For Sale: Four types of clients that you can keep | Travel Research Online

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For Sale: Four types of clients that you can keep

The world would be a much better place if we all were honest with one another. Think about that for a minute. Clients come in all types. Wealthy and poor, nice and mean, reasonable and unreasonable. But there are four generic clients that I can’t stand and at times, I think they gravitate to me intentionally.  Here are my four pet peeve clients.

Let Me Tell You What I Want Before I Change My Mind

You know this client. They come to you with some vague ideas about a trip. You prod and pull and you try to get out all the details. You use your resources to find the perfect trip that meets their desires, their budget, and their timetable. And then they ghost you. When you do finally get in touch, you find out that they ended up booking a trip online that was completely removed from the original discussion. I guess it was the black hole of the Internet.

I Really Need Your Assistance, But Don’t Want To Bother You

This client comes to you with pages of printouts from some online agency and needs help sorting it all out. You figure they have come to the realization that booking travel can be complex at times. You sift through the papers, sort through the connections and tours. You send them back exactly the vacation of their dreams. And then they ghost you. When you finally get in touch with this client, you discover that they really appreciated your efforts and they were very helpful but they did not want to “bother” you and booked “your” trip online.

I Have A Friend, But I Don’t Trust Them

Or the client that seems very interested. Allows themselves to be qualified. They are involved and asking the right questions.  The sale is progressing. They need a night to think it over and you call them the following day. And then they ghost you. When you finally get in touch with this client, you find out that their friend/sister/yoga partner dabbles in travel and booked the trip, but they just wanted to make sure they were right before committing.

I’m Sorry, The Number You Have Reached Is No Longer In Service

This client is the worst. You work together on a trip. It is all going well. You have a lot of back and forth working out the details. And one day you call to get one more bit of information. And they ghost you. When you finally get in touch with this client…wait….not this client. This one simply disappears. Emails are not returned. Phone calls go unanswered. Even a letter mailed has no response. Who does this?

I know that some of these can be handled with fees. But as we all know they are not universal and sometimes, they do not make sense. I wish I had the answers; but I don’t. And it is not unique to travel. I have seen it in some of my other interests.  Go figure. How do you deal with it? What are some of your pet peeves with clients?

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