Some of our advertisers manage to convert 50-80% of the inquiries we send into bookings. Wow, 50-80%, what an incredible conversion rate – very impressive! Sadly, there are some advertisers who complain that they haven’t gotten a single booking from any of the dozens (or hundreds) of inquiries from RealAdventures.

Group A, the happy group, tell us that inquiries from our visitors convert better than most of the other sites they advertise on. I’m really happy we can provide a valued service to these advertisers.

But I spend most of my time addressing the concerns of Group B, the dissatisified advertisers. I look at their listings, at the category they have selected, the region, the pictures, the prices and the map. I look for reasons why a visitor would send an inquiry but not book if the property or service is available.

But most of the time, the listings for Group A & Group B advertisers were comparable. They had pictures, were rich in descriptive text, had competitive rates and so on. There didn’t seem to be any reason why one group got 50-80% conversion rates while the other claimed 0% conversion.

Baffled by the difference Group A & Group B experienced, I started looking at inquiries & advertisers’ replies to those inquiries.

Ah ha!!!! The reason quickly became apparent.

Consistently, Group A replies ‘closed the sale’, while Group B replies left the customer hanging or made it harder to book.

Group A replies always:
* answered the customer’s questions
* confirmed availablity on the travel dates the customer requested
* provided rates and the total
* specified any restrictions
* AND asked for a payment to hold the room or spot.

Essentially, they ‘closed the sale’. Here are two real responses from Group A advertisers:

In sharp contrast, Group B replies typically:
* were standard responses that failed to answer questions
* told the customer to check their website
* failed to provide rates or the total
* failed to confirm availability
* failed to provide a phone number or contact information
* AND NEVER asked for a payment.

Here are two responses from Group B advertisers (names have been changed):

I was surprised an advertiser trying to book his property would send this reply. No greeting, no rates, no contact information, no confirmation of dates available, no closing

This one is warmer, but doesn’t answer the inquiry, makes customer go to a website. Don’t send them to yet another website – even if it is yours and you are proud of it. They are interested, book them. Yes that is more work for you, but you’ll get the booking!

I want all of our advertisers to succeed. I want you to be fully booked and I want you to make money. I will help you in every way that I can by continuously working to improve the site, grow our traffic and get you more inquiries.

But I need you to think & act like a sales person – “close the sale”. Look at Group A replies again and consider that the next you reply to an inquiry. “Close The Sale”