Although I was fortunate enough to have had a grammar school education, I failed most of my O’ level exams. School for me was a great means of entertainment and lessons tended to get in the way so were avoided as much as possible.
I left school not knowing what I wanted to do. I had an inkling to be a chef but seeing an advert for Thomas Cook proved to be the avenue for my career in the travel industry.
I loved the people in the industry but in the early days, I was never able to find a job I liked. This changed for me when I joined United Travel Bureau as a business travel trainee.
Suddenly I was exposed to a phone that didn’t stop ringing, secretaries that wanted things done yesterday, messengers standing over you while you wrote out tickets that had to be delivered. It was a buzzing environment and even though I found myself working longer and harder I knew that business travel was for me.
My success at Ayscough was due primarily to joining at the right time and the fact that Don Lunn (now chairman), and myself had similar values and enjoyed the same sense of humour.
In 1974, Ayscough consisted of 10 employees: three on the counter, a secretary and six of us in business travel. I quickly assumed the role of office manager and we simply grew the business by building a reputation for providing very high service levels. We rarely lost a client because we went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that our reputation remained intact.
I can remember an irate secretary once informing me that British Airways had managed to lose her boss’s luggage for the umpteenth time and she considered me to be responsible.
Everyone tells you not to take complaints personally but we all know that this is much easier said than done. Needless to say that evening I found myself driving to Gatwick, collecting his lost luggage and delivering it to his house. All in the cause of demonstrating to him that we valued his business and that we cared.
Individually we all took a pride in our own performance and as a team we felt we had the skills to handle anything that was thrown at us. This is still true of us as a company today.
If we had a fault, it was our tendency to ‘hide our light under the bushel’ and this for some time hindered our expansion. It was not in our nature to tell everyone how good we thought we were. We were much more comfortable to win new business by recommendation.
Until the mid-1980s, we were totally inexperienced at competing with other travel companies to win new accounts, but with the arrival of our first sales person we suddenly found that we were attracting much more business. We now have a sales force of nine and that first sales person remains a major player in the team.
Coping with growth means coping with change and I am a firm believer in involving all our staff at an early stage to ensure they can influence their working environment.
Our industry is one of those that is constantly changing and I believe the supportive culture at Ayscough has helped us to retain our sanity and added to the enjoyment of the job.
I would put our success down to the people I work with, many of whom I have recruited. The lesson for me was to agree objectives with them and then stand back and allow them to express themselves and run the business.
I am concerned about commission levels – the format that has served us well for the last 50 years is about to change.
British Airways would love us to charge our customers so they can reduce their distribution costs. I wonder what commission levels they have planned for us with effect from April 2000.
Internet technology should allow everyone to access information enabling them to book their flights, hotels etc at prices that best suit their requirements – we along with most agencies are hastily developing software to take advantage of this new booking medium.
So will there be a need for a travel agent in the future?
I view survival much as I do our office cleaner – I could do it myself but I know my time is better spent running the business.
Then again, I still like to listen to my LP collection!
1963: Thomas Cook – working in Independent Inclusive Tours.
1965: Dartmouth Travel – working in Incoming Tours.
1966: Hotel Plan – working in Incoming Tours.
1967: Janaway Travel – Counter Travel Clerk.
1968: United Travel Bureau – working in business travel.
1974: Ayscough Travel – mainly business travel.
l Keep looking to improve – never rest on your laurels.
l Always try to over deliver – don’t over promise.
l Be straight and honest with your staff and your clients – tell them how it is.
l Close your mouth and open your ears.
l Delegate but don’t abdicate – put in monitoring procedures.
l Get a job you love doing – don’t give up, search until you find the right position.
l Embrace change – we are in a changing industry.
l Lead by example.
l Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity.
l Make a real effort to resolve conflicts amicably – don’t make too many enemies.
l A good negotiator actually tries to find a solution that suits both parties.
l Ask questions – Rudyard Kipling’s poem Serving Men – they taught me all I knew. Their names are what and why and when and how and where and who.