TravelManager :: Travel Manager

October 9, 2009 – 3:00 pm

This is a common discussion I’ve been having with operators over the last few years. The typical reaction is that’s too hard to generate an accurate price in real-time and also there’s a fear that online booking will facilitate shopping around for the cheapest price.

The reality is the Motorcoach is not seen as a viable alternative for a large percentage of the population. In fact the figure of 7-9% is quoted regularly at conferences about the percentage of North Americas that use Motorcoaches. So why is it that the remaining at worst 81% don’t ever use your services?

1) Lack of Awareness

2) Unfashionable image of a “Motorcoach” (an old Bus)

3) Not marketing to new markets / customers (too much focus on older/traditional audience)

4) Inability to get a fast quote/price

5) All of the above and more…

I see the Motorcoach Council are trying to coordinate an industry wide campaign with their “Motorcoachified” message which is a step in the right direction on the awareness front but….

Internet Sales Stop Sign Why the Motorcoach industry needs Online Booking? 2010

Internet Sales coming soon

It’s not enough the industry needs to change how it sells to the new customers who will what the convenience of real-time booking before they see the Motorcoach as a real alternative to taking a car, train or flight.

It can happen but does the industry what this? – We think at TravelManager that 2010 is the year for it happen

Regards,

Eamonn

**Not convinced of the benefits? Here’s a good article from the LCT (Limousine, Charter & Tour) website: http://www.lctmag.com/features/features-story.cfm?id=1537

October 2, 2009 – 8:30 am

With the increasing number of ways for customers to express their opinion about your product or service there’s a new trend to monitor sentiment on the Internet. Basically it’s about tracking whether the crowds opinion is positive or negative in blogs, social networks, news articles, online forums etc.

good and bad egg The next wave of online marketing? Listening

Good and Bad Sentiment Online

What does this mean for the Motorcoach industry? Well not a whole lot at the moment, but there’s an opportunity here to get and stay ahead of your competitors by starting to invest in your online reputation.

This is more than optimizing your website for search engines and more about really listening to what’s being said about your company good and bad. In fact as often is the case with dealing with traditional customer complaints, dealing with the negative effectively can often turn into a positive experience for the disgruntled customer.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to share my experiences about Twitter and similar tools you can use to manage your online reputation.

Regards,

Eamonn

*Data mining and connecting with services like Facebook and Twitter will be part of TravelManager in 2010 to help our users connect with new customers and retain existing ones.

Don’t just take my word for it! Recent Article in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/technology/internet/24emotion.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all

September 29, 2009 – 5:33 pm

TravelManager is providing the software solution for Arrow Stage Lines to handle their ticket sales on the new Shuttle Service launched yesterday for the Kansas City Chiefs Fans. By offering Motorcoaches rather than transit buses the fans are going to be upgrading their transportation to the Arrowhead Stadium for their teams home games.

Arrow Stage Lines Shuttle Service Arrow Stages Lines & Kansas City Chiefs

Arrow Stage Lines Shuttle Service for Kansas City Chiefs

We’re excited to be part of this growing area for private motorcoach companies to cater for fans left out in the cold by cuts in public transit services. The fans are in for a pleasant surprise with the quality of the vehicles they’ll be riding, Arrow Stage Lines have one of the best fleets in the industry.

For more information about the new service we recommend you watch the Kansas City Chiefs press release yesterday:

Screen shot 2009 09 29 at 17.28.32 Arrow Stages Lines & Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs - Press Conference

Or better still if you’re a fan why not book your ticket online:

www.arrowstagelines.com/kansas-chiefs

Best of luck to Arrow Stage Lines.

Regards,

Eamonn

September 27, 2009 – 11:59 am

It’s very easy to setup an online advertisement campaign but unfortunately it’s not so easy to manage and insure you’re getting value for money.

They’re are a lot of companies paying too much per click and not enough time tracking the value of the clicks. Remember Google only started Adwords in Oct 2000 with about 350 customers, but by 2007 they had over 1m advertisers. Worse still the benefit of an level playing field Adwords brought to advertising is being eroded with large national brokers massively out spending local operators (often paying too much themselves!!!).

Wasting Dollars on Poor Adwords Campaigns Is Google Adwords worth it?

Wasting dollars by not tracking online advertisement conversions?

The industry needs to get back to connecting with their customers and leveraging the Internet as a more than a just a lead generator to a customer service and relationship management tool.

The Internet is maturing and so should our attitude to how we use it to grow revenues.

Regards,

Eamonn

**By using the TravelManager quotation widget on your website you can traffic all sources of leads generated (from multiple locations). So before starting a campaign make sure you have a way to track the source of leads and their conversions.

September 21, 2009 – 9:00 am

Just when you thought that you’d figured out search engines and pay-per-click advertisement the market is starting to change. Yep, you’ve heard it here 1st, all things that worked well in the past are not going to provide the same ROI into the future.

Like the smart companies that starting using Google Adwords ahead of their competition it’s time to another step forward by using social media to get in on the conversation with you potential customers.

Picture 13 Online Marketing is changing (again!!)

Social Media Conversations

**It’s no coincidence that Facebook has hit 300m+ users and a profit.

Regards,
Eamonn

**Here’s a great article that while applies to the Hotel industry is quite applicable with the Motor coach and tours industry: Future Trends

August 27, 2009 – 9:19 am

When presenting at industry conventions I have great conversations with Sales & Marketing managers looking to use services like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube to promote their businesses.

They’re seeing a decreasing ROI on their traditional marketing media such as mailing Catalogues, Print Media and Television, which inevitably leads to questions like:

1) How can we market ourselves more effectively with these new tools (Social Networks, Micro blogs etc)?

2) How can we generate more sales?

The reality is they should be asking:

1) How can we get our customers and prospective customers to talk and tell others about us?

2) How can we be more responsive to our customers needs into the future?

Over the coming months I’ve decided the best way forward is to create a real-time case study with weekly updates posted on the TravelManager Blog. The company we’ve decided to use is Irish Coaches, watch out for my post next week.

Regards,

Eamonn

March 2, 2009 – 12:26 pm

We are currently working on a number of enhancements to the online charter quotations widget for the North American market. These include the ability for an operator to establish their base / gateway city and a radius that they are willing to accept quotes for.

Zooming in – you can see the radius information better.

Customers can then visit your site and get information about each office and in which radius you operate within.

If you have a number of satellite offices where the radius from each overlap then the engine will work out the closest office to send a quotation to.

This is functionality based on end user feedback and we anticipating having the first phase of this radius capability in place by the weekend. We will then focus on additional reporting requirements and or widgets for your own websites so you too can share this information with your customers.

All of this information is driven from your profile screen – so please ensure it is updated with correct data – so you can take advantage of this as and when it comes online.

Regards

Dean

November 1, 2008 – 4:55 am

We have now put the first batch of videos online here.

We will be creating more videos over the coming weeks and improving on these once we work out what all the buttons on the video recorder software does

Regards

Dean

October 16, 2008 – 7:22 am

We have rolled out some minor improvements this morning based on user feedback.

[1] PDF version of outstanding invoices is now available so you can print off and chase

[2] Replace time created with “Date of Travel” on the private hire / charter listings screens

[3] Improvements to the tours widget so you can install the widget on your website and have it show all tours inline and as part of your site

[4] Improvements to the customer survey process with some slight cosmetic changes for the customer view

Regards

Mike

September 29, 2008 – 5:01 pm

With the global economy struggling and costs of doing business, such as oil, gasoline and food expenses on the rise, maximizing business productivity has never been more important. Businesses that can produce the most with the least in regards to human resources, equipment, automated processes, and other resources have the best chance of success. Many businesses have failed in the last several months because they could not discover great ways to maximize productivity while trimming costs of doing business. Here are ten ways that your company can do both:

1) Take advantage of Internet technology

Customer service is still one of the most important factors in success for many businesses. However, in the fast pace consumer world, delivering efficient and convenient service is often a highly sought after skill for companies. There are many great new web technologies and software solutions that offer consumers a chance to shop and buy more efficiently. They also give businesses greater productivity from an often less expensive transaction process. Many traditionally face-to-face businesses are now relying on the web for sales and customer contact. In fact, Internet sales are growing by 25 per cent annually and now account for roughly 6 per cent of all business sales worldwide.

Are you taking advantage of that 25% annual increase?

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