Travel Technology News - August 28, 2000 Online Agent Douglas Quinby Service is Essential on the Internet It hardly needs to be repeated here that travel agencies who aren't on the Web are missing out, but there days it's simply not enough to have a Web site. Mary Jean Tully, CTC, chairman and CEO of Toronto-based The Cruise Professionals, who committees to making an e-success of her enterprise, relaxed that "e" doesn't just stand for "electronic" -it also stands for "effort." Tully decided to take her travel agency online two years ago, though her agency, The Cruise Professionals, may seem an unlikely candidate. This Virtuoso member specializes in luxury cruises, featuring such lines as Windstar, Crystal, Seabourne and Radisson Seven Seas, whose sales rely much more on high-touch than high-tech. Well, guess again. About 30 percent of Tully's new business is coming right off the Web site. "Two years ago I never would have believed that I would have gotten so much business over the Internet," she said. How did she do it? Well, first she got the word out, promoting the site through her existing marketing. Her husband, Brad Tully, president of The Cruise Professionals and a member of the technology committee for Virtuoso, designed the agency's site and developed a strategy (which he refused to reveal) to ensure the site received high placement on major search engine. But once the site is in place and the work is out, the key, insists Mary Jean Tully, is to make sure that service is there. "The Internet should be part of your overall base of service," Tully said. "You have to handle every e-mail that comes in like you would a phone call. You wouldn't take three days to return a phone call…The best thing for us is quick response." "In fact, Tully believes the follow- through is much more important than the Web site itself. "You can have a great Web site , but if you don't have the people on the other end, what good does it do? You have to have people on the back end to service clients," she advised. Where are you leading me? The Tullys do acknowledge, however, that the 'Net' also generates a lot of casual shoppers, who may even send an e-mail inquiry without much serious intention to follow through, as well as a lot of requests that simply aren't worth the time of their agents. Brad Tully warns that agency managers must be careful not to let the best agents waste their time on a lot of the Web's 'leads to nowhere.' "The key think is not to take the time of your top agents. It's smart to shield them. The could get 50 requests and none of them pan out," he said, suggesting that a junior staff member sift the leads, respond to them and pass on the stronger possibilities to the more experienced agents. "You've got to have somebody break out the shoppers from the serious inquiries."   Back         Top of Page

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