5 steps to a successful outbound campaign

TRACK Pulse

5 Stages to a Successful Outbound Campaign

Guide to Successful Outbound Campaigns

5 Stages to a Successful Outbound Campaign1. Setup lead forms2. Track all campaigns3. Capture every lead4. Follow up & close the sale5. Measure and display

Bonus: Incentives

1. Setup and Lead Forms

1. Setup lead forms

Overview: It is important to properly configure your system from the beginning to capture the information you want in the form that you want for for effective follow up. Here are the following features of pulse you will want to configure to fit your business.

Call ResultsCustom FieldsTagsLead StatusesLost Reasons


Call Results

Call Results are the result of what happened on the call. In order to create effective outbound campaigns, you have to know what happened and the result of every call. It is a non negotiable.


Pro Tip:

One way that Pulse helps you ensure call disposition compliancy is built into the workflow automation. Once a reservation agent finishes a call, they cannot move on to the next call until all of the required fields in the lead form are completed.

Example Call Results:

Won - ReservationLead - NewLead - ExistingLost - No SaleTransferHang-UpGroup BookingTravel AgentDining


Pro Tip:

Make the call results relevant to your business. Less is more, but have all of the necessary results that you would want to report on or segment at a later date.

OwnerHousekeepingInternet IssuesModify ReservationVendorResidential LeasingActivity Based GolfActivity Based Spa


1. Create a new call result2. Name of the result3. Result type

Call results allow you to categorize the result of a call. These

results will be available to agents within call disposition.

Types

● Won - The call resulted in a conversion. Agent will be

prompted for order id and value.

● Lost - The call did not result in a conversion. Agent will be

prompted for reason for loss.

● Lead - Call resulted in a lead, or update to existing lead.

● Non-Lead - Call was not a conversion or a lead. E.g. call

transferred to housekeeping.

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Configuration


Custom Fields

Use custom fields to create data capture points within your lead disposition form. These fields will be available to the agent when completing wrap up after a call.

Pro Tip:

Once a call is completed, the agent is automatically put into “Wrap Up” mode. On average, this process should take 20-30 seconds to complete the disposition accurately and save the lead or call result. In Pulse, after the form is saved, you can determine how long to give your agent before they return to an active state.


1. Create a new custom field2. Add relevant details

Custom field examples

Pro Tip:

Custom fields can help you capture relevant data about your customers for future remarketing and better customer service.

We recommend setting up several custom fields, you may have more.

Tags

Tags are quick ways to identify and group characteristics of leads. We call these “Buyer Personas”. When you apply a quick tag, you are essentially creating categories of your business. You can add and customize tags in the setup phase.


(tag examples)

Lead Status

Setting the lead status helps to prioritize your call back strategy. Having customized status fields for your business will allow your agents to quickly filter to the right follow up at the right time to get the most impact and highest closing %.

Recommended Best Practice Statuses


2. TRACK every campaign

2. Track every campaign

Overview:

Utilizing TRACK Pulse campaign tools, you can and should provide a unique 800 or local tracking number for all of your marketing and advertising campaigns.

You should also provide a default number which is placed on your website for calls that come direct to your reservations team, but do not get traced back to a campaign.


Create CampaignCreate your campaign by clicking into the CRM from themain navigation.

Here you can view, createand manage your campaigns.


Purchase numberToll free numbers are $3 / MonthLocal numbers are $1 / Month


Pro Tip:

Local tracking numbers are just as effective and more cost efficient than toll free numbers.

3 factors to consider:

1. No long distance charges2. Click to call via mobile3. International callers need local

numbers

Add number to campaignSelect call planSave & publishThis will help you accurately route the calls and track the campaignback to the unique number associated


Dynamic TrackingYou can quickly create a dynamictracking URL for online campaigns.

When someone visits your website from a marketing channel, the numberwill transfer with the visitor and set a cookie. This cookie will help track thevisitor if they come back later on the same device (unless they clear cookies).

For tips and how to Add Tracking to Google Watch this video:

Adding Call Tracking to Adwords


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGXWoHCONlE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGXWoHCONlE

3. Capture every lead

Capture every lead

Overview:

Each qualified caller inquiring about availability into your reservations department is a booking opportunity. What’s more, it’s an opportunity for a sale to be made or lost. By providing a disposition and asking for follow up on each and every qualified inbound inquiry, you are ensuring your business of the opportunity to maximize your revenues and ROI.



Required ComplianceYou can determine whichpieces of information are most important for your vacation plannersto capture.

Before they are able to move on to thenext call, the agent fills in the requiredinformation and saves the call result.

This leads to accurate data and moreefficient follow up.

(Enterprise customers save on average 47% of non booked calls as leads)


Script - Capturing the email address

Traveler: “I’m not ready to book yet, I need to speak with the group and get back to you.”

Vacation Planner: “Ok, no problem, that’s totally understandable. What I can do for your convenience is send you a quick email with a link to our website, the particular home or room type you were interested in, as well as some of our specials, deals and packages for your stay. Does that work for you? Great, go ahead with your email address”

Once you’ve captured the address, move to the next phase:


Script - confirming a follow up call

The Availability Follow Up Close:

“Now Mr. Smith, we do typically book up fairly quickly around this time of year. I am seeing we have limited availability over this time period. I’m going to make a note to provide a courtesy follow up call to you in a few days. Does that sound good?

The Special Offer:

“Thank you Mr. Smith. It looks like this stay and play package runs through (mention date) I’m going to make a note to provide a courtesy follow up call to ensure you receive these special discounted rates. Does that sound good?”

After confirming, finalize the lead form and save the disposition to move on to the next call

4. Follow up and close the sale

Follow up and close the sale

Overview:

Offering to follow up and following up with each qualified lead in a timely fashion increases the likelihood of closing the sale and making the reservation. Sometimes, it may take 3, 4 or 5 tries to get a hold of a qualified lead, even one that has requested follow up. Here are a few best practices to follow.

1. Use the agent dashboard and lead stream to filter leads by priority2. It may take multiple attempts to reach the traveler3. Be polite and follow a script with context to the opportunity 4. Ask for the business



Unified lead stream95% of your vacation planners time will be spent in the agent dashboard working from the unified lead stream.

In this place, your agents will start by clicking on “follow up today” then they can filter their list of leads further with other options:

Arrival dateLead statusEst. Lead valueQuality RatingOpen leadsHigh priority leads


Follow up on timeClick into the lead to view more details. Within the lead details is a click to call button. Once your agent clicks on this button, their phone will ring in a few seconds. When they pick up the phone, it will be calling the primary number associated with the contact.

Timely follow up is important, it increases your chances of converting the lead into a reservation. However, not all prospects will always answer on the first call, which leads to the next best practice.

click to call

email w/templates


Try againIt may take multiple attempts to reach a prospective guest. It is ok to try a few times before closing out the opportunity.

We recommend at least 3-5 attempts before ceasing communication by phone. In addition you will be able to use the email tools within Pulse to follow up with the prospective guest via Email.

You will be able to run a report to see how many dials into each lead it takes to get a sale. This data will help you understand what works for your business.

130 Room Resort / Hotel Stats (30 days)

81 Outbound Calls38 Leads12 Conversions31.58% Closing Rate2.13 Calls Per Lead6.75 Calls Per Conversion


Follow up with contextWhen following up on a hot lead, you’ll want your vacation planners to use context in their call.

Using context can help to personalize the call back and can increase the likelihood of converting the lead into a sale.

Things you’ll need to communicate:- Original reason for their inquiry- Any notes taken to build value- Original dates requested- Any deal or offer if time sensitive- Availability if it still available or not- Offer a different accommodation if

not available


Script - follow up call

Lead Follow Up

Intro:“Hello Mr. Smith, this is Becky with property A, B and C, did I catch you at a bad time? No? Ok great. So I was looking here and it looks like you were planning on paying us a visits for (say the vacation type (general, family, wedding, group, etc).

Create Value: “The weather has been amazing, it’s the perfect time to come for (the vacation type). “The home you are looking at renting is in an amazing location, you’re really going to love it!”“These are the best rates of the year, your family is going to have a great time”

Close:“It looks like the date you were interested in arriving was (say date and number of nights). I can go ahead and get you the best rate guaranteed by booking direct, would you like me to go ahead and reserve this for you now?”


Close the saleAsking for the sale is the most important part of the follow up. Once you’ve built value and determined the prospective guest is still interested, it is critical to ask to make the reservation.

Ask for the sale “Would you like me to go ahead and reserve this for you now?”

Or “would you like me to secure these dates for you? This room / home / condo is likely to taken soon.”

After you’ve converted the sale into a win or a loss, update the opportunity in Pulse to accurately reflect the reservation ID number and the correct amount.

5. Measure and display

Measure and display

Overview:

Measuring and displaying performance metrics is the best way to keep your team informed and motivated to perform at a high level. There are 3 best practices we recommend to keep these performance metrics in front of your team.

1. Dashboards / Wallboards2. Weekly team meetings3. 1 on 1 performance reviews4. Call Scoring



DashboardsDisplay these dashboards on TVs or monitors in your reservations department. Your reservation agents can also open these as separate tabs to keep track and view their performance vs their team members.

Treating your team members as sales people is key. They are in charge of converting sometimes as much as 50% or more of your company’s revenue. Give them good visual data to compete amongst each other in a healthy competitive environment.


Weekly team meetingsIf people are split into odd shifts or depending on how many vacation planners you have, you might need to break this up into a few meetings.

Individual and group metrics to highlight in the meetings:

1. Most outbound follow ups2. Highest conversion rate3. Most conversions4. Avg. conversion value5. Total conversion value6. Team conversion rates

Track and review these numbers in addition to your inbound conversion metrics.


1 on 1 performance reviewsReviewing the performance of your vacation planners in a 1 on 1 setting is the most critical component to the measure and display. This time gives you the opportunity to drill in and focus on key improvement areas in a customized fashion.

Some ideas for your meeting:

Weekly: Review performance metricsMonthly: Review performance metrics and specific live calls

1. Review inbound conversion dataa. Listen to and score 1 to 2 converted inbound callsb. Listen to and score 1 to 2 non converting calls

2. Give the calls a score. Did they follow your criteria for inbound / outbound?a. We recommend using Doug Kennedy Training Criteria for your call scoring (provided to all Pulse

customers)


Call Scoring

Create a template

Score the Calls

Review with your Agents

Bonus: Incentives


IncentivesThe use of incentives is a powerful way to increase productivity and outbound conversion opportunities. Here are a few incentive ideas. It is important to keep baseline performance standards on inbound conversions when implementing outbound incentives. This way you assure you are pulling the right levers and not just moving inbound to outbound and paying more. Once you implement a system, stick with it, making too many changes and creating too complex of incentive plans can be detrimental and diminish the value and effectiveness.

1. Pay a % or flat rate commission of each outbound conversiona. ex: 1-2% of each outbound booking ( $100-$200 per $10,000 converted) b. ex: $10 / booking x 10 outbound conversions = $100

2. Pay a tiered modela. ex: 1-10 conversions = $10 per 11-20 conversions = $12 per 21 - 30 conversions = $15 per

3. Pay a team bonus for outbound performance as a whole.a. Team bonuses can be as effective or more effective than individual bonus plans because it makes

the teammates hold each other accountable to everyone’s performance.


Incentives

Things to consider with incentives

● Payout incentive commissions 1 time per month, keep this date consistent● Payout incentives only for reservations that have stayed and paid● Cross reference the Reservation ID numbers on in Pulse with your PMS to confirm the actual stay value● Team incentives help key team leadership keep other team members accountable to performance

standards

Software

5 steps to a successful outbound campaign