Take YOU to FULL OCCUPANCY in 2016

In my previous article  I showed you the first step I take when replying to any inquiry I receive, which is responsible for filling up the calendars of all my properties 8 to 9 months a year in the last 9 years, and for bringing in over $10,000 worth of bookings in just a few days since last week.

Actually, since I shot video #1, I turned other inquiries into solid bookings, brought home $2,500 more and went from 40 to 43.1% occupancy for the current year, compared to our yearly standard. And we’re still just at the beginning of 2016.

I do see a decrease in the number of inquiries I get from listing sites, but at the same time, I’m getting most of them directly through my own website, and this is also very good news.

Have You Ever Wondered…? (The Problem)

Have you ever wondered why you sometimes don’t get any reply from travelers who sent you an inquiry? Why is that?

Maybe they booked something else already.

Maybe they changed their mind.

Maybe they didn’t like your offer or the way you responded.

Or even worse…maybe they never even received your email because it ended up in their spam folder.

How do you know what really happened? And most importantly, how can you change your strategy, refine your best practices and correct your mistakes, if you don’t know where you’ve gone wrong and what the cause is?

Sounds Familiar? (The Frustration)

Once you send your reply, you experience that “standby” period where you hope that your prospect will get back to you soon with a positive answer or at least with a question or a sign of an interest in your offer. Time goes by and you may not hear a thing most of the times.

Honestly, I’ve learned from my mentors that “hope marketing” leads nowhere…and in our industry it’s not what successful owners do to fill in their rentals. There is a mind shift from a passive to a proactive approach that turns results upside down in your favor.

And today’s content shows you just that.

Here’s What I Do. (The Solution)

I’m going to give you now my second step in my 3 step sequence for converting nearly all my inquiries into solid bookings and I’ll teach you how you can do the same exact thing, so you’ve got all the elements to populate your second template in your outstanding email sequence.

Let’s begin:

If you remember, the first thing I do minutes after I receive an inquiry is reply with a standard, short message, which is the one I gave you in my earlier video. I do that to be first in line in their inbox, because I know that my prospects sent their inquiries to at least 10 other owners, some industry data says the average is twice as much.

I also know both from statistics and from my own personal experience that the faster I am, the higher my chances to get the booking.

And I also know that my prospect has no time to go through a long message, so I want to be short to grab the attention at this early initial stage and have him/her make a small commitment that psychologically makes a huge difference. And that commitment is clicking a link inside that message that will blow them away and will trigger the next phase that will turn them into paying guests!

I’m not willing to sit and wait though, hoping they’ll open my mail and click on that link, because “hope marketing” leads nowhere. And I also want to make sure I know where I’ve gone wrong, if I have, so I can refine my strategy and get more bookings next time.

The ‘Anti-Spam’ Check Message (Message #2)

A couple of minutes after I sent the initial reply, I send a 2nd message, that I call, “the anti-spam check message”: it’s basically a very simple and short email saying this:

“Dear (first name),

we are just sending you this quick email to make sure you received our previous reply to your enquiry, that we sent a few minutes ago.

As we found out that sometimes replies can get into the spam folder due to embedded pictures and links, we have no way to find out whether or not you received our comprehensive response unless you let us know.

Could we kindly ask you to give us a quick confirmation that you got this and the previous email?

Even hitting reply and typing “ok” would do good.

We would be very thankful for that, regardless of whether or not you will end up deciding to stay at Casa Teulada. 

Your much appreciated cooperation will help us giving a better service time after time, so we can meet all our guests’ needs and understand if and where we go wrong.

Looking forward to reading from you, I send you my best regards.

Sincerely,

(Add your name, your property’s name without any link or image)

What’s This All For? (The Purpose)

This message is very important and you should see how many times we get a reply as a result.

It is very important for 3 reasons:

1. first and foremost, this is a plain text message, meaning there are no links, no images and none of the elements that may get caught into spam filters, and I regret to tell you that sometimes even the replies you send from listing sites end in your prospects spam!
2. Secondly, the purpose of this message is to pass the spam filter and end in your prospect’s inbox, when your previous message may have not, so it brings your standard reply up to their attention, they open, read and click through the link within, in case that link was the cause for spam detection, and…
3. last but not least, this message pushes them to take a little action and commit to a reply, something you may think is meaningless yet it’s very powerful instead, because it triggers reciprocity, which is something I’ll delve into at a later time.

Besides, a message like this one shows the level of commitment you have to the business and that’s a sign of how reliable and professional you are.

Your Template At Hand

So go ahead now and download this second template below.

Copy and paste it into a draft in your mailbox and try it out next time you get an inquiry.

Remember to remove any image you may have, for example in your signature, and if you have a nice one like mine by default, remove that one too and simply write your name.

You should see an increase in the response rate you get from your prospects and if you apply the whole sequence I’m giving you, that includes a third message I’ll share with you in my next video, you’ll most likely see an increase in your conversion rate, or in the number of enquiries you turn into solid bookings.

So look for my next email, where I’ll show you message # 3 in the sequence and I’ll give you the template to download and add to your drafts in your mail.

Now It’s Your Turn

Let me ask you a real quick question, and please tell me frankly what you do in the comment box below:

Do you use anything like this?

What do you do to stand out in your prospect’s inbox and grab their attention?

I look forward to reading your comments and share some good practices and I’ll be back real soon with my 3rd message in the email sequence that turns nearly all of my prospects into paying guests.

Now again, do you use anything like this or what do you do to stand out in your prospect’s inbox and grab their attention?