Unlock the secrets to becoming more efficient
Efficiency is the key to achieving your full business potential, says Stephen Hearn, sales and account manager at moonstride, a technology supplier for travel agents and tour operators
Being efficient or having efficient processes is a vital pillar for stability and growth for travel agents. The benefits of being efficient are considerable… you save time, you reduce costs, you find it easier to scale up. A very welcome side-effect of being efficient is improved customer satisfaction and potential increased revenue.
How can your travel agency become more efficient?
The single best advice is to embrace technology. Technology, if the right solution is chosen and implemented correctly, can drastically improve your daily workflows. A quality travel sales and booking management solution, along with customer relationship management (CRM), can transform and streamline your processes and workflows.
Top takeaway
One of the most common complaints we find in the travel industry, from travel agents, is the use of multiple platforms that do not communicate. You can have all the technology you want but if it does not communicate, integrate or work in seamlessly then you will not be efficient.
Find a single solution or ensure if choosing multiple products they cooperate fully.
Common areas where efficiency gains can be made
Travel management software and CRM is a must
CRM allows you to record and track all your communications. It increases personalisation ability with key information readily available, enabling you to offer personalised services and to know your clients requirements, history, likes and dislikes. When Mr Jones enquires for Ibiza, based on his history you will know he and his fellow travellers will likely want the calm quaint village and will not wish to be in Club Pache at 2am. Don’t suggest the steakhouse to your vegan group!
A good travel agency sales and booking management software will allow you to store all your booking data in one place. You should be able to view and manage all aspects of your business from enquiries, sales and operations. Having travel agent booking management software is the first step to implementing the following tips. Remember, it should connect to or have its own CRM functionality.
Supplier connections
Being able to easily search and add holiday components to a quote via API connections or being able to load and access your direct supplier contracts is a huge efficiency booster.
Customisable documents and templates
Ensure you have templated documents. Templated documents can be clear, have uniform messaging and keeping up a professional standard. Generate documents ideally from your travel management platform avoiding manual creation, duplication of work and risk of human error.
Automation of routine tasks
Routine and repetitive tasks can often be automated. Reminders, follow-ups, surveys and review requests can be automated. Calculation and application of mark-ups, commissions, deposits, and balance dates can also be automated, stopping human error slipping into the calculations.
Self-service
Travellers love the option to self-serve. Many don’t have time to call during their lunch break or interrupt their daily dose of social media to contact you and make a payment or provide additional information during business hours. They like sitting on the sofa in the evening with their mobile or tablet updating in their own time. Self-serve can make use of online booking engines.
Reporting and data, data, data
Having software that holds your business information allows you to run reports and access this data. When all your business information comes from a single source, this gives you easy access to large and comprehensive data sets, whether sales, operations or financial. How many reports do you run and merge to try and get an overview? Get rid of those archaic and un-sharable sheets and get live data.
Artificial Intelligence
No tech-related article today can be written without mentioning AI. I have purposefully tried to steer away from this. However, a simple tool like an AI chat bot that can answer queries based on your terms and conditions or booking info like ‘when is my balance due’ or ‘if I cancel, can I get a refund’ can be answered without human intervention.
Summary
Start walking the path to efficiency by embracing tech that works for you.
The above points all lead to huge time-saving, leaving more time for your staff to service and delight your clients. Automation, reducing manual tasks and manual entry minimises human error, bringing more cost-saving.
Scalability at a certain level relies on efficient processes, accessible and central sources of data which cannot be replicated offline. Good CRM and travel management software should be security conscious with data held securely and with the ability to restrict and share data to only those who need to access it.
Access to data, the more the better. Maybe not relevant to efficiency but worth stating… data drives smart business decisions!
Technological efficiency brings return on investment
If you are looking at software to grow your business, become more efficient, how do you justify the cost and where do you start? How do you quantify the benefits and savings? Some items are easier to quantify than others.
At moonstride we have done some case studies with travel agencies to work out the return on investment. When looking at a range of areas including communication, automation and administration, product and quote creation, self-serve, reporting and reduction of error, we found that the travel agencies were 20-30% more efficient when implementing a travel sales and booking management platform that includes CRM.
Additional return on investment can come in the shape of staff collaboration, security and control, increased staff retention, managing risk and ensuring compliance, potential revenue growth and data-based decision making. These items are harder to quantify but must be taken into consideration.
Overall, our studies show you could achieve 20% business growth without the need for additional staff hire and reduces the staff hire requirement for further future growth. Measuring the cost-saving and time-saving, it is equivalent to one in five staff members.
Tech comes at a cost, but the gains can be tenfold. You don’t have to pay to be efficient, being efficient will pay for itself!
This content is produced in editorial partnership with Travel Technology Initiative (TTI), a not-for-profit organisation providing members with the latest thinking on technology as well as developing standards for the travel industry. For more information, visit tti.org
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Company number 08723341.
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