Reservation services and ticket sales functions are essential for businesses like restaurants, hotels, family entertainment brands, and many other service industries. In the last year, these services were especially vital to the livelihood of businesses that were attempting to stay afloat during the pandemic. Call centers like Telecom are uniquely qualified to handle large call volumes that drive reservations, which ultimately increase the average daily rate (ADR) and boost sales. Here are the top four reasons to outsource reservation call center services and ticket sale support:
1. Missed Calls are Missed Opportunities
To state the obvious: when calls are missed, the opportunity for revenue is lost. Front desks at restaurants and hotels can be exceptionally busy, especially during peak times. Placing a caller on hold or simply not being able to answer the phone quickly can mean the loss of potential revenue. Companies with limited front desk staff are at greater risk of missing an opportunity. It’s likely that a caller needing a reservation will inevitably hang up and move on to make reservations elsewhere. If your establishment hosts functions, meetings and gatherings, one missed call may not just mean one lost opportunity, as many companies like to establish long-term relationships for their ongoing or annual needs.
2. Missed Opportunities to Upsell or Cross-sell
Being able to offer customers “more” when the opportunity arises is a strategy that can result in additional revenue. In outsource reservation services and ticket sales support, upselling and cross-selling present such an opportunity. Upselling is the practice of offering or making customers aware of superior services available at an additional cost. Giving a customer the opportunity to sit just six rows away from their favorite band for “a few dollars more” than the cost of seats in the 26th row that they were planning on purchasing, is a good example of upselling. Cross-selling is the strategy of selling additional products related to an item, experience, or service that a customer has already purchased or is interested in purchasing. In the hospitality industry, when booking hotel rooms, offering guests services or products to enhance their stay is a common practice. A visit to the hotel spa, for example.
Cross-selling and upselling require a degree of experience and specialized training. Beyond booking a reservation for an event or a weekend stay at a hotel, agents must have the experience needed to ask the right questions. Boutique call centers like Telecom employ customer service representatives who are able to easily identify and address the unique needs of the customer in order to offer them additional services and experiences available for purchase, as well as the expertise needed to close the sale.
3. Complex Bookings
Next to a missed call, answering a customer call during a heightened or hectic time of day can also mean a missed opportunity for revenue. Customers can sense when they are being rushed through a call. Giving a customer a generic response for a complicated reservation or ticket sales question can mean losing that customer (and that customer’s friends and family) for life. Finding a solution that satisfies the customer often requires more than a ‘yes or no’ answer. Handling complex bookings requires proper care, focus, and attention to detail. Call centers have the resources needed to extensively train agents on each project. At Telecom, we provide agents who represent your company and take the time needed to ensure an exceptional customer service experience.
4. Avoid Losing Guests to OTAs
Before booking a reservation, it’s common for customers to shop around to inquire about rates or get more detail on the physical features of a venue or room and learn about guest amenities. Reservation agents must be able to answer all inquiries with the authority to close calls, so as not to lose business to OTAs. An OTA is an Online Travel Agency that offers various travel-related bookings and services—concert tickets, hotel and car reservations, vacation packages, and so forth—via the internet on a dedicated website. OTAs are virtual third-party agents offering and reselling services and products provided by others. However, common complaints about OTAs are that they lack the level of customer service that callers expect and that they routinely present a lower price in their listings by failing to include the cost of fees and taxes upfront. Partnering with professional outsource reservation agents who have been trained to properly close calls from customers, even during casual inquiries, will avert losing direct bookings and therefore boost revenues.
Contact the Experts at Telecom, Inc.
Telecom, Inc., is a boutique call center offering outsourced reservation and ticket sales support for industries such as hotels, restaurants, theaters, trade shows, family entertainment brands and more. As Covid-19 restrictions are being lifted throughout the country and people are feeling excited and secure about traveling and gathering, it’s more important than ever to have a streamlined and maintained ticket/reservation support system in place.
Telecom, Inc.’s omnichannel technology supports customer’s requests no matter how they wish to communicate—via phone, text, chat, or email. Reservations are booked directly on your company’s scheduling platform, application, or website in real time. There is no chance of duplicate reservations. With each reservation or ticket sale, Telecom sends a confirmation to your customer via email or SMS, per your specifications.
To learn more about our reservations and ticket sales services, please contact us at Telecom, Inc. today!