Every commercial/business account has three main individuals who must be taken into account by every corporate travels vendor: the traveler, the travels organizer and the determination specifier. These three corporate individuals have various priorities which might be different with one another. It counts on the travels agency and each agent to balance these varied priorities when selling and servicing the account.
Determination specifier: The corporate travel services determination specifier opts for the agency and settles upon if it is working up to par or – purportedly – is overstepping the service anticipations from the agency! The owner or sales manager of the agency should know this individual and should call on the decision maker frequently to make certain that the company is pleased with the agency’s performance.
The priorities of the determination specifier for commercial accounts are:
1. Price: buying travel at the lowest price is the utmost priority.
2. Information: The corporate travel services determination specifier wants frequent verification of the fact that the agency is buying travel at the least feasible price.
3. Quality: verification that the agency is aware of the commercial account’s desire for quality travel at all times.
Travel organizer: Most corporate/business travelers do not deal with the agency straightaway to book their airline tickets and hotel/car reservations. This essential mission is the responsibility of the travel organizer at the corporation (usually, it is the traveler’s administrative assistant).
The travel organizer has three priorities, likewise, but clearly different from the priorities of the services determination specifier and the traveler:
1. Reactivity: The most powerful agent is the one who does not go sluggish when addressed by the client but rather offers -service with a smile- right away.
2. Consolation and awareness: Travel organizers need repose from the agency. And they need to be maintained up-to-date of industry events and trends.
3. Complete back up: once the heat comes down from the traveler to the travel organizer, the organizer needs to be certain that the agent would cover for them.
Traveler: The person who takes the trip has three priorities too:
1. Accessibility: the agent is accessible to fulfill every demand (even if they call a few hours before flight time and must get on an overbooked flight!)
2. Acquaintance: They anticipate the corporate travel services agent to recall details – only book an aisle seat, to get them into a queen size bed, etc.
3. Recourse: in case of travel emergency attributing to an overbooked corporate hotel, they have to get through their agents promptly to work out their problems, hence the 800#, 24/7.
In addition, there are two treads you should assume before targeting your corporate travel accounts:
A) Market Definition: It is really crucial that you target your selling travail through initially specifying your market.
– Be pragmatic concerning your agency’s corporate travel services capabilities versus the account size.
– Your size, range of locations, and chain or consortia associations all act as a crucial factor in settling upon your -sales territory.-
– Target corporate accounts that go to destinations that make economic sense to your current business.
– Your targeting should go as follows: full service then online (self-booking).
– Credit cards are all of the time the favored corporate travel services type of payment.