IC TRAVEL AGENT June 2014 | Page 7

Growing Your List EXISTING CLIENT LIST Each person MUST be contacted for their Express permission and to prove they have opted-in to receive your email and more. PROSPECTS To grow your client list as of July 1st 2014 you can no longer reach out by email to prospect for their business unless exemptions apply. TO PROFIT YOU MUST GROW YOUR CLIENT LIST You’ll need to return to the old ways, traditional, off line prospecting techniques, supported by social media activities… From July 1st on Canadian travel agents must endeavour to re-sign their clients so that each client has agreed to receive all forms of CEMs – commercial electronic messaging. Emails being a biggie. Although there seems to be a three-year period that allows Canadian travel agents and all other businesses to work their magic to comply with CASL – there is no time like the present to start building your client list and request a person’s permission from the start. Decide the growth factor you need and calculate how many new clients you’ll require to meet your financial plan. If you wish to grow by another $200,000 this year in sales (not revenue) and your average sale per person (not booking) is around $2,000 then you’ll need 100 new clients. Break that down to a monthly figure and that’s 8.3 new clients per month. You can start by asking for referrals from your existing clients that have agreed to opt-in and give you their consent / permission to receive your emails and other forms of communication. Even though it is an existing client who is making the referral, you must include your client’s name and address when contacting the person or couple they referred. That done, then you advise the referred couple to “register” with you and to opt-in, giving you permission to send emails to them etc. Before you kick your new client acquisition plan into high gear make sure you have every element covered off and very importantly the unsubscribe function and process. Make sure this is done before launching your ad campaign. 