Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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'How many times have you used the facility
Expectations
are what the customer expects to gain
from the product or service. For example, a family may
need a meal in a restaurant, but if the taste of the food is
not up to their expectations they will feel disappointed.
Again, it is helpful for sales staff to ask 'open' questions,
rather than those that call for yes/no replies, to give the
customer more opportunity to express a preference and
to help the conversation to continue. It is important, also,
not to assume that you know a customer's needs and
understand that the process of investigating customer
requirements is a two-way affair, with the salesperson
acting in a supportive role.
before?'
•
'Which particular National Park are you visiting?'
•
'Which country are you thinking of visiting?'
•
'Which company have you travelled with in the
past?'
The secret of developing 'open' questions is to begin
with the words 'where, why, who, when, which, what
and how'. Sales staff must be conscious of the signals,
sometimes hidden, that customers give when in a selling
situation. A customer who is obviously in a hurry will not
thank a sales assistant who asks complicated questions
and insists on engaging in a lengthy conversation.
In the case of a travel agency, the following are the
types of questions that will help the salesperson build
up a picture of the client's needs and expectations:
Having built a rapport with the customer and gained
a degree of trust, the salesperson's next task is to
establish his or her needs and expectations.
•
What is the size of the party travelling?
•
Are there any children and, if so, what ages are
they?
•
When do you want to travel and for how long?
Activity 4.11
•
Where do you want to go?
Working with another member of your group,
change the following 'closed' questions asked by a
travel agent into 'open' questions.
•
Is there a particular company you prefer to travel
with?
•
How do you want to travel?
1.
Are you travelling to Greece?
•
How much do you expect to pay?
2.
Do you want to book car hire?
•
Does anybody in the party have any special
3.
Do you want a window seat in the coach?
requirements?
4.
Do you want a morning fl ight?
Customers will not necessarily know the answers to all
the questions a salesperson may be asking them, so it
is important to start with easy questions to which they
can give an immediate answer and go into more depth
as the sales conversation continues.
5.
Are you looking for a short break?
This activity is designed to provide evidence for P3.
Establishing customer needs and
expectations
Features and benei ts
Having determined the customer's needs and
expectations, the next stage of the sales process is to
present the product to the customer based on their
individual requirements. Presenting a travel and tourism
product to customers is rather more diffi cult than, say,
showing them an electric iron or toaster in a shop! The
intangible nature of travel and tourism products (the
fact that you can't see or touch them) means that sales
The aim of this stage of the selling process is to help
the customer to state his or her needs and expectations
clearly, so that the salesperson has the best chance
of presenting a product or service that the customer
will want to buy. Customers buy products and services
because they believe they
need
them, for example
a new microwave oven or a short break to Dublin.
