FRONTLINE
Helen Parry director, Arundel Travel, Otley, West Yorkshire
We all have such a great time at events,
whether it’s celebrations, conferences or awards ceremonies. The travel world has always been a work hard, play hard industry, and one where we can play at being millionaires, but perhaps never become one! We are fortunate that many of the higher management positions in travel come with invites to attend prestigious events, swanky conferences and luxury fam trips. After a bumper year of sales,
there was plenty of excitement as we headed into the current conference season. But while I hope many of us will be celebrating a great year with industry friends, we need to remember that as Christmas approaches, our teams might start slipping into what I like to call ‘mince pie mode’, when they lose a bit of focus and momentum.
MINCE PIE MODE As a business owner, you need to think about what creates mince pie mode and how to manage it. If it is because business is entering the traditionally quieter period and our teams are getting a bit restless, that’s easy to fix by tasking them with training sessions, blog writing or prepping for peaks. But what if it comes about because they have seen us pictured with champagne in hand, collecting an award or dressed to the nines in a five-star restaurant? What
32 16 NOVEMBER 2023 AGENT
Saying ‘thank you’ goes a long way to making your colleagues feel appreciated and fosters loyalty
if mince pie mode is down to disengagement? That could be a trickier battle. This got me thinking: how good are we at saying thank you and acknowledging the people who turn up at work and do an amazing job? I am delighted that Arundel Travel has been a success, and this isn’t just down to me, Nick and Bea. We have to acknowledge the amazing bunch of people who work and have worked with us. I hope that we say thank you enough.
TWO SMALL WORDS We are a small independent travel agency and sadly can’t afford to whisk our team away somewhere
tropical to reward them, but we try our best, whether it’s additional days off for birthdays and Christmas shopping, team Sunday lunches or a night out at the fabulous Yorkshire Ball. We also hope that by giving them a big smile and saying those two all-important words, they know how grateful we are to have them. ‘Thank you’ could be the
most forgotten phrase, but it’s so important. I’ll admit, I sometimes feel forgotten about, sometimes by my team, sometimes by tour operators or other peers. Saying thank you does go a long way and shouldn’t just stop with our immediate teams. We offer our customers a loyalty card as a way of thanking them for supporting our independent business. It is a small gesture compared to the loyalty that they give us, but our customers really appreciate it. Then there’s our suppliers, trade
reps and business development managers. We work with so many suppliers, so the question is, how do we possibly extend our appreciation to a wider audience? From my own experience of being a trade rep, it doesn’t need to be a big display – it could be as little as a card, or an introduction to another agent or colleague to give you the assurance that you’re doing a good job.
ATTENDING WTM BLEW MY MIND
Travelling the world in 48
hours sounds like an impossible feat, but I managed it this week when my dream of visiting World Travel Market finally came true. The experience completely blew my mind. I had been told many times it was geared more towards buyers, but we got so much out of it. We went with a plan and a focus and tried to stick to it, though sometimes the cooking shows, dancing and singing led us astray! We learnt so much about different destinations, and sat down for catch-ups with Abta, Ocean Florida, Etihad Holidays and Balkan Holidays. I also loved having a coffee and a chat with Julia Lo Bue-Said. It made me so happy to see the whole world of travel under one roof!
Helen at WTM with
Wayne Szczambura of Balkan Holidays
travelweekly.co.uk
Clare SharonDavid KimColin Clare Sharon David KimColin diary diary
Helen
Helen
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