Case study

St Andrews Travel Summer 2005 - St Andrews Travel of Bolton became one of the first agents to sign up to the revolutionary web based enquiry system – EnqSys. This new system has taken over 2 years to develop and is specifically designed for the travel industry. For the first time agents are able to effectively manage all holiday enquiries received from customers via ‘walk-in’, Internet and telephone.

A recent publication in the trade press carried out by Price Waterhouse Cooper stated that the most successful agents are those who know their customers and can close the sale and not just service holiday enquiries. The majority of agents are experiencing a decline in customers, it is therefore paramount that agents have the ability to take advantage of every single sales opportunity.

EnqSys Sales Director Brian Loynton said "It is more vital than ever for travel agents to take total control of all the holiday enquiries they receive. By using the power of EnqSys the agent will have the ability to track, monitor and control all holiday enquiries every minute, every hour, every day leading to a substantial reduction in lost bookings and improved conversion rates."

Brian also says "Our research shows that a business with twenty sales staff that improves conversion rate by only 5%, will generate an extra net profit of over £27,000 in the first year without having to increase the number of enquiries they receive!"

Andrew Dickson from St Andrew’s Travel said at the launch "EnqSys is the system that the trade has been waiting for and makes everyone in the business from director to staff member accountable for every sales opportunity. The system is quick and easy for staff to use and with its impressive range of interactive and responsive features will enhance our customer relationship. I have no doubt that staff at St Andrew’s Travel will quickly realise the benefits and at the same time be able to provide an even more professional service to our customers."

Brian commented "We are delighted that St Andrews Travel are on-board. Andrew and his team have tried the system and have been impressed with its remarkable features. I have no doubt St Andrews Travel will start to benefit from day one".

Andrew goes on to say "EnqSys will give St Andrews Travel a dynamic and accurate database plus a superb report creation facility enabling us to view any aspect of our enquiry handling in conjunction with the management team, so we can ensure that we maximise every booking opportunity to it’s full potential . I am confident that with reduced costs and improved margins we can quickly improve our profit performance without increasing our overheads"

Brian Loynton said that a national team of senior travel professionals had been recruited and that travel agents should contact EnqSys on 0845 458 1992.

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PR World Travel Manchester based agent PR World Travel have been using EnqSys in their shops for the since Oct 04 with dramatic results. Joint proprietor Peter Hardman says "this system has had a huge impact on our business by transforming the way we process our enquiries. The inefficiencies, errors and difficulties associated with traditional paper-based enquiry handling have been totally swept away. We now have a live interactive enquiry system across the business that is improving the management of enquiries beyond our imagination. Recently our General Manager spotted a Caribbean wedding enquiry taken by a junior member of staff at one of our branches.

The branch manager was off work at the time so the General Manager escalated the enquiry to a suitable senior sales clerk who took it over and secured a £17,000 booking.

Without this system we would probably have lost the booking. Also, the system enables us to identify staff capability in converting various enquiry types. Using this feature we have detected that certain staff are less successful in converting enquiries. This was losing us money and we are taking action with extra training, supervision and monitoring."

Peter also went on to comment "Our staff love the system as it makes their job so much easier. Nowadays not a single enquiry ever goes missing. We are improving our conversion rate which will have a positive effect on profits and staff bonus. This system has transformed the way we do business, it has empowered us to reap benefits through reducing lost enquiries and hence improve our conversion rates and opportunities."

Also, the ability to create instant mail-shots from our data enables us to react quickly to opportunities.