5 Essential Elements For Your Charter Sales Strategy in the Post-Coronavirus Travel World
At Busie, we remain optimistic and excited about the future of travel and that of the motorcoach industry. Although we don’t know for certain what the foreseeable future looks like, one certainty is that the landscape has changed. We believe technology can be an incredible catalyst for the industry’s rebound and position operators for even greater success in this new world of travel. Below, we’ve shared 5 initial thoughts on must-haves for your charter sales system to support your team in coming back with vengeance.
💻 Online Accessibility
According to a survey by Mastercard and online payments firm WEX, 67% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 70 book their travel online. What does this mean for you? The majority of consumers, young and old, are using their phones, laptops, and tablets to purchase travel online. This trend has been accelerated and is even more important as the travel industry recovery begins. Being accessible to your customers online is and will be a major driver of charter bookings and offering a way for your customers to get quotes and book on their time will set you above the competition. A Google study found that 88% of online customers will switch away from your website if it doesn’t satisfy their needs, so it’s important to provide trip-critical access and information to customers on your website.
👍 Rebuilding Trust & Confidence
Clear, consistent, and a more frequent cadence of communication with customers on the new health & safety measures your team is taking will be critical. Communicate these measures through all channels whether digitally or on the coach itself, while also ensuring all customer-facing staff from sales to the drivers are well-versed on your health & safety measures to answer your traveler’s questions.
📈 Dynamic Pricing To Maximize Revenue
As companies look to recoup lost bookings and build back their business, having an easy way to dynamically price trips and tweak pricing on a regular basis based on market changes is essential. No one knows for sure what the demand for travel will look like, but having a process in place to drive an increase in profitability in this new world of travel will be critical to return to sustainability and help operators make the most out of this challenging period.
☁️ Cloud-Based (Online) Charter Sales Management
There are new opportunities available for operators as more companies look to provide safe transport to offices and for transporting essential workers. Having one central online system to track those opportunities, spending more time selling and less time on calculating quotes, and other administrative tasks will help your team capture those new opportunities.
Additionally, with most offices closed, organizations around the world have been forced to switch to remote work. Having a cloud-based system for charter sales management makes that transition easier and provides your team with the flexibility to do their jobs from anywhere. Systems that support remote work can also expand the talent pool that your sales team can hire from, as you no longer are limited to candidates that can only be in the office.
👩💼 Streamlined Sales Process
Many of the biggest companies in travel have been forced to furlough or layoff their employees. The road back won’t be won’t be easy, especially as teams cope with not being able to bring back their full-staff right away. Examine your current sales process and find the existing bottlenecks. Ask yourself:
- Is our team spending too much time on quoting?
- Are we following up with customers as often as we’d like?
- Do we have the time to do outbound sales?
- Do we lose business due to not responding quickly enough?
Having the right system in place that streamlines and helps save time in the quoting and booking process can enable you and your team to do more with less.
About Busie
Busie is the leading software company empowering charter operators to compete in an increasingly digital landscape while helping charter sales teams save over 50% of their time in the quoting process and book more charter business. For COVID-19 we are offering our instant quoting and operator sales platform completely free until the industry begins to return to normal. Want to get started today? Reach out at hello@getbusie.com or fill out our form here.
