Quick Quotes = Faster Sales + Cost Savings

 Solving Common Workflow Problems for Tour Operators

 
Here at TourWriter we work with hundreds of Tour Operators. They come to us suffering a range of different workflow issues. Some are looking to better manage their supplier database. Others are looking to lower their environmental footprint with less paper waste.

Quick quotes are the key to quick sales.

Overall, the number one issue Tour Operators face is how to create quotes quickly. The travel industry has changed dramatically with the impact of the internet. Consumers have moved online, creating a globally competitive market. To increase sales, a fast quote turnaround is imperative. 

Remember it is not always the cheapest quote but more often the quote delivered fastest that wins the sale.

Quick quotes save money

Every hour saved creating quotes leads directly to improved profitability.

Let's say the average 14 day itinerary currently takes 4 hours to perfect using Word or Excel. Cutting and pasting supplier information. Ensuring images are correctly placed on the page. You know the drill. It's time consuming and fiddly. 

Lets do a quick calculation estimating the cost of a travel consultant processing 3 quotes on a basic wage of $20 per hour.

4 hours @ $20 = $80 x 3 quotes = $240

Using TourWriter, software designed for Tour Operators, a 14 day multi-stop itinerary can be prepared and emailed to your customers or agents in as little as 5 minutes. That works out to around $1.60 per quote. 

 At that speed, $240 would allow you to produce 150 quotes instead of 3!

As you can see there are incredible savings to be made. 

How does TourWriter do it?

TourWriter works by centralising your supplier database. Each supplier's services and rates are loaded alongside relevant descriptive content and images. TourWriter automatically produces quote and final itinerary documentation once you have compiled your bookings in the system.

This means you can create documents at the click of a button, then either email these to your clients and agents directly from TourWriter, or export to PDF or Word.

Benefits of quicker quotes

We have outlined some key direct benefits of producing quotes more quickly.  Most business owners will be happy enough with increased revenue whilst decreasing expenses.

Quite possibly the most important benefit will be the shift in consultant behaviour. With TourWriter handling the administration, consultants can focus 100% on sales. 

Most businesses using TourWriter find consultants focusing on sales sell more. Look for a future blog post on this soon.

For more information about this blog topic or for a product demonstration contact us now.

How to calculate your TourWriter Return on Investment

To cope with a constantly changing economic environment tour operators need to look for ways to increase Revenue whilst

decreasing Expenses.  

As a business your Revenue needs to exceed your Expenses. Any new investment needs to show a positive return. 

Google 'ROI' and you'll find a plethora of ROI calculation techniques. Most techniques involve the same general concepts and a simple formula to calculate ROI could look like this:

Simple ROI = (Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment) / (Cost of Investment)

How can purchasing TourWriter help you increase revenue whilst saving you money at the same time? How does TourWriter stack up regarding ROI? 

Great questions, I'm glad you asked.

Here at TourWriter we sell software but we also use a range of different software solutions ourselves and we are constantly analysing the pros, cons and costs.  Combining our experience of buying third party software and dealing with 1,000's of Tour Operators from around the globe these are our top tips of things to look for when evaluating Return on Investment when purchasing software and in particular TourWriter.

TourWriter ROI Top Tips

We recommend you:

1. Benchmark Performance
2. Estimate Savings
3. Estimate Costs
4. Use ROI Formula
5. Discuss your needs with TourWriter Sales
6. Make your decision

Benchmark your performance

It is difficult, if not impossible, to track the impact of a software change on a business if you have no idea where you have come from. So benchmark your performance now. Calculate how long you currently spend completing your everyday functions, then associate costs to them. 

Then estimate the savings from performing those everyday functions faster. 

Let's look at boosting your revenue... How many clients are you losing through slow quote turnaround? Could you close more deals with professional quote documentation? These can be difficult to qualify but research indicates consumers are after visual presentations and they want them now. 

Once you have estimated the gains of investing in new software you can now work out the return on your investment.

Benefits of TourWriter in terms of ROI

TourWriter is both your supplier database and your documentation creator. Drag and drop suppliers, adjust pricing and at the click of a button a quote document (based on current rates) can be emailed to a potential lead. 

You can even create itinerary templates based on holiday packages that can be personalised in minutes.

TourWriter clients become more productive. How much more productive depends on how time consuming you current processes are. Since we also aim to increase reliability and offer potential business growth, calculating ROI should be easy.

And finally some things to consider

It's not all dollars and cents in business though. Most tourism operators have a passion and a love for the industry. Are your staff as happy as they could be? Do your sales staff spend their days doing what they love, planning great holidays and closing sales, or cutting and pasting supplier information into word documents?

It can be difficult to quantify the benefits of simplifying a business process so you or your staff no longer feel frustrated?  We can all agree frustrated staff will not be achieving their potential.

We say preparing a glossy quote for a 14 day holiday should only take minutes. If it takes you longer, you (and more importantly your staff) need TourWriter.

Contact us now to learn how.

Tour Operator - what does it mean?

Is our software designed for you?

It can be confusing trying to work out whether a particular software advertised is designed for or will work in your particular company. We designed TourWriter specifically for tour operators. 

However the term tour operator refers to a range of different business types. Search under the term 'tour operator' and the results could include tour guide companies or ground arrangement operations. A tour operator could also be called a Destination Management Company (DMC). Some many titles, so much confusion.

Wikipedia defines a tour operator as 'typically combining (es) tour and travel components to create a holiday. They prepare itinerary." A DMC provides a 'ground service based on local knowledge of their given destinations.'

If this is you, great, TourWriter was designed specifically for companies wanting to quickly prepare itineraries for holiday packages combining a range of different travel components.

We work with both inbound and outbound tour operators and DMC's ranging from small owner operators to larger multi-branch or multi-department companies. Load thousands of suppliers, all your contacts and your current package templates into TourWriter to quickly turnaround quotes.

Sold in 15 different countries TourWriter is very flexible to your needs and we guarantee to move you from the world of manual business processes to documentation automation.

Imagine creating quotation documentation at the click of a button. you can with TourWriter.

"TourWriter has not only changed the way we do business, it has improved the lives of every employee. Everything we do is simply more efficient and professional. This has created a win win situation for everyone (clients, suppliers, staff and management) and in business it does not get much better than that!" Denise Campbell, Experience New Zealand Travel.

Itinerary Templates for Tour Operators

 save time and money using itinerary templates

Do you or your staff currently copy and paste supplier details, images and pricing when creating client itineraries for quotes or final itinerary documentation? Does the repetitive process feel like time wasting? 

Itinerary templates with TourWriter could be the answer. TourWriter automates your current work practices, slashing quote preparation times and increasing sales with less administration costs.

With TourWriter installed your supplier itinerary content is stored in your supplier database along with supplier rates, close out periods, different seasons, warning messages, images, driving instructions, maps and more....

If you sell a particular package over and over. When a client wants a quote, you copy the itinerary template, update rates for preferred departure dates then print the quote.

As part of your TourWriter setup our programmers will customise an itinerary template creating the documentation of your dreams.  Creating documentation from a template is easy.  Just a couple of clicks. 

You can then print or even email documentation directly to clients from TourWriter. Not to mention easily requesting availability with suppliers.



Contact us for a copy of our example quote template today.

Our Night at the Technology Oscars

Whilst not as glitzy, it was certainly just as (almost) prestigious. TourWriter made the Deloitte Fast 500 list for 2012 and our MD Glenn Campbell was presented with an award at Deloitte House, Wellington.

We are ranked the 354th fastest growing Technology company in the Asia Pacific Region. Whilst there is always room for more growth, we are very proud of making a list that includes big NZ companies such as Xero, Powershop  and 2Degrees Mobile . Not to mention large Asia Tech companies like ProCrystal Tech and VIPShop Holdings. 

The awards were presented at the Deloitte Boardroom overlooking Wellington harbour, during an awards function that brought together award winners from Wellington and Christchurch. 

After an introduction from Deloitte Wellington Chief Executive, Thomas Pippos, we were entertained by Amy Adams, the current Minister for Communication and Information Technology who then presented the awards.

Glenn Campbell, (TourWriter) accepting the award from Amy Adams, Minister for Communications and Information Technology

It was inspiring to sit in a room with 18 of the 500 fastest growing Technology Companies in the Asia Pacific Region. Wellington is certainly living up to it's Creative Capital reputation, when our relatively small population of 400,000 can create so many successful Tech companies.

Whilst we aim to continue our impressive growth over the coming 12 months,  our focus is also on strengthening systems to ensure clients continue to receive the user friendly product and service that has made TourWriter so popular for small to mid sized Tour Operators. 

We are well aware it is all to common for fast growing companies to lose focus from their most important assets, their customers.

TourWriter Welcomes Roshni Stephens

TourWriter is pleased to welcome Roshni Stephens to the team in the newly created position of Implementation Manager.

Roshni will be responsible for implementing TourWriter for new clients and will provide ongoing training and support to existing clients.

Roshni brings a range of experience to the role, with over five years in the tourism industry since graduating from Victoria University in 2005. Previous roles include working for the Official Accommodation Bank for the Rugby World Cup 2011, in hotel sales, sustainable tourism, and more recently as Product Coordinator for a German Inbound Tour Operator.

It was cool in Queenstown at TRENZ

TourWriter Directors at TRENZ
Seba Illingworth and Glenn Campbell took the opportunity to attend TRENZ in Queenstown in May and ended up on ice.....

It was great to catch up with many existing clients and suppliers, and discuss the new developments that are on the way for TourWriter.