Communication how-tos

"The quality of your relationships is more important than professionalism," said Angela Thoburn, a Las Vegas-based management consultant, in her presentation at the Institute of Certified Travel Agents' forum in Las Vegas.

Not that friendliness should replace work skills -- but Thoburn fired her last travel agent partly because she realized how impersonal their relationship was.

When Thoburn's father died, the agent enclosed her business card with the sympathy card she sent Thoburn. This etiquette blunder also made Thoburn question the agent's lack of sensitivity.

"If she didn't think I was going to know who she was, what does that say about the quality of our connection?" Thoburn asked.

So just how do you build a good professional relationship? "You have to take some risks and push the envelope a little bit by your willingness to disclose who you are," said Thoburn.

"In the name of professionalism, we have been taught to keep our personal lives separate -- but we have to take some risks to be vulnerable with each other," she said.

"Don't go into gory details [about your personal life], but do let people know who you are and what you stand for.

"Once people begin to talk authentically about who they are, all sorts of problems start to go away" -- a process that Thoburn said she's seen work, somewhat surprisingly, in very large companies.

"I know I'm speaking against conventional wisdom, but it's OK to express emotion" in the workplace, she said.

Good communication skills are also important to good relationships -- one reason why Thoburn is a big proponent of less e-mail and more direct contact between people. "You can communicate basic information through e-mail -- but you lose all the nuances, such as tone of voice," she said.

Also key is remembering that "everyone you communicate with has a history. You could remind [someone] of their [ex-spouse]" -- a situation that could breed miscommunication, she said. It helps to get to "know who you're talking to."

Finally, she said, "We are not trained in listening -- just because somebody's looking at you doesn't mean they're listening to you. That's one thing I learned from having kids."

The pluses of personal service

Your relationships and the personal touches [you bring to business] are what will set you apart from everybody else," said Angela Thoburn, a Las Vegas-based management consultant who spoke at the Institute of Certified Travel Agents forum in Las Vegas.

Thoburn had recently fired her travel agent for lack of those personal touches.

"The agent booked travel efficiently, but only because she worked with my highly trained staff," said Thoburn. "She never asked for feedback and was more reactive than proactive.

"But if I could find a travel agent like the realtor who sold me my new house in Las Vegas, I'd keep her," she added.

Unlike her travel agent, the realtor knew how to make a good connection with Thoburn. "She called me when my dad died, and when I moved in, she phoned again to ask if everything was working for me," Thoburn said.

Another consultant who spoke at the ICTA conference had also recently fired a service person -- her banker -- for similar impersonal service.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nancy Austin was angry at the banker for "little things [such as] sending me [an impersonal] computer-generated letter."

But Austin is happy with her travel agent, who, she noted, always adds "her secret ingredient to the service she provides: She knows me."

I am very confused. ARC has raised ticket requisition fees due to a deficit "because shipments are down due to electronic ticketing and reporting," as was reported in a recent issue.

The reason I am confused is because the airlines pay for manufacturing the ticket stock, and the ticket requisition fees cover shipping and handling. Now if they are shipping and handling less, how did their costs go up?

Did the cost of shipping increase? Have they hired more people, or kept the same number of people, to do less work? Have such factors as agencies doing less ticketing in general or the closing and/or merging of agencies resulted in less profit?

Whatever the reason, when you experience a deficit, you first take internal measures to reduce it before increasing the cost of anything.

ARC should consult with its airline owners -- the No. 1 cost-cutting experts in the world. Just reduce your payroll and you should have no deficit. Or better yet, check with agency owners. We have had a lot of experience with "making do" while making less.

In the same article, ARC president David Collins "raised the question of whether paper agents should pay the same fees as electronic agents."

I think the not-so-subtle hint is that if you do paper tickets, you will pay more -- and if you don't do Interactive Agent Reporting, you also will pay more.

It is ironic, but not surprising, that the agency community, which has embraced electronic efficiencies, will not be a benefactor of the savings. Am I the only one confused?

Or is it the hope of the airlines and ARC that we'll just accept these financially burdensome dictates and it will be business as usual?

Lucy Hirleman, CTC, MCC, owns Berkshire Travel in Newfoundland, N.J. E-mail her at [email protected]; fax to (973) 208-1204.