What'd I do if I knew nothing about points.

It’s a great day to be you. 

Why? You’re getting served up a hot slice of value this morning.

Today we’re talking about how I helped a total newbie who knew nothing go from hoping he can afford a Florida trip to planning a Europe trip in the next 3 months.

This will be useful for anyone who feels like they don’t know everything about points & miles.

Enjoy.

But first, a quick word from the people who make this newsletter profitable:

• My top cards right now.

• My #1 card recommendation for most people.

• My next points & miles 101 Group Class.

• The funniest YouTube video of the 2010s.

The newbies love me.

Well, this one did at least.

My guy gets on a call with me and basically says he knows NOTHING about points & miles.

I love that. He came to the right place.

Here’s the process I took him through, and would happily take you through any time :)

Dreams:

I always ask:

“Where do you want to go?”

“How often do you want to travel?”

👨🏻‍🦰 My client wanted to take his wife on a nice trip (basically anywhere) and come up with a plan to use points to help pay for a yearly trip for his family.

What’s possible:

I shared some ideas with my client.

I asked, “What if it was the same price to go be on a beach in the Caribbean/Mexico or go see Europe? What would you choose?”

He immediately said Europe.

Interesting choice. What would you say?

I told him he could get flights from his home airport (Detroit) to any major city in Europe for 40k points RT per person.

Earn the points:

Boom. He wants to go to Europe. It can be done for 80,000 points for 2 people RT.

Now how do we earn that many points every year?

I asked about his spending - it was low. Maybe $3-$4k/mo on cards.

I immediately thought to recommend this card as it could get him to Europe & earns more points on normal spending than ANY other card.

It’d give him a nice 75,000 point bonus, then, if spending $4k/mo, he’d earn about 96,000 points/year.

If he’s able to get one referral bonus (20k) each year, that will be about enough to get 3 roundtrip tickets to Europe every year (or countless other places).

Learn how it works:

This client was simple. He really was only interested in Europe at this time.

He doesn’t need to know how to book ANA first-class to Japan through Virgin Atlantic.

He just wants to know how to fly from Detroit to Rome.

Simple: transfer Capital One miles to Flying Blue and book flights for ~40k points RT.

He doesn’t even need to know the complications of airline alliances.

All he needs to know is that there is a great program out there that has really low prices to Europe.

Capital One miles give him access to that program. BOOM. The end.

Implement:

I gave him some action steps:

• Apply for the best card for beginners.

• Earn the points as quickly as possible.

• Create Flying Blue account.

• Start searching Air France’s site for award availability.

• Book as soon as the points drop in the Capital One account & there’s available flights with AF.

Ongoing support:

We won’t talk on the phone again, but I’ll be there for this guy if he has any quick questions.

He’ll likely get confused figuring out how to transfer points from Capital One to Flying Blue - I’ve answered that email countless times.

In a few months, I’ll expect to receive a picture of him & his wife on their flight to Europe for the first time!

The value:

Total investment from client: $199 (my fee) + $95 (card annual fee) = $294.

Again, he knew nothing about points and miles.

Here are the flights he was looking at: (approximate dates)

$2,545 for 2 adults. 

I put a plan in place for him to:

• Earn 75,000 (welcome bonus) points.

• Earn 96,000 points in year 1.

• Redeem 80,000 of those points for $2,545 worth of flights (~3 cents per point).

• Redeem his remaining 91,000 points for 3+ cents per point ($2,730 value).

I calculate my client’s savings from working with me like this:

So for this client:

[ $5,275 - $1,660 ] - $294 = $3,321. 

$3,321 of value added. For a $294 investment. Not bad.

If you’re wanting to gobble up some of this value:

• Register for my next group class.

• Schedule a 1:1 consultation.

• Let me book your trip for you.

I’m here to serve you.

Need anything?

• DM me on LinkedIn.

• [email protected]

• Respond to this newsletter.