News: Customer Service/Care
'Prosper' with sales and customer care training, travel agents advised
30 September 2008
Two out of every three business travel agents consider their sector to be lacking in adequate selling and customer care skills, it has emerged.
In a study underlining the relevance of selling and negotiating training, Travel Weekly found that over half of agents would actually consider an alternative career.
Carried out just prior to the XL Leisure Group's collapse, the results of the survey were unveiled this weekend at Advantage 2008, a delegation of travel operators.
Simon Ferguson, from Travel Weekly publisher the TW Group, told attendees the economic downturn would "clear out" unprofitable business models, excess capacity and fixations on price.
"Independent agents who know what they do best, invest in their people and specialise may prosper," he added.
For agencies thinking of selling up, he noted that there are already more travel businesses for sale than "any other time in the last five years" - but there is no capital with which to purchase them, making training and performance management more dependable options.
Last month, travel firms Thompsons and First Choice decided to enrol their overseas staff on client relations training to boost the customer service experienced by their holidaymakers.
