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ClientBase Plus
Tips & Tricks
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Our last 2 newsletters have each featured 5 of our 17 "Best Marketing Practices" for agencies using ClientBase. This newsletter will conclude with the final 7. We've heard some really creative ways in which agencies have implemented these ideas so don't be afraid to add your personality and creativity to the ideas listed below. For example, Best Practice #11 was implemented recently by David Biltek of Travelhandlers in Grande Prairie, AB, and the creative touch he included was a package of "Forget Me Not" flower seeds. It's a small yet creative touch that helped to make the mailing a big success. Way to go David. If you would like to share any of your best practices, please e-mail me at sharon@trams.com. Happy marketing!
 Best Practice #11:
Send letters to customers who haven't booked with you in awhile. Acknowledge that you miss their business.
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If you have TRAMS Back Office, you can easily find customers that haven't booked with you recently by doing a Level 3 Query. First set the Profile Type to Leisure or Corporate, then click the Travel History tab and use the Invoice Issue Date From/To fields as your filter.
- If you want clients that haven't booked with you in the last 2 years, then set your Search Operator to "Exclude" and enter =0,0,-2 in the From and =0,0,0 in the To. The last digit in date formula entered in the From field reflects the number of years back that you want to search.
- From the results, click on Merge to Letter and select a letter that you have customized from Global Defaults|Document Templates.
Best Practice #12:
Use AiPlus e-Postcards to step into e-mail marketing.
- Looking to take a baby step into e-mail marketing? AiPlus e-Postcards is a great place to begin. They do have a small annual subscription fee (less than $100) but provide you with a large variety of colorful, thematic, HTML postcards that you can easily personalize and blast from ClientBase.
- To take a look at what AiPlus has to offer, click the Internet Manager in ClientBase and then click the AiPlus link. On the login page, enter Kenj in the User Name and trams1 in the Password. (Don't send any actual e-mails using this login as the TRAMS information appears at the bottom of each postcard.)
- AiPlus has postcards targeted towards Leisure travelers, Corporate travelers, specific destinations or special occasions. Just pick a post card and the target audience you want to send it to and take the following steps.
- Using ClientBase Plus, create a Document Template including the merge fields you would like to include on the postcard and a very brief message (remember it's a postcard). Copy the body of the template to your clipboard (Ctrl C) and then navigate to your Internet Manager.
- From the Internet Manager log into AiPlus and select the desired postcard. Paste your message into the body (Ctrl V) and then click on Display Message to get a clean view of the postcard.
- Click on the Profile Manager and query the desired profiles you would like to send the postcard to.
- Click on Merge to E-mail, set the Mode to Raw HTML and click the button "Copy from Manager". All of the AiPlus HTML will be copied. Click the Preview button to verify how it will appear when sent and after entering a Subject and verifying your SMTP Settings, click Send All.
Best Practice #13:
Sign up with TMA for free e-mail marketing opportunities with the Vendors that are your preferred.
- Want to send out professional HTML promotions to your clients quickly and easily? Need more marketing content?
- TMA - Travel Marketing Associates provides turnkey HTML promotional content and support free to ClientBase users.
- Such vendors as Seabourn, Carnival, Trafalgar, Funjet and many more work with TMA to provide content and training enabling ClientBase agencies to send personalized and professional promotions to clients.
- TMA folks are professional marketing people that can also create individual marketing pieces for agencies at very reasonable prices.
- Click on E-mail Marketing with TMA in your Internet Manager for more information.
Best Practice #14:
Collect special interest articles from travel publications and send to targeted audiences.
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Use the Sunday travel section of your local newspaper, or travel magazines such as Conde Nast Traveler, or the Internet to find unique travel articles targeted to niche markets.
- Query your database using the Level 2 Query and your Marketing Codes by Interest or Destination.
- Photocopy the article and attach a brief note.
- Use Merge to Label from the results of your query to print out labels.
Best Practice #15:
Before going on a fam trip run a list of clients that are interested in that destination and send them a post card while you are there.
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Nothing like a postcard from an exotic location to get you in the mood to travel.
- Next time you or an agent go on a fam trip, use the Level 2 Query to query for all clients who have an interest in the destination you are going to. For example, you or one of your agents is going to the Galapagos Islands. Query for all clients interested in the Galapagos Islands or Ecuador or South America depending on how you have your Marketing Codes setup.
- From the results, click Columns and arrange your columns so that the name, full address fields and salutation field is included.
- Now that the necessary information is appearing in your query results, print a listing by going to Reports|Profile|Current Query Results.
- If you have too many results to hand write the postcard addresses, use Merge to Label to print out labels.
Best Practice #16:
Send out Passport renewal reminders.
- Only true travel professionals take their role as travel advisors seriously enough to send out Passport renewal reminders.
- First, go to Global Defaults|Document Templates to load and customize the default Passport Expiration Letter.
- Next, use the Level 2 Query and click on the Family/Employee tab to enter your Passport Expiration Date From and To fields. Since these types of letters can probably be done on a quarterly basis, enter the upcoming 3-month time frame and click OK.
- From the results, click on Merge to E-mail if you would like to e-mail the letter (Document Templates is one of the E-mail Modes) or click on Merge to Letter if you would like to print and mail the letter.
Best Practice #17: Track how many new Trip Inquiries came into your agency in a given day, week or month. Make sure proper follow-up is in place to close the sale.
- If your agency has completed the QuickStart Training program, then your agents have already been trained to create a new Res Card with each new leisure trip inquiry.
- This habit makes it possible for you to see how many trip inquiries came into your agency in a given day, week or month, a good indication on how well your marketing is doing. It also gives you the opportunity to see the current Reservation Cycle and statistics for closing percentages.
- From your Res Card Manager, click on the Level 2 Query tab, then click on Filter. Use the Res Card Create Date to query your new Res Cards. Use the following date formulas:
From =-1,0,0 To =-1,0,0 (Gives you yesterday?s inquiries)
From = -7,0,0 To = (Gives you inquiries for the last week)
From =-30,0,0 To = (Gives you inquiries for the last month)
- From your Query results, use your File|Save Query As feature to create a default folder for the desired filters above.
- From your Query results, click on Reports/Res Card Reports then Reservation Cycle Report to get statistics on the Reservation Cycles for the current query.
- From your Query results, click on the Columns button and add RESCARD.Res Cycle to the "Fields in Columns" and then click the Sort By Columns tab sort on this field.
- Retrieve each Res Card that has not yet been booked and verify that the agent has a Reminder scheduled for future follow-up. If not, create one for her/him and set an Alarm so she/he is sure to see it.
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