Marg Mulholland took over as president of Gogo Vacations last July; she has been with Gogo's parent company, Flight Centre, since 1982. Recently she talked with Senior Editor Kate Rice about her first year at the helm.
Q: What have you done since you took over as president?
A: I thought we needed to listen a little more to our customers. Some of the key things we heard from our customers was they didn't like the fact that we had gone from full documents to e-documents. They didn't like our website because of some of its functionalities.
Q: So how did you address that?
A: I decided to give people a choice on documents. Everyone will get an e-document. But if a customer wants documents with wallets, all they have to do is request them. We provide the wallet with the paper documents.
We have a new platform for our website, and we're getting good feedback. We have another enhancement coming that will provide a better experience. In the next phase, we will have commission presentation throughout the booking process, [agents] won't have to complete the booking to see the commission.
Q: What else did you find out when you listened?
A: The relationship the customer has with our sales team is incredibly important. The agent really values their relationship with the Gogo consultant. I'm talking about our wholesale agents and the relationships they have with that retail agent. They'll ring Joanne in Lebanon, [N.H.] because they have a relationship with her, they know that Joanne will do the right thing by them. If you think about it, it's human nature. The reason a customer goes to a travel agent is they want to know that they're getting the best deal. They want to share the responsibility and want someone to look after them and make them feel special and make them feel safe. And the travel agent comes to us because they want to be made to feel special and made to feel safe, and that is our value proposition.
Q: How will you build on that?
A: If you listen to travel agents, they are a little bit scared sometimes. They have to feel very comfortable that [what they're selling] is the right thing [for the client], so I want to make sure that they feel that they are offering their customer the right thing. That means that my guys need to be co-selling with them.
Basically, when a travel agent rings us, we should be doing everything in our power to make sure that we've got relevant product for them and passionate knowledge about what we do and make sure we know how to get that product and pricing to the travel agent in a timely manner. In the end, both parties should feel very comfortable that they have struck the perfect package that the person needs at the correct price with all the inclusions.
Q: Were there any surprises waiting for you at Gogo?
A: Yes and it's one of the things that I love. Gogo Vacations really has a beautiful identity. A lot of agents have been using Gogo since they started in the industry and feel very passionate about it. I've sat down with some of our agents, and they're attached to it and they want to see it do really well and do really well for them. This business has been alive for 60 years. I feel that a lot of what's gone on in the past has really meant that this business, Gogo Vacations, is highly regarded and part of people's lives. They chose it many years ago and they want to stick with it. I'm very fortunate and that is one of the things that surprised me the most and it's one of the things that I don't want to lose.
Follow Kate Rice on Twitter @krtravelweekly.