Agents have been urged to make themselves more accessible and take a “serious look” at their marketing as the industry approaches the peak turn-of-year sales period.
Speaking at the 2021 Jet2holidays trade conference in Leeds today, head of trade Alan Cross warned many agents had become “less accessible” to customers since they opened their shops in comparison with the height of the pandemic.
He said agents’ decisions to only open partial hours or shut early on certain days meant customers could not always see or speak to their agent when they wanted travel advice.
“Many agents have made themselves less accessible than ever before,” he said.
During the pandemic many agents worked from home and were available around-the-clock to help their clients. “Your customers have been spoiled,” he said, adding: “They want to book when they choose.”
He urged agents to make sure they were available to customers when they needed them to ensure they do not miss out on business in the new year.
Speaking at the launch of Jet2holidays’ Travel Made Simple campaign, Cross also called on agents to up their marketing activity ahead of peaks.
“We get excuses from agents on why they are not doing any marketing,” said Cross, who said these varied from agents being too busy to saying they preferred to use word of mouth.
He said: “This is the time for you to have a serious look at your marketing. We must ensure we don’t take our eye off the ball and get complacent. We must ensure we support each other.”
Travel agents are being invited to sign up to join a Virtual Knowledge training session with Jet2holidays on December 2 to learn about the campaign. Since it launched this morning, 315 agents have registered to take part.
The campaign, which runs throughout the peak period, includes point-of-sale material such as window posters and badges. The operator is keen to work with agents to run joint marketing activity.
Cross advised agents not to just focus on one marketing channel, adding: “Allocate time to your marketing, don’t delegate it to the junior members of staff.”