Be ‘hyper-personalised’: use tech to connect

AGENTS need to focus on
building ‘hyper-personalised’
relationships with clients using
the technology that’s available to
them. In an age where technology
has disrupted how agents do
business, many agents conduct
business with clients they don’t
know. Agents need to recapture
the days when a close personal
relationship and high service levels
were the main differentiators
between travel agency competitors.
This was ceo of XL Travel Group,
Marco Ciocchetti’s message during
his address at the opening of the
second session of the conference on
November 13.
“Before technology, agents had
much more one-on-one interaction
with clients. If an agent wanted to
ensure the client got his preferred
seat, he had to go to the airport with
the client’s ticket, find the seating
plan of that flight and place the seat
number sticker on the client’s ticket
and then meet with him to hand him
his ticket,” Marco told TNW.
He says that now, personal visits
have been replaced by online
booking systems; agents lack the
dedication to the industry that they
had before and fewer agencies have
repeat business. Marco says, instead
of agents looking at technology as a
disrupter to the industry, they should
use it as a solution to build a highly
personalised long-term relationship
with both leisure and corporate ”