Updated March 8, 2024
Have you ever struggled to find clients? Maybe you're struggling now, or you have in the past and know what it's like to wait for someone to submit an new client inquiry or send you a message.
There are times it can seem like everyone is having an easier time finding potential customers than you are.
But every successful travel advisor has gone through times when they couldn't seem to get a single good travel lead.
So what should you do to bring in the travel leads you're looking for?
The best tool I've found to get qualified travel leads, potential customers who want to hear from you and have you plan their next trip, is a good travel agency lead generator.
Maybe you've heard about a travel agency lead generator before, but you're not quite sure what it is. Or maybe you're familiar with the idea of an opt-in, lead magnet or a free download in exchange for someone's email address.
They're all actually the same thing, so for simplicity we'll call them all travel agency lead generators.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I only recommend companies that I use and think would be helpful to you as you grow your business.
The power of lead generation
Let's face it, without qualified leads who become potential customers, we'll all end up going out of business pretty quickly. But you have a small travel company.
It's not like you have a dedicated marketing and sales team to create a marketing strategy and work every day on generating leads.
So where and how do you find those potential leads?
If you became a travel agent expecting that your host agency would provide you with good, qualified travel leads, that most likely won't happen.
While some host agencies do provide travel leads, one of two things tends to happen.
The host agency takes a higher percentage of commission on any lead they provide. Which I think they're entitled to, because in some ways generating those good travel leads can be a difficult job.
They provide travel leads, but they aren't qualified leads and end up either price shopping or ghosting you, both of which waste your time as a travel agent.
Instead of relying on a host agency, some advisors try using travel industry lead generation services. And those aren't usually any better than a lead you may get from your host agency.
Why don't these lead generation efforts normally work well?
Simple. It's because they don't understand you as a travel agent, your business, or the type of potential client you want to work with.
Not every travel lead is created equal. A lot of these mass leads are simply price shoppers, who think that using a travel agent is the secret to scoring a great deal at a price that's not available to the general public.
But as a travel advisor, you know that your value goes far beyond the price you can get for your clients. Your value is in the services you provide, making sure the trip you plan is exactly what your client wants, and being there every step of the way if anything goes wrong.
In order to get qualified leads, who are looking for the service you provide, you need to find them on your own. No service can replicate your unique strengths and start to create a sense of community with potential customers like you can.
By relying on an outside lead, whether handed to you or purchased through a service, you're trying to outsource something that simply can't be outsourced.
That's where integrating a lead generator into your digital marketing plan comes into play.
What is a travel agency lead generator?
A travel agency lead generator is something that you give away for free in exchange for someone's name, email address, and permission to email them.
It can be anything that your target audience, the type of customer you want to work with (what I call your ideal client) would want to download and be willing to exchange their email address to get.
Something like a travel guide, a sample itinerary, a packing list, an ebook, or access to information that you don't release to anyone but your subscribers.
It should live on your website, but you can also link to it in other places, like social media marketing, email signatures, and you can even use it in paid social media or Google ads.
The point of a travel agency lead generator isn't to get instant clients. Instead, it's to add people to your email list.
How to create an outstanding travel agency lead generator
Not everyone you'd like to work with is in the process of planning a trip right now, but that doesn't mean they aren't thinking about their next trip.
Effective lead generation gets those potential customers onto your email list, so you can include them in your email marketing efforts. Once they're on your email list, send them regular, informative, engaging emails.
That way, when they're ready to start planning their next trip, they'll think of you and reach out.
My favorite place to put a travel agency lead generator is on your website. It's part of the reason every travel advisor should have a custom website that they can use to generate their own leads.
In order for your website to generate quality leads, people need to be able to find your website. If you have a lead generator on your site and aren't getting at least 100 visitors per month to your site, it's not your lead generator that's the problem.
That's why I also recommend including your lead generator in your social media marketing, in the bio on your social media platforms, in your content marketing or blogs, basically anywhere you can share information about your travel business.
The more places you can put it, the more high quality leads it can bring in.
How to provide your travel agency lead generator to a new lead
Once you have your lead generator ready, whether it's a PDF, and ebook, or whatever else you've decided to provide, the next step is to get it into the hands of a new lead.
When someone requests your lead generator, the way you provide it to them is part of their overall customer experience. If they don't receive it, or have to wait to get it, it's not a great first impression.
That's why you'll want to rely on marketing automation software. I use and highly recommend ConvertKit for this.
With ConvertKit you can set up a simple form that's easy to embed on your website. When someone enters their name and email address, they receive an email automatically to confirm their email address and download the lead generator.
There's a little bit of setup you need to do on the back end, like customize what you want the email to say and upload your lead generator so ConvertKit can send it out, but it's pretty simple.
Want to give it a try? Start a free 14-day trial of ConvertKit.
The bottom line
Creating a good travel agency lead generator and growing your email list doesn't need to be complicated. But if you don't want to tackle it alone, I completely understand!
Set up a free consultation today if you'd like some help setting up your lead generator and growing your email list.