News You Can (and Should) Use!
by Ken Hall

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TIA’s story included the following statements you should keep handy to help clients justify their buying decisions:

• On a scale of 1 to 5, travelers rate their overall health 1 full point higher while on vacation.
• Travelers say they get three times more deep sleep and sleep almost 20 minutes longer after their vacation.
• Even the anticipation of vacation travel generates an increase in positive feelings about one's life as a whole, family, economic situation, and health.
• An annual vacation can cut a person's risk of heart attack by 50 percent!
• Women who take more vacations are more satisfied with their marriages.
• More than half of employed Americans say they come back feeling reconnected with their family after vacation.
• Three out of four executives believe that vacations are necessary for them to prevent burnout or that vacations improve their personal job performance.
• Travelers experience a 25 percent increase in performance on vigilance tests after returning from vacation – travelers 45 or older show a 50 percent increase in performance.
• Two out of three executives believe that vacations improve their creativity.

These statements help you because your clients are looking for reasons to justify their decision to take vacations. When you provide them those reasons – the logic they need – they will buy from you.

For instance, if you have a husband and wife who are considering a vacation this year, you might stress to the husband that women who take more vacations are more satisfied with their marriages, giving him a reason to justify the expense. And, to the wife, you might say that an annual vacation can cut a person’s risk of heart attack by 50 percent. Then, they both have logical reasons that benefit their partner, and they will feel better about reaching a positive conclusion to schedule their vacation.

You should summarize statements like these in a single sentence you can easily remember: “Annual vacations improve your health, the quality of your daily lives, your productivity, and your commitment to your families and your companies.” This can cover a multitude of clients, and when you have it in the forefront of your mind, you can present it whenever the opportunity arises.

Referring to statements like those TIA released works for a couple of reasons:

• They state benefits the clients derive from taking vacations. People don’t have to think of the logic, because the statement makes it for them.
• These are third-party endorsements of logical reasons to take vacations. It isn’t you making the statement - it is a third party, which always carries more weight in the minds of consumers.

Remember that people buy with emotion and justify with logic. Help them find the logic, and you will be their vacation planner!

Ken Hall is president of www.HomeBasedPros.com, a weekly e-letter with marketing and sales tips for the home-based travel agent. For more information and to sign up, go to www.HomeBasedPros.com.

(Credit: Ken Hall/HomeBasedPros.com)