How To Leverage Cross Selling & Upselling As A Tour Operator?
How-to • Tools + Software • December 18, 2017 • Rebecca
Once in a lifetime experiences are really attractive in the tourism world. But, sadly that’s the problem with these kinds of experiences; people only want to experience them once. So, how do you make the most of a booking without coming off as a sleazy salesperson?
You could try cross selling tours and up selling tour activities to score some major earnings per booking while still benefiting customers. Don’t worry these tips can be applied to regular tours as well. Let’s find out how –
What is Cross Selling & Up Selling tours?
In the travel industry, these are two very common practices. They are commonly used by airlines, hotels/ accommodation providers, rental companies and tour operators. Both terms are used interchangeably however they mean 2 very different things.
Tour cross selling involves selling additional items that are related to the product bought.
For example, you offer: –
- Pick-up services
- Waterproof cameras on rent
- An additional location to your city tour
Tour up selling refers to selling an upgraded/ more expensive version of a product.
For example, you offer: –
- 2 more locations in a city tour
- A luxury experience
Cross Selling with Tour Add-ons
1. Before the purchase is complete
The best time to request customers to buy more is when they have their minds set on purchasing. Booking engines like Vacation Labs, allow you to make the most of tour add-on options that are visible at the time of booking. These can include cameras on rent, meal options, pick up and drop off, additional locations or even days.
You could also include an option of luxury experience and explain what it will include. However, make sure you explain this option well in the tour overview so customers are informed.
Through your tour booking system, specify the tour add-ons you’re offering. You can set a limit to the add-ons per person for tour cross selling and up selling, based on their availability.
2. During the days leading up to the tour
Smart tour booking engines help tour operators send out personalised emails to customers as confirmation, trip reminders and post-trip feedback reminders. Make the best use the first two to include the tour add-ons customers might have missed while booking.
In addition to mentioning trip details through these emails, you can also include a line or two about your tour add-ons. For example –
- Don’t stress about finding us, we’ll come to you. Contact us at +91 8007828912 before your tour date to arrange your pick-up.
- Ditch the extra luggage and rent your requirements while trekking with us. We provide tents, blankets, raincoats and backpacks. Rent them out on arrival at just 199/- per item.
- Upgrade to the deluxe boat tour at just Rs. 10,999/-. It includes a chance to snorkel, enjoy lunch at Andaman’s finest hotel and unlimited refreshments.
3. Just before the tour begins
Before your tour starts, announce to your customers you have add-on services or products they can purchase or rent out. This will essentially help those who have forgotten to carry requirements for the tour or those who do not own the requirements for the trip.
For example –
- You’re a walking tour operator and your conduct day time tours. You can offer tour add-ons like hats or even water.
- Hikes in snowfall regions require special footwear, jackets, hats that can be rented out, you can provide these as tour add-on as well.
Up Selling Tours
1. Through a tour collection
Create a tour collection with your booking engine and include 3 variations of a city tour. You can provide information in the collection overview like below, and then allow customers to select the tour they’d like more information on or the one they want to book –
2. Through promotions
Through the use of promotions, you can slash the cost of high priced tours or moderately priced one. This gives customers a reason to check out your more expensive tours and reconsider going for the budgeted one. The Vacation Labs booking engine system allows you to create coupon codes and apply them to any of your tours.
For example –
- Basic tour costs Rs.2,000
- Moderate tour costs Rs.6,000 but Rs.4,500 after discount
- Exclusive tour costs Rs.10,000 but Rs.8,000 after discount
That not all, you can also use the pricing system to set up prices based on bookings made by a group of people.
For example –
- Rs.6,000 for an individual booking
- Rs.5,500 per person for a group of 4 booking
- Rs.4,500 per person for a group of 8 booking
Tips to bear in mind while Cross Selling & Up Selling
1. Sell something relevant
The add-ons you provide should be relevant to the tour. If you provide scuba diving images to people of their adventure underwater, it’s something people are ready to buy. If you sell photographs as an add-on for walking tours, no one will buy. They can manage this on their personal devices.
2. Keep your add-on options limited
Sure, people love options. But, add-ons are not your main business. It’s easy to get carried away and want to become the one stop shop for everything. However, if you focus on a few things you’ll be able to capture more purchases. According to Harvard Business Review, when it comes to making a purchase, more isn’t always better. It makes it inconvenient for customers to buy.
Keeping all these points in mind you can begin the tour up selling and cross selling process. Just remember customers want value. So, the more value you can add to their tours the better your earnings per booking will be.
Want to earn more? Check out these tips –
- How to re-engage customers for more sales
- 6 channels to sell more tours
- How to sell tours through captivating images
- 6 secrets to tour marketing success
For information from our experts, on how to improve your bookings give us a call or send us an email. Our contact details are here!
