do some good, gain recognition and generate revenue too.
The International Institute for Peace through Tourism
http://www.iipt.org/
One Earth One Family ART PIECE
The painting replicated on the plaques and note
cards is the "center piece" of R. Padre Johnson's creative expression of a 14 year project that took him to the people of 159
countries.
http://www.iipt.org/plaque.htm
Publishing later this year. Dream Merchants tells the story about what you do. It’s a reference, a business guide, a playbook, a book based on success and succeeding as a travel agent and explores what it takes to ‘make it’. Dream Merchants also reviews the success traits that have been inherent in travel agents for 170 years since the industry as we know it, started in the mid 1800s. Would you like to participate and tell your side of the story?
As you may know I prefer the real thing to fluff. That means street smarts and savvy been there, done it know‐how ‐ versus academic, never been there, never done it. So, if you would like to submit your street smart input as to what makes a travel agent successful please click to the link below and complete one of the two submission forms. One is for Travel Agents and one is for Suppliers – (a supplier in this case means: any person working for a company that services the travel trade / travel agent – tour company, hotel chain, printer, college, association, etc.) By submitting one of the two forms, you will be giving me permission to use your input all or in part and reference your quotes sourced back to you. The information you provide will not be shared with anyone other then the reader of promotional flyers for the book and when the book is published. Thank you in advance to those who do participate. Your input will be greatly appreciated both by me and those that read the book. Here’s where you click:
http://www.sellingtravel.net/dream‐merchants.html
Training in MANAGEMENT SOFT SKILLS
for the travel trade now available
from
SMP
Move your management team To the next level
www.smptraining.com
Guest Article by Steve Gillick, CTM [email protected]
When I visited Borneo in the late 1980’s I was mesmerized upon discovering that totems, spirits living in trees or waters or birds or the sky or in carvings, played a very important role in the way that the local Iban people conducted their daily lives. On one occasion, prior to setting up camp for the night in the jungle outside of Kuching, we waited while our guides lit a candle and placed it in a tree along with some simple decorations, in order to thank the spirit of the water that we had to cross to get to our campsite, and the spirit of the trees that would stand guard over us during the evening. And when I made my first visit to Thailand, one year later and we spent considerable time trekking in the villages around Chiang Mai, we learned about the significance of the ubiquitous spirit houses as vehicles to thank the spirits of the land for protecting the houses and inhabitants of the village. Later, when we explored Bangkok we found spirit houses outside of almost all the homes, restaurants and buildings. Before you enter and when you leave, you bring your hands together, at about nose level or even higher, in a “wye” gesture to pay homage to the spirits. Travel and education have always gone hand in hand and those who are open‐minded and curious have always relished in the prospect of learning how other people live and think and believe and worship.
Outside of one’s own beliefs, travellers have so many opportunities to discover, first hand, about the mosques in Turkey or the synagogues in Israel or Eastern Europe, or the Churches in Rome, or the Hindu Temples in Sri Lanka or the Sikh temples in India.
Mr. Inverso, my Grade 11 history teacher is to blame. He had us read portions of The Golden Bough, Sir James George Frazer’s classic study on religion, spirituality, totemic beliefs and creation myths, and then present an example of a local custom to the class. While this was many years ago, I remember talking about one of the Australian Aboriginal creation myths, and while to us at the time, the practices of people that we only knew through reading books sounded strange and story‐bookish, the reality of this first flirtation with anthropology was quite profound. Years later I would read The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin and further understand the power of tradition and culture and the lineage of totemic beliefs.
After showing us the amazing frescoes, I was able to better understand statues, paintings, cave drawings and religious art, anywhere in the world.
It all had to do with comic books!
There are those who are fascinated by Buddhism and want to understand the rites of worship in Thailand or Cambodia or Mongolia. And there are those who visited the Shinto temples in Japan or clapped their hands twice and rang the bell in local Shinto shrines to make the Kami, or spirits, aware of their presence and to bestow good fortune, with the hope that even as travellers who may not overtly share the same beliefs, they are trying to understand and identify with the people in the country in which they are visitors. After seeing a photo in a Lonely Planet Guide, of a terribly scary black demon‐like figure in a temple in Tainan, Taiwan, I actually, truth be told, travelled on my next trip from Taipei down to the southern end of the Island, just to find that demon.
They all depict the words of the leaders of society and translate them in memorable fashion to the people, to impress on them the stories and fables and myths about societal rules and ethical behaviour. Once, as a traveller, you are able to put picture‐words into context, then exposure to the practices of any religion (possibly including your own), become a fascinating journey of discovery. For many inveterate travellers, every travel experience is a pilgrimage and every souvenir becomes a treasured relic of that journey. We like to use words like pilgrimage to denote a specific religious experience but it does not necessarily have to be that way. Religious beliefs have always been highly personal and each individual’s relationship with their deity has always been an intimate, meaningful and sacred bond. As travellers who open‐mindedly explore other religions and beliefs we can come closer to understanding that bond and thereby make the travel experience itself an exercise in appreciating cultures and diversity. By bringing that understanding back home with us, we can better contribute to closer ties with our own multicultural, vibrant community. Therefore, don’t shy away at the very mention of religious travel or pilgrimage travel, as whether you realize it or not, it has an affect on you. Some may see it as a reason to travel; some will see it as a niche interest; some may see it was a duty while they are in another country; and others who don’t share in the predominant religion of the chosen country will see it as an opportunity to learn and add to their personal goal of taking ‘the higher ground’ when they travel and helping to make our world a more liveable place. Read more at http://www.broowaha.com/articles/14361/faith‐spirits‐travel‐and‐comic‐books#hsBWTX1SPB2U4FyU.99
And once I did find it, I just looked at it to appreciate why it was there and how it helped to influence the mores of society in the Tainan area. I remember having the same feeling when I was in Rome and I spent 30 minutes all alone with Michaelangelo’s statue of Moses in the Church St. Pietro in Vincolo, contemplating how one statue could influence so many people over the years. One of my chief mentors in explaining such art treasures as the black demon in Tainan or the statue of Moses or for that matter, the elaborate decorations on Hindu temple or the frescoes in the caves of Capadoccia, was a priest who served as our tour guide on a visit to the Basilica San Francesco in Assisi, Italy. After showing us the amazing frescoes, he actually explained the significance of them, which from that point on, helped me to better understand statues, paintings, cave drawings and religious art, loosely defined, anywhere in the world. It all had to do with comic books! The priest quizzed us and asked why comic books have such an appeal. The answer was that even if you don’t speak the language; even if you are illiterate, you can still look at the drawings and relate to the story being told—especially if you are familiar with the story through word of mouth. Therefore, if the priest in the church is speaking about hell and damnation, and you see a fresco with a graphic of the underworld, then someone who is not able to read the Bible (or even someone who is literate) can visually see what kind of horrors and tortures await those who don’t follow the tenets of religion which was, in almost all cases, the tenets of society. So the black demon in Tainan was no different than the frescoes in Assisi or cave paintings in the Lascaux caves of France or the celestial nymphs at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka or in the temples at Angkor Wat.
Steve Gillick’s first article appeared in the Dunera Ship Newsletter in 1967. Since then he has written extensively about travel. He authored the Scam Watch column in Canadian Traveller Magazine for many years, wrote and edited CITC’s industry and consumer newsletters from 1995 to 2012, authors the "Travel Coach” column in www.TravelIndustryToday.com; composes travel blogs at www.talkingtravelblog.ca, contributes articles to www.travelmarketreport.com and www.sellingtravel.net, and has a ghost writing service where he assists professionals with articles and speeches to enhance their involvement in industry events. Many of Steve's articles have been posted to www.broowaha.com where over 6,250 consumers have enjoyed his thoughts on destinations and travel trends.
SELLING SPECIAL PLACES can mean one of two things ‐ you are promoting a place that is special to you, or perhaps your customer has asked you to make the arrangements and get them to a place in the world that is so dear and special to them. If special to you, you will need to sell it to ‘me’ – why is it special. If special for your client, you will need to study this place in order to communicate with your customer at the right level. You’ll need to know why this place is so special to them.
A special place for me… the ancient Yew tree standing in the village of Crowhurst. The sketch dates from 1820 and to the left, a recent shot of the same and well worn tree. Over 850 years old give or take a year. It once served as a home and you can see the front door still survives. Look for your client’s special places. Ask them. Build custom FITs.
SELLING SPECIAL PLACES
If you have your own list of special places that have meaning to you and you want to share them, then this gives you a wonderful niche market opportunity. Chances are you will have one or two special places that no other travel agency offers. You may have found a corner café, a nook in a cliff, a view point, a small church tucked away… or like me, wandering around Kyoto, guided by my wife’s voice – “Find the Red Lantern…” – I did and what a find. We both like artwork and this was a small, off the beaten track print gallery that she knew from her student days. The prints I purchased there are still on our walls. Sadly the Red Lantern no longer lives. I traded special places in London, my wife’s favourite city. I recalled from my early working days, the small alleys I used to know that would weave me to my place of work. The Olde Curiosity Shoppe was there. Hidden headstones and remnants of old London. So now over to you. List your special places. Write them out, type them up, search on line and save the links to your Favourites. Gather the information the best way you know how. Sift and sort and come up with your top ten. Work your magic and conjure up how you could package and sell these Special Places to your clients. You’ll need to know the history, what events took place, the current standing of this place, and anything else that makes visiting this place, special. Once you have this information you can start to package either a group tour or a customized FIT for those who want to “do it” on their own. Let’s take another look at special places you could sell…
A place to scuba dive A place to walk A place to sit A view point A vista A place to fish A place to photograph from A place to meditate A place to meet A place to write
Some of your clients will want to visit a place where one of their ancestors frequented or where an author once lived. Church cemeteries are special places as are buildings – even brand new buildings can be a special place for a budding architect. Not all special places are driven by spirituality or a thousand year history. You can market with slogans such as “LET US GET YOU TO THAT SPECIAL PLACE…” You might even invoke the now done to death term, ‘bucket list’. It still works of course – it’s not worn out just yet, but it is getting tired. Nonetheless. It’s there to be used. Some customers may not have a special place to visit, which means they might like to tag along as you arrange to visit one of yours. There is merit in promoting your agency as the place to go for travelling to Special Places. With this claim comes your level of knowledge about the place itself. If this is just for you, you may just be attracted by the ambience of the small hotel overlooking the main square. For a customer paying to tag along, they will want much more information. When my wife and I visited Prague, we hired a personal tour guide and when we were requesting a guide, we were queried about our interests. I thought this was a fantastic piece of customer service. Our guide shared our love of literature, art, museums and history. After we met and introduced ourselves he assessed us and then asked, “Would you like to see my Prague?” – of course we jumped at it versus the tourist spots. The outcome was he took us to small shops where he buys his books and sketches and we walked the streets he walks and enjoyed his special places. Wonderful. This is what a special place program is all about. Better if the place is “yours” and you know it well. Better if you have been there more than a few times, and by chance can speak the language too and if you are actually from the place you are visiting, then even visiting old friends can work into the tour also. About the 800 year old Yew tree. There are tours of ancients trees you know. Anyone?
Mind, Body, Spirit. Three words that can conjure up all sorts of things depending whose brain is doing the conjuring. Is it a spa vacation, a religious journey, a visit to a shaman in Mongolia, a new energy bar or the name of your new tour to a number of Special Places? The answer is any of the above. It depends on what your own interests are and whether or not you can delve into what some view as the occult. To me it’s all opportunity… here’s how:
My aura featuring the colour orange = creativity.
The mauve text might inform you that I’m trying to write in a spiritual colour. More spirit than mind & body perhaps. I support the article with an old aura photo of mine, taken some years ago. Always fun to do even if you don’t believe in such things. Mind, body, spirit is connected to all things spiritual and all things religious. It’s built in. Although most of mankind is searching, not everyone has insight into themselves just yet. To help in the search there are tours to help any one of us to find ourselves. You can add to the MBS journey the word Wellness as it just seems to go hand‐in‐glove. We can still focus on special places, sacred places and places of power. If you understand nature than you standing in the center of it all.
Photo above: age 15 waiting for the mist to move on versus getting lost. Rocks tend to have powerful spirits to anchor you when you need them. Did you know there are tours to view rocks, cliffs and mountains that have power? Also waterfalls, rivers and lakes. Ancient trees. Places where battles took place. Caves where the ancients left their mark. When you remove the everyday cloak of illusion and manage to focus on the other real world – one real world being the one you live in 9 to 5 and the other is where you go when you sit quiet and think of nothing, zilch, nada… being calm, not worried, seeing all things, meditating or just quiet. There are people around the world that want this. They want quiet. They need peace of mind.
This is without a doubt, what mankind is looking for and willing to pay for, too ‐ a tour, trip, vacation or journey that will deliver them to, well, back to themselves. Here’s a short list of what I found online related to mind, body, spirit styled travel & tours.
Conscious Relationships Personal Journeys Pilgrimages Power Journeys Shamanic Journeys Spirit, Art & Creativity Spiritual Healing Spiritual Hiking Spirituality & Business Volunteer Travel Yoga Retreats
Check your preferred suppliers with tours of France, India, all of South America, Australia… and ask if they have any tour products related to MBS travel. Chances are they do. You will know that Aboriginal people of Australia are famous for their dreamtime and songlines… the Inuit have similar experiences of spirit travel as do the monks in Tibet. Once you let the world know about your MBS programs you will attract (simple universal laws) the type of clients who want to participate in your programs. You can start on this journey by doing the following:
Gather all MBS brochures from your suppliers Starting a dedicated MBS website Ask your Facebook fans to comment Create a MBS newsletter… Host meetings and discuss tours
The key is not to get lost in your spirit world, but to stay firmly rooted in the revenue world. Keep this top of mind. It’s important not have an out of body experience when you should be at the bank making a deposit!! Some links to follow: http://www.aboriginaltourism.australia.com/index.htm http://www.arizonahealingtours.com/vortex/powerplace.html http://powerplaces.com/trips_by_country.htm
THE HIDDEN CHRISTIANS OF JAPAN
Photo credit: Steve CrowhurstTABIRA CHURCH, Hirado, Japan
If you like Japan and you are interested in religious tours – here’s a niche market for you that not many travel agents or suppliers have found yet. You could be first in your community to promote this whilst every other agency is selling religious tours of Europe – you could be offering something very different. I have visited the area and seen the sights and I have to say it is an eye opener.
Who knew? Christians in Japan… since when? What happened? Why didn’t we know about this? So many questions come to mind. Well, since the first missionary landed on the shores of Japan there have been Christians there. The foreigners were restricted to the southern island of Kyushu and the area around Nagasaki for many years and it’s in this area that the Christians had to take refuge when the politics changed. Believe it or not – they stayed hidden for 200 years. I saw and touched the rock they used as their alter. I toured the churches that bore the cross and the shogun’s emblem too. The cemeteries have headstones with western style designs topped by the cross and other motifs. The story is thought provoking and I bet not too many of your clients or your church congregation have visited Japan for this purpose – to view the history of the Kakure Kirishitan – the Hidden Christians who went into hiding in 1630.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan Kakure Kirishitans are called the "hidden" Christians because they continued to practice Christianity in secret. They worshipped in secret rooms in private homes. As time went on, the figures of the saints and the Virgin Mary were transformed into figurines that looked like the traditional statues of the Buddha and bodhisattvas. The prayers were adapted to sound like Buddhist chant, yet retained many untranslated words from Latin, Portuguese and Spanish. The Bible and other parts of the liturgy were passed down orally, due to fears of printed works being confiscated by authorities. Because of the expulsion of the Catholic clergy in the 17th century, the Kakure Christian community relied on lay leaders to lead the services.
In some cases, the communities drifted away from Christian teachings. They lost the meaning of the prayers and their religion became a version of the cult of ancestors, in which the ancestors happened to be their Christian martyrs. Approximately 30,000 secret Christians, some of whom had adopted these new ways of practicing Christianity, came out of hiding when religious freedom was re‐established in the mid‐19th century after the Meiji Restoration. The Kakure Krishitan became known as Mukashi Kirishitan or "ancient" Christians, and emerged not only from traditional Christian areas in Kyushu, but also from other rural areas of Japan. The majority of Kakure Kirishitan rejoined the Catholic Church after renouncing unorthodox, syncretic practices. Some Kakure Krishitan did not rejoin the Catholic Church, and became known as the Hanare Kirishitan separated Christians). Hanare Krishitan are now primarily found on the Urakami and Gotō Islands.
Here’s one way to see the sights and have a local guide work with you. Toursbylocals.com is a great website – after building your group you could work with a local guide that actually has the tour itinerary already planned. After the tour you can continue on with your group to take in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara etc., for non religious sightseeing.
http://www.toursbylocals.com/Nagasakichurches
Remember, summer in Japan is usually HOT & humid! If your clients are elderly, better check ahead of time for the best season to undertake this tour. Did I mention the shopping is fantastic! Better add this to the tour activities too then.
The Sound of One Hand Clapping
Metalwork: Steve Crowhurst
I’VE TRIED FOR YEARS TO MASTER THIS! IT’S NOT EASY. IMAGINE IF, LIKE SOME MONKS, YOU COULD MAKE THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING. YOU COULD GO TO THE THEATRE AND KEEP EATING YOUR POPCORN WITH ONE HAND AS YOU APPLAUD THE MOVIE WITH THE OTHER. HOW GREAT IS THAT! GIVE IT A TRY. THE ALL TIME UNIVERSAL SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING.
There is a large market of lost people in the world, spiritually that is. They’ve lost the map of self and looking for it now. Self discovery is a niche market that is related to spiritual travel. I had a friend who was suffering from such a thing. He set off to find himself and came to visit my wife and I. When he knocked on the door I told him he wasn’t in. You had to be there I guess. It’s a long standing joke and an event that actually happened. My friend went off to a beach front motel room in Oregon and looked for himself there. He must have been in as my friend returned fully charged. His self was back. This scenario is played out around the world and this is why there is a market for self discovery tours. Not everyone has a life plan and many times a small dose of travel unravels the meaning of life, the plan, the reason this person is on the planet. Their reason for living. This is important. Without direction in life a person can be wandering in their personal desert for an entire lifetime. Here’s where you come in. Your Self Discovery Tours can be called just that. No need to get too fancy. You might go with a further niche (niche‐within‐ niche) and offer tours for women only, men only – after that it becomes more of a group experience and this can work too. These types of programs do not have to be an arduous trek or self flogging with a wet noodle. Sometimes, just sitting quiet somewhere where it is quiet is all that’s needed. Add a little guru‐ness to the education and you have a decent product to offer. You may wish to tap into the creative spirit. Art of any kind can many times unlock the self. A volunteerism vacation might be the very thing, too. It’s important to qualify your clients as to which and what will cause them to find the right path. It’s a fact that some of us, although born in one country, are meant to live in another. Past lives… yeah, that’s it. Hey another niche!
Here’s a link where you can explore a list of providers for the self discovery tour.
http://www.platinumpearls.com/platinumpearls/toursb.htm
Review the list. Check them out. You might find the right product for you, or at least gather new ideas to suit your own endeavours.
This type of tour product can best be sold and promoted at a consumer night, event or workshop. Perhaps you can find a “leader” to work with and let them be the tour guide to the destination of choice. India is always a choice. Sometimes the Arctic. A kayaking trip. A hike into the jungle. Climbing to the top of a mountain can also assist in the overall realization of being alive and doing something with ‘this life’.
Travel Agents are tired of hearing they are ”unprofessional, hobbyists, order takers and that the average Joe can book his own vacation online without the aid of a travel agent”. Yes there are tools available for consumers to book their own travel, however the fact remains that the excitement of a great price is instantly forgotten when the consumer experiences the bitterness of a badly planned vacation. Three Travel Agents have started a revolution. Mary Clegg and Cory and Cheri Andrichuk are founders of the "Travel Agent Revolution", a company dedicated to "shouting from the roof tops" the value of using a professional travel agent. The Travel Agent Revolution is a grassroots movement. It’s about putting travel agents FIRST. It is about helping all travel agents from all walks of life understand that they matter in their business; that personal and professional development are just as important as product knowledge when it comes to selling travel. The Revolution offers innovative business resources that will teach agents how to brand and market themselves and then align with the correct products to sell. Agents will discover who they are, what they want to achieve and how to define their success, not someone else’s definition of it. Travel Agents who join the "Revolution" will be trained on how to market themselves and grow their business based on personal branding and their professional passion for travel. "Our mission at the Travel Agent Revolution is to provide a roadmap for travel agents to build their own brand and business, focusing on personal and professional development and training and not just product training. Finding out why the agent is in travel, what their passions are and then fitting the right products that relate to their passions, is what we are all about." said Cory Andrichuk, Principal Founder of the Travel Agent Revolution. The Travel Agent Revolution launched their new website on June 25th. According to Mary Clegg Principal Founder of the Travel Agent Revolution, Travel Agents are able to join for as low as $12 per month which includes opportunities for certification training, mentorship, group business coaching, industry resources, and regularly scheduled live and virtual training events. The Revolution will also spear head a revolutionary consumer campaign that is aimed at promoting the value of using a professional travel agent when planning a vacation of a life time. “Making this type of training value packed and affordable for all agents is extremely important in today’s economy. Another focus that has been travel agent driven, is our goal to fund a social media consumer campaign that will educate the public to plan their next vacation with a trusted travel agent and not even consider any other booking options.” Clegg added.
We believe the professional travel agent needs to take a stand to position themselves as the personal bridge between supplier and consumer. “Agents are still the best option when planning a dream vacation of a life time” according to Cheri Andrichuk , Travel Agent Revolution’s Principal founder. “Consumers need to protect themselves from being "stung" when planning their own travel and by using a professional travel agent they can avoid the pitfalls of a low price vs. the actual vacation they really expect. The Revolution helps agents communicate their value and much needed expertise to the traveling public through special training and resources available on www.travelagentrevolution.com .” Andrichuk added. Professional Travel Agents who join by August 1st will receive a discount off the normal rate of $12 per month to just $9 per month as a founding member of the Travel Agent Revolution! Anyone who is serious about building their travel business will benefit by being a part of this incredible training event. To learn more about the Travel Agent Revolution sign up for our FREE webinar at www.travelagentrevolution.com . The Travel Agent Revolution is a grass roots movement / organization started in June 2012 by three travel professionals Mary Clegg, Cory and Cheri Andrichuk who have over 75 combined years of experience in the travel industry. The Travel Agent Revolution is focused on providing one of a kind travel agent training, events and mentorship for travel professionals.
Visit the Travel Agent Revolution at www.travelagentrevolution.com and LIKE us on www.facebook.com/travelagentrevolution.com
On this page we enhance the sales relationship between supplier BDMs and the travel agent. Outcome: faster, quicker, larger, higher revenue sales!
Remember the BDM Mantra: “If I can’t sell it to them… they won’t sell it for me!”
DO YOU REPRESENT A BRAND THAT OFFERS TRAVEL AGENTS A FAITH‐BASED PRODUCT? IF YOU DO, CAN YOU SELL IT? HAVE YOU SOLD IT? WHAT ARE THE FEATURES & BENEFITS OVER THE COMPETITION, IF YOU HAVE ANY? CAN YOU TEACH ‘ME’ HOW TO SELL YOUR FAITH‐BASED TOURS?
The best way for you as the BDM of record for your agency accounts is to appear in person and hold a half‐day sales training workshop, versus a webinar or sending out a text brief on the product. Your company may not be guilty of this, but many are and that’s the misunderstanding between product knowledge and sales training. Of course product knowledge is important and especially for newcomers to the trade. Your 20 year vet’s will know about the destinations and the type of tours you offer. What everyone needs after the product knowledge session is sales training. To do your audience proud you should turn up with qualified statistics about who takes such tours and when and then you can demonstrate how to create a successful social media campaign, blended with traditional forms of promotion, too. This is where you put your own sales neck on the line. As our mantra says, “If you cannot sell it to them…” – so you must be excellent at selling your own faith‐based products and not throw out those god‐awful “trust me” one liners, or the simplistic “go for groups…” comment without showing how it is done, step by step. If you follow this advice you will be way ahead of the game as we know to few BDMs can actually sell.
As you are well aware, social media is in and not going away. Social Media Marketing know‐how is now a BDMs must have skill. If you are not up to speed on how to promote your brand through social selling then be sure to sign up for a course. Ask your head office to produce mobile apps for your brands and products too. Send out your own comments and share content through your company Facebook page, Tweet the latest news and if you have any videos your agency accounts can use and save to their agency favourites then these are things you must schedule to communicate each week. The content you share is something you want your agency accounts to send to their clients. You want your content to go viral. For this to happen you might have to ask for it. This means prompting your agency accounts to forward what you send them. You want them to share it with everyone on their mailing list. How to make something GO VIRAL is one more activity you can add to the sales workshop. Finally, if you have invested your time and energy into training you agency accounts then you can have faith they will perform.
412 PAGES 273 IDEAS 100s of VARIATIONS 700 LINKS TO MORE RESOURCES
When you need a source of ideas to either implement as is, or to help jog your own creative juices, this is the book to buy. It took me over 25 years to get it ‘here’ and that story is on page 5. It was some journey. When I started writing it, the IBM Selectric was the word processor of choice! What a laugh. Some suppliers have purchased a copy for each of their Business Development Managers, host agencies have made bulk purchases for their members and individual agents have written in to say this book is their idea bible.
It also, as you can see, comes in pill form, a cure for the common creative block! Okay, just kidding, but it is available in E‐BOOK format if you prefer to read it on screen!
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