Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Separate your private and professional life as far as
All of the above will help you to provide a professional
service to customers, thereby enhancing your reputation
and that of your organisation.
possible;
•
Respect the views of others;
•
Treat both colleagues and customers as you would
Consistency
want to be treated yourself;
•
Be honest and constructive;
In the same way that customers appreciate speed
and accuracy when being served, they also look for
consistency from the members of staff dealing with
them. In large organisations, customer service staff
often work in teams and have systems in place to
record all contacts with customers, so that the same
message is conveyed at all times by all staff members.
Customers don't appreciate being told different things
by different members of staff.
•
Ask if there is anything you are unsure about.
To make sure that you project a professional attitude at
work, you should
never
:
•
Criticise the organisation to, or in front of, customers;
•
Discuss confi dential information outside work;
•
Argue or swear in front of customers;
•
Lose your temper at work;
Many travel and tourism organisations have customer
charters or codes of conduct to help improve the
consistency of their customer service. These inform
people what they can expect in terms of standards of
service and what the organisation will do in the event
of a failure on their part, as the following example from
Virgin Trains demonstrates.
•
Drink alcohol at work;
•
Act in a way that could put anybody at risk.
By following these commonsense guidelines, staff
working in customer service roles in travel and tourism
will project a positive image of their organisation
and gain satisfaction from providing a courteous and
professional service.
FOCUS ON INDUSTRY
Speed and accuracy of service
PASSENGERS' CHARTER
Nobody likes to be kept waiting in a queue or have to
wait to be served by a member of staff. Customer service
training should aim to develop the many skills that are
needed for fast and accurate service. These include:
Virgin Trains' Passengers' Charter sets out the
company's commitment to give passengers the
safe, high quality service that they have a right to
expect. It states that any passenger purchasing a
ticket for use on services operated by Virgin Trains
should enjoy:
•
Excellent organisational skills - for example knowing
where to fi nd details of customers who have made
recent enquiries;
•
A reliable and punctual journey;
•
Keyboard skills - e.g. speedily entering and
•
Clean and safe trains and stations;
accessing customer details on a database;
•
A Customer Service team member on board every
•
Negotiation and assertiveness skills - to allow a
train to be available to provide help if required;
A refreshment service on most trains;
member of staff to prioritise when dealing with
many customers at the same time;
•
•
A seat if reserved in advance.
•
Research skills - for example knowing where to
All Virgin Trains staff receive full, ongoing training in
customer care and related issues, and are expected
to carry out their duties in a professional manner,
making every reasonable effort to deal effectively
with customer problems on the spot.
look for details of particular travel and tourism
destinations, products and services;
•
Product knowledge - knowing key points about
destinations and travel products that are sold to
customers.
