ttglive.com
wtm pride of agents awards knowledge
CALL CENTRE WINNER. Joanne Kevill, administration manager, ticketing, Gold Medal Daily deadlines and an intake of inexperienced staff means that Joanne can work 60 hours a week. She even takes her laptop home to support newcomers working the evening shift. “It’s my choice to work these hours because I want my department to be successful,” says Joanne who inherited nine staff from the call centre with no experience of ticketing. “It can take six months to learn ticketing and things change all the time. We always have to be one step ahead. With training,
INDEPENDENT RETAIL. AWARD. Nichola O’Brien, cruise manager, Barrhead Travel
The Travel Channel Homeworkers Louise Dickenson (left) Louise Robinson
customer bases, with a separate direct line for each, and introduced a new email address for joint marketing initiatives. These include attending wedding fairs to sell honeymoons, sending special offer e-shots to local businesses and introducing a recommend-a-friend incentive. “Around 95% of our business is word of mouth and recommendation,” says Robinson. “We work such long hours plus evenings, when the kids are in bed, and weekends at times to suit our clients, which is something the high street doesn’t offer. It has taken over our lives, but that is all part of it.”
Barrhead Travel’s Nichola O’Brien was awarded after going beyond the call of duty for a honeymoon rebooking 26.11.2010 33
As head of Barrhead Travel’s emergency team, Nichola is used to handling crises. But even she went beyond the call of duty when she spent all night searching for flights on her laptop for a honeymoon couple whose departure had been cancelled because of the volcanic ash cloud. She called the couple at their wedding reception to say Continental had cancelled their Edinburgh to Newark flight, then contacted the airline in the US, holding on for hours to rebook them from Manchester. At 5am, with a car waiting to transfer them, the ash cloud also closed Manchester airport. Within minutes she had rebooked them via Heathrow.
The couple caught the flight with only
it is a case of building up people’s confi- dence and knowledge and I am there to support them as much as I can.” She is acutely aware that mistakes and missed deadlines can also be costly. “We are are always conscious that we have a deadline every day and if we miss the last date to ticket, it costs the company money. We have never missed a deadline.” She holds regular meetings to set goals and monthly “one to ones”, where staff can support each other and come up with new ideas.
“Everyone pulls together and works towards the goals as a team,” she says.
minutes to spare and, amazingly, arrived 30 minutes earlier than their original flight, thanks to Nichola’s determination. Nichola was unable to speak to TTG as she was on a fam trip, but cruise director Catriona Parsons said: “With honeymoons, it is absolutely crucial that the couple gets away and Nichola didn’t want to let them down. She has lots of contacts with airlines and sat up through the night to rebook them.” She added that the company was well aware how important customer service and loyalty were to its bottom line. “Nichola is phenomenal, so dedicated,” says Parsons. “She makes sure customers are rebooked and that her team of 60 staff have accurate information. Our job is to sell a dream and when that turns into a nightmare we try and limit the damage done. Nichola would have driven to Newcastle if the job had required it.”
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