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EPISODE SUMMARY

The Problem: Pre-Template Era

• Came from old-school travel agency (manila folders, handwritten notes)

• Every email written from scratch

• Rushed, inconsistent messaging

• Forgotten follow-ups

• Hours spent on repetitive tasks instead of business growth

• Time wasted copying from sent folder

The Solution: 90+ Email Templates

• Comprehensive library covering entire client journey

• From initial inquiry to welcome home messages

• Guides clients through every step

• Maintains brand voice while ensuring consistency

Key Benefits of Templates

• Time Savings

• Consistency & Quality

• Client Benefits

Template Categories & Examples

• Initial Contact

• Quote Templates

• Cruise-Specific Templates

• Visa Information

• Booking Process

• Post-Trip Templates

• Automated Templates

Implementation Strategy

• Getting Started

• Practical Steps

• AI Integration

• Template Maintenance

• Success Metrics

Call to Action

• Start tracking repetitive email tasks

• Create first few templates

• Share template ideas and questions

• Focus on exceptional client service through every system

• Implement gradually but consistently

 

 

READ THE FULL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT HERE

Hello and welcome to episode 6 of Travel Business Unlocked. I'm Holly Velardo, the owner of HollyDay Travel, which is a boutique travel agency based in Port Noarlunga, South Australia. If you are new here, this podcast is all about me sharing my journey in the travel industry and the lessons I've learned. All the practical tips to to help you build a successful business.

I believe in being real, sharing both the wins and the challenges with you and giving you so many steps and how-to's so you can implement things right into your business.

Today we are going to talk about something that has absolutely transformed my business and this is email templates and automation systems. It's been nearly 8 years since I started HollyDay Travel and when I first started I had no idea about systems. I'd come from a travel agency where I had to create my own invoices, everything was still in manila folders and we'd write on them. There really wasn't a whole lot going on on the computers back then and it was a very old-school way of doing things.

So when I started, I knew this needed to change, but at that point every single email was written from scratch. That meant that I was rushing emails, trying to get back to clients as quick as I can. The messaging was really inconsistent. I would forget to do follow-ups and I just spent so many hours on repetitive tasks that really I should have been spending that time to grow my business and work on the actual business and with the clients.

So I'm going to share with you today how we have now built a library of over 90 templates that we use.

This guides our clients through every step of their journey. This is from that very first inquiry all the way through to the welcome home messages and then of course everything in between. So I just want to remind you as well that if you are enjoying this podcast, I would absolutely love it, love your support by either subscribing, leaving a review so that other small business owners can also find it and see they may benefit from this too. So your support really helps me with continuing to create this content and reaching so many people in this industry.

So now let's talk about these email templates and the automation that we use. I know for some of you this might sound a bit boring. Yes, email templates, you know, or a bit technical. But trust me, this is one of the most powerful systems that you can really, really implement into your business.

So our templates cover everything from that initial inquiry email that we get. We have an a response that goes out to them through to visa information for specific countries, booking confirmations, quote documents, all sorts of templates for different types of travel, travel pre-departure checklists, welcome home messages, birthday emails, passport expiring and so, so, so much more.

Now what's really important, and I want you to think about this here, is that these emails are not about just being a boring template, being robotic, being impersonal. They're all about reflecting you and your brand. So each of our templates are carefully created. We make sure that we still sound us, we sound professional, we sound warm, and more importantly, we follow the HollyDay Travel values and we all sound on brand.

So we personalize each and every one of them for the clients. But what we have is that core structure and content that's there. So we can grab this template, fill in a few little bits and pieces, whether it's, you know, a country where the visa is going to be or if it's a quote and we've got some information, but we personalise it for that client. Whether we put a paragraph at the top about a conversation we've had with them, we just always try to keep it all about them so it doesn't feel robotic at all. But they're still getting all that information and the consistency.

So there's a lot of reasons and key benefits why you need to have some email templates and automation within your business.

Now firstly, and for me, most importantly is the time savings. Like, this is huge. Before we had templates, I would just spend hours and hours every day writing their emails from scratch, writing the same thing over and over again. Sometimes I would click over into the sent folder and copy information over. But realistically, I was doing most of it from scratch. But now what we've been able to do by having these templates is my team and I can respond so quickly to clients. It's consistent. You know, it's the same thing coming from all of us. And it also means we can handle more bookings without working the extra crazy hours that come with all the extra workload.

So as an example of this, we do a lot of river cruising and cruising and group tours. And one of the templates that we have set up is each cruise line specific template for that. So for scenic we have, you know, here's your check-in information, the check-in procedures, go and fill in your trip personalizer. Or for MSC, we have their check-in procedures and their booking information all in this email. All we need to do is just personalise that couple of details. The template is there, it tells them how to check in for that cruise, what to do, the steps that are needed, the apps that are needed, or if it's the website, it's al