Why Travel businesses need CRM more than ever
Every industry has been affected by changes in the way we work and live. However, few industries have been as adversely impacted as the travel industry. Now, more than ever, it is vital that travel businesses have a CRM system that allows them to adjust to a new digital workplace reality.
People will always want to travel. Travel businesses will never go completely out of style, but they do need to change the way they operate. A robust CRM system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 can help travel businesses make those changes and emerge from this period of transition in a position to thrive and grow.
After all, the travel industry quite literally ground to a halt during the global shutdown. Whether you operate an airline, a tour company, hotel or campsite it wasn’t simply a case of business slowing down, but rather stopping altogether.
Although each segment of the industry has its own qualities, all of them share common problems. Luckily our Microsoft driven solutions are designed to address these pain points. Those include:
Fear of travelling: Our technology will allow for contactless booking and payment to be used.
Cloud Contact Center in a Box: With our partner Solgari, we can transition your Customer Care or Support Center to a remote workplace.
A changing landscape: Changes on where to travel, how to travel, increased costs, duration of travel, as well as safety and security measurements can all be factored with Customer Insights for Dynamics 365.
It all starts with an upgrade in your baseline CRM system.
Simply put, a good CRM can allow your travel business to streamline its operation and better serve your clients. It will be necessary to have the best technology tools available if you are to position your travel business as a leader in your field.
Specifically, here are four benefits of a CRM system for those in the travel industry.
- Understanding your customers
With Microsoft Dynamics 365, you have a 360-degree view of your customers that you can draw on and target your marketing efforts to. You know where and what time of year they like to travel, so you can present them with the right message at the right time.
Chances are that those who enjoy travel will be itching to go again as soon as they are able. So, be ready to let them know that you’re open for business!
- Stop losing leads
The move to a digital marketplace was already well underway and the travel space was one of the first industries to realize the power of being digital.
A CRM like D365 can help you respond to leads quickly and efficiently. Most of your leads were already coming in from those browsing your website. That won’t change, but it will be imperative now to capture business as quickly as possible. Once you have convinced a potential customer to reach out to you for more information on a product or package, you don’t want to lose that opportunity. After all, your competitors will be looking to do the same. Once a potential customer is hooked, you need to reel them in.
- Customer self-service
An even better way to stop losing your leads is to let your customers book their service themselves, with a booking portal that is directly tied into the CRM. This might become increasingly important if capacity limits are placed on popular attractions and sites.
Say, for example, you run a campsite and the local authorities require you to only offer 25% of spots to maintain social distancing. With our booking portal, the available spaces and times are right there for customers to see and book on the spot, to make sure they don’t miss out.
If you add Payment Gateway to your solution, you can also take a pre-payment for the spot to make things even easier!
- Streamline operations
The CRM can automate many of the administrative tasks that your travel business requires on a day-to-day basis, freeing up resources to improve the overall customer experience. Allow your staff to increase efficiency and effectiveness and you’ll find that you’ll be spending less and making more!
With the world re-opening, it’s time to make sure your travel business is ready for the re-start. Give one of our experts a call today to make sure you are poised for success in the new travel business environment.