A day in the life of a
Retail Travel Consultant
10:00-10:30am
You arrive at your store and start preparing yourself for your day reading and responding
to emails, grabbing a coffee and greeting your colleagues.
10:30-11:00am
Every morning prior to opening you sit down to have a meeting with your team where
you focus on your goals for the day and share relevant information. Your daily job
for that week may be to update the airfares boards hanging in the windows with the
latest specials. Soon its time to open the door!
11:00am-11:45am
An ad in the newspaper has attracted a lot of attention, so the phone is ringing
constantly. Mr and Mrs Patel need to fly to their son's wedding in Mumbai, and also
need a car, although accommodation is not necessary. After verifying the spelling
of both names, you obtain the phone and fax numbers so that you can send through
for an approval and credit card authorisation form. The booking is not over though,
you still need to write up a quote and they need seat assignments and meal requests.
11:45am-12:40pm
A repeat customer of your co-worker at the next desk walks in - but today is his
day off. You inform Ms Agarwal, you would be more than happy to look after her.
She needs two business class seats to London with a hotel for herself and a friend.
She is a frequent flyer member and will only fly on that particular airline. She
needs a hotel and would like to accrue her miles with her stay. With one call to
a supplier, you find that this a very busy time in London. The hotel has to go on
request and Ms Agarwal must wait for twenty-four hours before you will find out
if there is a room available. She pays for the tickets and you schedule to call
her the following day to advise her about the status of her hotel booking.
12:40pm-2:00pm
In the course of the day, you take several phone calls and suggest a great tour
for a first time traveller to Europe along with suggested day trips, rail product
and accommodations as a backup. You print up a flight itinerary so that this potential
customer can walk away with something concrete to start planning his holiday. By
now it's lunchtime...
2:00pm-2:30pm
Lunch is rarely a set time as things always come up or "rush hour" descends - you
always want to be in your seat to maximise your business when clients walk in, but
you are feeling hungry and decide now is a great time. As you leave the store, you
take some South America brochures so you can do some research for a future holiday.
Perhaps Rio or Patagonia?
2:30pm-2:45pm
You return to a bustle of activity. The phone is ringing with more lines than are
consultants currently in the store. There are several customers waiting patiently.
You take line five and a customer sits down in front of your computer. On the phone
you take all of the necessary details to give an accurate quote for a Fijian honeymoon.
Meanwhile Mr Singh is calmly waiting in front of you. His law firm needs a "retreat"
and the partner's have decided on a trek to Thailand. You have never been to Thailand
and you start to worry but suddenly Monica, the consultant that sits next to you
overhears, and informs you that she has been to Thailand and will help you. You
are grateful that all consultants are well travelled. Mr Singh has very little time,
so you hand him a brochure and a flight itinerary and assure him that you will have
tours, accommodation ideas and pricing to him within 48 hours.
2:45pm-3:15pm
While you are on the phone with a wholesaler securing a quote for the Fijian honeymoon,
you begin paging through brochures to find a suitable holiday for the Singh law
firm. You find a tour, but there is one problem; all of the tours you are finding
start at nine days and they can only be gone for six days, so you need to create
a package yourself. After a few questions to those around you, you send a company-wide
e-mail to all shops asking for suggestions. Within five minutes, you receive five
e-mails from fellow consultants, who offer their advice and suggestions.
3:15pm-3:45pm
Now it's time for a one-on-one with your manager which happens monthly. You both
go to a nearby coffee shop, where you discuss your future plans with the company
and your wish at becoming a Future Team Leader (second-in command) within the next
six months. This will mean fully understanding the financial aspects of running
the store, taking control of the budget and stepping into a leadership role whenever
possible. It also means a great focus on your current position, increasing sales
figures and building a strong repeat and referral client base.
3:45pm-5:00pm
Once back in the office you create a great package for the law firm including international
airfare, inter country flights, rail and hotels in each city and city tours in each
of the four cities they will visit. You fax everything to Mr Singh and give him
a call to make sure he received it. He needs to run everything by his partners so
you schedule a phone meeting tomorrow morning to discuss any changes, questions
or concerns. You also advise him to get his passports and visas ready for the trip
well in advance.
5:00pm-7:00pm
Another client has just called with a lower quote from an internet travel agency.
You manage to beat the lower price your client has found. He books immediately and
you order his electronic ticket. Now that you have a few free minutes, you place
follow-up calls to all clients you have talked to during the course of the day and
diarise everything you need to do tomorrow. You lock the door behind you, saying
your goodbyes to all co-workers. Tonight you will go home and rest, because tomorrow
is another big day and within the next week, you will attend your first "Buzz Night".
This is a company wide get-together once a month where you celebrate individual
and company accomplishments. This is always motivational, entertaining and a lot
of fun.
|