Muhammad JahanzaibThe bread-n-butter of a travel agent comes through providing a superior travel experience which is impossible to self-managed by the client themselves. They also need to manage high volume of enquiries and manage a short turn around time.
A travel agent who’s able to consistently deliver this experience will see customers flocking to their booking queue. A good CRM software should make this responsibility easier to manage on a daily basis.
It should improve customer experience while enabling them to handle the increased responsibilities of higher bookings and customer itineraries.
What Is A CRM System?
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system helps manage customer data. It supports sales management, delivers actionable insights, integrates with social media and facilitates team communication. Cloud-based CRM systems offer complete mobility and access to an ecosystem of bespoke apps.
Why Do You Need A CRM For Travel Agents?
The time-consuming administrative process of capturing customer details and details their call in a traditional excel spreadsheet can be eliminated. This will free you to focus on offering a better service and providing a more seamless experience to your customers.
A good CRM can give you a live view, at all times, with all the information that you need. It will present you with the information in a way that is most relevant to your daily needs. It’s a tool that aims to improve your customer’s decision making process whilst minimizing your workload and eliminating repetitive tasks.
How To Pick The Perfect CRM For Travel Agents
With so many CRM solutions on the market, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the options. It’s best to first decide on the right features and the non-negotiables
If you do opt to go the do-it-yourself route, make sure you have the time and skill to build your own CRM
Consider the whole customer journey, for instance: before, during and after a customer booking. This includes both the client-side and the ticket side.
How You Can Do This?
For the client side, think about how you can differentiate yourself and the value you can add to your customer’s decision-making process.
On the ticket side, ask yourself, does your current system track prospects from lead to booking?
Do you have a way to export contacts from the CRM into your group messaging system, from where an agent can start the conversation with hot prospects?
Take into consideration you CSAT or System Usability scale. Do you have a way to measure the satisfaction level of the customer after a successful booking?
An otherwise sophisticated CRM may not be as useful if it doesn’t integrate with your existing workflow.
Do You Offer Last-Minute Travel Packages?
Is it your primary aim to give your customers the best rate or the best customer experience?
Are you are confident that your current CRM can handle the additional volume of enquiries and workload when your business grows?
Is your CRM powerful enough to provide relevant data and automate tasks, but at the same time approachable enough so that your front office staff can jump in and use the system on their first day?
How To Cost-Effectively Integrate Travel CRM Software?
No matter how much you spent on your CRM system, if your agents are not using it, the system loses its value. To make your CRM software more usable, you may want to consider the following:
Pick a CRM that has a pre-built solution with the ability to integrate with existing technology infrastructure and technology stack.
Break your current workflow into distinct processes with clear start and end points. Add a differentiator and add value to each stage to create a path to purchase. Think of each process as a opportunity to upsell and cross-sell your other products and services with the aim of increasing average ticket price.
Create training resources to ensure your agents can understand the new system. They may be reluctant to learn on the job if they’ve not been trained. Alternatively, you may want to consider outsourcing the training to a specialist consultancy.
Think about investing in apps or integration tools to provide specific value-add functionality.
How I Built My Travel Booking APP With Cogite CRM?
If you’re wondering what Cogite CRM can do for your business, here’s a glimpse into how one agent built their own travel booking app with Cogite.
How To Manage Customer Relationships?
This is the core of a travel agent’s job and CRM software takes care of this for you. Ensure that you provide the best service that your clients deserve and build a reputation as a one-stop-shop travel agency.
Make the most of customer feedback focused on improving your client experience. Use the information to turn average clients into loyal clients and increase average ticket sales. That’s much more money in your bank account at the end of the day.
How To Integrate With Social Media?
CRM software integrates effortlessly with social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to give you a complete overview of your customer ecosystem. It allows you to use real-time data to help making informed decisions and make your marketing more targeted.
One way to do this is to connect with your most loyal clients on Facebook and Twitter to provide them with exclusive rewards and current promotions.
How To Get The Most Out Of Lead And Booking Management?
Create and nurture relationships after booking by using automated email notifications to welcome your clients and remind them to leave a TripAdvisor review. It allows you to monitor your customer experience scoring and your CSAT score.
These scores (both for your agents and for your company) can be plotted over a period of time to help you monitor how you can improve your service, improve your sales conversion rates and build a better customer experience.
Is It Secure?
It’s 100% safe for you if you have a login and password. However, it’s advisable that you choose a password that’s difficult to guess. It’s also worth checking regularly to ensure that no one has guessed your password.
Is There Any Support Or Training Provided?
Check out the CRM software for travel agents to see if it’s user-friendly and intuitive. Ensure that any training is sufficient to make your agents comfortable enough to begin using the system right away.
Benefits Of CRM For Recruitment
Get To Know Your Customers With The Help Of CRM
You can better manage your clients’ preferences and details including contact information and most importantly any problems they’ve had with previous purchases.
Make Sure That Your Customer Information Is Always Secure And Up To Date.
If you keep a lot of information about your users in various documents on your hard drive (contact lists, task lists, etc.), you can also centralize it in the CRM.
Make sure that you store other information about your clients in the system. For example, if you are working with some devices, stores or manufacturers, then your CRM stores all information about them (including business contacts).
During A Meeting, Don’t Take Notes, Use Your CRM
CRM software has fields for keeping business cards and information about the client. You will never lose your business card with CRM, and you will always have it at hand during a meeting.
New Ideas For New Clients, Stay Up To Date
Knowing about your clients and what you know about them guarantees that you will find your interest when talking to someone new. It will be easier for you to tell what to go through to them and how they will react to it.
Organize All Business Processes With The Help Of CRM
An organized workflow makes you more productive. You won’t have to worry about how to organize a business visit if you have CRM. You will also have an overview over what is going on and you will reduce unnecessary emails in that area.
Up-To-Date Schedule, Never Miss A Meeting
If you have an appointment with a client, it is important to mark the meeting in your CRM. Just make sure that your manager or secretary doesn’t delete the meeting without knowing that you are going to need it.
Attend Your Meetings, Accurately
It is important that your CRM software supports the option for setting an appointment in a calendar. You will be able, for example, to check what is happening for the next few weeks and schedule your business meetings.
The Benefit Of Outsourcing CRM
If your business has grown and you feel that it is more than you can handle, then you can consult with a CRM platform provider for outsourcing your CRM. Not only will they take the burden off your shoulders, but they will also provide the best CRM software.
They have the experience to do so and can offer the best services in the industry. They also offer the cheapest possible rates for software and services which proves to be more efficient than going with a DIY implementation.
How To Maximize CRM For A Recruitment Business?
Even though recruitment is a niche it’s quite comprehensive and needs to follow a conventional CRM set up. One of the best CRM for recruitment are the Cogite CRM by Cogite. Here’s a list of reasons why Cogite CRM is the best for recruitment business:
- Is It Fits Into Your Existing Workflow?
- Are you a client-based, a team-based or a hybrid recruitment company?
- Do you have a well-established workflow or do you want to maximize growth?
- What are your main pain points?
- Do you want to know more about the customer?
- Just ask a recruiter and you’ll get a ton of answers.
- This is the reason Cogite is a recruiter-friendly CRM.
- The system is customised for workflow and roles of the recruitment business.
Customer Relationship Management
You’re going to lose a good client if you don’t stay attentive to their needs. There might be a reason why you’ve lost them, keep them in touch with services that you’re providing. Know when and how to reach out to them.
Candidate Relationship Management
Keep track of the process of candidate recruitment. This is a CRM that helps you make the right call. It offers means and metrics to help you analyse your procedures and improve the interview process. You can even email candidates for follow-ups and you’ll never lose touch on them.
Recruitment Process Management
Set a well-defined recruitment process. Set how you wish to run it. The process can be scanned by candidates. Write down the steps no matter how big or small. Using sign-up pages or link it to your system and send out emails and SMS that guide the candidate through the process.
Collaborative Platforms
Cogite goes far beyond its software platform. It has a huge network that connects the best global leaders in recruitment. You’ll never be left alone in the realm of recruitment. It’s built on the CRM model.
Considerations Before Getting A CRM For Travel Agents
Is A CRM Worth The Investment?
A CRM software can be a big investment for a small business. However, for a business with many users and clients, a CRM is worth investing.
What Business Software Do You Need?
It’s worth investing in software that helps clients access your business with ease and convenience.
What Are The Costs Of Your CRM?
It’s possible to get a CRM for free. However, you need to account for payment or subscription costs. Errors that people make in building a CRM. Don’t rely on just one tool. Several tools available on the market share the same purpose. You need to choose a variety of tools to give the business a wide range of tools. For example, choosing a customer database that cannot be integrated well with your marketing tools is a mistake.
Therefore, it’s best to choose tools that are integrated with each other. Don’t rely on tools that require a lot of training, interaction and process changes. You can’t just implement a new CRM project. It requires time and resources to train and to review the business processes. Realize that this type of project will take a big part of your time.
Pick a CRM that is easy to use and adapt to your purpose. Never underestimate how fast computers can be difficult to use and difficult. You choose a CRM that is easy to use and understand. It’s better than spending a lot of time learning how to use the CRM.
Over To You
As a salesperson, it’s important for you to use the right CRM for your business. The reason being that if your CRM has the right features, then it will help you better. The right CRM can also help you with the distribution of your business and your resources.
Just don’t forget to set realistic goals and get the right CRM to complete your goals.
