CHAPTER 8

WORKING
WITH
TOUR
GROUP
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Identify techniques for remembering people’s names
 Demonstrate techniques engaging in conversation
 Provide high-quality customer service
 Identify opportunities to enhance the quality of service
to people and tours
 Maximize customer service levels by effective liaison
with your colleagues and audience
 Balance the needs of individuals and the group when
managing tours
 Demonstrate the use of conflict-resolution techniques
to manage conflicts and difficult situations
 Initiate short-term action to resolve the immediate
problem where appropriate
 Identify and manage a typical range of problems which
arise on tours
8.1 REMEMBERING PEOPLE’S
NAME
A tours are:
- A social activity
- Central element is getting to know people
- Audience arrive with a range of needs, expectations, interests
and motivations
- Also arrive on your activities with a name
- People love to have their name remembered during
conversation and whenever they are focus of attention

Remembering people’s name will :-

 enriching the experience of the visitors
 Will helps when you need to instruct people (giving direction and
gathering people in a group)
 As a blend of attitudes and skills
 Stretching and building capabilities of both short-term and long-
term memory
 ATTITUDE AND
REWARDING YOUR
MEMORY
- Attitudes is extremely important.
- Remembering person’s name using memory often involves
work
- Praise your memory each time you remember something

How to remember?
 Test your memory using local phone directory
 Focus – make a point of wanting to remember a person’s
name
 Repeat their name – said aloud and silent
 Working with SEAM techniques:
Seek a feature – interesting/unique/unusual physical
features
Exaggerate the feature – combine one or more of the
above features
 DIFFICULT NAME
- Some name can be difficult to pronounce and remember
- Common on some tours with the variety of multicultural
visitors

Tips to remember difficult names:

 Break the name into phonetic code
 Repeat
 Do not become condescending
 Practice to make yourself familiar
 Read foreign newspapers, movies and do some research
 ENGAGING IN
CONVERSATION
- Adobe a positive attitude
- Take the initiative
- Focus on the benefits of interactions
- Introduce yourself
- Keep to date with the current event
- Never be rude, abusive, short-tempered,
impatient or racial, criticize or embarrass
others
- Introduce people on their own and not in a
group
- Avoid breaking into obvious in-depth
conversation with another person
8.2 ENSURING SATISFACTION
THROUGH HIGH-QUALITY
CUSTOMER SERVICE

Who is customer?
What is customer service?
 THE CUSTOMER AND
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Customer
: people who use your products and services
: with a set of needs, expectations, interests and
motivation
: comes from different types/purpose of travel

Customer Service
: providing a service that ensures the customer is
satisfied
: service that exceeds the expectations of
customers
: empathy, commitment, desire to help, provide
high-quality
experience
: 2 dimensions of customer service
 REASONS FOR
PROVIDING CUSTOMER
SERVICE
- Quality customer service promise the
exceptional service for all patrons
- Continued employment
- Competitive edge and repeat business
- Satisfaction in a job well done
- Happier workplace
- Customer will find it is easier to deal with you
- Reduce complaints
- Reduce marketing costs
- Reduce wastage or redo work
WHEN TO DELIVER HIGH
QUALITY CUSTOMER
SERVICE?
 Giving information
 Answering the phone
 Meet and greet
 Any point of tour
 Liaising wit industry colleagues
 Assist people with physical and language
difficulty
 Effective listening
 Going extra distance for people
 Follow up
PRINCIPLES TO PROVIDE
HIGH QUALITY CUSTOMER
SERVICE
 Be proactive
 Have positive attitudes
 ‘Go beyond the call of duty’
 Know your customers
 Know your products and services
 Provide reliable, efficient and responsive service
 Empathy
 Identify unstated needs
 Build and foster rapport
 IN SHORT…
CUSTOMER SERVICE IS TO…
Do All The Good U Can
By All The Means U Can
In All The Ways U Can
In All The Places U Can
At All The Times U Can
To All The People U Can
As Long As Ever U Can
MANAGING DIFFICULT
SITUATION
- A form of conflict : when there is an
disagreement btwn 2 or more parties
- Must be able to minimize it
- Types:
d) With a tour group
e) With colleagues
f) Universal (with colleagues or
customers)
What will happen are…

 Angry
 Rude
 Overly demanding of demanding time
and attention
 Verbose and talkative
 Negative and pessimistic
 Unhappy
 Anxious
 Types of behavior and difficult
situations
a) Assertive behavior
b) Submissive
c) Aggressive behavior

Managing diff situation with assertive

behavior
- Must know the AVOID and PREFERRED
 Tips in working with
assertive behavior
 Ensure you are in an appropriate
state
 Focus on the other person
 Clarify the issues
 Make an assessment and decision
 Evaluate the process
Managing the difficult
situation – a wrap
 Go for issue, not person
 Calm instead of aggressive
 Impartial instead of emotionally
involved
 Open-minded
 Never criticize person’s identity
 Attitude, Attitude, Attitude
 Assertive behavior
when dealing with
persistent people
 Empathic assertion
 Simple assertion
 Direct assertion
DEALING WITH
CRITICISM
 When criticism is correct?
 When criticism is partly correct?
 When criticism is vague?
 When criticism turns nasty?

HOW TO WORK WITH PEOPLE

AFFECTED BY DRUGS OR
ALCOHOL?
 THINGS GO AWRY?
 Lost passport
 Lost baggage
 Illness

- Refer to the situation and possible

actions
END OF
CHAPTER
THANK
YOU!!!