How to maintain your agency’s reputation during the coronavirus crisis

“Now that everything is virtual, training courses should never go longer than a traditional lesson at school, so 40-45 minutes,” he says.

As well as condensing his programmes he has added a three-fold training topic to his agenda, covering how to ensure your company’s brand doesn’t devalue during the coronavirus crisis. Here he gives an overview of these three points for travel agents and agency owners who want to avoid the negative impact on sales that brand devaluation could cause.

1

The biggest problem travel agents are facing right now is their perception of their own value. With many being furloughed and others struggling to make those now elusive bookings, agents may begin to lose sight of their worth, which can result in negative attitudes towards customer service during and after the crisis. This point is all about mindset and building up agents’ beliefs that what they do is important and worthwhile to ensure they maintain effective customer service. This is what needs to be worked on first.

2

“Disloyal bonding” comes into play when a travel agent talks down their company’s brand in an attempt to bond with their customer. For example, complaining about furlough and unmanageable workloads to a client who is going through something similar. Agents may think this will build a bond, but in fact it has the opposite effect. It makes the customer question the integrity of the brand and whether it’s wise to be investing holiday funds in this particular agency.

3

There are travel agency managers across the country desperate for revenue and likely to overlook – or even reward – bad behaviour if it brings in a sale. A good example of this would be over-discounting holidays in an attempt to encourage the customer to sign on the dotted line. While in the short term this brings in much-needed revenue, once the industry begins to return to some form of normality, customers making further bookings, whether its honeymoons, family holidays or solo breaks, will start to question the fee – and the agency’s processes and ethics – if the price appears inflated.