This Week's Herman Trend Alert The Consequences of Virtual Meetings

The Herman Trend Alert May 1, 2002 Airlines in a Quandary The airlines in the United States have traditionally paid a commission to travel agents for selling their services and providing the ticketing for customers to fly on their planes. Professional travel agents have provided the important services of itinerary design, explanations, consideration of alternative routes, and other time-consuming tasks for their customers. Valuable relationships have been built over many years. The commissions paid by airlines neutralized the need for travel agents to charge for these services. Now the airlines have changed their policy. No more commissions will be paid to the thousands of independent travel agents who have served their customers so well. The airlines want to keep the profit, through their reservation centers (telephone) and web sites (electronic). This shift is controversial, and airlines around the world are watching to see if they should follow this new design. How is it working? Travel agents report an increase in business! And customers seem willing to pay a fee for assistance from these professionals they trust. Customers tell tales of long waits to talk with reservations agents who seem more interested in closing the deal and moving on to the next customer. The same relationship isn't there, and the airline employees usually can't answer the extra questions for concerned travelers. All they know is the flight information. Travel agents report that their business travelers have not switched over to the Internet reservation systems. Unlike our upcoming Millennial generation that loves technology, many business customers don't want to take time to navigate through the airline websites and they are concerned that they may not be getting the best schedule. Random calls to airline employees working in the reservation centers revealed a sense of overload. There's just too much call volume to handle well. Customers are upset and workers are pushed toward burn-out. What's the answer? Hire more airline employees to answer the calls? Heavy costs have already caused massive airline layoffs. Longer waits antagonize customers even more. We forecast that airlines will realize they've bitten off more than they can chew. Commissions to travel agents are a cheaper and more effective alternative. © Copyright 1998- by The Herman Group, Inc. -- reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "The Herman Trend Alert," by Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or http://www.hermangroup.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group, Inc." BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND: RETENTION SPECIALIST PROGRAM A growing number of people have expressed an interest in attending our Employee Retention Specialist Certificate Program. We'd like to schedule on that's convenient for those who want to attend, but need your feedback to do so. Please place RETENTION SPECIALIST in the subject line and Joyce will personally call you back to schedule the workshop. Or you can call Joyce directly at 336-210-3548 (PDT this and next week). BUSINESS IS PICKING UP Most employers are unprepared. The recovery will bring a new set of challenges for employers that have been in prolonged contracted mode. They will need more skilled workers or will need now to begin to upskill their current staffs. But organizations can not engage in Strategic Workforce Planning, when they don't know how. That's where The Herman Group can help. We can help you with your "People Review"----large or small---so that you will know who you will need and when you will need them. . . and we can also guide you to the best sources for the people you will need. For more information, call Joyce at 336-210-3548 or e-mail joyce@hermangroup.com. FIND OUT WHAT YOUR EMPLOYEES REALLY THINK AND FEEL Discover what’s really going on in the hearts and minds of your employees. Our InnerViews interviewing service uses SPHRs and PHRs, certified human resource professionals to probe for the information you really need to know. Exit and Stay Interviews, as well as Why-Didn't-You-Take-Our-Offer Interviews. Call Rosalie Catalano at 937-416-7066, or read more at: http://www.hermangroup.com/retentionconnection/exit_interviews.html. Herman Trend Alerts are produced by the Herman Group, strategic business futurists, Certified Management Consultants, authors, and professional speakers. New subscribers are welcome. There is no charge for this public service. The Herman Trend Alert is received by over 30,000 subscribers in 78 countries, in addition to other websites and printed magazines. Do you enjoy receiving this weekly e-mail update? Contact us about our co-branded Trend Alert service. Click here to sign up for the Herman Trend Alert. Subscribe or Unsubscribe to weekly Herman Trend Alert View this week's Herman Trend Alert Archived Weekly Herman Trend Alerts

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