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Triton members don’t back preferred suppliers
Only 56% of sales by Triton members are for preferred suppliers, according to new research from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Alan Morris, the company’s director, said it surveyed 30 agents over a four week period before Easter, and discovered that if they had all backed the preferred companies, members’ profitability would have shot up by 50%.
“As far as we can see, if all those agents had instead backed Triton suppliers, then turnover would have risen by around 18%. But that increase in revenue equates to around a 50% increase in profits, because there are no hidden costs. The money just goes straight to the bottom line,” he said.
“It proves that the Triton model works, but you are not making it work. You have got to stick together and make it work.”
The research also found that only one in five or six customers who go into a shop actually make a purchase.
“That is not good news,” said Morris. “Also, you are spending as much time on finding availability (around 20 minutes) for someone who doesn’t book a holiday as for someone who does.”
Meanwhile, around three quarters of people who buy a holiday from a travel agent do not return the following year, according to the research.
“That’s a really scary statistic,” said Morris. “The strategic mantra is to own the customer and you’re not doing that.
“The mickey mouse book of selling says it is easier and cheaper to sell to someone who has already bought than to go and get new business.
He said most people who walked into a travel agent did not browse brochures but instead went straight to a counter clerk.
“You’ve got to ask yourself about the value of cards in shops. Also, look at how much space is devoted to brochures in the shops because people are moving away from that browsing.”
Report by Jeremy Skidmore (www.jeremyskidmore.com)
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