8:00-8:30am You arrive at your store and start preparing yourself for your day, reading and responding to emails, grabbing a coffee and greeting your colleagues.
8:30-9:00am Every morning prior to opening you sit down to have a meeting with your team where you focus on your goals for the day and share relevant information. Your daily job for that week may be to update the airfares boards hanging in the windows with the latest specials. Soon its time to open the door!
9:00am-9:45am An ad in the newspaper has attracted alot of attention, so the phone is ringing constantly. Mr. and Mrs. Morris need to fly to their son's wedding in Sydney, and also need a car, although accommodation is not necessary. After verifying the spelling of both names, you obtain the phone and fax numbers so that you can send through for an approval and credit card authorisation form. The booking is not over though, you still need to write up a quote and they need seat assignments and meal requests.
9:45am-10:40am A repeat customer of your coworker at the next desk walks in - but today is his day off. You inform Ms. Varez, you would be more than happy to look after her. She needs two business class seats to New York with a hotel for herself and a friend. She is a frequent flyer member and will only fly on that certain airline. She needs a hotel and would like to accrue her miles with her stay. With one call to Flight Centre’s wholesaler, you find that this a very busy time in New York. The hotel has to go on request and Ms. Varez must wait for twenty-four hours before you will find out if there is a room available. She pays for the tickets and you schedule to call her the following day to advise her about the status of her hotel booking.
10:40am-1:00pm In the course of the morning, you take several phone calls and suggest a great tour for a first time traveller to Europe along with suggested day trips, rail product and accommodations as a backup. You print up a flight itinerary so that this potential customer can walk away with something concrete to start planning his holiday. Now its Lunchtime!
1:00pm-1:45pm Lunch is rarely a set time as things always come up or "rush hour" descends - you always want to be in your seat to maximise your business when clients walk in, but you are feeling hungry and decide now is a great time. As you leave the store, you take some South America brochures so you can do some research for a future holiday. Perhaps Rio? Or Patagonia?
1:45pm-2:00pm You return to a bustle of activity. The phone is ringing with more lines than are consultants currently in the store. There are several customers waiting patiently. You take line five and a customer sits down in front of your computer. On the phone you take all of the necessary details to give an accurate quote for a Fijian honeymoon. Meanwhile Mr. Gradey is waiting in front of you. His law firm needs a "retreat" and the partner's have decided on a trek to Laos. You have never been to Laos and you start to worry, but suddenly Karen, the consultant that sits next to you, overhears and informs you that she has been to Laos and will help you. You are grateful that all consultants are well travelled. Mr Gradey has very little time, so you hand him a brochure and a flight itinerary and guarantee him that you will have tours, accommodation ideas and pricing to him within 48 hours.
2:00pm-2:30pm While you are on the phone with a wholesaler securing a quote for the Fijian honeymoon, you begin paging through brochures to find a suitable holiday for the Gradey law firm. You find a tour, but there is one problem; all of the tours you are finding start at nine days and they can only be gone for six days, so you need to create a package yourself. After a few questions to those around you, you send a company-wide e-mail to all shops asking for suggestions. Within five minutes, you receive five e-mails from fellow consultants, who offer their advice and suggestions.
2:30pm-3:00pm Now it's time for a one-on-one with your manager which happens monthly. You both go to a nearby coffee shop, where you discuss your future plans with the company and your wish at becoming a 2IC (second-in command) within the next six months. This will mean fully understanding the financial aspects of running the store, taking control of the budget and stepping into a leadership role whenever possible. It also means a great focus on your current position, increasing sales figures and building a strong repeat and referral client base.
3:00pm-4:15pm Once back in the office you create a great package for the law firm including international airfare, inter country flights, rail and hotels in each city and city tours in each of the four cities they will visit. You fax everything to Mr. Gradey and give him a call to make sure he received it. He needs to run everything by his partners so you schedule a phone meeting tomorrow morning to discuss any changes, questions or concerns.You also advise him to get his passports and visas ready for the trip well in advance.
4:15pm-6:00pm Another client has just called with a lower quote from an internet travel agency. You manage to beat the lower price your client has found. He books immediately and you order his electronic ticket. Now that you have a few free minutes, you place follow-up calls to all clients you have talked to during the course of the day and diarise everything you need to do tomorrow. You lock the door behind you, saying your goodbyes to all co-workers.
Tonight you will go home and rest, because tomorrow is another big day and within the next week, you will attend your first "Buzz Night". Buzz Nights provide a forum for suppliers to promote themselves and educate Flight Centre employees about their products. They also give Area Leaders a chance to provide an update on company information. Top performers are recognised and can share their success with preferred partners and colleagues.