Travel agent gone AWOL

[Beachy55]

Does this mean you are still around Alan and still trading? There is hope?

It appears from this the TA found the time to post a long rant that is full of holes and excuses in an attempt to salvage his own reputation, yet still hasn’t found the time to contact an obviously concerned and distressed client ?

The client should be the one to decide if contact is urgent or not, it is their money.

 

[CorporateFlyerMEL]

I thought the same - the first line of response should have been "I have now contacted OP and resolved the commercial issues' - rather than a long rant that would have taken more time to write and post than fixing the original issues...

 

[GrahamBRI]

Not wanting to deny anyone a well earned break, that is clearly the focus of most members of AFF, but in line with that objective, we are just as focused on supporting others through the challenges they have with their travels. Of critical concern here is that when a TA starts “behaving” like an insolvent company, that can be one of the scariest positions for their clients to be in and that needs to be prioritised accordingly. We all know TA insolvency is one of the few uninsurable events (next to act of war).

5. Ticketing passengers who are trying to book a time limited sale fare.

The prioritising of revenue through new / future bookings gives both a reason to be concerned around TA insolvency and a clear indication that, despite your historic great work, you currently have your customer priorities wrong.

 

[Quickstatus]

2 issues

1) Managing client expectations

Managing client expectations is one of critical aspects of providing a Client facing service and successful client management is an ongoing task
No doubt some clients have unrealistic expectations and sometimes they are impossible, but it is the Provider's job to align the clients expectation with the ability of the Provider to deliver.

Not responding to multiple calls and emails makes that job very hard because it does not cultivate trust or peace of mind.

I think MR's post was trying to realign the client's expectations to the realities of a Sole Trader business. I do empathise that customers don't have any insight into that. I am also not a TA, but am in a customer facing service industry, and I can say that his post is definitely the wrong way of going about it.

2) The Skill of Delegating
I suspect MR's business model needs to be re-imagined. I don't know enough of MR's office practice to advise directly but there are lots of things that can be done.
One of the most important skills that a lot of Sole Traders have difficulty with, is the ability to Delegate.
We all think that no one else can do a better job, but that is a fallacy.
We then overestimate our abilities, and fail to recognise that others can possess the required capabilities or be trained in it. I think it is called the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Inability to delegate imposes huge costs.
In a sole trader scenario, it bakes in a single point of failure - no one to solve an otherwise simple issue. That is clearly seen here by everyone, where the client is worried that something happened to MR and there is no solution even with the ticket issuer.
The other cost is personal fatigue and mental exhaustion - as alluded to by MR
Cognitive bandwith is limited and the business is at risk of becoming error prone.

The solution is to actually start delegating - despite MR asserting that he can't find anyone like him, it is actually not necessary to find a MR clone. Even someone, who is 20-50% of what MR can do, can be immensely helpful . Start slow, hand off small tasks, then increase as the case might be. Who knows, a good assistant can sometimes transform the office because they can provide a different perspective.

 

[MARTINE]

Does this mean you are still around Alan and still trading? There is hope?

Googling this TA and AFF name brings up a very negative and long narrative on google search. Not good for the business unfortunately