Never mind the booze – the best thing to take to excess during the Christmas party season is casual schmoozing to capture new customers. Debbie Ward explains how

As we head into party season some agents will be dressed to impress and on the pull . . . for new business, that is. Informal networking at social events can really pay off and this time of year offers plenty of opportunity. Travel counsellor Rachel Varndal (pictured right) from St Albans landed a host of bookings from a former boyfriend’s work Christmas party. “His boss’s wife was saying how, for her birthday in January, she was trying to book a ski trip for a group. She was finding it really hard on the web and I said ‘I’ll do it!’ We got chatting and got on really well.” The holiday was worth £6,500. Three months later another partygoer booked a £15,440 group ski trip. In all, six people who joined in the same holiday conversation at the party ended up booking with Rachel. And it didn’t end there: the group, all fire-fighters, have recommended her to numerous colleagues. “Since then I’ve had customers throughout the year – and all from one Christmas party!” 

Sow the seeds

Not surprisingly, Rachel has become a convert to informal networking. “It does work and it’s much easier. If things are slow I now sometimes think ‘where can I go out?’,” she says. Rachel has an unusual tip for party schmoozing: “The best place for girls to chat, especially at big corporate events, is in the queue for the loos! Get in first and you can lead the conversation.” Rachel has even given out business cards in pub toilets. “I did that last Halloween. This girl was saying she was struggling to get flights to Thailand. I said ‘I can help you’.”

York-based homeworker Elaine Overton is completing her first year as an agent for Future Travel’s Personal Travel Advisors. Reliant on her own leads, she has discovered summer barbecues and Christmas parties are her best business generators. “I have a handbag for every occasion and every bag has got a stash of business cards in so I never go out without them,” she says. “The social side is where I really excel. I just love that side of it because I’m more relaxed with people I know in familiar surroundings. I’m not doing the booking there, just talking to people who at some time will want a holiday. Once I’ve done my bit I’ve just sown the seed.” Elaine estimates she gets a 30% conversion rate from cards given out at parties. She often starts by complementing someone’s outfit, then gets to work. “People invariably ask ‘what do you do?’. I try to get in first, then they’ll ask you back.” When she’s out with her partner they work as a double act. He introduces her as a travel agent and she acts coy. “I’ll say ‘trust you; they don’t want to know about that…’” Elaine also sometimes drafts in close friends to give glowing accounts of their holidays in front of potential clients. “You don’t want to be in their face but, there again, I’m trying to do a nice thing to their advantage.”

Sheena Darby, head of Future Travel, agrees. “It’s not like you’re introducing the topic of fridges! It’s hard to be overbearing.” Travel Counsellors’ business development manager, Tracy Parkinson, suggests agents simply ask people if they’re going away. “We advise our counsellors to say something along the lines of ‘I recently booked a couple to go there. Got them a great deal…’”

Hays homeworker Liz Samuel is well known in her small Somerset village of North Curry so she finds business and pleasure naturally mix. She has also created her own opportunities. She founded a women’s social group called The Curry 15 which has, as a by-product, generated lots of bookings. “From the other 14 ladies who’ve all got at least 14 friends, that’s naturally grown and some have got local businesses like beauty salons.” Liz also makes some well-timed visits to her local pub. “I’ll quite often pop in on a Friday tea time and you get a group of lads there who’ve all had a hard week and I say, ‘How is everybody?’ “Sometimes they’ll say ‘we could just do with a boy’s weekend away,’ then, just by throwing in some ideas, you might get a group booking. Then of course the ladies will want a spa weekend. It’s about being personable and being a smiley person,” she adds.

Liz is looking forward to the village’s big Boxing Day party which draws not only locals but the untapped market of their visiting relatives. “You get ‘this is my sister from Birmingham…’” says Liz. “I invariably come away with something from there. “I’ve got quite a few events planned, especially for the Christmas period so I will have the business cards ready…and the chat!”