How Desperation Is Killing Your Travel Sales (And How to Fix It)

Hey there! Welcome to the No BS Travel Advisor. This is the solo edition. Just me, Marcie Muensterman, my mouth, my mistakes, and the real stories from 19 years in this wild-ass industry. There will be no guests here. No censorship, no filters, just the truth behind how I burned out, rebuilt, and finally learned to run this business like the CEO that I am. And if you're an independent advisor who suspects your host might suck, hate Working for free and appreciates a well-placed F-bomb, you're in the right damn place. So let's go. Hey y'all, welcome back to the No BS Travel Advisor Podcast. I am Marcie Muensterman and it has been a crazy few days. Last week I had 10 live event calls for one-on-one coaching. I hosted the legal page and she gave us the most insane 2 hours of packed literal legal advice based on the questions you were asking. And I won't lie, it validated so much of the coaching I give you despite not being a lawyer. The information she shared very much aligns with the coaching I give. And she is just an incredible person dedicating her time to educating service providers like us on all of the different ways we need to be protecting ourselves. I wanna share just a couple of things I personally took away from the conversation. She said travel advisors in general use the words terms and conditions wrong, and terms and conditions are simply what goes into an agreement. The clauses that go into an agreement are the terms and conditions of said agreement. And it seemed like there was a lot of confusion in what needs to be listed on your website versus what kind of agreement you have your travelers sign when they're going on a trip with you that you've researched and booked for them and placed a deposit on. The agreement, you're using that word agreement interchangeably with terms and conditions, and it's really confusing what that actually means. So let's get it straight. You need 2 sets of quote unquote terms and conditions. You need one terms and conditions for your website that is across the board. Every single website, doesn't matter if you're a travel advisor or just have a website, any website at all has to have its own privacy policy and terms and conditions to be lawfully in alignment with the expectation of being on the web. That is different than the terms and conditions that you would have a client sign, which is actually a client agreement slash contract. And LegalPage offers both of these resources on her website. And I highly encourage going to her website, reading her blogs, signing up for her newsletter because she gives invaluable information to all service providers. But if you're a travel advisor, she has specific emails that come to us that give us lots of great tips and ways to protect yourself from being sued, as well as having the right legal setup to run your business, including hosted groups. She has a groups addendum that you absolutely need. There are some lawyers out there telling you you don't need an extra addendum to host groups, but I absolutely disagree. And I was glad to hear that Paige agrees that you need that extra protection. Especially if you are taking people on a trip. But no matter what, you wanna have different addendums to your terms and conditions depending on the niche that you specialize in. If you're a destination wedding specialist, that group addendum is gonna look very different than if you are hosting a cruise group on Virgin Voyages. So make sure that you have all your legal foundations set up before you really even start selling. If you are trying to use your host's terms and conditions, please make sure that they actually align with your business and have a lawyer review them to make sure you are actually covered by those terms and conditions slash agreement. And if you don't understand what I'm talking about with the website stuff, please go to LegalPage and do your research on what kinds of laws you have to follow if you have a website. And if you are using your host or travel agency's website, they need to be in alignment as well. Don't assume that your host or travel agency has your back. If you are operating as an independent contractor and you have filled out a W-9, then you need to take care of your business needs all the time. I would not trust a travel agency or host to protect me. And in order to do that, you need to have your LLC, your EIN, a business bank account. Your own agreements, your own credit card authorizations, your own legal foundations. What else is going on? My husband retired from corporate America 2 Fridays ago, and now he is a stay-at-home dad. Y'all, this is so crazy to me that our family dynamic has changed so much in the last few years and Probably this time last year, we started really discussing how we wanted the next 5 years to go because our children are in high school now. And one of the things we have learned from parenting that feels obvious, but doesn't always really impact you until later is the fact that these years are short. And we are doing it different because we really want our children to have us at this most dynamic time in their lives. We want to be available. We don't want to miss softball games, criminal justice tournaments. We really want to be available to help them study and learn how to navigate becoming an adult that contributes to society. And that can be really tough when both parents are working full-time and only one parent is really fully available to the kids. And for the longest time, we have had traditional roles in our marriage. Eric has always been a provider. He's worked So hard in corporate America. He rose to the ranks of vice president and corporate America is tough, y'all. It is exhausting. It takes more than it gives. And in the last couple of years, we've had a new opportunity to readjust what that looks like for our family. And if staying in corporate America is the right choice and it just hasn't been the right choice for us. We went on a date night and we talked and we decided that He is going to take at least a year off from corporate America and take care of our family. Jude is still not driving and she has a crazy schedule. She is on the volleyball team for JV high school and she plays softball an hour away during the week. And it has become just really hard for both of us to work. And I love my coaching career. I love my travel agent business and It does not make sense for me to give those up to make this work. So we discussed it and Eric decided to leave corporate America. So excited about what's to come. If you are new around here, you may not know that Eric is a master engineer and he can build anything. He has a vision. I've always thought he could have the most successful handyman business. He can literally fix anything in the house. He has HVAC tech. background. He went to Purdue and graduated with mechanical engineering degree, and he has been in construction, general contractor for major builds all over the Southeast region, but also in Indianapolis where we came from. He's always been a great dad and a good husband, but not as available as he's always wanted to be. And this allows us to try something new, and he's also going to be in the background. Of the No BS Travel Advisor business, where he's going to help with pulling reports and number stuff and spreadsheets, stuff I avoid like the plague. And I'm just thrilled. I'm so happy for our family. And for those of you who have reached out and celebrated with me, I really appreciate you. He is nervous. I am nervous, but we're gonna have a good time this year. Change is good, you guys. Change empowers us. Change makes us who we are. We cannot be the person we are right now without the person who came before us. And you can't make decisions about your future without the data that comes from the past. We've been talking a lot in coaching one-on-ones about failure and trying and imposter syndrome and just needing to close the sale and get more clients and client acquisition. And we talk about it every single day in the Maximize Your Travel Advisor Business Facebook group. We are really discussing client acquisition as well as filling groups in my hosted groups free group. Ugh, say that 5 times fast. And what I can tell you is that a lot of travel advisors are desperate. They are desperate for the sale. They are desperate to fill their groups. They are desperate to make this work. And that Desperation is holding you back from leveling the fuck up. There is nothing worth being desperate to get to your next stage of business. There's nothing about desperation that's attractive. It can be smelled. We all know when someone is desperate. We can read it. We can see it. We can hear it. And the everyday consumer is not stupid. They know when you are more desperate than you are giving to that situation. They know you care more about the sale than their needs, especially if you are focused on budget more than anything else. One of the most ick things that I see in our industry is that pure desperation of sharing quote unquote good deals on your social media every single day, constantly trying to get someone to just book that 30% off Royal Caribbean cruise or that childfree, which isn't ever really childfree, by the way, spring break trip or the cheapest all-inclusive package that Vacation Express is offering. Please stop. Please stop. I'm asking. I'm begging. I want you to stop being focused on the money for not only your client's sake, but for your own sake. I am here to help you make money. I know there is so much money to go around, but if you're going after that money in a desperate fashion, you are embarrassing yourself. If all you can think about when someone posts their family vacation to Disney on your feed is that they didn't book that for you and you lost commission, you are not focused on the right things in your business. And if you believe people owe you their business, you are not in the right business. Sales has to be earned through trust and what you give to your community. Last month we read Go for No. It is a novel, 80 pages. You can listen to it on Spotify Premium for like, it's like 80 minutes long. And it is exclusively about a man. who become successful going after the no, chasing the next no, I'm not interested. No, not going to buy that from you. He writes this book from the perspective of a man who's looking back on his life and how he got to be in the position he is in. And it is such a great visual on all sales businesses, not just travel, but All sales. And the idea is the more people you talk to, the more people you share your business with who are not interested, the more you will find the ones who are. I talk to you guys a lot about the 80/20 rule. 80% of your business will come from 20% of your network. And that rings true across almost every industry. Relationships absolutely matter in the type of sales we are doing. We don't work in corporate America. We don't get leads because of the name of the company we work for. We have to build that from the ground up. Salespeople who work in corporate sales have a different kind of way to get leads than those of us who are building something from scratch within our network. The one thing we do have in common is having knowledge and being willing to have conversations and share our knowledge with our aligned clients. The other thing corporate America has done well when it comes to business is niching. It's finding a space that needs to be filled and filling it and then selling a product that goes in that space. And one of the things y'all are not good at is niching. You do not want to be specific about what you sell or who you sell to. And in doing that, you're shouting into a void. That makes it harder for you to close sales because you can know a lot about one thing, or you can know a little about many things, but knowing a little about many things is harder work. When you're chasing every sale and not every no, you're chasing every sale and I'll do that for you and I'll do that for you. And I wanna help you with that. And I can book that in Vegas and I can do this over here in Europe. And I'm an all-inclusive expert. Oh wait, no, I'm not. I'm actually, I'm studying Asia. When you are everywhere. You are nowhere. Your marketing is confusing. You are desperately trying to get somebody to pay attention to what you're saying. You are not knowledgeable in any one thing that makes anyone trust you. And you don't give back. Most of you who are desperate for the sale are also not willing to help anybody at all in the comment section of any group I see you in. I am in a lot of groups and I see a lot of advisors. And it is a pick-me, hey girl atmosphere that makes all travel advisors look insane. It really does. Instead of helping that person, answering questions without expectation, you're like, I'm a TA. I can help you with that. DM me or I'll DM you. I'm like, stop, stop chasing a sale and help the person. If somebody says I need a travel advisor and that's all the post says, then Say, what kind of travel advisor are you looking for? What kind of vacation are you looking to take? So that you can even determine how to help them instead of DM me, I got you. I can book that. I'll— how do you even know what they want? And then if somebody comes in and they have an issue, a concern, a question, answer the fucking question. Answer it. Give the answer. And then say, if you want to learn more about this, join my Facebook group. Or head to my Calendly and we can have a complimentary consultation. But answer the actual question asked. Stop gatekeeping information that is available to every single person. Give the answers to the people in these travel groups. And if you're not in travel groups and you're in other groups or you're in other spaces, give the answer. What's your favorite restaurant in your hometown? Who do you go to for the dentist? When does softball tryouts start? Answer the questions. If you know the answers, answer the questions. Don't just scroll on by. Become a part of your community. Be less desperate for just the sale. Stop joining book clubs just to sell travel to them. Stop volunteering at school just to sell travel. Make sure you're doing it for the right reasons so that you can build relationships and possibly sell travel eventually. Desperation in our industry is rampant, and it is easy to fucking spot. If you are with an MLM and you are like, why would you book your own travel? You should be making commission. Stop. It's gross. It's gross. This isn't even about travel anymore. It's about how many people you can recruit to your bullshit team. And those people think that it's easy to sell travel because you've given them this impression, and that person's never sold a thing in their life. And you don't know how to teach them how to sell. You only know how to teach them to convince other idiots to join your team. Stop, stop diluting the water of the travel industry with your desperation. It's getting old. And for those of you who are here for the right reasons, who genuinely want to help people with travel, you need to find your why besides finances. Why do you do this job? Get so specific. Be so selfish in your why. Know what gets you out of bed. And makes you do this even when it's crickets, even when no one is talking to you about the business? How are you obsessed with your business, but not desperate? It is a very interesting balance, but I can tell you it comes from the giving. It comes from the educational piece of our business. It comes from sharing without caring. If someone books with you, it is not about explaining how we get paid. It is not about sharing how much commission split you're on. That is not going to help someone understand why they should consider you as their travel agent. Okay? You have to be willing to give them the answers. And I'm not saying do all the work, give it all away, and then they don't book. I'm saying if there's just a quick question, answer it. If they want more. Send your link. Send your Calendly link. Getting into an appointment-only model, not desperate. Why? Because it puts the ball in their court. If they make an appointment, it's their decision. It's not you sending quote after quote after quote in the PMs until they just ghost. And then you're like, I worked so hard. Why would you work hard in the DMs like that? Make someone make an appointment. Give an answer. If they need more, Make an appointment with me. I am happy to chat and see if this is a good fit for my business and a good fit for your vacation. Being someone's travel advisor is a commitment. It's a relationship that goes beyond the book it button. So making sure you really like somebody and that they really like you, and this is a good fit for both, is super important. And it makes you a lot less desperate. It shows that you don't take every client. It shows that you aren't Chasing the sale in the fucking DMs, trying to be the cheapest of all the TAs that they're texting with right now, competing with Costco. Please stop. It's exhausting you. It's part of the reason you're burnt out. It's part of the reason that the majority of brand new travel advisors do not make it past the second year because they are not taught how to actually build relationships and how to value their time. The more you value your time, the less desperate You immediately are. And if you enter every consultation call with, I gotta get this booking, I need them to say yes, you are likely not actually paying attention to what they're saying they want in this conversation and you've lost them. Y'all, you may think you're hiding this. You may think that you're warm and enthusiastic, but prospects have an innate primal radar for desperation. They can smell it and hear it in your voice when you're on a call. When you need their deposit more than you care about their trip or about the experience you are giving them, it literally smells gross. But authority, confidence, that smells like expertise. It smells like professionalism. It smells like somebody who cares about what they want. You have to loosen your grip on your lead acquisition. It's literally this crazy tightness of just like, if I don't get the sale, I'm not gonna be able to do this anymore. Oh my gosh. It's the biggest reason you are not closing high-value vacations. You have to fix your energy. You need to become an excellent qualifier. Consider niching. To one or two destinations, becoming an expert in specific resort brands, and your business model will get stronger. It will be more sustainable over time to become known for qualifying and matching people up to the right hotels, resorts, cruises, destinations, tours, types of transportation. I know you feel like you are constantly in competition. Somebody told me the other day there are 6 other travel advisors in her neighborhood. So it's absolutely saturated. How does she break free? It's not saturated unless there's only 6 houses in your neighborhood. It's not saturated. And even if there are only 6 houses, it's not saturated because there's a town outside that neighborhood. There's a city outside that town. There's a state outside that city. There's another state on all 4 corners of that particular state. Unless you're Florida. You get what I'm saying though, right? There are millions of traveling people in the United States and Canada and England and Australia and wherever you are listening from. There are millions of people. And if you truly believe that the whole industry is saturated, why are you here? I can promise you, if you are willing to trust yourself first, lead yourself You can have a piece of the pie. You're deserving of the piece of the pie, but you gotta loosen your grip, bust through the imposter syndrome. Believe this is possible for you. Did you know only 23% of travelers actually care about budget as their top priority when they are booking a vacation? 23%. So that 23% can go find it elsewhere. Go to Expedia. They can go to Costco. They can go to cheapcaribbean.com. Those are not your ideal clients. That leaves 77% of the traveling population that doesn't care about budget as not only their top priority, but their top 3 priorities. Why? Because a person who hires a travel advisor is looking for an expert. They're looking for somebody who understands what their needs are and offering them a vacation that meets those desires. And that comes at a higher price point 9 times out of 10. This isn't to say that you would ignore the budget. It is that you will focus on what's actually important and stop making budget so important. You need to step away from that mindset that budget is the only thing that most people care about. It's not. You absolutely need to train on the resort brands, the destinations, and the things that matter to your aligned client. Quality, experience, seamlessness, and the whole vacation. It starts well before they ever pack a bag. That experience you offer needs to have some standardization for you, but also so they feel taken care of. When you have a system and a process in place that leads to a seamless workflow for each individual client, that is how you build trust. But truly understanding qualifying the lead as the number one priority, which means listening to what they have to say and matching them to the right destination and the right hotel in that destination and the right tours in that destination. Far exceeds their need for the cheapest vacation. And you have to disconnect your internal financial needs so that you can actually show up for these people. Desperation operates in conversation like interruption, anxiety, hesitation. But if you think about how you communicate, how your voice sounds, and how you want to be perceived as somebody who actually wants to give this person an amazing trip, You have to think of it and envision it as holding a handful of dry sand. You're on this call and you're holding the dry sand in your hand. If you hold your hand open and flat and calm, the sand will just sit there. You can inspect it. You can check it out. You can move with it. But when you panic, start to overshare and desperately explain your services and Really talk too much. Let's be so for real. We all do this. You're squeezing your fist as hard as you can. That sand will squirt out all the sides in between your fingers. Within 5 seconds, your hand is completely empty. People are confused now. They're thinking, wow, she's really trying really hard over here. Ugh. When you squeeze, when you chase, when you bring up commission, like when you offer some random unprompted discount, your value Goes into the fucking dirt. The client will feel that pressure. The prospect will feel that, oh my gosh, chill out. They don't think, wow, this person is really dedicated. They think, why are they pushing so hard? Why are they explaining this like this? What's wrong with this offer? Pushing and pushing and overexplaining, the prospect will naturally pull back. to protect their autonomy. And too many of you run your sales process based on fear, based on assumption that the client or the prospect only cares about money rather than understanding the market research of the travel industry. So many of you assume that they want the cheapest price. You create content about deals. You use clearance, discount, budget verbiage in your content, and you wonder why you're only attracting tire kickers and cheap-ass people that wanna go on a $1,000 vacation for 7 nights. But less than 1 out of 4 people care about money first. 77% of travelers who hire a TA are looking for convenience. And time savings. First and foremost, they are typically so busy in their day-to-day life and they do not want to be scrolling and sinking hours of their life into finding the right property for them. And they also don't wanna trust Joe's cousin's neighbor who went on spring break 5 years ago. They want to trust someone and know that if something goes wrong, they can call a real human. They can text a real person. Who cares about it and will help them figure it out. Even if you can't fix it, you can help them feel better. They want access. Some of y'all have specialty access and they want those experiences. They want to find things that aren't on Google. They want to be upgraded and get early check-in and have breakfast included. And they don't want to have to negotiate with a hotel when they check in for that. They just want it and peace of mind. They want assurance that their hard-earned vacation PTO will not be ruined by a bad hotel room, poor service, shitty food, convenience, trust, access, and peace of mind. That is what 77% of consumers who hire travel advisors are looking for. So why are so many of you building an entire strategy of sales around saving $40? When you try to win clients by pointing out that you can save them a few bucks instead of focusing on their actual needs, they could get offended by that. I would get offended by that. When you make the assumption that all they care about is money, you could deeply offend someone. My client who traveled in July spent $57,000 and she could not find a travel advisor in her hometown to help her because they wanted to sell her a cheap Italian vacation. She learned about me at a barbecue from one of my past clients. And the first thing she said was, Marcie will definitely not sell you some shit. It will not be cheap. She charges a fee and she builds out an amazing trip. I wouldn't wanna know who she contacted in her hometown, but if I did know, I really hope they're listening to this. The deal is when you make assumptions about somebody else's purse, wallet, pocketbook, whatever you want to call it, you're doing them a disservice. You do not know what someone can afford until you properly qualify them on the vacation that they're describing. And if 77% of people don't focus on budget, why are you focusing on it? When you position yourself as a Discount Debbie, you attract discount clients. And sorry, Debbie, you know I love you. It just came to my mind. Discount. Consumers are traditionally also the highest maintenance, lowest loyalty buyers in any industry. They will demand most of your time, complain about the tiniest things, and abandon you the second another site or TA offers them a $10 off coupon. Those are not clients any of us want. So how do we escape this? How do we get out of our own mind that money is the biggest factor? And we just need to close that sale. If we can be the cheapest, we can close. Be a strict appointment-only, unapologetic qualifier. Most of you struggle when you treat those consultation calls or discovery calls or whatever you're calling them like an audition instead of making the call about showing your expertise and your authority in this industry. And I'm not saying constantly interrupt. To prove yourself. I'm saying when your prospect says something that you add value to that conversation by asking more qualifying questions, digging deeper on why this trip is important. When you demonstrate that you know the kinds of questions to ask and that you have enough knowledge to match them up with the right place for this vacation, they're going to feel secure because qualifying is not about being arrogant and being a know-it-all and showing that part of yourself, even if you are a know-it-all. It's more of, hey, let's talk about what that actually looks like. Qualifying is an act of deep professional respect for their time and your own, which is why going appointment only is such a key part of this process. That is why I wrote Propose to Close, because so many of you do not talk to your prospects. They do not hear your voice, the powerfulness of it. The professionalism of it. They don't hear you passionate. They don't see your face because you refuse to get on Zoom. And if they want something that you're not knowledgeable in, you like don't want to tell them that. Being honest also means acknowledging when you might have to do more research, or it might mean passing them to another expert. That is how you build trust. That is how you loosen your grip. Through authentic conversation and honesty. When you know something inside and out, and you're able to express that through passionate conversation and question asking, they're also going to feel that. And even if you're like, I wanna do this for you, but I'm not an expert in that destination. If you know where to go to get that, that is powerful too. And they will trust you if you can show that to them. You have to operate. With a mindset of service first, even if that means giving them up as a, as a client. It might mean sending them to a colleague who you know is a badass in that destination. That is not desperate. Releasing someone when it does not align, that is not desperate. So you have to talk to them about how they want this trip to feel, the exact experiences they envision. And if they're not sure, you have to be willing to give them a few ideas before you ever start quoting. If they bring up money, you have to ask, what is the most important part? Is it having the cheapest vacation or is it having a great experience? You have to be willing to ask that question. And you also have to stop asking for them to give you a number, a budget. This isn't to say you're not going to find out. You're just not going to ask them, how much do you have to spend? You're going to tell them how much a typical experience that they're describing costs. When you shift to that, you will be able to have a real conversation about priorities. But before you even get there, you have to know what they want. If they bring up deals and discounts and OBC, That's okay. That is an opportunity to say, is that the most important thing about your trip? The best deal, the onboard credit, because if it is, this may not be a good match. That is not desperate. You also wanna make sure that every single person who is making a decision or has a say in this vacation, whether it be because of finances or because of experiences, need to be on the call. For those of you who are doing group trips with multi-generational families or groups of friends, every single person who could derail the work you're doing needs to be on the call. And if they won't get that whole group on the call, it is going to be harder to close the sale. But if you get them all on the call, they're going to know you're not desperate, that you are patient with them to get it together. And that you need to build a relationship with every person who has the decision maker status. That is not desperate because that takes time. That makes it about so much more than the cheapest price. It's intentional. It's professional to talk to everybody. But if you are only talking to one person and they have to check with 5 other people before they can give you an answer. You will be chasing that. And 9 times out of 10, you will not close that deal. When you're on a consultation call, it is an opportunity to set realistic expectations for the vision they have for this vacation and the intended financial investment that they will be making. And that is what this is. It's an investment. If someone really wants that 5-star private villa in Amalfi during July, but they only have a 2-star budget because you ask about budget first instead of Telling them the budget for that, they are going to be so confused by the end of the call. Like, why did we talk about all this stuff when you knew my budget was so little? Build trust by educating them immediately. If they mention that they want an Amalfi Coast villa in July, interrupt kindly, not with know-it-all vibes, to say, a 5-star private villa in Amalfi for a family of 4 can be anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 a night. Is that the financial investment you had in mind before we go much further? We're not chasing the unfindable find, y'all. That is not desperate. You also have to be willing to find out if they will delegate some decision-making to you. I did this yesterday, actually. I have a great friend. She wants to go to Italy next summer with her best friend and her husband. She has a vision for this trip, and I have a vision for the trip. And one of the main things she wants is very off-the-beaten-path type of experiences. She does not want to go to the big cities. She does not wanna see the big sites. She does not wanna be wall-to-wall people. If you know anything about Italy, it can be hard to navigate from hidden gem to hidden gem. It's not to say it can't be done, but those transition days can be very long. And one of the places we were looking at is Puglia, and it is 7 driving hours from Tuscany. Now you can obviously take the train, but she doesn't like crowds. So we have to determine what is more important. Is the hidden gem 7 hours away more important? Than anything else, but also budgetary-wise, where are we at with 2 to 3 weeks of hidden gem properties in different communities around Italy? It's a larger budget. So we really had to talk about allowing me to make some decisions for her because she's never been. And I go every 6 months. That is the difference between somebody that just books a vacation that somebody else wants. And somebody who is consulting with them, who's advising with them, who understands their needs a little bit more than they do based on the experience I have in this country. And I straight up asked her in a text, hey, can I make some decisions on this? Do you trust me to make sure you're getting what you want? And she said, absolutely. I want you to make some of those decisions for me. If You're able to show with confidence that your decisions are usually the best choice, that first and best choice. That's not desperate. That shows that you're taking control for the betterment of this vacation for them. And that leads to mutual respect. They recognize that this is the process. This is your system. This is the fee that they have to pay. To get this incredible service that you're offering. We have communication boundaries. I don't respond to texts outside of my business hours. And some of my business hours change every day. Somebody asked me, how do you have business hours if they change every day? Well, my business hours are when I'm in the office. So I'll respond when I'm in the office. And I do. I provide that service. If you're traveling, obviously my business hours are flexible because I am there for you 24/7. While you're traveling. I also have incredible partners in destination for anything emergent in case I'm asleep. That's not desperate. When you have boundaries, that's not desperate. When you set rules into your business, when you have processes and workflows, that's not desperate. That's professionalism. That's not needing every fucking sale because people who don't respect Those things, they're not right for any of our businesses. If they want you to jump through hoops at all hours of the day, they are not the right client for our businesses. And you desperately people pleasing the shit out of them, that is not right for anyone's business. That leads to burnout and exhaustion. And that desperation will bite you in the butt every single time. If you enter every single conversation with, I have to close the sale, I have to make this commission. It will pay my mortgage. You have placed a massive emotional weight on the prospect and yourself. If you're new, it's going to take 18 months before you make enough money to pay a mortgage statement. It could take 3 or 4 years, actually. We have got to quit assuming that this is fast money, you guys, and they can feel it. I say that again, these prospects know when there's an emotional attachment to the sale. Because it manifests itself as like crazy shit, like talking too fast, completely just going off into an ADHD spiral, overpromising on any kind of deliverable that you cannot manage, like promising to find something that does not fucking exist. That is desperation. If you start to loosen your grip and you start to see your prospects as people to serve, your mindset relaxes, and that is the part of the business that becomes transformational. And that leads to more sales. That leads to more commission, but you've got to be okay going for no and talking to a lot of people about your business and trusting that the right people will find you as you honestly share about yourself. You have to be okay with being told this isn't the right fit for me. You have to look at failure as trying. You have to look for the rejection because when someone says no, or you say no to someone else, it filters out the wrong people and frees up time for the aligned client. If you're chasing every single sale, you won't even recognize when there is an aligned client sitting right in front of you. If you respond to every objection with an offer of a discount, cutting your commission, you are diminishing your value. But if you're willing to set boundaries, boundaries and talk to them about realistic expectations, and you are a qualifying master, the trust will be built. When you ask the right questions and diagnose their needs and listen, truly listen to what they're saying to you so that you can say, this is my idea. This is what I think will work the best for you. This is the budget for your vision. How do you feel about that investment? You change the way they see you. You are now seen as someone guiding them, truly advising them. And that is the foundation of a relationship, a trusting, honest conversation, even when it's not what they want to hear, especially when it's not what they want to hear. If a client or a prospect comes to you and says, I have this exact same resort and it's $300 cheaper on Expedia, can you match that price? A desperate response is, oh my gosh, let me check. I'll go see if my supplier can do it. I'm not sure. Like, is it apples to apples? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like some of you freak the fuck out about this. You go shopping around, you spend hours trying to find where this $300 is. Try saying Expedia is fantastic for just getting a trip booked. It really is mostly self-service transactions. And if you're comfortable managing all your own logistics and Figuring out where that room is located on property, any potential cancellations. I understand a lot of DIY travelers have great experiences, but if you choose to hire me, you aren't just paying for a room. I'm here to offer personalized, customized experiences outside of the room, find just the right flight for you for this trip, and my consortia often does offer Some extra perks like early check-in. I can check with my preferred partner network to see if I can get closer on the price. But don't forget my dedicated support. If anything goes wrong in travel, I'm here for you. Now, a lot of you might be listening to this going, I do say that, but how are you saying it? The other thing you need to be willing to say to them is if finding the lowest price online is your top priority, booking directly online is The best route for you and just leave it. That is not desperate. We have to be willing to let them go. That is what loosening the grip sounds and feels like. It is so important to loosen the grip on every single sale. And I'm not saying that in the background, you're not fucking going to look at Expedia and check to see if it's apples to apples. I'm saying we don't say it to them. We don't overpitch ourselves. Of course you have to share something. You have to say something, but the immediate response should never be that you're just, oh my gosh, going to go try to find a price match. And maybe it is a better price and maybe it is more important. Now you have that data. Now you know that Expedia is undercutting on this particular brand. Now you also know this client only cares about the money. And now I don't need to work with them ever again. That is not desperate. That is what I'm trying to get you guys to see. You also gotta quit ghosting the people you do send proposals to. So many of you are desperate to get that quote to them, but then you don't actually follow up. You have to stay in their peripheral the whole time. The sale happens at that point after they've asked you, yes, I am ready to hire you. I'm ready for the proposal and I wanna put a deposit down soon. When you determine deposit readiness, desperation doesn't look like following up too much. Okay. A lot of you are worried about looking salesy at that point when you really should be more salesy at that point because they've asked you for help. You need to set expectations. The more expectations you set, the more you have to come back to, and that is a process. So after you send a proposal, you need to shoot them a quick text to see if it was received. That is not desperate. That is service. And then say, I know our schedules are very busy. I am going to check on you Friday morning so we can get this booked by Friday afternoon before the weekend. Set expectations of what you are doing next and then do them. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please shoot me an email. Here's my email address. This means, hey, I'm here for you. I'm giving you some breathing room with this, but there's a deadline on this proposal. That's not desperate. That's a process. So where you guys worry about all these post-quote touchpoints, I don't. It's not desperate of me to follow up with you with a timeline arrangement. You told me you wanna book a vacation. You told me you were deposit ready, so let's get this done. That's not desperation. That's professional. That's expectation. That's knowing what's next. It's also making sure they understand that prices do change. Letting people know that prices do change, not desperate. Communication with your prospects is not desperate. It's how we communicate. It's what we say when we say it. It's understanding their needs to the point of mind-blowing service that comes way before the sale, building the trust the whole way through. And that trust can get broken at any point, even after the deposit is made. So you have to be so conscientious of your own behaviors. But I can tell you, if you continue to hold on to every little lead too tightly, it is pushing them further away. You have to be willing to refer them out, help and release, and walk away from the wrong client in your business. The, the people in your business who make your life harder. You have to stop treating everyone like a bargain hunter. The majority of people who hire us, They're not looking for the best deal. We have to be amazing qualifiers filtering all through everything they've said to match them with the right vacation. That is authority. That is expertise. That builds mutual respect. When they open that custom proposal and they're like, wow, she gets me. She understands me. I'm not even like, even for cruising, even for all-inclusive, guys, there is a right cruise and a wrong cruise. There is a right AI and a wrong AI. There is a right country in the Caribbean and a wrong country in the Caribbean for each of your clients. And if you mismatch them, they're not going to like it. And you have to be willing to detach yourself from the commission, release the outcome, stop overpitching yourself, overexplaining. On your very next consultation call, I want you to actively look for one valid reason why this lead might not be a good fit for you. Ask Tough questions. Set some clear boundaries. Share the expected timeline of when you need their deposit. Charge a fee. When you are charging fees, you're not desperate. You don't want everybody's business. You want business that values you. Have a workflow process without apology. Set business hours around everything you do. Practice The quiet confidence of being an expert who has a full waitlist, even if you don't have a waitlist. I can assure you, if you show up with confidence, with these things in alignment with your own mindset, being in a positive space, loosening the grip, holding the sand with an open palm, it will shift how prospects respond to you. When you aren't fighting and clawing for the business, In the DMs, when you don't have 1,000 appointments available on your calendar for the next 30 days, you become more in demand when you have less opportunity to get on your calendar. Bring your personality, bring your expertise, and remember, you don't have to have every single answer on the consultation call. You can say, I have to research that and I'll get back to you. That is being an expert. Somebody who doesn't just talk to talk, but actually says, hold, hold that thought. I have to research that. I'll be in touch. Leave your desperation for this commission at the door. I want you to be successful, but I am so tired of seeing your AI flyer with the latest Royal Caribbean sale plastered across my fucking Instagram feed. Nobody. Is buying a trip from that. And if they are, it is the wrong fucking client. I can tell you that. It is somebody who will make you constantly look for a better deal. And they will be the first ones to leave your ass when somebody else posts a better price or says they have a better price or offers an OBC. Stop competing around onboard credits and cutting commissions. Bring your truest self and be the person who adds real value through the services you provide. I can assure you that is when the flow of income is easier. And yes, it can still take 2 to 3 years. And often when you are operating from this position, it can take a little bit longer, but you won't wash out as quickly because you know who you are and you know your value and you like being in sales. And you like focusing on what's actually important instead of the money for both you and your client. I look forward to hearing what you think of this episode. I know there was a lot of stuff here and I know sometimes it feels like I'm trying to shame you, but I'm not. I'm genuinely trying to share from the perspective of over 20 years of sales experience in multiple industries that the tighter you hold on, the harder it is to actually sell. I hope you all have a great weekend. Love you. Bye. Hey y'all, this is the end of another No BS Travel Advisor podcast. Thank you so much for listening. I am Marcie Muensterman and I am not your lawyer. I am not your accountant. That is my disclaimer. I am a coach and mentor with 20 years of sales experience. And if you love this episode, please leave me a 5-star review because it means so much to me. If you have any questions, you also know you can hit me up in the DMs at any time. All right guys, love you. Bye! Bye!