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Customer is king for ABTA
30 Jan 2009
Topics: Customer satisfaction, ISO 10002
ABTA (The Association of British Travel Agents, representing over 5,500 travel agencies and 900 tour operations in the UK) has joined forces with BSI Management Systems UK to produce a guide on implementing an effective complaints handling process - Dealing With Complaints: Complaint Handling. The guide is aligned to ISO 10002 Customer Complaint Satisfaction and Complaints Handling - the standard for implementing a complaints management system.
This is a welcome development for the travel industry. These are challenging times for the sector and travel companies are bearing the brunt of the downturn. As the standard points out, it costs an organization at least four times as much to recruit a new customer as to maintain an existing one. Organizations that regularly lose customers struggle to repair their damaged reputations.
For those companies that manage complaints in a way that exceeds expectations, the results can be more than customer satisfaction - it can generate greater loyalty.
For ABTA Members to achieve certification to ISO 10002, they need to implement a customer complaints system showing that they comply with the requirements in the standard. The new ABTA/BSI guide outlines the fundamentals of a management system, including how to engage top-level management, the importance of training staff in the process and establishing monitoring. ABTA members can use this guide to assist them with this process and they can then be audited against the standard. If successful, they will be recommended for certification to ISO 10002.
The ABTA Code of Conduct already has a section outlining best practice for communication between clients and ABTA, and requires members to deal with complaints promptly within certain time limits. The new guide will give companies more detailed information on how to implement a system that will enhance customer loyalty and gain important feedback to help improve products and services.
"The guide forms part of our Business Support service," says Simon Bunce, ABTA's head of Legal and Member Services. "Handling complaints effectively is a key way to ensure that a company can gain a good reputation both with customers and in the industry."
For more information on ISO 10002: www.bsigroup.com/jan09iso10002
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