Mole Factor winner unveiled

Mike Stones, a home-based agent for Co-op Future Travel, has been voted winner of Travelmole’s Mole Factor competition.

Stones will become a regular contributor to Travelmole, sharing his views on industry issues.

“We had some very strong candidates, but Mike’s entry stood out for its honesty, topicality and his colourful writing style,” said Bev Fearis, Travelmole news editor.

As well as winning a fortnightly slot on Travelmole, Stones wins a UK weekend for two with Superbreak.

Here is his winning entry:

“‘The customer is always right’ is a traditional mantra in the service industries. I disagree. Too much politeness and servility does not always clinch the sale. For example, I am sure many of us in the retail sector have experienced the frustration of being used as a free public information service for travellers who have no intention of booking with us, or even have already booked elsewhere.

When a stranger rings up and says “I am flying to Florida next week, do I need a visa?” most grit their teeth, answer the question civilly, and then whinge about the ‘time waster’ to their colleagues. Personally, I do my best Basil Fawlty impersonation and send them back to wherever they booked: “Oh, you booked on the internet – well, I suggest you ask a robot then!”

Many of you will suggest I may have lost a potential customer for life – however, the odds are quite slim, and I find the cathartic experience of breaking the constant daily grind of respect and courtesy quite invigorating and it puts a spring in my step for the rest of the day.

I no longer suffer in silence from the ignorance of those who have champagne tastes and beer money, or who cling to the misguided view that it will always get cheaper “nearer the time”.

Many who call my reservations line with foolish notions are treated to a possibly patronising two-minute lecture – sometimes a treatise on the fall in the pound since they last booked, a potted history of the failure of XL and the effects of the merger of the big four into two, or the business model of scheduled airlines and why this means they increase not reduce their prices at the last minute.

A surprising number of callers thank me for explaining matters hitherto mysterious to them – some of them even follow my advice and book!

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I am beginning to get bored with all this wailing, doom and gloom about the recession. It is here, and we must adapt or make way for those who do. There are too many in this business wallowing in nostalgia for the good old days, when patrons picked up a brochure, looked at the price and decided if they could afford it – the times when haggling for a discount was strictly a bit of daring fun in an exotic bazaar.

In the 21st century the brochure prices are meaningless, over half the potential customers are on the internet, and it is hardly a secret that most tour operators would stop at nothing to do away with middle men like us, if they could get away with it.

I have had my best two months in the last five years: not by sitting passively in a shop and waiting for a potential customer to come in, but by marketing my services – we have to be enthusiastic ambassadors for our products, not merely “waiters” to take down the customer’s order and price it up.

It amazes me how many retail colleagues are fixated by percentages: it is real money that counts! I would rather make £100, having discounted a £3,000 holiday to Australia, than spend a similar amount of time earning £50 doing the paperwork for a week in Benidorm at retail price.”

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