ALL ABOUT YOU — BUSINESS ADVICE
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Kate Pill (top left) has been appointed by JTA Travel Management as sales manager for the north of England and Scotland. Her last role was as sales executive for the north at Carrier and she has previously worked for Gold
Medal in a sales development role. JTA has also appointed Manda Churchill (bottom left) as head of cruise.
All Leisure Group has promoted Sarah Weetman to head of trade sales. She is tasked with developing and implementing trade sales strategies. Previously, Weetman was group trade marketing manager for two years. Prior to joining All Leisure Group, Weetman worked on cruise brands at Page & Moy before taking up a role as cruise product manager for the UK and Europe at International Cruise & Excursions in 2010.
Airbnb has appointed James McClure as general manager for the UK and Ireland. Previously, McClure
worked at Google as head of emerging markets for south and southeast Asia. He brings 10 years of experience in business development and is tasked by the peer-to-peer accommodation provider to strengthen Airbnb’s presence in the UK and Ireland.
Travel agents looking to increase commission levels often overlook the benefits of offering their clients car hire at the initial booking stage. So, how much
do you know about car hire and how confident are you at selling it? Andrea Elwell, sales manager at Flexible Autos, offers her top five sales tips.
1. Know the car hire hotspots
Apart from the US where everybody needs a vehicle, customers will hire a car in the traditional holiday hotspots, even if only for a day, so they can get out and explore. Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece
HOW TO SELL CAR HIRE
and Cyprus are among the top- selling car hire destinations – and probably among your top-selling destinations too. If you don’t offer your customer the option to book car hire in those destinations, chances are they are sourcing it online at home.
2. Be confident about offering car hire
Advice from
Knowing the questions you can ask when starting to organise car hire will put your customer at ease and help you to close the deal. Always remember to check they have a valid driving licence and also a credit card in their name as these are necessary requirements for nearly all car rental suppliers in all countries. Try to offer car hire at the initial holiday enquiry stage rather than later, so your customer has time to acquire these necessities if they don’t have them.
3. Luggage requirements
Ask how much luggage customers are planning to take – be sure you ask how many suitcases as well as how many people when trying to find out what kind
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travelweekly.co.uk — 22 January 2015
Andrea Elwell sales manager, Flexible Autos
of car to book. If in doubt, ask how they are travelling to the airport. If they are
using a minibus, the chances are they will need the same at their arrival airport. If they have infants or young children, always assume they will need a bigger car
as they will probably be taking a pushchair, plus all the additional extras young children need.
4. Advise on fuel and excess policies
Always clarify the fuel policy and the excess policy at the time of booking. These are the two issues that are
raised most upon return. So if you and your customer are fully aware of them before travelling, it will reduce the number of customer service issues that need to be resolved later on. Where possible, try to offer
an excess waiver/refund policy; paying that little extra upfront can save your customer large sums of money should they have an accident.
5. Package dynamically Hiring a car can often work out
less expensive than transfers to and from the resort airport. It also offers the customer the chance to get out and explore new places at their own pace and at times that suit them. Always try to suggest places of interest they can visit. Booking pre-arranged tours in the resort means your customers are typically herded around within large groups and, in many cases, won’t have enough time to explore elements of the tour that they really enjoy. However, with a car, the client sets the agenda, not the tour guide. Remember, your clients are speaking to you
because they want your expertise, so if you make it sound like the best idea, they will listen and go for it.
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!
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