Reflect upon and post a comment in response to the following:
Think of ways that organisations can identify and access product information above and beyond what your competitors do.
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About Me
- James in Bologna
- Bologna, Emilia-Romagna region, Italy
- Thanks for stopping by and reading the 'bo-log'. In January 2017, I upgraded my MCA (Master of Creative Arts) at the University of Technology Sydney to a PhD. The project, 'Masculinity on Trial', looks for Australian masculinities lost in the establishment of the Anzac hegemony during WW1. From March to July 2017, I am being hosted in Italy at the University of Bologna on an ErasmusPLUS doctoral research writing scholarship.
6 comments:
Hello
I am a little stumped on this question. Maybe I am interpreting the question incorrectly.
Generally speaking with any products or services we provide we are well informed of its features through our representatives of their respective companies. This information is provided across the industry in a fairly open fashion.
To put ourselves in a advantageous situation over our competitors maybe we could take time to experience the product first hand.
If we took more time to experience the product or service then we have first hand experience, so are more familar with the product.
Also we have to identify what products and services are most appropriate for each client. If we take the time in researching our clients "real" needs then we will be in a stronger position in finding the right product and services to best fulfil there needs.
Hmmmmmm, not to sure where to go with this.
In my current position I don't really go out of my way to access product information. A lot of product information and updates and sent through to us via email or sales representatives come and visit us. To be honest most of the emails are deleted. May be I do need to take more responsibility and read these. I guess as we solely focus on 'our' client we only tend to take notice of information that applies to them.
I have not really answered the question, but I challenged myself.
Enjoy.
In corporate travel the key ways I feel we can do this is through relationships, and our people.
Relationships – by building and maintaining strong relationships with our suppliers we are able to find out and access information that our competitors would not have access to. This also enables us to identify new changes that may occur in the market place. One example I can think of is with a rental car company who gave a heads up on bringing in ‘eco friendly cars’ we knew this long before anyone else did.
Our people – yes agree with Nick – having our team experience products means we are able to identify and learn about products which others do not know; experiencing first hand you have a thorough knowledge of the product. Again this ties into the relationships, we have champions for each supplier, and the suppliers send us updates. Our team are really proactive in asking questions and requesting further information so we fully understand all the features of the products.
One area we can work on more is internal communication, so this knowledge above and beyond what our competitors know is shared with all offices.
Hi there
An interesting questions and some good ideas from Nick, Jarrod and Karla.
I thought about this and come up with a different view of it.
Dependant on the customers requirements we could potential use a variety of tools to get/convey information to them such as:
* Wholesalers - getting us net fares/hotel/values add's
* Netcheck - running a quick scan via Sabre Netcheck of any appicable cheaper internet only fares
* Amex preferred hotel rates - which could be more beneficial for the customer than standard corporate rates and may include breakfast/internet usage
* The Spectre report - to quickly identify any effected travellers in the event of an emergency on a flight (ie the QF flight from SIN-PER that dropped alltitute causing 20 people to be hospitalised). If we had any travellers on that flight (we didn't) we could've contacted their manager to let them know of their staff was booked in the flight
* Text messaging service - with technology changing quickly this could be a good way of effeciently and effectively communciation with our travellers
Hope I'm on the right track ..
I'm stumped too Nick!
I guess first rule is not to trust the internet - first hand experience or feedback from a reliable source such as a frequent traveller is the safest option. Contacts with key suppliers are important and identifying any opportunities to ensure we are meeting the specific needs of the client
Hi Everyone, as like everyone else i'm not sure how to answer this question.
i agree that staff experience and relationships with suppliers are a way to enhance the product information we have access to.
One way our company could do this better is by sharing the product information we do have. May be the use on our intranet site could assist with this.
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