The 30 minutes after “yes, book it.”
The selling is done. Now a second job starts, and everything you pin down in the next half hour is a fire you will not be fighting in three months. Assembled from conversations with working agents. Free to share with anyone who would find it useful.
1 · Get the yes in writing
Written client approval of the exact option: property, room, dates, price, what is included.
Names as per passports, checked letter by letter now, not at ticketing.
Deposit taken or authorised before you commit a penny to the supplier.
2 · Book it properly
Supplier confirmation number saved with the confirmation email itself.
Read the confirmation against the quote. Dates, board basis, rate. Discrepancies age badly.
Cancellation deadlines diaried, with a reminder a week before each one.
3 · The money lines
Balance due date diaried for the client, with your chase date set before it.
Payment schedule written down if they are paying in instalments. Every instalment gets its own reminder.
Commission recorded now: supplier, expected amount, due date. The first stated date is the terms.
4 · One home for the booking
Everything in one place: confirmation, invoice, payment plan, deadlines. CRM, spreadsheet or folder, but one place.
The email thread linked or filed where the booking lives, so the paper trail survives you being on holiday.
5 · Set the chases before you forget
Supplier documents: what is still owed (contract, vouchers, tickets) and the date you chase it.
Pre-travel check diaried: a week out, confirm transfers and special requests with the supplier again.
Month end, reconcile: commissions expected against commissions arrived, line by line. Short or missing gets a polite query the same week.
The habit that makes it stick
Do this list while the kettle boils, every booking, same order. A week of honest minutes spent here saves an evening of chasing later.
Holidr is software that does this list for you: it reads your agency inbox, drafts the chases and checks the commission. Look around a demo agency or read how it works.