Episode 4 - Beyond Booking: The Essential Systems Every Travel Agency Needs
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EPISODE SUMMARY
Why Systems Matter
Holly's System Background
15 Essential Business Systems
CRM System (Customer Relationship Management)
Project Management Tool
Document Management
Online Booking System
Email Templates
Website
Social Media System
EDMs (Electronic Direct Mail) / Email Campaigns
Automated Tasks
Planning Sessions
Financial Management
AI Tools
Team Communication
Payroll Management
Reporting and Analytics
Implementation Strategy
Getting Started
Align with Goals
Free Trials and Research
Seeking Support
Key Takeaways
• Systems foster growth: Business cannot grow without proper systems
• Start small: Focus on immediate needs, not comprehensive overhaul
• Purpose-driven: Systems should free you to do what you love most
• Professional growth: Proper systems create professional, efficient business
• Long-term investment: Initial setup effort pays dividends in time savings and growth potential
READ THE FULL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT HERE
Introduction
Hello and welcome to Episode 4 of Travel Business Unlocked. I'm your host, Holly Velardo, from HollyDay Travel. Today we're going to be talking about a topic that is so important for any business. This is systems and processes. Now, this is not something that might sound very exciting to all of you, but it is something that can completely transform your business.
It can provide you structure, efficiency, and the freedom to truly focus on what you love most. So grab a pen if you're at your desk. If you're in the car, then you might need to listen to this another time and take notes. Grab out the Notes app on your phone and let's truly unlock the potential of your travel agency.
Why Systems Matter
So systems are so important for any successful business. The words “systems and processes” used to overwhelm me so much. I just didn't know where to start. So I'm here to help you if you're feeling the same way. Even if you do have systems in your business, this episode is all about how you can make them better, how you can change them, or where to even start with your first system.
So systems provide you structure, they automate repetitive tasks, and they free up your brain space so you don't have to remember every little detail about everything in the business. They will really help you create that time to focus on what you love most. For me, I don't love doing the tedious tasks behind the scenes. I don't love processing every booking. I don't love having to remember “When is that client's birthday and what do I need to send them?” So I need to have these systems in place to clear my brain and really give me the time to focus on my clients.
I love sitting down with the clients, I love building that dream, and I love getting to know them. For me, that is where I want to spend my time. That is what I want to be doing, not remembering everything else that needs to go with it. So I like being able to have that clear head and knowing that that information is in a system somewhere. It's already stored and there is a process in place for that.
So systems are also really, really important for when you're ready to expand and start hiring. They can help you scale your business so much and it will also help you train new team members when they come on board. They allow you to be so organised and ensure that everyone is on the same page, they’re following the processes, and it makes it much easier for onboarding new staff.
Holly's System Background
So let's explore the systems that we have in place in our business and how you can implement them into yours. This obviously isn't every system that we have, but I've picked out the ones that I think are the most important and also were most crucial for when we were starting out.
So just a little bit of background on what we do at HollyDay Travel in terms of our systems. I was really, really struggling with all of the CRM systems out there, the back office tools, everything that we had access to. I work from home, I'm a home-based agent. We get all of our bookings are online only, people can't just come, obviously, it is a home. So for me, I was using many different systems that I was having to work with and do a lot of doubling up on everything.
So one system would take the client's email and phone number and why are they coming to see me? And then I was having to copy and paste that over into our CRM system or you know, there was just so much doubling up on everything we were doing. So I spent most of last year with developers and I created a CRM system on top of the Zoho platform. So I worked really, really hard with these developers and this is a system that we use now within our business.
So we have Zoho One. There are I think maybe 52 apps and don't quote me on that, you'd need to look into it, that we use within our system now. So it is from the very beginning, from booking online right up until when we do our BAS and it goes to the tax office.
So that works incredibly well for me. But I understand that that is not what most people within the travel industry have or use. So I will talk about options that we used to do as well and things that you can do where systems don't cost a huge amount of money, but hints and tips there as well.
1. CRM System
So the first and most crucial thing that you absolutely need in your business is your CRM system. Now if you are with a host agency then obviously they're going to provide this to you. They're going to provide you your back office system as well and a mid office system if needed.
So for me, being an independent agent, I was able to look at whatever CRM system I wanted. So I used the VTO system for many years and this worked very well. It's a very simple system to use. It is, obviously has its limitations like most of them do within the industry, but there's many of them out there. You can look at Travel Works — there's a whole lot there that you can look at.
So find a CRM system that works for you. Do a bit of research on this. Have some trial periods, ask other people in the industry, what are they using? There's more and more of them coming out all of the time. But a good CRM system allows you to save everything about your clients. It allows you to save simple things like their birthdays, their anniversaries, their frequent flyer number, seat requests, passport details, all of these things. And they're saved in a very secure place.
But it also means you're going above and beyond. If you don't have a CRM system, if you don't have all of this information saved about your clients and you're going back to them time and time again asking for these — one, it doesn't look professional; two, you're wasting your time, you're wasting their time. Whereas you can do little things, like, send them a card on their birthday, send them an email. They can all be automated tasks from within your CRM system that you can do.
So I will be doing another episode all on our automated tasks and what we do and also on email templates. So listen out for that episode.
But having the CRM system that works for you and saves everything you can invoice directly out of it, it is a much easier and very, very streamlined process. That is an absolute must.
2. Project Management Tool
The next thing as well, for me, even when I was just working on my own, when it was just me, I needed somewhere to have all of this information about my clients. Most CRM systems won't have enough. So if we've got a booking in place, we can't put all the notes we need, we can't put the conversations, we can't put all of these bits and pieces within that CRM system. So we also needed a project management tool.
So I started, when it was just me, I started with the free version of Teamwork. I kept using this right up until we got to 4 staff and this was completely free. So Teamwork is a brilliant one. Monday.com, Asana — there’s many, many project management tools out there.
But if you don't know what a project management tool is, or if you know what it is but don't know really what it's about and how to use it, now within our business, we have this set up for absolutely everything. Every task we're working on, every booking we're working on, it is all saved within here. We are able to pull in the emails, and as well look at them very quickly, see what's going on, see any communication from any of our team members to the clients. It is all within the project management system.
We then can set reminders, alerts. We have our task lists which are in here so every morning the first thing that the team and I do is we open up our task list in project management and we look at what are we working on today, what bookings need to be worked on, and then we can plan our day based on what are the most important tasks from that. Can we push out something to tomorrow? Is there something that can wait for a client? And it allows us to be very organised. We're not going to forget things because it's going to alert us. It's going to remind us we have this booking in place that needs to be worked on.
So that is really important, but even for things like if we're working on marketing and projects that we're doing within the business, whether it's our EDMs or anything like that, we have these projects that are set up within here so we can easily look at them. They're shared within everybody within the team. But even if you've only got a couple of people or yourself, it clears your brain. It helps you understand: Okay these are the bookings, I can't forget about them. You know, it's going to send me alerts, it's going to remind me what needs to be done. So if you set it up properly and make it work.
We have many steps that we follow for every single booking. We have that set up as a template. So every time a new booking is created, that template pops in and it reminds us what to do. It reminds us if it's quoting travel insurance, if it's payments that are due, if it's visas that are required. All of these steps are in there.
And we have things such as, you know, nurturing the clients when they come back. What are we going to do? Are we going to send them an anniversary gift while they're away? Are we going to call them when they're home? Are we going to send them a photo of their trip? What are we actually going to do for them as well? So that is crucial to have a really good project management system in place and also using it to its full potential.
3. Document Management
So another thing as well is document management. This is really, really important for storing client information. Whether it's their documents, everything's e-documents these days. So whether it is storing those e-documents, invoices. You know, every client should have their own personalised folder. These days you need to be extremely careful with security. If you are saving their passports or having any of that information, you need to make sure these are encrypted or secure. So there's many ways you can do that. But Google Drive is a really popular choice for ease of access and availability as well.
We use Zoho WorkDrive for this where we can store all of their information. It is linked directly to their projects that way and all of the clients’ information is stored there. In terms of documentation and things, we use Travefy for all of our itinerary planning. So most of their documents will be uploaded, or not most, all of their documents are uploaded onto Travefy as well.
So but we need another place to store them. We need to have a copy of these as well. So we do choose to have a separate folder for every single client and it's very, very important to ensure that you have safety and security and backups of all of these. That is something that is absolutely non-negotiable. It is extremely important.
Use cloud storage for everything that you've got if your computer crashes or something happens. So whether it's Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, whatever it is that you're using, please ensure you have cloud storage and you have plenty of antivirus security and also encrypted security on those documents as well.
4. Online Booking System
So for us, you know, we use online bookings. So I use Calendly, the free version of Calendly for such a long time. And we now use Zoho Bookings because it links directly back into our system. But Calendly makes it so easy for scheduling appointments. Clients can click on this, book an appointment. It also means that you're putting in the available times that you want to work. You're completely in control of this. The clients can't book in to see you outside of these times. Unless they negotiate it with you, and that's something you want to do, but it also allows you to have that time management for you.
You can block out times where you know if you want to have a day of planning or whatever it is that you need a few hours to just go through your emails or do your social posts or whatever it is that you need, block out that time in your diary and don't let people book in for that time.
So Calendly is an excellent free tool that you can use. There is obviously paid versions depending on what you need, but that is an excellent online appointment booking tool for the many of us that are working from home. Or even if you want to have bookings, whether you're a manager or anything like that, and you don't want to have your calendar open or walk-ins just at any point, then this is a really great system to use as well.
5. Email Templates
Now emails, emails is so important, having a system or process in place for these templates. There are so many email templates that you can have. But again, like I've said, I will do a whole episode on this because there are so many that we have created and set up in our agency. So whether these are, you know, a “welcome to HollyDay Travel” email, thank you for your inquiry, whether it's a booking confirmation template, whether it's a follow up, whether it's a welcome home, a bon voyage, a happy birthday, happy anniversary and whatever it might be, templates are so, so important. And having this set up and having this system there, it just creates incredible efficiency for you and keeps everything consistent as well and very professional within the business.
6. Website
So if you are just starting out or if you've been in business for a long time, having a website is absolutely crucial. People are going to search for you. If they're looking for you and they can't find a website of some sort, then they're going to wonder, are you a legitimate business? What is this person going to provide for me? So when I started out, I didn't have the budgets to create this incredible website. I still don't have the budgets to have, you know, someone come in and build it from absolute scratch.
So for me, what I did was I use Squarespace. This is a point-and-click website. It, you know, I set it up myself. Yes, it took me a few days to go through it. I pulled in the colours from my logos. You can have all of your branding in there. And I set it up from scratch. That is currently where our website is still sitting. The only difference now is I have somebody working on the SEO behind the scenes for me and we are looking at doing an overhaul of our website now and have someone come in and really create something that is spectacular.
But when you are starting out, you don't need to spend all this money on having a website that costs thousands and thousands of dollars. Create a couple of pages, put an About Us page on there, put some photos of you. You know, really make it personal about what you are and your branding as well. So we'll obviously do another episode on websites as well because there's so much we can talk about there. But jump on and have a look at my website. It is very basic, it's point and click. But it has worked up until now for us.
We don't do any online bookings, we don't take payments online within our industry because we are all about the customer and the customer journey and spending time getting to know our clients. But if you do have any websites where you do have live feeds into them, you know, anything like that, then I do recommend you have a professional look at that for you and help you set that up. And also with Squarespace, they have all online YouTube videos. You can do so much training on your own for the websites as well. So have a look into that and see if it's something for you.
7. Social Media System
And also having a system in place for your social media, you know, there are so many platforms out there, it is so overwhelming. You don't need to go down a rabbit hole of trying to be everywhere. Identify where your audience is and focus on those platforms. You know, who is your audience, where are they looking at? Whether it's Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, LinkedIn, Pinterest. There are so many and many, many more platforms that you could be on, but you don't need to be on them all.
Your ideal client, if you know who that is, if you've niched that down and worked out who that is, then you're not going to be on all those platforms because that's not the people you want to bring into your business. You're wasting your time and energy. So work that out, work out where are these people and where am I going to be? Where do you get the most engagement? You know, is it Facebook? Is that your demographic? You know, are you looking at the baby boomers? Is that where they're sitting and scrolling and looking for information? Is it on YouTube? You know, are they looking at videos? They have time. Who is it? Is it the young ones? Is that what you're looking at? Are they on TikTok?
You know, wherever it is that your clientele sits, focus on that, but have some strategies in place where you're not going to be spending every minute of every day trying to post on social media, trying to work out, you know, if I put it all on these platforms, you know, where is it that I'm going to get the most engagement? You really need to have a system in place there and think about that as well.
8. EDMs or Email Campaigns
So the next one is EDMs or email campaigns. This is such, such a powerful tool for staying in touch with your clients. And one thing to remember is on social media, you don't own that audience. That audience can be taken away from you at any moment. Okay, so everybody that you've got on there, your followers, they're not yours unless you've collected their emails and their contact details and you've got them in your own private database, they could disappear at any time. Your account could be blocked. Anything could happen.
So email campaigns, you own those emails and phone numbers and the details that you get there, so they're your clients. So this is where you really need to have a very good system in place. Whether you send out a newsletter, weekly, monthly, whatever it is that you feel is right and that you can cope with. When we first started, we started with monthly. That was all I could fit in with starting a business and doing everything else. Now I have a team who help me do this. I have Tracy. She's amazing. You know, we send out an EDM every Thursday morning. We have our newsletter that goes out.
So we do it that way because we can stay consistent and we have a process in place. We have a monthly meeting. We talk about what we want to have in these emails and we batch create them. So that's another thing there that's really important is batch creating.
So work out what is it that you want to promote within your business? What do you want to tell your clients? What do you want them to know about you? We get asked all the time about our EDMs. Between Tracy and I, we've worked really hard to get them out there and make sure that they're engaging for our clients. And I'm constantly getting compliments on these EDMs and ask how do we create them? How do we know what to put in them?
So, you know, these are things that you can do. We are going to do another episode on this as well. I've had some emails this week actually from other travel advisors asking if I can help them with the steps and how do we get the information and what we actually do with our email campaigns, the templates involved — all of that type of thing. So stay tuned for that episode as well.
9. Automated Tasks
And then it's things as well, automated tasks, anything that can save you time, that can enhance your client relationship. So this is where… write a list: What is taking you so much time? What do you do over and over again? Okay, so and what can you automate? So this for us was absolutely game changing. You know, we've got things set up for birthday emails, your passport's going to expire, things like that. They're simple things, but they're creating that customer relationship. They're ensuring that our customers feel loved at all times. But we're not having to put in an extreme amount of work for me to physically go, "Oh who's got birthdays this month? Let me send them an email." No, we've automated this task backend so that just goes out, it pops up on their birthday and the email goes out. So these are things that you can also set up. Automation is huge.
10. Planning Sessions
So then things like having planning sessions, goals that you need to work on. This is an incredible system that we've implemented and I must admit we didn't have quarterly planning sessions. We didn't have any of these things until recently. This is something my mentor got me on to and this means I've opened up the doors for the team.
The team can talk to me about anything. But we are also much closer as a team, but also within the business. They know what's going on a lot more, they know what my goals are in the business. I'm now sharing so many things with the team and helping them come up with systems and processes as well that we can evaluate everything within these planning sessions.
We talk about our current systems, we talk about what's working, what's not working and how we can improve. We also talk about our figures, we talk about financial management, all sorts of things like that, everything that's happening in the business. So these planning sessions are so important. Stick it in your diary and just do it month by month.
11. Financial Management
And you will need, absolutely need a system for your financial management. Again, if you've got a host agency, they will take care of all your commission reconciling, all your receipts in and out, all of that type of thing. But if you are independent, then this is something you need to look at for yourself. So we use Xero for many years, we now use Zoho Books. But whether it's Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, whatever it is that you need to manage your accounting and your budgeting, financial planning, anything like that within your financial management, then that is absolutely crucial.
You need to know your numbers and you need to know where everything is, how you can reconcile. If you don't know how to do this, there is so much help out there from local bookkeepers that can help you. Speak to your accountant, that is the absolute best place to start and talk through what it is they recommend for your business and how to make it as easy as possible for you.
12. AI Tools
Another thing in terms of systems is your AI tools. AI is something that we use every single day within our business. So whether you're wanting to, you're scared of AI, you're not ready to embrace it yet. It is something we use every single day.
Now, I heard about an AI tool called PoppyAI from Fiona Killackey who I've talked about previously and her podcast is called My Daily Business. I heard about this tool and was like, oh my gosh, this is incredible. I have to try it.
So I use Poppy every single day. I use it for things like responding to client emails, for writing blogs, for social media posts, for podcast hints and tips. Like I'm recording right now for you, you know, anything that you need.
But also on a personal level, I use it for our family budgeting, I use it for our weekly shopping lists. And there is so much that you can use it for that you need to find an AI tool that works incredibly well for you.
You know, whether it's Perplexity, Perplexity is real time. ChatGPT is amazing. But you know, the information that you're getting from there, it's not always going to be relevant.
So find an AI tool that you love, work out what it is that you, how it can help you within your business. What is it going to do for you? Is it going to help you write your email templates? Is it going to help you reply to client emails? Is it going to help you write a blog for your website? Whatever it is that it might be, grab that tool, work with it and go with the free versions, absolutely.
We started with ChatGPT and Perplexity free versions before we moved on to paid versions and now we've moved to Poppy. We still use Perplexity with the free version. What you can do on Perplexity AI is unbelievable.
So there is so much you can do with AI. Find out what you need it for, put it into place and start working with it.
13. Team Communication
So then of course team communication. If you have a team, even if you have one team member, even if you have one VA, whatever it is, how do you communicate? If you are all working from home or if you're in an office, whatever it is. But for those working from home, what do you use to communicate? What are you going to do to speak to each other?
So for us we use Zoho Cliq. And there's WhatsApp, there's Voxer. You can send video messages, you can send voice recordings, whatever it is that's needed, how you're going to communicate with your team, but without—also ensuring that they—you need to ensure that they have time down time as well. So this, whatever this system is that you're using, make sure that it's not going to alert them 100 times on their phone if you're having a thought over the weekend and you're messaging them. But you need something reliable as well and something that they can be contacted on in an emergency or anything that's needed.
So we use Cliq, which is incredible. We also do use WhatsApp as well. We use both systems and this is how we can communicate with our team at all times.
14. Payroll Management
Now another system that you might need, if you do have a team or even if you're on your own and you have a company, you do need to have a payroll management system some way that you pay yourself so, and an employee management. So whether it is employee profiles that you need to save, where you're storing their leave, whatever that information is, you absolutely need this.
So again, speak to your accountant. If it is the payroll side of things, they can recommend what system to use there. But there's so many that you can use. But again, having the employees’ details saved, having leave that's found in an easy spot where they can log in, you can log in, and see it at all times is crucial.
15. Reporting and Analytics
So, finally, another thing that we just cannot live without is our reporting and our analytics. So this is a system that you know, whatever your CRM is providing, there'll be ways that you can have reports. Again, if you're a sole trader, you're on your own working by yourself, you need to know what your figures are, you need to know what your sales are, you need to know where they're coming from. Where is your growth? What months are best? Are you hitting your monthly targets? You know, all of this type of thing is so, so important in your business.
Reports are crucial. We look at these every single week. We look at, you know, how many new bookings have come in, where have the bookings come from, what is the value of the bookings, you know, how much time are we spending on these bookings and you know, what sort of clients are these, what's their demographic, what do we know about the clients? So having these reports set up is so important. If you don't have a good reporting system within your CRM or whatever it is that you're using to record your business information, then speak to someone. There are third-party links that you can have into so many systems that will help you report and find out the information you want and can pull that data.
Implementation Strategy
Getting Started
So these are just a few of the systems that we use. Things that for me became very, very important, very quickly within opening my own business. So I hope you get some great hints and tips from them. But what I really want you to do and how you can work out what systems you need that could be completely overwhelming to you what I've just talked about. I know for me it was, I didn't know what half of those systems were to start with. I didn't know what a project management tool was. I didn't come from an entrepreneurial background. I started my travel agency completely blind, just with experience as a travel agent. So that's why I'm going to share these with you and don't worry if you don't know what they are now, you'll learn as you need to know what they are.
So from this list that I have just gone through, please take a close look at your current business operations. What tasks are taking most of your time? Are there repetitive tasks that could be automated? Identifying these is the most important thing and this is going to help you pinpoint what system could make the biggest impact to you.
Identifying Pain Points
So look at your pain points. What challenges are you facing every single day? Is it managing client information? Is it scheduling appointments? Or is it keeping track of your finances? Once you know what your pain points are, it's going to help you and guide you to select the right systems. They will then help address these issues and help you so much.
So please, not all systems need to be implemented at once. It is so important that you prioritise what you need that's going to give you the most immediate effect and benefit.
Don't go in looking at the huge list we've just been through or the list that we're going to provide for you. It can be so completely overwhelming. So look at what is going to have the immediate benefit for you and just focus on one or two or three that you're going to implement straight away.
So if it's client management that you're struggling with, where you're going to put that information, what are you doing with it, then a CRM system is absolutely needed. If it's keeping on top of all your bookings and the tasks and everything that needs to be done with them, then you need to be looking at a good project management system. So whatever it is, you need to prioritise that and start there.
Aligning with Goals
Also, what you really need to do is look at the goals that are within your business. What are you looking to do this year? What is it that's the most important thing to you? Are you looking to expand your client base? Are you looking for more business or are you looking to invest in marketing? Are you looking for a social media person? What is it that is the most important thing within your business right now, what are those goals? And make sure that you align your systems choices with these goals.
Free Trials and Research
And then once you've identified all of this and you know what your needs are, you know what your goals are, there are so many free systems that you can use. There are also so many systems with free trials. Please, please, please do not go out and purchase and spend a huge amount of money signing up to all these programmes.
There are the free trials are incredible. If you are going to sign up for free trials, please make sure you've got the time to actually spend on that system during that free trial period because once you've had your free trial there, you can't get it back again. So there are also so many free options of systems that you can implement and programme. So have a look at all of that and identify the ones that you really need and do a bit of research there.
Seeking Support
And also, if you don't even know where to start with any of this or what it is that you might need, then reach out to your peers, reach out to your mentors, reach out to me.
There's people in the industry who are so willing to share with you what they've done, what systems they're using. I mean, we have so many Facebook groups and chats available. There's the Women in Travel chat that we've got — that’s incredible. There's business owners chats, there's so many ones that you can be a part of that just jump in and ask a question: What are you using for this particular thing? You know, and people will help you.
Final Thoughts
So it's really important as well to remember that yes, implementing systems can be extremely daunting or even just changing or fixing the systems that you've got or tweaking them so that they're better. But by doing this, it is so crucial for your business growth. Your business cannot scale or grow if you don't have systems in place. So by taking these steps, you'll be working your way well on to identifying what you are needing within your business and what will best support your travel business.
So remember, the goal from today is not to go out and implement 100 systems. The goal is to find out exactly what you need immediately and pick one or two and focus on that. By doing that, it will allow you to really do what you love back in your business again. And for me, like I said, it's spending time with my clients.
So thank you again for joining me today on Travel Business Unlocked. I hope this episode has given you some valuable insights into the systems and processes that we use within our business and that could really transform your business. Thank you very much.
We have also provided you with a free downloadable guide on the systems that we use within our business. We hope that you will be able to have a good look at this, see what it is that you might be able to implement within your own business and it will just give you a clear understanding on where you could actually start. It will look at all the different areas of business and what you can actually do.
So please download that. Feel free to share this episode with anyone that you think might benefit from learning about systems and also that free download. So thank you again.
