Compare/Contrast: Two Competing Firms Essay

We all know and understand the importance of good marketing, advertising and promotion of a company’s goods or services. Many modern business organizations spend thousands of dollars from their budgets for various advertising campaigns, promotional materials and publicity in order to attract more customers, look trustworthy, and eventually receive more profits. I could experience how this strategy works and how it fails to work in such service sector as tourism, and this report is a summary of my research. This summer my brother and I wanted to take a trip to the West Rim of the Great Canyon, so we decided to use the services of â€Å"Travel Guide†, one of the most known tour agencies in my city, which is continually advertised in local media. Its office was very busy, and we were treated there as usual clients who are not ordering a luxury tour. During the trip we had many little problems, because it included a lot of challenging activities, like rafting or a mule ride. My brother damaged his back, and we had to wait for medical help for several hours. Unfortunately, the trip was not too well-organized and quite disappointing. In December I got a chance to go to Aspen to ski with my friend, who recommended me to use the services of another tour provider, â€Å"Telehaus†. It is a small private agency which works without massive advertising and expands its client database at the expense of own good reputation. We were overwhelmed with the attitude and attention we had received in â€Å"Telehaus†. We were provided with everything needed for the trip, including special maps and â€Å"Tips for safe skiing†. The trip was great, and we had a very competent mountain travel specialist, who really helped us a lot and was always available in case of any trouble. Therefore, the most important difference between these two companies was the quality of their services. During our trip to the Grand Canyon, there was always some disarrangement and scheduling problems, therefore, many times we had to wait here and there. â€Å"Telehaus† had much better organization of the tour and we were very happy with the hotel services, as well as with the entertainment program. That is why I rated â€Å"Travel Guide† services as 45/100 and â€Å"Telehaus† services as 95/100. Another important difference was the quality of their work with the clients, especially during the reception in the agencies. We were just routine customers in the office of â€Å"Travel Guide†, but in â€Å"Telehaus† we felt ourselves special and appreciated. â€Å"Telehaus† employees were more cooperative and professional when helping us to select a hotel, and their work is organized better and more effectively, then the work of â€Å"Travel Guide†. Nevertheless, I have to mention a number of some small differences, which made me give 95/100 to â€Å"Telehaus†. The first one is the variety of the tours they offer. As I could learn from the booklets of â€Å"Travel Guide†, they can arrange a trip to almost every nook of the world including exotic islands, etc. But â€Å"Telehaus† works with a limited number of tour-operators. Besides, â€Å"Telehaus† can offer mostly quite expensive hotels or apartments, which makes their services unavailable for the customers who have low budgets for traveling. Finally, one more principal difference is the approaches of these two companies to their services, related to advertising and marketing. â€Å"Travel Guide† is a well-promoted and well-advertised brand name in the market, which has great professional connections, considerable number of clients and good profits. However, â€Å"Telehaus† does not spend its resources on advertising, but tries to attract new customers with the help of good reputation, high-quality services and competence of the employees. What I have learnt from my experience is that excessive advertising is not everything. In order to make a company successful, it is absolutely necessary to combine a number of various effective strategies helping to boost the business and maximize the incomes. Those strategies must include well-planned marketing and advertising campaigns, proper organization of the work, selection of qualified, skilled and responsible employees, working on some innovative ideas, and many others.