We live in a digital world. All the key processes of accommodation industry are performed online, including reservations. However, call center services, in other words over-the-phone sales, still play a noticeable role for many hotels.
Measuring each step of online reservation process, and thus easily identifying possible hitches, would be your biggest advantage. Then you could improve your processes and increase the sales.
Well, could a similar approach work in your favor while selling over the call center? Yes, it could. We have, as HotelRunner, compiled hints that could help you increase your over-the-phone sales…
First step: Measuring
In order to increase your over-the-phone sales, you need to identify what you need to measure. This is the only way you could gather data to help you and evaluate them properly. Here is what you need to measure in your call center:
When do they call?
When does your call center go through its busiest times? You need to be able to measure the busy hours of the day; days with highest number of calls; and busier months of the year. This is how you could avoid losing sales opportunities due to missed calls. This way, you could also determine the hours when you can decrease the number of staff, and even the hours or seasons when you can redirect calls to the reception.
Return rate
One of the key criteria applicable to online bookings is return rate. Return rate is the rate of those who complete the booking process among all the visitors accessing your reservation form. This criterion needs to be measured for over-the-phone sales, as well. If you are aware of how many calls you receive a day and how many of them end up in completed purchases, you can understand your call center’s effectiveness and potential.
How do we lose sales opportunities
Unfortunately, not all the calls you receive end up in sales. But why? After calls, your personnel could record these reasons, which would show you the way to what you need to do for an increased rate of sales. Among the main reasons are generally high prices, customers’ dissatisfaction with hotel’s policies, unavailability of the room requested or the possibility of a potential guest who is only making price comparisons. Identify which reasons you encounter the most.
Performance of personnel
Not all the members of the call center personnel would show the same performance. Therefore, it is important to find out the following data for each member of the personnel in the call center: The number of calls received; the number of booking transactions performed; return rate; and the total revenue from those bookings. This could help you distinguish the personnel in the call center who show better performance.
As mentioned above, over-the-phone sales is still among the key channels for accommodation industry. However, widespread use of online services encourages potential guests more to have a look at your website before deciding to call you. Create your HotelRunner account in order to create a web page for your hotel and start receiving online reservations without having to capitalize on technical knowledge.
