ADVANTAGE business travel agents may use online chat rooms and regular face-to-face meetings to communicate with suppliers and other members.
The suggested plans – put together at the first Advantage Focus Champions conference – will now be put to other consortium members before they are rolled out.
Members of the Focus partnership, made up of 90 independent business travel agents, met with airlines including Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic to develop ideas on training, incentives and head office communication.
Agents stressed the need to have face-to-face contact with suppliers on a twice-yearly basis, called for an Internet-based message board for Focus members to share ideas, and said head office e-mails should be limited so they only receive messages relevant to their own branch.
Advantage development director Ken McLeod said: “What we will do now is talk to owners and other members and say ‘this what your staff are saying’ and go from there to implement plans.”
He said this conference was the first time Focus Champion agents had got together to discuss these types of issues.
“The fact we have got them all together with the airlines is great – a lot of the time they don’t get to see each other and I wanted to make sure suppliers and members worked together. This conference was more about the operational issues,” McLeod said.
York-based NYS Group agent Jeanette McGrath said: “It has been interesting and informative. The forum was excellent. I now know more about where we should be heading – with the suppliers and ourselves.”
Conference quotes
“The conference has been really good for people who don’t know as much about the Focus Partnership. People now know what their role is.”
Cheryl Stone, operations manager, Cassis Travel, London
“I got a lot out of the two days and the relationships I have begun to form with some key airlines are really going to help me in my everyday work.”
Anna Smith, operations manager, Norad Travel Management Services, Weston-super-Mare
“As someone new to the Advantage/Focus account it was a great way for me to meet agents who actually book SAS and also for me to see first-hand how the organisation works.”
Phil Ariss, key account manager, SAS