“How mastering Facebook transformed my travel franchise”

A couple of months into her new business, Not Just Travel franchise owner, Sue Aitken, was frustrated, but thanks to a free masterclass, organised by the franchisor, she started growing her bookings exponentially

Despite her hard work, Not Just Travel franchise owner, Sue Aitken, simply wasn’t seeing the success that others from her training group were. They’d all started making bookings right away, while she was yet to make a single sale. Thankfully, she was able to access daily support from her partnership manager as well as attend free ongoing training from the company.

Within a few months, Sue’s bookings were growing slowly but surely. But she knew there was much more business out there for her to go and get. Then one day everything clicked, thanks to some free expert digital marketing training provided by Not Just Travel’s head office.

She was shown how to leverage Facebook lead ads like the world’s top marketing agencies, only with a fraction of their budgets. Now she credits that training with creating up to 70 per cent of her bookings.

“It (the free masterclass) was brilliant,” she said. “I started to experiment with different styles of ads. It’s brought in some brilliant bookings. One customer didn’t know me – but we developed a relationship and they booked a 5-star holiday in the Maldives for March and then again in December.”

Sue doesn’t opt for the hard sell. Instead, she sends a tailored message to everyone who responds, before following up with a friendly phone call when the time is right. She explains that she can find out a great deal about her prospective customer before they even speak. Her tailored ads mean she can find out where they’re thinking of travelling and when they want to go. That means, as soon as they start talking about holidays, Sue can always be ready to discuss their destination, the climate and offer advice they may need to know.

Thanks to her newfound mastery of Facebook’s platform, Sue’s found customers that want luxury holidays – and lots of them. One customer has already spent over £108,000 on holidays in less than a year.

“You do need a franchisor who’s prepared to match your level of effort and will provide you with ongoing support,” said Sue. “As long as you have that, my advice to anyone starting a franchise who hasn’t made it quite work yet is to keep trying until something clicks. Then keep doing more of what you know works for you.

“Just think. Can I do this a bit better this time? Is there anything I can do that’s maybe a bit more creative? If you can improve a little bit each day, it will be a massive transformation over time for your business.”