Post Sales Service Excellence
Many companies, especially those with technical products, are currently experiencing strong sales growth. Where there is a lot of sales, there is also a lot of work involved in service (pre- and after-sales) - an aspect that is often neglected with... read more
07.03.2024
Sustainability in service
In the corporate context, the topic of sustainability usually focuses on the sustainable production of products and services. However, service can also use business models and initiatives to increase the sustainability of products and services and... read more
07.03.2024
Leading virtual organisations – managing complexity through dynamic thinking and action
An extension of the home office period currently seems likely due to the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, attempts are being made to motivate service units - at least in part - to return to the office. The challenges are... read more
07.03.2024
Modern key account management – additional challenges for the “multi-talented” key account manager
Key account management has changed significantly in recent years. The focus of this change is an even stronger customer orientation. This is necessary in order to better understand and fulfil the increasingly complex customer needs of key accounts... read more
07.03.2024
Venturing into digital business models – what are the success factors?
Experts have long agreed that the future belongs to digital business models. There are now also a large number of commercially successful digital business models, most of which also offer their providers and their customers additional benefits... read more
07.03.2024
Employees in sales and service units – preventing staff shortages and ensuring long-term employee retention
Despite advancing digitalisation, such as the use of self-service and bots, the number of contacts that need to be processed manually is increasing in many sales and service units. It should be noted that the enquiries that need to be processed... read more
07.03.2024
Optimising service provider management
Companies are increasingly using the support of one or more contact centre service providers to handle their customer/business partner contacts (please also read our articles on "Make or buy" and "Service provider selection"). When implementing... read more
07.03.2024
Spoilt for choice: Which contact centre service provider is the right one for my project?
When deciding on an outsourcing partner, you are usually spoilt for choice. The contact centre market offers a wide range of providers who can take over your customer contacts: Whether a global player vs. a purely local player, favourable off-shore... read more
07.03.2024
ITB Berlin Convention 2024: Program overview of the theme tracks
The time has finally arrived: On March 5th, the ITB Berlin once again opens its doors to the key players of the international travel industry. As in the previous year, they will discuss forward-looking industry topics over three days. This year's... read more
22.02.2024
Digital transformation and AI in the focus of the ITB Berlin Travel Hero video podcast
In the latest episode of the Travel Hero Videopodcast, presented by ITB Berlin, Dr. Markus Heller, managing partner of Dr. Fried & Partner GmbH, along with his colleagues from the ITB Berlin Board of Experts, Lea Jordan and Dirk Rogl, discuss... read more
14.02.2024
Company founder Dr Helmut Fried passes away at the age of 91
Obituary On 18 January 2024, our company founder Dr Helmut Fried passed away after a long and fulfilling life. Dr Helmut Fried founded "Marketingberatung Dr Helmut Fried" in 1968. With his vision, his flair for innovative ideas and his... read more
23.01.2024
Managing Email Overload in Customer Service
Email enquiries in customer service have increased significantly in recent years. In addition to other contact channels such as telephone and chats, it is increasingly becoming a challenge for employees to keep track of the flood of enquiries. In... read more
12.10.2023
Intensive political week for Dr. Fried & Partner in Berlin
In the function of the office of the National Platform for the Future of Tourism (NPZT), Dr. Fried & Partner was able to actively accompany the tourism policy process at the federal level. The week started on Monday with exciting preparatory... read more
08.09.2023
Implementing changes as part of New Work in sales and service departments
Everybody is talking about New Work these days, but how do managers deal with it best? How can the everyday working life be organized more flexibly for employees, yet efficiently at the same time? New Work describes the transformation of paid work... read more
18.07.2023
How to manage complaint handling more cleverly
Current crises like the Covid-19-pandemic, the war in Ukraine as well as geopolitical developments and climate change are causing a lot of companies immense problems in the production of goods and services. Thus, ever more customers are... read more
18.07.2023
Innovative and customer-centric airline feedback management
Long queues at check-in, flight delays, cancellations, and lost baggage, interfered with the air travels of many passengers in 2022. This was accompanied by record numbers of complaints to airlines - a test of endurance for customers, employees and... read more
15.03.2023
“Mastering Transformation” for Tour Operator, Travel Sales, Carrier and Cruise – Impressions of the ITB Convention 2023
Top-class stage guests, exciting industry insights, diverse perspectives and interesting discussions. On 7 March 2023 the time had finally come: the most important experts from the travel industry came together at the ITB Berlin Convention 2023 on... read more
10.03.2023
Tour Operator, Travel Sales, Carrier and Cruise: Program Overview of the ITB Berlin Convention Theme Track Led by Dr. Markus Heller
Finally, the time has come: On March 7th, the ITB Berlin Convention will open its doors again to the most important players in the international travel industry. Under the motto 'Mastering Transformation', they will discuss the future topics of the... read more
22.02.2023
„Make or Buy“? No easy decision when it comes to customer contact processing
Despite the progress of digitalization, the number of client contacts to be processed manually by staff is on the increase in most sales and service departments. At the same time, the customers‘/sales partners‘ expectations in terms of... read more
07.09.2022
How knowledge becomes a success factor in customer service
Customers have more and more channels and contact points at their disposal to contact a company's customer service. At the same time, service teams are increasingly working decentrally, for example at several locations or in home office, and use... read more
04.03.2022
Successful service automation means improving processes for the benefit of the customer
The automation of simple services offers broad advantages for customers as well as businesses. For example: the processing of service processes remains scalable, is immediately available around the clock and the processing results can be evaluated... read more
04.03.2022
Home office work: How can it be structured productive and fulfilling?
Do you also currently work in the home office? Are you only well aware of these or similar occurrences at work: Already in the morning your concentration level is at a minimum, your back hurts after sitting on dining room chairs for a long time or... read more
13.01.2022
Learnings for After Sales & Technical Support Units in Lockdown Times
The trends towards digitalisation of services and increased service quality in the support of customers/sales partners (hereafter referred to as business partners) already existed before the crisis. In the lockdown, employers and employees face... read more
13.01.2022
Workforce Planning – Balancing Customer Service and Profitability
Providing excellent service without losing sight of the company's profitability is a key challenge for managers of sales and service units. The success of the unit depends directly on the most accurate staffing possible because this influences not... read more
11.01.2022
Structured contact avoidance – actually the easiest way to optimise service
Most service organisations see their "core value" in providing the best possible solution to the requests from customers and sales partners that come in every day through various contact channels. Very few service organisations analyse the reasons... read more
04.01.2022
Sales representatives in the home office: Intensify customer service and secure customer loyalty!
Due to the repeatedly tightened hygiene measures caused by the “4th wave” of the Corona pandemic, work is again relocated to the home office as much as possible. Sales representatives can no longer visit their customers in person and are... read more
04.01.2022
Changes regarding employees and activities outside the tourism industry – blog series on the status quo of the industry development (part 5)
What is the current status quo of the industry development? The Corona pandemic has posed major challenges on the tourism industry worldwide. Therefore, Dr. Fried & Partner and the Travel Industry Club asked at the end of 2020 how things will... read more
06.08.2021
Is your customer service ready for the cloud?
More and more often, companies are replacing so-called on-premise systems (hereafter on-prem) with alternative cloud technologies. Cloud-based systems are also being used more and more frequently for the heart of customer service, the ACD system... read more
29.07.2021
Changes in customer approach, sales and marketing – blog series on the status quo of the industry development (part 4)
What is the current status quo of the industry development? The Corona pandemic has posed major challenges on the tourism industry worldwide. Therefore, Dr. Fried & Partner and the Travel Industry Club asked at the end of 2020 how things will... read more
19.07.2021
Changes in pricing and conditions – blog series on the status quo of the industry development (part 3)
What is the current status quo of the industry development? The Corona pandemic has posed major challenges on the tourism industry worldwide. Therefore, Dr. Fried & Partner and the Travel Industry Club asked at the end of 2020 how things will... read more
01.07.2021
Changes in products – blog series on the status quo of the industry development (part 2)
What is the current status quo of the industry development? The Corona pandemic has posed major challenges on the tourism industry worldwide. Therefore, Dr. Fried & Partner and the Travel Industry Club asked at the end of 2020 how things will... read more
17.06.2021
Changes in structures and processes – blog series on the status quo of the industry development (part 1)
Starting point: Scenario analysis at the end of 2020 The Corona pandemic has posed major challenges on the tourism industry worldwide. Therefore, Dr. Fried & Partner and the Travel Industry Club asked at the end of 2020 how things will continue... read more
02.06.2021
Designing telephone announcements professionally – The first impression of your company counts
Have you ever gone through the call process of your customer service from a customer's point of view? Do you know the phone prompts and what selections you need to make to get to your destination? If not, we encourage you to give it a try. After... read more
05.05.2021
A forecast in customer support: How to tackle the Herculean task
Delivering accurate forecasts of the workload in customer support can quickly become a Herculean task. If the actual workload is lower than expected in the forecast, the assigned employees are not being used to capacity. If the forecast is too low... read more
05.05.2021
Take the chance to declutter your „Kommunigramm”
Do you also find yourself in the situation that over the years your organisation has accumulated a large number of telephone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses that are communicated to customers/sales partners? Do you and your customers/sales... read more
08.04.2021
Take advantage of the opportunities for virtual cooperation between your service units
Are you also confronted with the challenge of running regional/country-specific service units where the synergy effects of cooperation remain unused? Cooperation offers enormous opportunities in terms of mutual support in peak and off-peak times... read more
07.04.2021
Ministry of Economy publishes “Corona Paper” as part of the National Tourism Strategy project, led by Dr. Fried & Partner
In April 2019, the Federal Government of Germany decided on key points for a National Tourism Strategy. Thus, a corresponding project for the development of an action plan was initiated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy under... read more
04.03.2021