The Personal Travel Agents At Co-Operative Travel has launched a series of initiatives to aid its more than 160 homeworkers during the January peak booking period.
The initiatives began in December with a regional roadshow titled ?Time To Reach New Peaks?, which featured an update from the business, information on the January campaigns, marketing and communication training, a sponsor slot and more. The support is set to continue throughout January with a variety of plans being implemented to help homeworkers maximise the January peak booking period.
Sheena Whittle, head of the cooperative travel agency, said: ?The focus of the December roadshow was on helping our agents to reach new peaks and reinforcing their confidence in being a part of The Personal Travel Agents at Co-operative Travel brand, as well as preparing our homeworkers for the upcoming key booking period. We have equipped them with the tools to talk about their impeccable service and untouchable experience, as well as help them to plan their strategy for early 2019.
?We introduced a new training module called ?Typers not Talkers? which looked at how to handle enquiries that come via digital live chat, for example from Facebook messages, as this requires a different skill set from traditional phone and face-to-face conversations,? continues Whittle. ?The motivation for adding this specific training module was that, in 2018, we generated ?5 million worth of travel bookings via social media, and this in a key growth area for us?.
This month will see the organisation deliver extra support for their agents during the busiest of booking times. The additional staff will act as ?runners? for the homeworkers to help out during the peak holiday booking season.
Also, the homeworkers are asked step away from their desks and take a walk to keep stress levels to the minimum. They are encouraged to take selfies of themselves on their walk and post pictures in the virtual office, to share the positive energy and inspire others.
The virtual office will also ?open? a bar on particularly busy days - with a DJ! - and agents will be encouraged to share pictures of their drinks as they relax and digitally let their hair down.
