How to Grow Your Travel Agent Client List

It took me 5 years to grow my agency past $1M/year in revenue. If I knew this, I could've done it way sooner: 1. Back revenue math into lead needs as early as possible. I wish I modeled out the exact amount of leads I needed to reach $1M/year way earlier. I explain more in the video, but the point is: - Understand your LTV (monthly rev per client x months stayed per client) - Divide Goal Revenue / LTV to find number of clients needed - Divide number of clients needed by 12 for number of new clients needed per month - Input close rate (assume 20%) - Divide new client number by close rate to find calls needed per month You now have the amount of appointments needed per month to reach your goal. You can back the email math into this, too. 2. Learning > profit at first Be prepared to make $0 early on. You want to learn as much as possible about what your client needs, how to make the service great, and how to keep them longer. That often means testing + investing in your service as opposed to taking profit. It also means giving clients an incredible deal in exchange for Step 4... 3. Deliver + refine. Before scaling, your service MUST be at a point where the results are perfect and undeniable. Without this, you can't do Step 4: 4. Collect as many case studies as possible Ask as many clients as possible—some of which you gave great deals to—for customer success interviews. These are Go-To-Market gold. Put as many of them on your site as possible (check ours for examples). If I did all of these on Day 1, I would've got to $1M/year in revenue way faster. Hopefully this helps you do it sooner!

Everyone wants referrals, but most agencies have referral programs that are as limp as a wet noodle. Here’s the thing: referrals are the lifeblood of many successful agencies, yet so many get them wrong. They think throwing a little cash at a client for bringing in new business is enough. But the truth is, a half-baked referral program won’t get you far. You need a referral structure that’s as solid as your service delivery. Here's how 👇 Step 1: Define Your Ideal Referrals First off, you need to know exactly who you want to be referred to you. Not all referrals are created equal. Start by defining your Ideal Client Profile (ICP). This ensures that your referral program doesn’t just bring in any leads but the right leads. Step 2: Create Clear Criteria and Rewards Your referral structure needs to be crystal clear—no guessing games. Outline exactly what qualifies as a successful referral and what the reward will be. And don’t just think in terms of cash. Sometimes, offering exclusive access to services or early access to new products can be more enticing. ➝ Example: “Refer a client who fits our ICP and get 15% off your next service or $500 cash. If they sign up for a retainer, we’ll double it.” Step 3: Make It Easy to Refer The harder it is to refer someone to you, the fewer referrals you’ll get. Simplify the process. This could be as simple as a dedicated landing page, a referral form, or even just a direct line for your clients to introduce you. Step 4: Educate Your Clients Your clients might not know how to sell your services as well as you do. Give them the tools they need—think scripts, case studies, or even a short video explaining how your agency helps. The easier you make it for them to talk about you, the more likely they’ll refer you. Things to consider: ➝Provide a referral guide with talking points. ➝Share success stories that highlight the value you bring. ➝Offer a quick 5-minute call to brief clients on how to make referrals. Step 5: Recognize and Reward Publicly Don’t just hand out rewards in the dark. Shine a light on those who refer business to you. Whether it’s a shoutout on social media, a mention in your newsletter, or a special “Referral Champion” status, public recognition can be a powerful motivator. A strong referral structure isn’t a one-and-done deal—it’s an ongoing system. Regularly revisit your referral program, tweak what’s not working, and double down on what is. Remember, the goal is to build a self-sustaining loop that keeps high-quality clients flowing into your agency.

Potentially the stupidest thing you can do to get referrals for your agency is try to incentivize existing clients to give them. That may sound ridiculous, but trust me - I’ve tried it all. I’ve offered clients a FREE month for a referral. Didn’t work. I’ve offered clients money off their next invoice. Didn’t work. I’ve offered cold hard cash incentives. Didn’t work. For years, I thought I could engineer referrals by dangling the right reward, but no matter how many “referral programs” I launched, they all flopped. Know why? Because no one recommends an agency because they’re getting a kickback. They refer because they had an incredible experience. One they want their peers to have, too. The agencies that get lots of referrals do these things: 1/ They create real results. The kind that makes a CMO look good when they recommend you. Because if your work doesn’t speak for itself, no incentive will change that. 2/ They make clients’ lives easier. Clients remember how it felt to work with you. Were you proactive? Communicative? Did they feel supported? That’s what drives referrals. So if you’re thinking about launching a fancy referral program — stop right now. And take all the energy you going to put into creating it into creating the best client experience you can. Are we delivering undeniable results? Is the client experience exceptional from start to finish? Are we easy to recommend? That’s how you build a business that grows through referrals.

A Thought for Travel Advisors From the Supplier Side (my side) In our industry, we often hear the same advice repeated: “Selling travel is all about relationships.” And it’s true, relationships are incredibly important. As suppliers, we value the partnerships we build with travel advisors every day. But relationships alone don’t close bookings. If they did, every friendly conversation between an advisor and a client would automatically turn into a confirmed trip. In reality, travelers today have access to more information than ever before. They can research destinations, compare hotels online, read reviews, and explore countless options before they ever speak with an advisor. So what makes the difference? Insight and guidance. Travelers aren’t just looking for someone friendly, they’re looking for someone who can help them make the best decision. The advisors who succeed the most are the ones who go beyond simply offering options. They help clients: • Understand the real possibilities for their trip • Avoid common mistakes • Discover experiences they might not have considered • Navigate the overwhelming number of choices online In other words, they act less like order-takers and more like trusted experts and problem solvers. This is where travel advisors shine. A strong relationship may open the door with a client, but expertise, perspective, and value are what ultimately earn the booking. From my perspective as a supplier and partner, the advisors who grow the fastest tend to focus on: • Asking thoughtful questions about their client’s goals • Sharing insights from their experience and network • Recommending solutions that truly fit the traveler’s needs • Being honest and transparent when guiding decisions When advisors consistently bring that kind of value to their clients, trust develops naturally. And when trust is present, the relationship becomes much stronger than simple familiarity, it becomes a professional partnership built on expertise. So yes, relationships absolutely matter in travel. But the most powerful relationships are the ones built through shared problem-solving and great guidance. When advisors focus on helping travelers make confident decisions, something interesting happens: The bookings follow. And the relationships grow even stronger.

Existing clients are 5x easier to grow than new ones. Yet most sales teams spend 90% of their time chasing new prospects. Your current clients already trust you. They’ve said yes once, which means the hardest part, “the credibility gap”, is already closed. And that’s exactly why they’re your fastest path to growth. They’re more likely to open the door to new services if you KNOW what doors to knock on. But here’s where most reps drop the ball: – They don’t have a structured plan for expansion. – They don’t run regular account reviews. – They aren’t asking the questions that uncover hidden pain or opportunity. So what gets missed? 1. New departments that don’t know you exist. 2. New stakeholders with new goals. 3. New budgets being allocated to problems you could solve. These are the conversations that build pipelines inside your current book of business. If you’re not exploring them, someone else will. The highest-performing teams I work with made one simple mindset shift: They stopped chasing every new logo and started going deeper with the ones they already had. That’s how you scale with less friction and more loyalty. Here’s an exercise: Pull up your client list today, what conversations haven’t you had yet? What other products/services do you have that your current client isnt aware of yet? What other departments could you add value to? Never assume your current client is aware of everything you/your company does.   Never assume your current clients are digging into your website to further explore your entire suite of offerings.  They are likely way too busy to do this - I heard a great mantra from a client the other day - “Our goal is to land it, then EXPAND it” They don’t “hope” to grow an account - they set a strategic PLAN to grow that account. It’s a simple mindset shift.  You can do it too. #growthmindset #upsell #buyerpsychology

Most operators are sitting on growth opportunities they already have. Every trip report. Every passenger manifest. Every birthday in your system. In this conversation, Greg breaks down something simple but powerful: take the data you already generate, merge it, enrich it, and turn it into action. A passenger flies on your Atlanta to DC leg. They’re not in your CRM. That’s not just a name on a manifest. That’s a potential future client. With the tools available today, you can: - Combine flight reports and passenger data in minutes - Identify who isn’t in your database - Enrich that profile - Send a thoughtful, personalized follow up No massive system overhaul. No new headcount. Just smarter use of what you already have. The operators who win won’t just quote faster. They’ll follow up better. Watch the full episode to hear how operators can use data, AI, and smarter workflows to improve charter sales outcomes: https://lnkd.in/gGGmhF7M

The most underrated LinkedIn growth hack? Profile views. Most people just see them and move on. I use them to get clients. Here’s how: My 7-Step LinkedIn System to Turn Profile Views into Paid Projects (with real insights + examples) 1. Write above-average posts → Not generic motivation. I share stories like “How I went from ₹2L to ₹15K/month to build my agency” — posts that start conversations. Tip: Add a CTA in every post to spark replies or DMs. 2. Use LinkedIn Premium Yes, it’s ₹2K/month — but one client is worth 50x that. It shows exactly who viewed my profile. These are warm leads. 3. Check profile viewers daily → If a founder, CMO, or marketing lead checks my profile — I don’t wait. I note their industry and see what they’ve been posting. 4. Send 10–15 personalized connection requests/day → “Hey [Name], saw you viewed my profile — would love to connect!” Or → “Loved your recent post on [Topic], we seem aligned — happy to connect!” 5. Start casual conversations → I never pitch first. I ask what they’re building, what’s keeping them busy, or drop a voice note. 6. Build a real relationship → One founder and I exchanged 6 messages over 2 weeks before I pitched. We closed a 6-month retainer the next day. 7.Pitch (only if it makes sense) → “Would love to help you with [service] happy to send over some ideas?” It’s not pushy. It’s aligned. You don’t need to go viral. You need to go real. Post value. Connect with intent. Follow up with empathy. And show up daily. That’s how you grow your agency, one real conversation at a time. Are you checking your profile views yet?

Some agency owners are panicking right now. 📉 Pipelines have slowed. 💸 A big retainer just vanished. 😬 “We need clients yesterday.” And I get it — when revenue drops suddenly, the instinct is to throw everything at the wall and pray something sticks. But the agencies that survive (and actually grow) during slow spells? They don’t flail. They focus. Here are 3 calm, strategic moves to make instead: 1. Reopen Old Doors with a New Hook Dig into your past client list — not with a vague “just checking in,” but with a sharp angle. Ask yourself: 🔍 What’s likely shifted for them since you last worked together? 🎯 What specific thing could you improve, update, or optimise now? 📩 Reach out with a tailored insight and a punchy suggestion. You're not asking them for work — you're showing up with value. Big difference. 2. Offer a “No-Brainer” Entry Point When budgets feel tight, decision-makers are looking for small commitments with high payoff. Create a starter offer that: ✅ Tackles one narrow, painful problem ✅ Takes less than a day to deliver ✅ Makes you look like the obvious next step Think of it as your “low-stakes, high-impact” intro service. It gets the ball rolling — and often leads to bigger work. 3. Borrow Trust, Don’t Just Build It You don’t need to reach everyone. You need to reach the right people — faster. So ask: Who already has your dream clients’ attention? 🤝 Team up with a complementary provider 🎤 Co-host a live session or training 📦 Build a shared resource that shows off your expertise You skip the cold-start and show up with instant credibility. That’s leverage. You can’t control the market — but you can control how you show up when it’s quiet. Don’t default to panic. Default to strategy.

This should really excite (and worry) agency owners. The top sources for client acquisition are referrals and word-of-mouth. My take: If this is true, this means a lot of agencies will either flourish, or perish. Because now organic trust is the strongest chess piece. If your primary sources of traffic and leads have been paid ads (and not organic WOM/referrals) you need to do these 3 things to create a pipeline of prospects: 1/ Firstly - ask. You don’t ask, you don’t get.  Pick your top performing campaigns, say you can replicate it for their peers. Tip: Ensure the work you’ve done is mappable, replicable and applicable for them too. 2/ Set up or enhance your referral scheme Make it so that the referrer gets rewarded too.  Nothing incentivizes like cold, hard cash, so be sure to share the joy. Tip: Have a ‘tiered’ referral scheme- the more they refer, the more they earn. 3/ Create relationships with industry partners Discover ‘partner’ agencies (i.e, same industry, but a different service) Work in symbiosis, funneling clients to each other best suited on your services. Tip: You can even cross-sell existing clients here to a different but related service. Image: AgencyAnalytics

When someone signs up for my newsletter, I ask them two optional questions: 1st: Are you a firm owner? 2nd: What is the biggest barrier to growth? The winner of the second question is clear. Most firms want to find more quality clients. I was the same... And had a front seat on the struggle bus. Landing one new good client was hard. Landing five clients seemed impossible. I was hyper-focused on 'finding clients' and didn't understand the required process. Finding clients is the result. Not the action. 𝟭. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲: ↳ Prepare Inbound + Outbound marketing. ↳ Meet in person or online ↳ One to one is good; One to many is better. 𝟮. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀: ↳ Provide marketing assets ↳ Nurture them with content about 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 problems. ↳ Social connections are good; Email lists are better. 𝟯. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀: ↳ Create Calls To Action to book a discovery call. ↳ Help them get to know you + the firm before 𝟰. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: ↳ Complete Discovery calls ↳ Send proposals to interested prospects. 𝟱. 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 These are the simple but not easy steps to find higher-value clients. First, get the systems and expectations right. Then, put the reps in.