Closed to Home Client Experience Course Overview

And I really want to tell you about my new course, which I just launched. It's only about 3 weeks old. I don't know who's doing my testimonials on this. I think Laura's doing one. Farren might be doing one. There's not a lot of you who have finished this course. Erica's finished it. Natasha's finished it. But I really want you guys to understand that after the sale, the business doesn't just stop. And a lot of you are like, okay, I sold something. Now what? Right? Or you don't have a workflow or you get buried and you don't know what you don't know about what's next. And you could be a veteran who spins and spins and maybe doesn't get the referrals they're looking for because their service sucks. If your service sucks after a sale, why would anyone come back to you? That is what this course is about. It is about continuing the relationship. The ROI on Close to Home is by far the best, in my opinion, because you're going to get so much out of it. It's also my least expensive course, and it teaches you how to treat your business like a service-based business instead of as a booking engine. We are not booking engines. We are not Expedia. We're not going to, you know, sell and go. And if you are selling and going, then you definitely need this. But it also means that you might not realize all the things that have to happen for you to retain and get referrals. So do you dream of building a travel advisor business where clients rave about your service and come back year after year? Are you tired of hustling for new leads year after year or month after month? Are you feeling like a glorified booking engine, somebody picking your brain and then booking and then, you know, not rebooking the next year or doing it on their own next year, watching clients disappear when their trip is finalized? Like, where did you go? Are you gonna make your final payment? Oh shit, I haven't heard from them in months. If you're ready to ditch the hamster wheel and create a thriving business of loyalty and referrals, this is the course for you. So that's what we're trying to figure out today. What are these courses? Are they right for me? They might not be.

I don't know.

The comprehensive program dives deep into the art of post-booking client care, equipping you with the strategies you need to transform every interaction. And I wanna be very clear here. This is my strategy. This isn't something that you're getting off the internet. This is something I created for myself to continue to build relationships and limit my client intake so I can work less than 20 hours a week. So do I teach you about boundaries? Hell yes, because we need them in the client care arena for sure. So for close to home, it's your key to unlocking the full potential of your travel business because it builds loyalty. And you want those clients going, oh my gosh, all my friends need to know about you. They are the worst when it comes to planning travel. They complain all the time, right? So loyal clientele that comes back, rebooks, they're rebooking practically the minute they get off the plane home with this strategy. So it just, and it makes it fun. Honestly, it makes it so much more fun because you get to know your clients better. You get up in their business, you learn about them, and it makes it easier to rebook them in the future. And you know more about them with each trip and the better it gets with each trip for you. So module 1 is badass boundaries. I started with that one because I know that's the number one fear. How much time is this gonna take? You know, those things. Post-sale relationship building ideas is module 2, but also the things you must be doing immediately after a sale. Like, do not stop at just the sale. Like, oh, checkmark, I put it in my CRM. No, no, no, no. You have to continue that relationship in those couple of weeks right after the sale. Intuitive service skills. So I talk about intuitive sales skills in the Propose to Close, but Close to Home is all about knowing when to serve the client and how to serve them well. Seamless travel. I do a countdown of 60, 30. Now let me clarify, this is more based around like all-inclusives, maybe Disney, but it works for FIT. You just have to know your own like timelines, like when do I need to collect final payment, and always kind of budget for that. So you might need to adjust. It might need to be 90 days until travel. It might be 45 days till travel, whatever it is. For that particular client. And in doing that, I have created a Trello board and I'm actually creating a secondary one that I'm going to upload soon for you as an additional resource so that you can get an idea of how to be— stay organized in lower cost resources. 'Cause I know a lot of you don't have the funds to invest in really high-tech CRMs or you don't have all the clients yet, right? So Trello is a great place to start. I really always try to offer lots of tools that are inexpensive to get started. And as a bonus, Mary Beth Lynn shows up as a guest and tells us all her tools and shows us how we can eventually have an assistant, how we can teach, like, build a business where we can get an assistant. That's really exciting. And then the final countdown, those last 30 days. Navigating the bumps in the road. You guys, a lot of you do not know how to do this. You're terrified of something going wrong. First of all, things are gonna go wrong. Second of all, not as often as you think. Third of all, always staying calm and really fully understanding their needs before spinning out of control. Like, don't let yourself spin out of control. How to keep control of the situation when things are going wrong. And then finally, follow up and loyalty. I talk about gifting, referrals, all the things that we worry about and what we should be doing after a sale and how to maintain that relationship after they get home and possibly even how to rebook them immediately. So it's a really girthy course for a very good price. I think it's, is it $347, $297? I don't know how much it is. Somebody else tell me. 7 step-by-step modules of my entire process from deposit to home, Trello workflow, board for you to copy for the client experience. And I literally mean just make a copy. You, you, it's yours. And I'm doing a second one. So I'm excited for that to get loaded in there. What I include in my concierge care, which is what I call myself, a concierge, once they have hired me. So I shift from being a travel advisor into a concierge after that. Email and text templates. We are still texting. We are still doing all the things. Printouts of modules 4 and 5 for easy reference. So it's, pretty much the Trello boards, but I wanted you to be able to easily print them out. Q&A workbook to help you think about your own process and what you could do differently. Think about why you haven't retained certain clients or why they haven't rebooked, or you saw them rebook on their own and it really upset you. Kind of going through that, what could I have done differently moment? And then of course, exclusive Close To Home Facebook group. This was something I almost didn't do, but I'm very happy I did. And we are supportive in there every day. Laura is going to tell us about her experience with Close to Home. I've been— I have been coaching Close to Home to her for several months, and so she obviously got the course and took the course, but she's also been practicing this for a little bit longer than the course has been released. Go ahead, Laura.

Okay, hi.

Um, yeah, I feel like this was, um, something I struggled with.

Who are you? How long have you been an agent? What's your niche? Sorry.

Sorry, sorry, I forgot. Okay, no, sorry, I'm happy this morning, um, because this shit was early for me. So anyways, um, I am Laura and I have been an agent since 2022, and, um, like beginning of the year, and so I guess 2 years now. Um, and I started with another agency that was like super small, like I just signed up online and it was like not a good agency. So when I started with Marcie, like, I switched agencies. Like, I was in the process of changing everything, um, when I started coaching with her. Um, I feel like this was something I didn't know I needed help with because I didn't know, like, this level of service existed. Um, I knew that it was something I wanted to do in theory because I started becoming a travel advisor because mine was awful that I had for my honeymoon. Um, like, not awful, but in the sense of she quoted me— like, we did everything over Facebook Messenger. She did not— follow up with me during my trip, before, during, after, didn't tell me anything about the destination, even with my travel documents, and said, here you go, this is it. And I know that so many agents do that. And it's, um, you know, I think that the mindset you get around, like, from taking this course will definitely shift who you are as an agent and what kind of value you provide. And it becomes so much easier to market yourself because you're like, I do XYZ. I know exactly what I do for you. I know that I provide service, you know, here, here, and here throughout your process. I know You know, before and during travel, this is all I provide to you. I provide this to you, you know, during travel specifically, and then even after travel, you know, you have your Facebook group course. You have your that they I mean not your course, your Facebook group that they stay connected in, and you stay connected with them on social media, and you you know somewhat become friends kind of for I have become friends with a lot of my clients because of the level of service I provided them, and because of the way they felt like they knew me after you know providing a travel. Travel advisor service, and I cannot you know say the same in my own personal experience. And so that was what drove me to become an advisor in the first place. Definitely kind of my why. So I really enjoyed this course like being a thing because I think that it's something that so many agents don't realize that they're missing this piece of the puzzle. It is just as important as selling if you're selling, but then you know you create a bunch of expectations, and then you don't really know what to do after you're kind of spinning your wheels. You're sending maybe you know like a TikTok here and there or whatever, or you're sending like a, maybe, um, you know, a travel guide before, but you're not really connecting with them, you're missing so many opportunities to, you know, get future business from them, get referrals, to also like just build that connection in general. Um, there's no better way to do that than during their vacation. And that's really gonna— that's what's gonna build their opinion of you more than whatever they bought from you. Um, it's gonna shape their opinion about you as an agent and the service you provide, and it's going to really set you apart from other people as well. You'll be able to say, I do this. So many agents, you know, will say they don't, you know, book airfare, for example, don't do certain things. You'll be like, I do everything for you. I provide white glove service. This is how I'm different from other people. And this course teaches you how to do that. Um, and so I really— and it also teaches you how to decide who your niche is going to be. And you may come into the course thinking your niche is one thing, and then you come out and you're like, oh, I actually want to do something completely different. So I think that, um, is something really important to remember too. Um, I stayed with my same niche, but I feel like, you know, a lot of people do end up narrowing down more, and that is helpful. So I feel like, um, yeah, that was my experience so far. And the modules are really easy to digest, um, because they break everything down so in depth because it is like one of her, um, it's a little bit small. It's kind of about the same size as like Facebook Groups course. So it's super easy to digest. And, um, it's something that takes time to practice, of course. So you'll, you know, experiment over time and you'll need to come back to this course and all of her courses time and time again. So I feel like this is something that, um, Really teaches you how to set yourself apart.

I love that. Does anyone else want to talk about Close to Home? I honestly cannot remember who I asked, and it was like last minute yesterday trying to get people to come in. I think Sierra mentioned she would be there, but it has been 2 hours, and I expect some people had to hop off. Does anybody else want to chat about it?

I'm here if you need me to talk.

Oh, I do. I would love to hear a new voice.

I love it.

Thanks, Laura, for sharing. You always have so much goodness to say. Sierra, welcome. Thank you for coming. So you, you have completed Close to Home?

Yes.

Well, tell us about you and what you liked about it, if you liked anything.

Yes, I'm Sierra. I've been an agent for about 2 and a half years. Um, a lot of my business now is repeats and referrals. So when I first saw that it came out, I was kind of like, well, do I really need this? Like, I'm, I feel like I'm doing pretty good, but there was like something, a part of it that I was like, I feel like I could probably still do better or like tweak what I'm doing because what I was doing before was very like automated. I actually did like a free course before and I, I got a lot of things from that and some of that does overlap with what I've learned in your course as well. But I definitely found that your course is very much more personalized to each client, which I like. It is a little bit more work on my end, but I know that if I was on the other end, That, that's what I would want. I wouldn't just want like a generic email that I know everyone else is getting. So, um, I did your free version of it first and I was like, okay, I need the, I need all the things. So I ended up buying like the actual course. Um, my niche is like all-inclusives, Caribbean and cruises. And then I'm also kind of getting into Italy and Greece a little bit.

Mm-hmm.

Um, because I've had a lot of requests for that lately. Um, so it was, it was definitely helpful for that because like I said, I've been able to personalize things a lot more and not just like a generic, like, your vacation's in 30 days, this is what you need to know for your area. Like, I've really narrowed it down to like the specific resort that they're going to and, um, the specific area that they're going to and things like that. So I think that's been super helpful because my clients, a lot of my clients book very far in advance. Like pretty much everything I've booked this year is for next year. So I was having that kind of disconnect of like, okay, I don't—

oh, uh-oh, we lost her. We lost her. Okay, girls, I'm sorry about that. I don't know what happened to her. I can talk a little bit if you'd like. Okay, Farren, go ahead.

I knew that was gonna happen.

Oh, she's back. Okay, she's back. Yay.

Can you hear me? Yeah, I don't know what just happened. My internet just like cut out on me.

That's okay.

Okay. So yeah, so a lot of my clients are about a year out. So I was like, well, what am I gonna do in between this time and their final payment? Because it's not due for almost a year. So this course definitely helped me kind of close the gap on that because I didn't really know how to tell people like, hey, there's not really a lot for me to do in this year. Like obviously I check in at certain times to do excursions and to see if they wanna upgrade and things like that. But I don't want people to feel like I just booked and then like left them be. And I wasn't preparing people for like, hey, you're probably not gonna hear from me for a while, but this is what you can expect and when. So that was super helpful. And I've found that my clients, although I only took this course, I think it's been maybe 2 weeks ago, 3 weeks ago at the most. Um, I've found that they're like, okay, like they know what to expect and they're not just like, okay, she left me out to dry after she took my money kind of thing.

Yeah.

So people are like, okay, I appreciate you like letting me know, like when I'm gonna hear from you. And I always let them know, obviously, like, if you have questions, reach out, but I'm most likely gonna answer a lot of your questions, you know, in the, in the coming months. But I don't wanna give you an information overload because you're not traveling for a very long time and you're gonna forget. So I've definitely found that to be helpful. And then I know you talk about like adding clients on Facebook, and I was like super nervous to do that. I've, I've had a lot of clients like request to be my friend on Facebook, but I'm always like, I need to keep that separate and I'll invite them to my Facebook group instead.

Mm-hmm.

But now I've like started accepting those friend requests and like I get to see more into their life, which is super interesting because first of all, I'm really nosy and I want to know what's going on in people's lives anyway. But, um, so that's just been really helpful as well. So like I said, just very much more personalized than what I was doing before. And I think I'm able to prepare my clients and give them like expectations that before I wasn't really giving them. So that's definitely been helpful. Even though, you know, I had a lot of people coming back to me and referring me because I do feel like I provide very good service. I feel like now it's kind of like leveled up and they're getting even more than what they were getting before. So they all really appreciate that. I've actually had, right after I took the course, I had people traveling like the next week. And it's people that I like, usually I don't text people on their trips or anything like that because I'm like, I don't wanna bother them. But I also found that I wasn't ever getting like If people, if people had things that were really good or weren't going as they thought they should on either, either end of the spectrum, like people just weren't telling me that because I think they thought that they shouldn't text me while they were on vacation.

Right.

And I made sure that I was like reaching out because they were there for a week. Like I reached out several times and I actually got more information of like what they enjoyed about where they were at and the excursion that they went on and how they really enjoyed that. And it wasn't just like a, oh yeah, it was good. Like I actually got like Actual feedback. So that was helpful for me too, which will help me kind of help my future clients as well. So I've definitely found a lot of value in it for sure.

Hey, thank you, Sierra. I'm really appreciative that you were willing to share that. And yes, we text our clients while they're in destination through the closed-to-home testimonial because you are not with them. You have to connect and they will be used to it by then if you're using these strategies, but also If at any time you have outstanding clients who are about to travel, you can still say, hey, while you're away, I plan to do the X, Y, and Z, and just tell them. And if they don't want to respond back, they're not going to respond back. But I can tell you that 9 times out of 10, people are really appreciative. And just as an example, right now I have someone in Italy, and she has missed a couple trains because trains have been canceled, the missed connections. She's just brand new to being in Europe and wasn't sure what to do. And she reached out to me, and yes, it was early, but what I've been able to create is this openness where she feels comfortable actually asking for help instead of spinning her wheels at the train station not knowing what to do. And I was able to quickly walk her through how to get that fixed and how— and then was able to reschedule her transfer. All through WhatsApp in a matter of 20 minutes. And the thing is, is you're not in touch with these people before they go and they get there. Why would they think they can suddenly reach out to you? I no one reads their travel documents, y'all. No one. They don't read the number. They don't know where to find it. So when you're making these assumptions, oh, I sent them that. They have that. You're doing a shitty job. Like I'm gonna be real frank here. If you are not stepping into that role, they are going to remember when the shit hit the fan and you did not help and you pointed them to a doc. So that they don't know where it is in their bag, let alone how to find it on the piece of paper. So I need to be real real here. They will always remember when you don't help them at the airport. They will always remember that you pitched them back to somebody else to fix their problem, even though they hired you to help them. So that is all, by the way, they will remember about the trip and about you. They're never going to remember even the VIP service that you may or may not have done. But if you did happen to do something. They're still gonna remember that you told them to go talk to the gate agent instead of giving them solutions that might actually get them on another plane before they have to stand in that 3-hour line. So I want you to take this seriously. The service side of our business is what actually creates our business. It's what creates our reputation in this business. It's why people come back. It's why people say Marcy is the fucking best, and I don't I don't. To me, I'm not literally wearing white gloves, but they think this is how all travel agents are because that's who I stand up to be. So I need you to know how important this is because this is what has gotten me to a million-dollar business in 20 hours a week. People who come back, they spend more money. They enjoy the process of being booked. They don't—they trust you. They—they know you're gonna be there for—for them. One of my clients called me the magical travel genie last week. I was like, oh, that's a new—that's fun. I like that one. That's really fun. And she's like, I don't know how you do it, but you just do it, and it always seems to work out. So take this course seriously. Does anybody else want to talk about closed to home?

Good.

Okay, I really appreciate you guys being here and just going through all of this with me today, but we do want to go over a few of the FAQs that I get about Close To Home. Is it time-consuming to be a high-level service agent? It can be, especially if you're carrying $1 million in sales. You know, it can be a lot, but if you're managing it through a workflow system and/or you have help, if you have an assistant, it is not time-consuming because you can literally pass that workflow over to them. Now, if you're like, I don't have an assistant, I can't afford an assistant. Okay, I totally understand. That is why the workflow Trello board is so key because it'll tell you when to do things and you don't have to be doing them until that day. But you'll figure out what works for you, where to plug it in on your workflow, where to plug it in on your calendar, and then how to manage those clients when they're in destination. Even if you don't wanna text 'em all day every day, there are checkpoint times. It's not like, Every single day you're bothering them or whatever. It's all about the time block. It's all about being organized and knowing what is next. And if you know what's next, you have a lot more control over your business. And if they know what's next, they're not gonna be calling you at all hours of the day. You eliminate so much of that random call or that random text because you have told them what to expect. Now, there are always gonna be higher maintenance clients throughout the experiences we have, and we can't predict everybody's behaviors. But what we can predict is the more they know, the less questions they have. Or if they know you're going to be reaching out and please do what you say you're going to do, please reach out and do the things you said you're going to do. Who's this course for? Every single person who has ever sold a trip. They need this service, you guys, if you want them to come back. We are not Expedia. We do all the things, not just half the things. And yes, I do charge fees. And yes, to me, my time is covered. I love to offer this service, and I do have limited clients per week because I charge a fee. And that is the part of it. I say, you know, this is what I'm selling you. I'm selling you this white glove service, not just on the research side, but on the concierge care side too. My fee covers all of that. You don't have to charge a fee, but I will tell you, providing higher levels of service should come with a fee. It just should. If you're going to be there for them in this high white glove experience, it's not— it shouldn't be free. Now I know a lot of you are not comfortable with fees yet. I understand that. I'm just telling you that when you're providing this level of service, it's okay to charge a fee. And then how much of my biz— I get this a lot— is repeat business? I would say booking 95% of my spring breakers from this spring break for spring break already within the last couple of weeks is pretty much my entire business. I call it the dental effect. Like, you need your vacation every single year, maybe every 6 months. So when you get off that plane, I immediately make an appointment with you to start talking about your next trip. Sometimes you book it while you're on vacation now because we are so close and texting, and I know where you want to go next year. So let's get that $400 deposit down. They're already spending money. Sometimes I get that deposit while they're away. I have either— I'm, I'm about 100% referral and repeat now, and I am only after April only working with repeat clients. So if you're a new client, I'm not going to be taking you on the rest of the year. So that's how my business has gotten to a place where I can say absolutely not, I don't work with new people. And even if I get a referral, I'm now going to be referring them out after April. So a lot of business, a lot.