Opening New Sales Channels:
Creating The Luxury Experience
A high-end travel wholesaler recently purchased by a major internet travel site needed help in selling their luxury vacations directly to consumers. Their highly trained Travel Specialists had extensive product knowledge, but up to now "selling" was just taking orders from travel agents. The challenge was to turn these order takers into consultative sales people capable of creating a luxury sales and service experience for a very discriminating new clientele.
The TEG Solution
TEG worked with senior leadership from Marketing and the Call Center to define the luxury experience they wanted to create for their new customers. We translated this experience into a six step sales process and identified observable behaviors in each step of the process. Then we used these behaviors to develop standards and expectations that could serve as the basis for training, coaching, and quality monitoring.
TEG customized and delivered a workshop on Selling The Luxury Experience which provided Travel Specialists with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes they needed to succeed in the new channel. The workshop was extremely interactive and incorporated a wide variety of effective examples and real-world situations for practice and feedback.
TEG also provided training to managers, supervisors, and quality specialists on Coaching The Luxury Experience. TEG reinforced these coaching skills by facilitating regular calibration and coaching sessions with supervisors and quality specialists. TEG also worked closely with the management team to review monthly sales metrics, develop strategies for closing more sales, and design personalized coaching plans for all the Travel Specialists.
The new channel surpassed their aggressive first year sales objectives. As close rates increased, other Travel Specialists asked to transfer to the new channel. The growing team was confidently providing a luxury service experience that generated increasing sales.
