Procedures and documentation for selling products and services
Most business and leisure travel agents sell lots of products and services that
appeal to different types of customers, these services have lots of documentation
and procedures that the travel agent has to go through to sell them. The
documentation is done in the back office where customers can't see what is
happening, it deals with the money, accounting, maintenance, training and the
control of brochures and stock. The front office deals with selling customers
holidays and face to face interactions with customers.
Global distribution systems
Global distribution systems are what travel agents use to find holidays and flights
for the customers as it has a lot of access to information of deals and hotels that
customers can stay in. The global distribution systems that are mainly used
Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre they are used to help find flights, hotels, attractions,
excursions and many more. Travel agents will be trained in these systems and will
use them to help find what the customer want, they search real time sights to find
what the customer wants. Companies like southwest airlines use Galileo to get
there flights out too many travel agents, this is so that customers can book their
trips through travel agents.
Commission levels
Travel agents get commission on different services that they sell to customers, the
amount of commission they get depends on what service that they sell. It is paid by
the supplier of the product; this means that commission levels vary between
suppliers and products. Large travel companies work on a fee basis, this means that
they charge the companies that they provide these services at a negotiated price
that they decide when they partner with the company.
Sales targets
Sales targets are decided by the management of the company for the staff to try
and reach, they are used as an incentive to get the staff to sell as much as they
can. Having the sales targets get the staff to work harder and often end with a prize
for the staff that hit those targets. A target that a company may set for a travel
agent is to sell 6 holidays a week, if a staff member hits or exceeds this target they
may get a prize like a bonus at the end of the month.
Cost saving techniques
Travel agents will try to use cost saving techniques to save the company money on
flights and accommodation. The buying powers of big companies are used to their
advantage as they can negotiate a deal with the supplier to get the products
cheaper so the staff get a hirer commission rate as they can sell the product for
more than it's worth. A cost saving technique that the company may use in offices
could be not allowing a travel agent to print out documents and have to email them
to customers. Another saving technique that a company could make is reducing
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