Midlands Co-op Travel:
Marketing Training
Background
Midlands Co-op Travel is the largest travel agency group in this region of England with 105 shops under the brands Midlands Co-op and Ilkeston Co-op. The management took the bold decision to invest in its shop managers with a course of marketing training leading to practical implementation of a local and individual marketing plan for each shop.
Decision
Capela were retained to write and deliver a tailored programme of marketing planning for travel agents, to include such subjects as branding, segmentation and sources of competitive advantage, as well as practical steps in arranging PR, advertising and events.
Training
The training took place in groups of 8-10. 2 initial days were followed up with a one-to-one consultation 4 weeks later and then each manager presented their plan to the group and senior managers a further 2 weeks later.
Midlands Co-op Travel is the largest travel agency group in this region of England with 105 shops under the brands Midlands Co-op and Ilkeston Co-op. The management took the bold decision to invest in its shop managers with a course of marketing training leading to practical implementation of a local and individual marketing plan for each shop.
Decision
Capela were retained to write and deliver a tailored programme of marketing planning for travel agents, to include such subjects as branding, segmentation and sources of competitive advantage, as well as practical steps in arranging PR, advertising and events.
Training
The training took place in groups of 8-10. 2 initial days were followed up with a one-to-one consultation 4 weeks later and then each manager presented their plan to the group and senior managers a further 2 weeks later.
Conclusion
Like all training, the real test is about behaviour back in the shops. Each manager is empowered with their individual framework to drive forward their own shop and to go and seek out business opportunities in their local community. The programme continued to spread successfully throughout the company until the merger between the Coops and Thomas Cook was announced.