Travel Agent Musings

By: Marion Dyksterhuis

“This is business, not personal” –the famous quote from the Godfather that we have all heard in one form or another, time and again. But is it true that business is never personal? We are all “persons” after all.

My loving, trustworthy daycare provider recently advised me that she was moving and closing her business… in 3 weeks. I would therefore have to find someone else to care for my young son in very short order.

I was stunned, irked and more than a little bit panicked.  Those are all very personal feelings! When I asked her why the short notice, her reply was, “well, our contract says I only need to give you 2 weeks notice.” Ouch! What was business to her was very, very personal to my family.

It got me thinking about my own clients and our day-to-day dealings. How often do my – or my company’s – actions affect them in a personal way?

Maybe they were called to the carpet by their superiors or had their integrity questioned because of a deadline I’d missed or a promise that could not be delivered. That’s very personal. How could it not be?

When I was a travel agent years ago,  I became, de-sensitized to how “personal” the travel experience actually is. For me, it was work. But to my clients, it was as much more intimate.

Often, a client trusted me to get them home to visit a sick family member or grieve a loved one. I flew people out of tense situations, and tracked down their lost belongings. I shared the enormous responsibility of helping to plan weddings and honeymoons, family vacations and reunions. Their memories.

That’s pretty personal stuff and also pretty darn cool to be a part of.  Did they want me to treat those dealings as just business, or did they want me to also personally invest in their trip? I wonder.

We all know that a good salesperson develops relationships with their clients, but I would ask the question: is it possible to do that without making it personal? Can you truly have a relationship with someone you do business with without some level of investment?

Oh, I imagine you can fake it, but really, that’s not the point. People need a personal connection to trust, respect and want to do business with you.

We all know we need to stop and smell the roses sometimes. But, in business, I think it’s important that we step back and see the “persons” sometimes too.

By Neil Hamilton

Events in the past few months should remind us that the world of travel is always changing. It’s not a matter of “if”, but rather “what” and “when.”  The distribution of travel has changed at its very core because travel agents no longer have the advantage of being the sole source of airline tickets to the consumer.

 This has redefined our customer base, and what they need from us. Sometimes, our clients are really our competitors. When they use internet sites to book their own travel, be it corporate or leisure, they are really the competition. These types of buyers are “opportunistic”, and usually only buy from us when they can get a “deal” that’s better than what they can get themselves online.

  This is not the profile of a “loyal” customer. Loyal, or “core” customers are what every agency needs to stay competitive and profitable. To the loyal customer, we are the first choice for booking. And unless they cost too much to service, require too much support, or have too many time-consuming demands, they are the backbone of any agency. 

 However, some of these core clients are such a service drag that it would actually help if they went somewhere else.

 In the wholesale distribution industry, customer stratification has been shown to be the single most important criterion in determining profitability.* This means that assessing customers may be the easiest way to determine the sustainability (AKA profitability) of your business over time.

 There are a few questions that need to be asked about every client. Are they core customers? How loyal are they? Are they expensive to service? Are they simply opportunistic? Asking these questions is a quick way to establish which clients are important to your business, and which ones are not.

 In a recent paper by Texas A&M on the subject of customer stratification in the wholesale distribution industry, it was found that the old Pareto 80/20 rule (that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers) doesn’t work when applied to profit. 80% of profit actually comes from less than 10% of customers.

 Of course, we are in travel not wholesale distribution. But these two industries are surprisingly similar, especially when we consider corporate travel.

 Most of the 500 wholesale distribution companies that took part in the study were surprised when they started looking at their customers with a view to cost of service. Many of their “star” customers, who were leaders in volume purchased, were actually costing them money because they required so much attention. Many others were simply opportunistic, and should have been classified as competitive accounts, because they usually purchased somewhere else, and only bought items that were discounted or on sale.

 The study looked at several things that companies could do to improve their performance with “Best Practices”. The implementation of all of these “Best Practices” in a business was intrusive at best, and extremely burdensome at its worst. I can’t see most travel businesses even attempting a lot of these tactics.

But the study found that the simple stratification customers based on criteria like cost to service (CTS) could potentially double EBITDA. And it’s the easiest practice to implement,.

 I believe this study and it’s recommendations,  will have far-reaching effects on all business, and travel in particular.

 I would be interested in your thoughts on customer stratification in the travel business. Do you think it would work in your business? How would you do it? Write in and let us know.

By: John Woods

Every year about this time I get a little excited in anticipation of the fall and winter.  Now don’t get me wrong I, do enjoy the extended daylight hours of summer, but I have always had a special place in my heart for the dazzling display of fall and winter colours.  It makes me want to go exploring.

I am pretty sure this started when I was a kid.  I grew up in Hamilton Ontario at the base of the Niagara Escarpment.  For those of you that are not familiar with it, the Escarpment, or “Mountain” as the locals call it, is a 400 foot almost vertical rock face that divides the lower city from the upper city.  I say almost vertical because most of the face of the escarpment is covered in trees.  As a kid, I remember watching the autumn blaze of red and orange sweep the mountain; I was amazed at how much there was to see.   We would walk along the trail that ran along “the Mountain” and drink in the beauty of nature.

Now I work in an office in Markham Ontario. Across from our building is the Lorne Clarke Young Woods.  It is a small forest preserve that holds mostly maple and ash trees.  As I watch these trees change colours, I know that we have maybe 4 weeks before they will be all bare, ready for the first snow fall.  The maples are especially beautiful as they go from green to red and then look like they are on fire as they ignite into the brightest yellow-orange.

Now, did I mention the first snowfall?  That is the first time we see the earth covered in a beautiful white veil.  I also like winter and the freshness that the snow brings to the landscape.  I like when you go outside on a cold clear night and it is almost as bright as day.  I like that I do not have to wear mosquito repellent, and that it is quiet and clean.  I do not mind the cold or the snow as much as others; there is always something to do whether that is skiing or tobogganing or just taking a walk in the woods.

I guess that is one of the best parts of living where I live.  The constant march of the seasons is a wonderful thing to experience.  The inspiration that I felt as a kid looking out at the Mountain has not worn off.

So, wherever you live, make sure you get out there and explore. The wonderful thing about local travel is that you never know what new colours you’re going to find in nature’s pallet. And hey, it’s all free!

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