MLADEN Lukic, Travel
Counsellors SA gm,
says there has never
been a better time than now
to be a TC in South Africa.
Referring to a headline in
TNW dated May 1, ‘‘Waitand-see’ hits pre-election
bookings’, Mladen said:
“Our story is completely the
opposite. We had the best
January in the history of TC
SA. February was brilliant and
our March was also good.”
The congress was labelled
TCX, with the X reflecting that
all important ‘experience’:
that of the end-customer in
dealing with the consultant
and also that of the TCs
running their businesses
under the brand Travel
Counsellors.
“Our business is not
defined by ‘we sell tickets’,
it’s the full experience that
defines us,” said Mladen.
And, he said, TCs know
exactly the route to take.
“TCs are on a journey
through artisanry, toward
mastery, leading toward
creating ‘masterpieces’
of customer-relationshipselling – the management
team simply clears the way
for the TCs to complete the
masterpiece.”
Global ceo, Steve Byrne,
spoke of TC’s coming
investment into the South
African business. In order
to enable and facilitate
South African TCs, without
‘command and control’,
the company now intends
to invest a good deal in
the corporate side of the
business, with a businessfriendly offering targeting
SMEs in particular, seeking
more share of wallet and
recognising that corporate
business can often come as
a result of cross-over from
leisure business.
The Phenix system will
feature more premium
leisure market product, and
a ‘smarter’ Phenix will have
more on offer. TCs can look
forward to a more responsive
system, better workflow,
reduced admin, greater
operational efficiency, scale
(along with intimacy), and
better knowledge sharing.
Said Steve: “The community
is the font of knowledge, not
the head office.”
Travel Counsellors’
stated vision is being an
organisation that connects a
global community of informed
travel consumers with
expert, caring travel advisers
who specialise in creating
travel experiences that put
customer needs and the
human touch first.
TC’s support team was all
about empowering the people
who were closest to the
customer, said Steve. “We
are not for every customer.
Our model demands we
do the very best for our
customer. We don’t want
to spend time chasing new
customers. We want repeats
and referrals.
“Consumers first and
foremost are human beings.
As much as data and
technology can get you in
front of customers, people
want to speak and hear a
human. To build intimacy,
we have to keep in touch
– to show we care. The
wraparound is that we care
more than anyone else.
The customer will not go
elsewhere and will refer you
to family and friends.”
‘We tell a different story’ – Travel Counsellors
Comments | 0
