First Choice’s Wimbleton: agents must improve selling techniques
ABTA Convention Special: First Choice retail chief John Wimbleton has told travel agents to become better sales people if they want to survive in a competitive environment.
Too often retailers are unwilling or unable to close a sale when a customer is in their shop, he claimed.
“We don’t get business because we don’t ask for it,” said Wimbleton. “Most successful people ask for money.
“We look after the customer, give them coffee and then say; ‘Do you want to go home and think about it?’
“The customer must think we are mad. Can you imagine going into Marks and Spencer to buy a shirt and them asking you if you are sure you want that colour?”
Wimbleton added that most travel agents’ shop windows were very poor adverts for their company.
“We have to take a very hard look at the way we present ourselves because we look awful,” he said. “Every other retailer understands that you have to present yourself in a certain light.
“Do you want to look like a second-hand shop or as a dream seller?”
Wimbleton told retailers to recruit the best people for their business and concentrate on the basics of selling holidays.
“People think the secret of success is hidden at the bottom of the pyramids. But it isn’t – just keep it simple and concentrate on business.”
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