Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed Selling Skills in Travel and Tourism BTEC Travel and Tourism

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed Face-to-Face Communication Employees who have direct contact with customers known as ‘ front-of-house ’ staff Within facilities this might include: staff at admission points information desks shops and cafes Prior to booking it might include telephone sales or electronic sales staff

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed Face-to-Face Communication Customer satisfaction depends in part on the information and assistance that staff can provide. Front-of-house staff should be able to help customers at all times. To achieve this, all staff should receive regular training so that all customer enquiries can be dealt with effectively.

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed Interpreting Customer Needs and Expectations Understanding the different types of customer that your organisation attracts This is based on experience and market research There is a clear need for staff training to be provided in order to achieve this aim

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed Customer Consciousness Organisations carry out marketing activities in order to raise awareness among current and potential customers: Posters Advertisements Leaflets Flyers

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed Customer Consciousness Travel organisations may also make use of new communications technologies: Web sites Podcasts Blogs Organisations will usually use a mix of these marketing activities to raise customer awareness of their products and services.

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed The Need to Focus on Selling Skills The sector skills council for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism industries is known as ‘ People 1 st ’ This body publishes data drawn from the National Employer Skills Survey (NESS)

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed The Need to Focus on Selling Skills In 2003, they measured the skills that employers were finding it hard to obtain from applicants. In brief, the most important shortage areas were: Communication skills – 53% of employers with skills shortage vacancies reported difficulties in this area

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed The Need to Focus on Selling Skills Customer handling skills – 46% of employers cited problems in this area Problem solving skills – 35% of employers reported problems in this area Employers need to focus strongly on training and development in order to address these problems, and boost staff skills

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed The Need to Focus on Selling Skills According to People 1 st, almost 60% of employers in the sector in England have provided training and development in the past 18 months. Training is usually provided in job-specific skills.

Copyright 2006 – Biz/ed What Next? Go to the Activity to practice your selling skills.