Sage CRM for Travel solution by Providian
Sage CRM for Travel solution by Providian Customer Relationship Management (CRM) delivers a variety of benefits across the full spectrum of the customer ecosystem and provides a rapid return on investment. In this document, we share some of the highlights of the Travel Solution built on the Sage CRM platform and the advantages it offers travel companies. The dynamic and uncertain environment that companies operate in today means that a Travel company needs to differentiate itself by offering unique services around a traveler s journey and needs.
Challenges Tourism in SA is a great growth sector, revealing statistics that show that while global tourism expanded only 4.5% per year on average during the past 10 years, the compound annual growth in South Africa s foreign arrivals was 9.3%, with an average spend per arrival of R12 500. In addition combined revenue from all accommodation categories rose by 14% in 2013. The success of the travel company depends on its customer satisfaction levels. This fact is often overlooked as a travel company may question why they need a CRM solution over and above existing booking systems. There are many factors that need to be considered. Travel companies are selling an information-rich product and will need to leverage off a multitude of resources both on and offline in order to engage and satisfy their customers. Sage CRM for Travel will ensure a rewarding travel experience for your customers both before and after their journey. Sage CRM for Travel helps focus your services, business processes and staff on the acquisition and retention of loyal customers by efficiently responding to their individual needs and values, ensuring your customers remain your customers. In order to improve your business, you need to have a solid understanding of the relationship that exists between your marketing and your sales. Far better to have a system specifically designed for this purpose than to try and adapt a booking system which will become cluttered and disjointed trying to provide for this. CRM solutions drive relationship marketing whereas a booking system is used for transaction marketing. Sustainability of a business depends very much on the relationship with its customers or clients. While new customers are important and ensure growth, managing and retaining existing customers is crucial to the ongoing success of the business - knowing your customers likes and dislikes is one case in point. Travel companies need to know what types of holidays and activities appeal to both outbound and inbound travelers. What are the key decision making factors that will impact destination selection among the South African eco- travelers? How, when, what and where do you communicate with these best prospect customers? Sage CRM provides this vital information quickly and easily, enabling you to respond to your customers needs with the right information, efficiently making sure your customers remain your customers!
Transaction Marketing Vs Relationship Marketing Transaction Marketing Focus on Single Sale Emphasis on Product Features Low Customer Service Emphasis One Way Communication Limited Customer Commitment Focus on new Customers Short Time Scale Relationship Marketing Focus on Customer Retention Emphasis on Product Benefits High Customer Focus On Going Dialogue with the Customer High Customer Commitment Focus on cross selling to existing customers Long Time Scale Typical challenges faced by travel companies: Customer databases (Corporate & Retail) exist in disparate islands of information Knowing the Customer and Understanding the Customer s needs Find ways to up sell / cross sell to them in the future Retain customers by ensuring customer satisfaction
Initiatives for Travel Companies Initiative 1 Collect the right data and make sure it s all in one place. Travel companies can leverage off valuable customer data such as enquiries and bookings, analyse this information and identify future opportunities, thereby boosting profitability. Is the travel company collecting the right data? Be a data detective and start piecing the clues together to build a profile for creating and maintaining a relationship to drive retention and increase sales. Usually, information flows in from diverse channels like websites, e-mails etc and is lost amidst the huge amount of data that is typical of almost all companies. Also, to make matters worse this data is not stored in a central repository, thereby complicating business processes and hampering customer satisfaction. Initiative 3 The travel company must recognize the value in customer information and incorporate this in its marketing strategy. Accurate customer information means maximum customer retention, increased sales and profitability. Initiative 4 Plan to reduce the operational costs of internal interactions with customers over a three year time frame. Initiative 5 Benchmark, track and increase average revenue from corporate clients and retail customers. By having all data in one place it means the travel company can include everyone in target selections for tactical campaigns and for strategic communications. Initiative 2 Use the data to segment and select your customers to improve campaign performance. A Travel company can use the data to create segmentation to make campaigns relevant or to tailor the offer. One can select by customer information (e.g. location, age, gender) or by type of customer such as corporate or retail and by booking or enquiry information (previous trips, departure point, seasonality, etc) to create the best targeted audience for a specific offer. Connecting with the customer s wants and needs is critical for success and is a tried and tested strategy adopted by many businesses.
Highlights Identify, develop and retain high value customers Quick access to correct information is vital in order to manage and retain your existing customers. In addition, you will be able to lengthen a customer s life cycle by offering a wider portfolio of products. The CRM tool automates procedures and reports for agents. Large amounts of data are efficiently processed, enhancing the efficiency of travel agents, allowing them to focus on clients and prospects. All customer issues, addressed and resolved are stored and available in the knowledge base. This helps in training or retraining staff to resolve differing issues. Enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty by knowing more about customers such as their itinerary/booking information, payments, invoices, travel history, preferences etc. An extensive and detailed range of reports is available, providing precise reporting and analysis of the company and agents activities. Scanned / HTML / PDF booking details linked to each transaction are available in CRM Analyze most travelled destination, most preferred Airline/Hotel, most travelled leisure destination and many more such summaries. CRM will track your customers searches on your website and provide a Graphical view of customer relationships.
Screenshots of Travel CRM Enquiries & Sales Automation
Marketing Campaigns & E-Marketing & Social Marketing (Customer & Prospect Campaigns)
Customer Service (Customer Support Ticket Process)
Booking Engine Integration
About Sage CRM Sage CRM is used by over 12,000 organisations in 70 countries worldwide to manage their critical sales, marketing and customer service activities every day. Award-winning Sage CRM equips businesses with the tools they need to find new customers, close sales faster and build lasting, more profitable relationships across all channels. Regardless of how, when or where customers, partners and prospects choose to interact with your business, Sage CRM provides a decisive advantage by delivering a comprehensive, easy-to-use sys-tem to successfully manage these relationships.
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