Taking Better Care of Yourself and Your Clients

I recently attended a peer-to-peer session with some fellow agents, and we discussed how to better manage our time and resources. Here are some takeaways.

1. Don’t be afraid to charge those fees. Time is money. If, for instance, you do groups or weddings, you may actually work for 13 months without receiving a dime if you don’t charge those nonrefundable fees. You can certainly use discretion if they are repeat clients or provide you with good leads or referrals.
2. Rely on automation. Choose a CRM that works for your agency. Take advantage of the invoicing and email reminders. This will maximize your time and productivity. There is less room for errors when using this automation. Also, on your iPhone, there is text replacement that can save keystrokes for frequently used texts so you don’t have to keep typing out full messages.
3. Set business hours. Don’t allow clients to send you payments after 5 pm. Clients should not be calling at midnight and expecting immediate responses. When traveling, set your out of office with a reasonable response time. For those of you who work alone, give yourself grace and say you will respond within 24 hours. And yes, those out of office messages are important.
4. I ask my clients to please read their travel documents and acknowledge that they have done so. I state that the numbers listed are my in destination partners and they will be happy to resolve any situation in destination. Certainly, if it is something major, they can reach out to me, and I will assist. That also increases their confidence in the fact that you have a destination team in place. I personally do not book air with today’s current climate. Airlines can provide options in person, by chat or by Twitter. Yes Twitter.
5. Attend conferences and connect with other agents and share ideas on best practices.
6. Consult an attorney about your terms and conditions. There are several good travel lawyers. Make sure your clients either accept or decline insurance to protect yourself. If you are not using your supplier insurance, make sure you have a link with your preferred insurance company to share with your clients and receive commission.
7. Self-care. Please make sure you allow time for that. The travel industry has certainly changed and can take a toll mentally as well as physically.
8. Eat right, take time to exercise and give yourself self-care time. Have that mani and pedi. Get that massage, listen to music and don’t be a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation. Remember it is Hijra passion as well as your business. Taking care of you makes you better able to care for your clients. Run your business, don’t let your business run you.

With that, I’m going to drink water and mind my business.