In the hospitality and tourism business, the need for a professional and reliable booking service cannot be underestimated. You have already invested a lot of your financial resources, time and energy in developing advertising and marketing campaigns to capture your customers’ interest. After successfully making your business stand out from your competitors, you now have customers willing to try your service. But all of that can go to waste if the next step – your booking service – does not meet your customers’ expectations.
One way for you to increase the chances that your booking services perform according to high standards is through outsourcing. Michael F. Corbett wrote in The Outsourcing Revolution: Why It Makes Sense and How to Do It Right that while almost half of the companies outsource for the huge cost reduction benefit, they also outsource in search of better quality. And any business owner knows that one of the sure ways to get more customers is to offer greater quality than the rest of your competitors. Outsourcing your booking services can help you increase your customers, and we give you five reasons why:
1. Outsourcing your booking services lets you focus on other core aspects of your business and as a result, increases your productivity. 17% of companies surveyed from the 2004 Outsourcing World Summit believe outsourcing helps them increase their company’s focus. A business whose staff ends up doing much more than their primary responsibilities tends to be a substandard business because of a lack of focus, which is essential to perform tasks with excellence. In business, trying to do it all can be counterproductive. Outsourcing a dedicated team of booking agents will free up your staff’s time to concentrate on performing their functions and enable them to serve your customers better.
2. Outsourcing your booking services allows you to channel your financial resources on other customer-centric endeavors. You will have bigger flexibility regarding your finances, because you won’t be tied down to huge investments such as computer equipment, software programs, training, salary and benefits of an in-house booking agent. These savings can be used for customer-engagement programs and activities to make them happy and increase their loyalty.
3. Outsourcing your booking services lets you work with people who have the experience and skills necessary for a positive booking experience. Another often cited reason why companies outsource is to have access to skills they currently do not possess. When you outsource this service to a call center or BPO, you increase the chances of your customers being handled by the experts, resulting in a pleasant customer experience. When you consistently make your customers happier, you make it easier for them to multiply in number.
4. Outsourcing your booking services can increase your competitive advantage and widen your business knowledge. Working with a third party can increase your competitiveness because it brings you closer to external sources of business knowledge and practices. This wealth of new information, when properly applied, can help you deliver better service to your customers.
5. Outsourcing your booking services can help you run your business more efficiently, to the delight of your existing customers. A business’ level of efficiency ultimately affects the customer. An efficient business has faster turnaround times, which is a great thing for today’s customers who expect instantaneous results. Outsourcing this service can help you be more efficient in your operations because you don’t need to micromanage an in-house staff anymore.
Your booking services are an important sales and customer service channel of your business. Outsourcing this service to the experts can help your business grow in terms of loyal customers and revenues.