Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
•
In a hotel - e.g. when purchasing a ticket for an
excursion or using the fi tness suite;
•
In a restaurant - e.g. when buying a bottle of
Stage 1
champagne;
Building rapport
•
At home - e.g. when ordering tickets for the theatre
over the telephone or online;
•
In an travel agency - e.g. when buying a holiday or
travel ticket;
Stage 2
•
In an offi ce - e.g. when fi nalising the venue for a
Establishing customer needs
and expectations
business conference.
Whatever the location for the sales activity, the principle
of engaging the customer in conversation, or building
rapport, still applies. In order to meet the objective of
making a sale, this initial task of establishing rapport
with the customer is very important, since it gives
the salesperson the opportunity to gain the trust of
the customer and to discover his or her needs. Some
customers are suspicious of any attempts to sell them
products, often preferring to make their own decisions
on product selection and purchase.
Stage 3
Features and benefi ts
Stage 4
We saw earlier in this unit that in service sectors such
as travel and tourism fi rst impressions are always
important. This is particularly the case in a selling
situation, when customers sometimes have to make an
instant decision as to whether they can trust the person
who is trying to sell them a product or service. There
are a number of factors that infl uence customers and
that may ultimately make them decide to buy or go
elsewhere, including:
Overcoming objections
Stage 5
Closing the sale
•
The sales environment - is the facility clean, tidy, well-
maintained, well-designed, the right temperature,
with good air quality?
Stage 6
•
The appearance of the sales staff - are they well-
Completing documentation
dressed, of pleasant appearance, knowledgeable,
business-like?
•
Attitude towards the customer - are they welcoming,
Stage 7
interested, attentive, willing to listen, good at
answering questions, confi dent, professional?
After-sales service
It is advisable for sales staff to avoid using the phrase 'can
I help you?' as a way of striking up a sales conversation.
This sort of 'closed' question simply invites the reply
'no thank you, I'm just looking'. It is far better to ask
more 'open' questions, such as:
Fig 4.3 - The sales process in travel and tourism
