Agents, it's time to specialise

IF TRAVEL agents are going to
survive in this dynamic industry,
they need to hone their offering and
become specialists in a particular
field, says Marco Ciocchetti, ceo of
XL Travel.
Following the retirement of former
coo, Rod Rutter, Marco has taken
over the helm of the XL Travel Group,
with plans for it to be recognised
as the most innovative travel group
around, supporting intelligent travel
solutions that ultimately result in
tangible benefits and sustainable
returns for its members and
shareholders.
Marco is the former md of XL
Sandown Travel and previously held
the position of president of Asata.
“The industry has changed
dramatically from when I first
entered 37 years ago,” says
Marco, maintaining that the biggest
difference between then and now
is that today the customer has
more knowledge than the average
consultant who enters the industry.
“When I first entered the industry,
I was consulting after three weeks.
These days, if you promote someone
to consultant after three weeks, they
will resign after three days because
the customer knows so much more
than they do,” he says.
The answer to this for leisure
consultants is to specialise in
a particular field. Destination
specialisation, he notes, is a good
place to start.
“Customers often enter a travel
agency having researched the
destination they are planning
to visit – so knowing a little bit
about everything will not help the
consultant when the customer
comes in asking specific questions
about a particular destination. They
are looking for a consultant who
will tell them to avoid certain areas
in that destination while they are
there and list the reasons why,
or suggest some places for the
customer to visit. They want a
consultant who knows more than
they do,” says Marco.
Luxury travel is also a good place
for agents to specialise, says Marco,
as is cruising. “With cruising, there
are dozens of cruise lines that claim
to offer a five-star product but one
could be offering a five-star product
for a rowdy crowd, while another
could be for a more upmarket
crowd. It is for the agent to really
know the differences between each
cruise product and provide useful
information to the customer that they
will not find anywhere else,” he says.
Even though familiarisation trips
do not take place as frequently as
they did in the past, making it more
difficult for consultants to gain firsthand
experience about products
and destinations, Marco says there
are still ways for agents to gain the
necessary knowledge.
“Yes, travellers walk into an agency
having researched a particular area,
but rather than seeing the Internet
as a competitor, agents need to see
it as a tool that allows them just as
much access to information as it
offers their clients,” he says.
Consultants wanting to learn
more about a particular destination
or product should conduct as
much research as possible, using
brochures and the internet, then
approach their managers and ask
them to sponsor a trip to a particular
destination to verify what they have
learned. “I do not believe there
would be a single manager or owner
who would not want to contribute
towards education,” he says.
For corporate consultants, on the
other hand, it is more important to
understand why they are performing
certain functions. This will, in turn,
keep their clients happy.
“Consultants need to understand
what the term ‘value’ is in the
corporate space because it is not
simply responding to the client on
time or offering a 24-hour service.
These consultants need to know
why a customer would need a TMC
and always be thinking of phrases
such as ‘reporting’, ‘duty of care’,
‘account management’, ‘travel policy
management’, and so on – then
understand why each of these is
important and what value they add to
the overall service being offered to
the client.”
Marco challenges TMC owners and
managers to ask their consultants
to provide reasons as to why they
are performing certain functions.
“If their response is: ‘because you
told me to’, then that is the wrong
answer and they likely believe they
are simply there to book flights,
hotels and cars but these are just
peripherals,” he says.
TMC consultants should
understand what the result of
each one of their entries will
be and understand why each of
these entries is important to the
client, says Marco. This greater
understanding will also make the
consultants’ jobs more interesting,
while ensuring real value is delivered
to the client, he says.