Travel agent/client communication

We all have pet peeves. You know -- the little things that people do that drive us nuts. Well, one of mine has come up lately and I look at this as an opportunity to maybe help travel agent to client relationships. The better this relationship is the better job a travel agent can do for their client.

Have you ever assembled something and when you were done, you had several important looking parts left over? You then go back to the directions (that you didn't fully read the first time) to see where you messed up. Now you have to start over. Had you read the directions the first time, you would be done already. (I am guilty of this too!)

A similar thing happens to me when quoting or giving information to clients. This is the common scenario. A client calls or emails me and prefers to receive their quote/information in email form, so I email them fully answering all of their questions. Usually, I get a response with more questions. This is common and expected. A good travel agent would rather have a client ask me questions now rather than later.

To be clear, I am one that always says to ask me anything and to not be afraid of asking a "dumb" question. I am going to get so called "dumb" questions (most of the time they are not) as that are part of the nature of my job as a travel agent, so I am not bothered by that. Also, I realize that many people have not traveled extensively (if at all), so they will have questions that they may think are "dumb", but due to lack of travel experience they need to ask them. This is normal and expected. It is also normal not to notice a thing or two.

However, when multiple questions that are asked would have been answered in full if they had fully read my email that is really annoying. It is almost like they just scan the email, pick and choose what they want to read and ignore the rest. If the answers they are looking for are not in giant neon flashing letters, they will never see it.

I, however am a good travel agent and value my clients and I resist the urge to send a smart alecky email in response. However, when I do respond, I often just copy and paste the answers from my original email. That usually takes care of it, but this step could have been avoided had they read my email in full. Both of our time has been wasted.

Please remember if you are asking for a quote or information from any travel agent, please read or listen to everything they give you so that you can ask any questions in relation to getting further information or if you think of anything new to ask or comment about. A good travel agent will want to do their best for their clients and this will help them to do so.

If you have any suggestions related to this topic or any other customer service issue, please feel free to comment or contact me at divalisatravel@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you and I promise to read everything you write!