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SOUL JOURNEYS
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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
SOUL JOURNEYS As far as we know, none of us are leaving this life alive. If that’s a fact (fact check please!) then we’d better make the most of the time we have, wouldn’t you say? After working hard to put food on your table and paying your taxes, what else is there? You’ve got it, although it’s not for everyone – but for those you get it, we TRAVEL! That’s the start. The tip of the iceberg. Taking a soul journey can mean one thing to this person, and something else to that person. You can take your soul journey alone (sole journey) or you can go with a partner, a friend or a group as long as the group members are like minded, respectful etc. A soul journey can include the dead and dying too – Remembrance Day is here soon and The Day of The Dead just passed (pun intended). Your client’s soul journeys could be for themselves, a time to rejoice for some and to mourn for others. The passing of old soldiers means trips to the battle fields, the passing of lost loves means going back to where “we first met” and then some of us might seek out the gravesite of someone we admire – a musician, a poet – and some us will travel on that special journey that a departed pal always wanted to experience and finally there will be clients who want to FIND themselves, their spiritual well-being, their guru. There is money to be made on both sides of the mortal coil, depending upon how you view travelling in the world of souls, the current plane you are living on and where you are subconsciously pulled to, to explore and help your clients follow their calling too. Let’s get busy. 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
Check out the next page – a terrific novel based on the soul journey of Thomas Woodhouse, the main character in my good pal, Anthony Dalton’s new book. It’s publishing mid-November.
Available mid-November from
The Day of the Dead, Remembrance Day, the Crucifixion and Resurrection, life, joy, birth and your own journey through life… the circle of life does not stop as new souls get on and as others get off. When you think about it, life is just a typical coach tour. The itinerary is planned, the journey is set. It starts, it stops, it takes an unexpected turn, it ends and you are left with memories to treasure. So many new souls journey through their lives quietly, others charge through it. Both looking for something meaningful to them when they set off on their journey. Somewhere in there is YOU as you market your soul journey offers and services for 2017. The spiritual journey is a personal thing and it is being discovered each and every day by those clients who open themselves up to life and their lives in particular. The desire to travel and follow a soul journey can be confusing for first time travellers – hence you have a part to play in assisting, counselling and arranging their Soul Journey. First Things First The first thing you’ll need to do if you want to access this segment of the industry is to tell your local community that you have a soul journey service, that you understand the calling to go out into the world and explore it to enhance one’s soul. As usual, someone is already ahead of the game– check out these websites by clicking on the images below.
As you explore what other travel agents and travel trade suppliers have created you’ll be able to decide what might work for you and your clients. Make contact with the agencies that are already in the business and ask if you can sell into their tours. Finding Your Own Soul Here’s where you must do your own soul searching. It’s something that will help you understand a client’s request when they come to see you. Why the journey, what’s in it for you? What is pulling you to that specific location, or to do that particular activity? Once you get to understand your own feelings and what pulls you to go exploring – and you follow through and accomplish your own Soul Journey then you will be able to help your clients and from that moment on you should be able to build a very lucrative segment. Heart and Soul This is the main component of a soul journey – your heart has to be in it. The journey must be heartfelt and fulfilling – not so much something to boast about, but certainly something to internalise and enjoy whether anyone else knows you did it or not. Your soul journey, however, is meant to be told.
Soul, Sole and Sol Journeys Here’s a play on words you might be able to factor into your marketing. Many of the soul journeys we would take are based on walking somewhere, so the play on words targets the hiking, walking, climbing aspect of soul searching and soul journeys.
Walking in Their Footsteps Now here comes the best part – offering your clients a chance to experience an ancient Sole Journey as they walk where the ancients walked. You can work with the tourism departments of Tanzania and also Willandra Lakes to create the journey of a lifetime for your clients.
The phrase Sole Journey invites single people to inquire about your offers for travelling alone to complete that personal journey. The Sol Journey is that trip that’s targets a sun destination. The Ancient Soul Journey This article was somewhat inspired by the email from National Geographic talking about their latest find, the foot prints in Tanzania – here’s the heading: Treasure Trove of Ancient Human Footprints Found Near Volcano In northern Tanzania, researchers have cataloged a spectacularly rare find: an enormous set of well-preserved human footprints left in mud between 5,000 and 19,000 years ago.
Start with a graphic like this one and build it into something that will attract your clients and also, hopefully, an image that your clients will share with their friends.
Your Soul Journey program ties in very nicely with any and all programs related to saving the planet, global warming, eco-tours and generally travelling without leaving a footprint. That’s a Zen puzzle right there. I’ll let you take that one on, and solve it to your financial well-being.
The webpage also mentions Australia’s Willandra Lakes area where there are 700 fossil footprints made about 20,000 years ago. The Sole Journey has been with us for many years – this is something to sell.
Suffice to say, now is the time when so many people are seeking something in their lives and usually that means they are soul searching. It’s time for you to engage those individuals and attract them to your agency for the sole purpose of sending them on their own personal journey.
Look for these types of images or shoot them yourself and then add your slogan in the dark areas.
Other publications by Steve you might enjoy! 273 No Fluff/No Theory Marketing Ideas for Travel Agents A Travel Agent’s Guide to Prospecting for New Clients A Travel Agent’s Introduction to Selling Group Travel A Travel Agent’s Introduction to Attraction Marketing A Travel Agent’s Introduction to Women Only Travel A Travel Agent’s Guide to Weddings & Honeymoons A Travel Agent’s Guide to Building Your Own Adventure Travel Niche A Travel Agent’s Guide to Ancestry Tours A Travel Agent’s Guide to Attracting & Retaining Corporate Clients FIT and Group Travel Course Bundle Handy Clip Art and Graphics That Sell Travel How To Sell More Books With Do-It-Yourself Marketing Presentation Skills for Travel Trade Professionals PowerPoint Tips for Travel Trade Professionals Selling Faith Based, Spiritual & Personal Journeys Selling Flexible Independent Travel Arrangements The Travel Agent’s Guide to Charging Fees The Travel Professional’s GO VIDEO! Handbook The Travel Professional’s Guide to Managing Your Career The Travel Professional’s Guide to Selling Travel with Humor Travel Safety 101 – Expecting the Unexpected Travel Writing for Travel Agents Using Photography to Sell More Travel Webinar Presentation Skills for Travel Trade Professionals The Power of HOW Series How To Close The Sale
All eGuides are available only from The Travel Institute. Click on the titles above to preview the above titles and remember, each title purchased comes with a free one-hour coaching session with Steve.
Make a wise move and join us soon!
The Travel Institute Quick Start: As a travel agent you’re looking for a proven resource to meet your career and educational needs. So where do you go? Well you’ve landed at the right place – The Travel Institute. We’ve been developing all types of training since 1964 – new-to-the-industry, destination, niche and lifestyle, management, and leadership. Most important, the training is relevant, on-demand, and not just the same old stuff. Check us out. We’ve got what you’re looking for.
945 Concord Street, Framingham, MA 01701 Tel: 781-237-0280, 800-542-4282, Fax: 781-237-3860
Soul Shooting has nothing to do with vampires and all that dark stuff, and everything to do with photographing the places that speak to a person’s soul, opening it up and allowing the world around them, in. When you see your soul through the camera lens, things happen. It can change your life and move you from one track to another. This is the same for your clients, only many of them need help clicking or pushing the button to take that shot. Two things are happening here: you are opening up a brand new way for your clients to see themselves in the world and a brand new way for your clients to see the world and share it. Life for many of your clients is a “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda…” moment that repeats time and time again. Those clients trapped in their own lives and cannot get out. For some reason they are caught in a net that they created. Your advertising and slogans must help them see their situation, cut away the stuff that binds and book on your soul shooting journey. I know it sounds crazy that a client can change their life by taking pictures but it is done every day somewhere on earth and millions of times. “Click!” The only difference is that your tours will transport your client/s to magical places where they will be in touch with more than they can handle I’m sure. Shooting the image of those places helps a person see; see deeper into the space in front of them. Trees, Forests and More Trees have power. They are rooted to the earth we walk on and they have grown in that spot for seconds to a thousand years or more. Ancient trees… imagine what they have “seen”. It’s hard to go there isn’t it mentally, however, we can go there by plane, fly in, rent a car, get to the spot and hike in. To be silent amongst huge tree, or one huge tree within the forest is a powerful and spiritual event. If a client is on their
iPhone at the time, not so much. You get the concept. Once the shot has been taken, the next step is to view it and share it. This can be accomplished onsite, back at the hotel, motel, inn and campsite or wait until the group returns home to connect online. Post Tour Image Sharing Working with your clients after the tour, secures your connection in more ways than one. As your tour member’s images are shared they are marketing your tour product for you. As each wonderful image goes viral, even more so. Not only that, your clients are deeply connected to you too and that means repeat business. You can also ask your clients permission to use their images in your marketing efforts, giving them full credit. Also, if they happened to have taken the shot of all shots, you can purchase it from them, or go the way of ‘soft dollars’ and give them a discount on their next trip. Make sure whichever way you own the image, paperwork is signed. Then you will own the image legally. Apps and More To help the mood of the Soul Shot go viral there are as you know, more apps than you can use. I tend to like the Tangled FX app.
The photo shown on the previous page was FX’d using the Tangled FX app which has several styles to choose from. The use of apps and filters in programs such as Photoshop Elements is also very close to an extension of the client’s Soul Journey. It is the tweaking of the image, the shaping, the colouring and the enhancing that calls on one’s inner self and inner soul to produce what they feel. The image on the screen becomes their canvas on which they will communicate their message. The message is to themselves and also their friends. The Show Must Go On Once your Soul Journey members have created their images, you arrange a get together and showcase their work. Not only is this exposure good for the soul, (it might start one or two of them off on an artistic career), it’s good for your marketing, too. This becomes a consumer event. It can be for your clients only or you can open it to the general public. You could work with a supplier and also the local venue where such an event can be held. If you are up to speed with social media you could even go live with your even via Facebook. Promote the Soul Journey Collection of Images and market it to all your existing clients through email and social media. Talk it up with the local radio station and post an ad in the local community paper. You know what to do, you’ve done it many times before. If it helps, work with a local art gallery so that the images are well framed and priced too. For the sale items, better NOT to print as a photograph, but to change the format of the image to let’s say a watercolour, or poster looking image and print it on quality inkjet art paper. The costs for printing are borne by the client.
Where Are We Now? Okay, time to recap. At this stage of the game you have run a successful tour called Soul Journey and you have several clients who are into the follow up campaign of displaying their soul images. You have staged the event and sent out invitations, you are now at the door, welcoming everyone. There is coffee and cookies to be had, and then you open the event with a short speech, invite everyone to mingle and chat with the tour members standing by their images. Collect names, advise when the next tour departs and where to. Hand out brochures and contact information. Sell off the images that are up for sale and if you wish, promote the fact that a percentage will be going towards cancer prevention or a charity you have selected. We’re talking about soul journeys and doing good - so that small amount of money is something that does just that for someone, somewhere. The Photographer on Hand Not everyone can “see” the shot, so to have a pro photographer on hand to advise is always a plus. If one of the tour members is an expert photographer then you might compensate them for their time with the tour members. A small discount might suffice. Validations Don’t forget to collect a validation from each member of the tour, and when possible, insert their validation over their image – to combine the two elements. Now you can post those online with your client’s permission. Last But Not Least Hold your own show of your own Soul Shots, sell and tell and sell some more!
Click the cover to View
Do you know what your destiny is? Are you interested in the discovery of where you’re from and where you should be over time? Many of your clients are, and that leads to a new and very interesting segment to investigate. The Soul Journey, the Soul Destiny… all connected, each person’s dream trip is probably connected to what’s going on in their history which in turn, if you believe all this stuff… is connected to their ancient DNA. The search for one ancestors through genealogy and DNA testing is big business. Once the information is at hand, then a good majority of consumers head for the hills, or the rivers, or overseas to find ‘themselves’. They are looking for their history and destiny at the same time.
As you can see from the previous page, I have delved into my ancient history, created my own recent history having travelled the world as the map shows, and dabbled in the mysteries of ones aura, past lives and what’s up for the future. Yup! Spent a few bucks at Psychic Fairs both for fun and out of a deep rooted interest. More than a few predictions have come to pass. Believe it or not as Mr. Ripley must have said at one time, there are millions of people across North America who hold the same interests. In other words they would be interested in your Soul Journey promotions. But as always, first things first: have you investigated your own history as yet? How about your ancient DNA? I can tell you it is well worth the effort and cost if Soul Destiny travel intrigues you. The DNA testing through National Geographic is close to $199 USD. So not cheap. However, once you have invested in the test, the results are fascinating and can become a marketing tool for your Soul Journey tour
arranging service. My own results show me to be 46% Brit’ and 41% Scandinavian. So at some distant moment one Viking fella knocked on my great x many times grandma’s door!! Say no more. End product to this moment: ME! It would be something similar for you. But you see, if I was still selling travel then as of now, for sure, I would be creating tours to Scandinavia to visit, track, locate where my ancestors were from. A few long shots there of course but even to get close to it, is Soul Destiny Travel. It is an intriguing segment of the travel industry and as more and more people migrate around the world from where they were born, you will have more than enough future business as those same people search out their past. Start with planning your own Soul Destiny trip and then let your customers know what you are doing and watch the emails come in asking for more information and whether or not you can arrange ‘their’ personal journey / soul destiny travel.
Not all Soul Journeys are based on getting outdoors and looking for mystical places. So here we have a dessert as opposed to a desert. Yes! And would you believe there are people who have dreamt of dining somewhere – a certain café perhaps, attending a food function, bathing in chocolate, and learning how to cook at a well-known school in Europe or North America. Food is the stuff that keeps us going. It plays a huge role in travel. Here’s one for your fisherman clients both male and female. How about a Sole Journey to a place where they can catch the big one? There are plenty of graphics online and available for this type of travel promotion – like this one below. River trout I guess.
Soul Desserts Back to desserts and the soulfulness of them. Yes, there are tours of the world that focus on food, on desserts and on coffee and every possible combination of food and dishes you can imagine. This is one segment of Foodie Tourism that you can segment and decide which and what you prefer. Bake It, Make It, Eat It If this is a segment that you would like to enter then study up on the cooking schools around the world and specifically the area you specialize in. If you are a cook / chef yourself and you enjoy a specific culinary dish, then there’s your focus. And besides this is a travel segment that your clients will eat up.
But, back to the Sole Journey and the play on words such as: “Don’t let your dream fishing trip flounder! Be in the right plaice when the fish are running.” Now, where would a Sole Fishing Journey take your clients? Where would they go to catch that mystical big one? Perhaps you need to ask your fisher-clients. Once that’s done, you’ll have your Sole Food Fishing Plan ready to cast.
Go For Something Different So what would be different for your culinary clients and where could you take them on a Soul Journey related to food? You have to survey your clients to know the truth. Once that’s done, you are off and running. Done like dinner as they say. Start with a coffee and dessert tour of Europe. Go high end. Best café’s. Best hotel lobby café’s. Mix in some opera, too. Or, start with a trip south for some Louisiana Hand Fishing. That’ll git your foodie clients hooked on venturing further afield and I don’t mean for those happy mushrooms!
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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. Here’s the entire suite of issues with plenty of home-based selling tips. Click the image to view them online.
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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