Client relationships are the lifeblood of any small business, but even more so for a travel agency. In a world where more people are buying flights and vacation packages on their own, where every new travel website promises to have the best package deals to replace the work of a travel agent, the reason travel agencies continue to exist is the unique personal touch they provide.
Here's how a CRM helps a travel agent:
1) Individual profile pages for every client to store every preference, personal detail, and budget.
Whether you prefer to write it down on a piece of paper or save it into a spreadsheet, every prospect or client who reaches out to you has some piece of information about them that you want to remember. Some things like a severe peanut allergy can't just be a Post-It on a printed itinerary, and you certainly don't want to be storing private information haphazardly. A CRM gives you a space to store everything you know about a client in one place. Notes, preferences, important trip details on one single screen.
2) Every clients' travel dates on one calendar.
When you're managing multiple trips, keeping track of when everyone is travelling can get complicated, and the more steps there are, the more likely things will fall through the cracks.
With a CRM, you can just enter in the travel dates once when logging the trip, and it can automatically show up on your calendar (and anyone else you share the calendar with).
All the dates you need to stay on top of, in one place.
3) Follow up reminders before, during, and after a trip.
A client chooses a travel agency to craft a unique vacation. They choose a specific travel agent for the quality of service provided, and there is no better service than a personal touch.
Personal follow-ups are the easiest way to make sure your clients feel attended to and cared for, and can often end up being the most time-consuming part of the day. Unless you've always got an eye on your calendar, it's easy to miss follow-ups.
A CRM lets you set and forget your follow-ups until it's time to do them. Wake up every day with a clear, concise list of all the follow-ups you need to do, and the type of follow-up it is.
4) An easily searchable log of every trip planned.
The best clients are happy, returning clients, and it helps to be able to see any of their past trips to help plan future trips. When working with lots of clients with multiple trips, it can get frustrating if you are trying search through your computer for copies of old itineraries (two Smith families that traveled in 2021? Is it SmithApril2021-01-04.pdf or SmithApril2021-03-02.pdf?).
A CRM lets you log your bookings in one place, and then pull any specific trip up (along with their related documents) quickly and easily.
5) Collaborate with your team seamlessly.
If you're working with a team, or have an assistant that works with you to plan trips, it helps to be able to see what everyone is doing and delegate tasks to each other. If you're out of the office, instead of having to forward email threads and send past notes to a colleague to have them help out, a CRM will already have your notes that they can see.
Your clients won't ever have to repeat what they've already told another team member, and every interaction is informed and productive -- regardless of who they talk to.
The best-planned vacation experience can only exist when you know exactly what your clients want, the memories they're trying to leave with, and all that can only happen when you know your clients as more than a passport number. A CRM lets you do exactly that.
Interested in trying out a CRM for your travel agency? Test it out here.
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