Do You Know Your Close Ratio?

Much focus is spent on marketing and driving leads into the agency. (Which by the way, we agree with!) But how well are you really doing with those leads you get? Do your agents close 15%? 30%? How about 60 or 80%? Of course, simple math tells you that if you double your close ratio, you double your business. To accomplish this though, each and every client inquiry needs to be viewed as an “opportunity” for revenue that is measured, monitored and maximized. The ClientBase Plus Res Card can help you with this along with a new TCR called “Res Card Closing Ratio Report” which you can download here - Click here

Below is an overview of the steps you can take to develop a culture that clearly defines the pre-sale process and guides your agents towards closing more sales!

Step One: Structure Your Agents’ Pre-Sale Activity

• Document Each Inquiry – Create a new Res Card at the time of receiving any new trip inquiries. This means first getting in the habit of finding out who is making the inquiry and either locating the existing profile in ClientBase or adding a new profile. Use the Res Card icon on the toolbar to quickly start a new Res Card and then enter any pertinent details about the inquiry into the free flow Agent Remarks tab.

• Use and Update Profile Data – Seamlessly toggle between the Res Card and the profile details by clicking the icon next to the “Prepared for” field. This lands you in the client profile for you to view and update Travel History, Family Member Details, Marketing Info, and General Information. When you are finished, closing the client profile will take you right back to the Res Card you were working on.

• Use Reminders to Schedule Your Follow-Up - Coordinate your next follow-up with your customer and create a Reminder to put this follow-up action on your “to-do” list.

• Work from a daily task list - Use the Activity Manager to view your daily list of open Reminders.

• Track the Sales Cycle – Continue to follow-up with the customer and work towards closing the sale and use the Sales Cycle to track the Res Card status as either “Under Consideration”, “Booked” or “Dropped from Consideration”.

Step Two: Manage Your Trip Inquiries

• Use Res Card Manager Queries to count the number of trip inquiries coming into your agency. How many trip inquiries came into your agency today, this week, this month? Use the Res Card Create Date From and To fields within the Res Card Manager Level 2 query.

• Report on these Trip Inquiries by Agent and Sales Cycle – From the results, click on Reports|Res Card Reports|Statistics|Agent Statistics to view how many trip inquires were handled by each agent and what the Sales Cycle for each is.

Step Three: Create a Sales Formula for Your Agents to Follow

• Use Batched Reminders to direct your agents and create a formula for consistent, expected follow-up on new inquiries that come into your agency. We recommend a 3, 5, 7, 14 approach. Meaning, unless otherwise directed by your client, follow-up with them 3 days after the inquiry is made, and if unable to close follow-up again 5 days after the inquiry, then 7, then 14 days after the inquiry. If you are unable to close the sale after these contacts, change the Sales Cycle to “Dropped from Consideration”. Batched Reminders can be used from the Res Card to create these 4 Reminders with one click of the button.

Step Four: Track Your Agents’ Close Ratios and Use to Train and Motivate

• Run our new Close Ratio Report. Increasing your close ratio has a huge impact on your agency’s bottom line, but the only way to deliberately impact your close ratio is by tracking it, training with it, and motivating your agents with it. Download our new ClientBase TCR called Res Card Closing Ratio Report by clicking here. Click here