TRAMS Gears Up For TMU

Save this date on your calendars for TMU (TRAMS Marketing and Technology University), April 17-19, 2007 at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The theme this year is Let’s Get it Started! and we’ll be offering many new classes including Sales and Marketing "how-to" seminars and numerous new advanced class options—keep checking our website for all the latest TMU details.

Summer Camp was held in August at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass in Phoenix with over 400 in attendance. Class handouts and photos are available on the TRAMS website.

TRAMS Welcomes Six New Employees

Jason Jackson is the newest member of our TMA operations. Before starting with TRAMS, he spent 3 years in Osaka, Japan where he studied the Japanese language and taught high school English.

Rebecca Darter, TRAMS Support Representative, comes to us from Champaign, IL with a degree in International Studies. She was introduced to TRAMS software while working in a travel agency and uses her experience on the ClientBase support desk and in the Quality Assurance department testing software. Her interests include traveling, shopping and spending time at the beach.

Evelyn Moreno, Conference and Training Coordinator, has over 3 years experience in customer service. She enjoys reading and going to the beach in her spare time.

Julio Martinez joins Trams as the new Shipping Coordinator and is new to the office experience. He enjoys drawing, playing music, and is also a big sports fan.

Emmanuelle Marcelin joins our Support Desk with a background in Graphic Design. Her job history includes catering for Universal Studios and working for NASCAR. She is an avid reader and enjoys brainteasers, videogames, and anime (Japanese animation).

Dave Goodyear is TRAMS’s new IT and Hardware Manager. He comes to us with 20 years experience in the IT arena and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, and Certified Cisco Network Administrator. A recent transplant from Las Vegas, Dave has worked with several large organizations including Mikohn Gaming and Clear Channel Communications.

Welcome everyone! We Wish You Much Success.

This graph shows where an agency made its income just 10 years ago. Income was predominately air commission-based, plus much of other income was “French fries with that hamburger,” and really an extension of the air booking.

As an industry we had these income sources for good reason. Up to 1996, every year air commissions paid to agencies through ARC had risen until they peaked in 1996 at $640 million dollars! As an industry, we identified an opportunity and pursued that opportunity adopting the systems needed to be successful.

Of course, those systems were GDS tools. These GDS tools were (and are) great airline commission processing tools. Agents become very proficient with these systems and the ability to generate and process airline related transactions. In fact, back in 1996 we had a single input world – whatever an agent did went through the GDS and from there to the agency’s processing systems.

Data was also treated differently in 1996. Basically we “processed” things. We got very good at processing ARC reports, transactions, agent payables, etc., as back then the focus was on processing to get the data in, process it, and be done with it. Having invoices pointing to sales reps (rather than the client) and passive segments with very limited information were fine -- they supported our processing culture.

But as you know, our world has changed since 1996.

This graph shows where the average leisure agency makes its income from today. 71% is cruise/tour, and air has shifted from the vast majority, to well under 10% of total income (and for many agencies is 0% of income.)

The change - in my opinion – is the result of not just one, but two influences. The first is with the drop of airline commission through ARC to zero, in just 5 years we had to change. But the other is the fact that today there is $48.3 BILLION off-line leisure spend in North America. These are the folks that with all the options and information out there, need the service of a professional travel agent more so then ever – and are more than willing to pay for it!

Of course the systems changed from the airline commission dependent days where our systems were processing-based. Today travel consumers want us to know their likes and dislikes, to know them and earn their trust, to know where they want to go, when they want to go, and what they want to do. Even basic things like what to call them, where to call them, and when to call them are important in this CRM world where our relationships with clients and the ability to influence their travel purchase are the keys to our success.

Today, data comes from a myriad of sources: web sites, business cards, prior travel, extranets, multiple web-based shopping and reservation sites – in fact from an unlimited number of sources.

Change, But Relatively Minor

The funny thing in this new world is that there really is no change in what agents do, only a simple change in the system that they do it in.

In the past when an agent talked with a client about a specific trip they would grab a note pad and take notes, “interested in Hawaii, traveling with kids Haley, Nikki and Tyler; anniversary is March 3, want resort, two adjoining rooms…. Sent to site www……

Then folks typically would use the “yellow sticky pad” reminder system and note to call them back Friday to follow through.

In today’s new world, it is basically the same job and information flowing, just a change in the system. Nowadays that same agent, rather than grabbing a pad of paper, would click in ClientBase and identify the client. Next with two clicks they would start an electronic reservation card where they would type the same notes.

At conclusion, this “new world” agent would create a reminder in their contact manager to follow through Friday and if they were really good, may even take a second to update the client profile with kids names and ages, destination preference of Hawaii, anniversary date, and other information gleaned during the conversation.

By using today’s CRM system, the agent is doing no additional work, just doing it better in a new system. And with this new system, the agency now can track things like inquiries, inquiries by date, agent, promotion, etc. They can run reports on close ratios by agent, promotion, destination, supplier, etc. And marketing information is created for future marketing and sales – giving the agency the ability to develop a long term relationship as the travel arranger for this client.

Expectations

We teach agents to not necessarily track close ratios by promotions, but rather by campaign and client. We regularly see agencies’ close ratios defined as a client buying one or more trips of over $1,000 over a 12 month time period – of well over 60%. This creates a value for which the suppliers are more than willing to pay for. 60% close ratios come only after establishing relationships with our clients and having the systems in place to leverage those relationships.

It is fun being on the cutting edge with technology as agents migrate to new CRM based systems. If we at TRAMS can be of help in any way, please let us know.

Thanks for reading.
-Lee

Technology has dramatically changed and improved the marketing that agencies can now do for their clients.

In the old days, agents would get boxes of postcards or brochures and send them out to clients. Agents would not know which client got what when, and reporting was basically responding to inquiries. Suppliers tracked productivity or volume by the specific agencies that participated in various promotions.

The next step in agency marketing was – and is for some agencies – the consolidation of data to ease the preparation for sending, but the reporting has remained the same. Agents still do not know who got what when, and reporting is exclusively gathered by suppliers providing summary production per agency over various periods of time.

Travel Agency Marketing Today

Nowadays travel agency marketing programs are accomplished on a completely different and new system. Technology has made marketing for travel agencies dramatically better.

First a copy of each agency’s marketing database is uploaded to a central location – called “Databases Central.” And with today’s technology each of those databases is synchronized or updated daily – if not more frequently. All this, with only a one time, easy agency setup.

With this two way synchronization or updating, two levels of reporting are available that were only dreamed of before:

First, the agencies records of who got what promotion when are updated regularly so agents can actually see what promotions were sent to whom. These same agents while talking to a client, not only see what a client received, but use the data to reach out to clients to help close more sales.

Secondly, because data on follow through, reservations, and actual invoices is updated regularly, the central marketing has the ability to actually see results at a per client basis. Is a promotion working? What campaign close ratios are we seeing (and we see them regularly in the 60% plus over a year’s period)? In other words, complete reporting on what clients actual did, based upon what promotions they received are available for the first time.

Your Data is Protected

Of course, the actual detail data is completely and exclusively yours – the agency’s – using the now available reporting data the best marketing can be created managed and analyzed, thus providing the suppliers the best option for marketing and earning revenues for participating agencies.

Consortia Programs

TMA manages several leading supplier marketing programs. Also, the leading consortia are implementing their version of Databases Central and bringing this new level of marketing to their members. Let us know if you would like specific details on your consortium.

Thanks for reading. It is fun being a part of cutting edge technology helping agencies do the best possible marketing. The results are very gratifying.

-Lee

Implementation Program for TRAMS Marketing Advantage (TMA)

Once you have made the commitment to market with TRAMS Marketing Advantage (TMA), you are assigned a marketing manager to help you integrate email marketing into your marketing plan. Your marketing manager will train you on the suppliers and promotions available and help you find the best way to work with TMA. They'll review your list/database and targets with you to match the right promotions with the right clients and step you through the start-up process. For more information, contact us at email@trams.com.

Implementation Program for ClientBase and TRAMS Back Office

Just signed up for ClientBase and/or TRAMS Back Office and you are not sure where to start? When you subscribe to a new TRAMS program, an implementation program is automatically initiated. First, a wealth of materials is sent to you in your start-up kit, including outlines that clearly map out the order in which to implement your brand new program. Shortly after you receive this kit, the TRAMS Implementation Team will contact you to assist you with installation, training, setup, and answer any questions you may have. For more information, e-mail training@trams.com.

The TRAMS Platinum Partner Program is one where TRAMS Inc. partners with third party companies that have products and services that work with, and complement, our TRAMS Back Office and ClientBase products. These companies have products and services used by a number of our customers who have provided us with good, positive feedback. Our customers are both happy with the product and service, and have had good experiences working with these companies.

From time to time, we will alert you to changes in existing Platinum Partner products and new Platinum Partner additions. The following are some of the recent changes and additions.

1. Pinnacle Payment Solutions has recently added capability to their CC Merchant Processing for the processing the UATP credit card. (Requires TBO 2.09.03.) If you need to process UATP cards, you would just need to add UATP as a new card type, under Utilities|Setup|CC Processors. The UATP CC Merchant Payment it created the same as any other CC you are going to process. When going to the CC Merchant Reconciliation Screen, select only UATP as the Included Card, and process those transactions as long as the processor you select is Pinnacle. Both charges and refunds may be processed.

For more information on Pinnacle Payment Solutions and processing rates for the UATP card, contact Pinnacle at:
Phone: 877.267.0099
E-mail: info@pinnaclepayment.com
Web Site: www.pinnaclepayment.com

2. Cardservice International (CSI)
Cardservice International (CSI) is a new CC Merchant Processor addition to the Platinum Partners list. CSI offers an automated CC Merchant payment solution through TRAMS Back Office for all major credit cards. (Requires TBO 2.09.03.) CSI has remained at the forefront of the merchant processing industry – processing more than $12 billion in annual credit card volume and more than 125 million transactions annually. CSI provides flexible, robust and secure products and services that enable merchants to accept nearly all types of electronic payments.

To learn more about opening a merchant processing account with Cardservice International today, please call 800-617-5009 to speak with the CSI – TRAMS Partnership Sales Representative, or go on-line at www.travelpayments.com. General Information on Cardservice International may be found at www.cardservice.com.

3. rePORTAL
rePORTAL is a new Platinum Partner Listing for web distribution of Crystal Reports. This cost-effective web distribution solution for Crystal Reports is a complete web portal that allows you to easily publish and manage your Crystal Reports without the high cost or subscription requirements associated with similar solutions. Using rePORTAL, you can now offer real-time information to all your employees, agents and clients on a self-serve basis. Log in at any time of the day or night, from anywhere, and generate real-time reports to your browser.

To learn more about rePORTAL, or to schedule a web demo, please visit them or contact them at:
Shahrabani + Associates, LLC
Tel: 925-377-6107
General Information: info@shahrabani.com

Cyndi Steele has been supporting our customers for the past 11 years on all the TRAMS products and offers the following helpful suggestions for TRAMS Back Office:

Reconciling NPC or ARC
Reconcile to the figures that ARC or NPC has, since this is what you are being paid. You can always call them if you think they've made a mistake.

Data Entry
Pull-down menus: Remember you can right-click to invert or select all items in a pull down.

Jeremiah Sellars supervises our ClientBase Support Staff and has the following suggestions when you are using our ClientBase software.

Saving Changes to a Query
Saving changes to a query, like column rearrangement or sorting, is very easy. Just run the query, make your changes, then right-click the folder icon for that query and choose “Replace Query with Active Query.”

Querying in Marketing Categories
Querying in Marketing Categories can be tricky, so remember the following:

1. Codes queried in the same Category will be considered as OR. Example: If I query my Interests Category for Biking and Skiing, I’ll get people who have Biking or Skiing or both of them checked.

2. Codes query in different Categories are consider AND. Example: If I query for Interests for Skiing and Destinations for Alaska, I’ll only see people who have both items checked.

Sandy Cameron, a ten-year veteran of our Support Staff, brings the article for this newsletter to you. Her knowledge of TRAMS and accounting quickly made her a valuable member of our staff as our accounting specialist. Armed with an upbeat approach to life and a winning personality, she is liked and respected by staff and customers alike. Sandy's personal motto, "Just put one foot in front of the other and you'll get where you want to go," serves her well in sorting out many accounting challenges.

We trust you will find these suggestions for year-end helpful.

Year End Closing by Sandy Cameron, CTC

So, it’s time to balance and close the year-end. Not to worry - you’re a TRAMS Back Office subscriber! The simplicity of closing and balancing the year is directly related to how current and accurate you are in balancing your month end. If you have been balancing every month up to the end of the year, then you are almost done.

The following is a list of the TRAMS functions that need to be finished before you hand over complete information to your outside accountant to easily complete your tax return.

• Reconcile all ARC/BSP reports using the ARC/BSP settlement function, listed under the Payments menu.
• Reconcile all bank accounts to the bank statements, using the bank reconciliation function listed under the Payments menu.
• Create the End of Period journal entry listed under GENERAL LEDGER/END OF PERIOD, up to the last day of your fiscal year. Run the four core reports or the management summary listed under REPORTS/CORE up to the last day of the year. Compare the ending balances on these reports to the TRIAL BALANCE as of the same day. Make sure that the amounts that appear on the four core reports agree with the trial balance figure for the same accounts (i.e., Client Balances should agree with account # 1100.) If this is in order, then you are ready for the accountant.

The following is a list of reports and information that you want to give to your accountant.

• Print the Trial Balance as of the last day of your fiscal year.
• Print the Check Register for the last month of the fiscal year, with the reconciliation set to ALL.
• Print remaining Core Reports (Client Balances, Vendor Balances, ARC/BSP balances) for the end of the year so your accountant can see that your detail proves your general ledger figures for these accounts.
• Print a list of expenses that you have set up to be paid in the New Year if you are using the operating payable function.
  
  Select REPORTS/PAYMENTS/OPERATING PAYABLE. Select a Date Entered using a date range for when these payables were created. Select a Date Payable using a date range for when these items should be paid and select Payable Status. This will give you Status as PAID and TO BE PAID. This will give you the list of payables that have already been paid in the new period, are still open to be paid in the new period and should agree with your operating payable account listed on your Trial Balance. If you are not using the payable function, then a manual list of expenses incurred in the current year that will not be paid until the following year will suffice. (i.e., Credit Card charges, Telephone etc.)
  
  
• Enter your accountant’s adjusting journal entries. You are now in the final steps. Your accountant may give you a few year-end adjusting journal entries. These usually include an adjustment for depreciation on fixed assets, such as furniture and fixtures and they may also want to record certain expenses differently in order to maximize your tax credit. To enter your accountant’s adjusting journal entries, select GENERAL LEDGER/JOURNAL ENTRY. Enter the activity date as the last day of your fiscal year and remark it as year-end adjustments per your accountant. Please pay attention to Core Report accounts. If you were in balance when you gave your accountant your figures, there should be no reason to enter adjusting journal entries that effect Bank Accounts, Client Balances, Vendor Balances or ARC/BSP Balances.
• Post to the last day of the year. Select GENERAL LEDGER/POSTING and enter the last day of the year. This locks in your final figures and is necessary for TRAMS to perform the year-end function. Select GENERAL LEDGER/YEAR END and enter the year-end date. When the journal entry appears click OKAY.
• Print a year-end Balance Sheet, by going to REPORTS/GENERAL LEDGER/BALANCE SHEET using the last day of the year and file this with your year-end reports.

Congratulations…you have done it!

Value Feature # 1:
Do you have more then one custom query to run on any of the main query screens? The 2.09 version now allows for multiple saved queries under the Default button. After creating a new query, name it, and then select it from the new Default drop field under the Default button. Now you can run queries again and again on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and not have to re-enter all the query data each time. This is a big time saver.

Value Feature # 2:
A Markup or Discount is not always a fixed amount, but may be based on a rate. In the past, you calculated what that rate would be as an amount and then enter the amount into the Markup/Discount field on the Expanded Fare tab of the booking screen. Now there is a new Rate (%) field where a Markup or Discount can be entered as a percentage. Though the Markup/Discount Rate is not saved after the booking is saved, the field is an aid to calculating a markup or discount when a rate is known but not the amount.

Value Feature # 3:
For those of you using TACS – Perot Systems for receiving payment for your hotel bookings, those bookings can now be reconciled in TBO by selecting a new TACS – Perot Systems options under Payments - Pegasus/NPC. The reconciliation works in a similar fashion to the NPC or Pegasus reconciliation.

Value Feature # 4:
For those of you using the Z-Pay (PayWindow) payroll import under Payments|Payroll Import, we now allow for an ‘ACH’ Direct Deposit payroll payment using this product. For more information on this full featured, cost effective software, check them out on our Platinum Partners page.

Value Feature # 5:
A Global Modify button has been added to the Agent Reconciliation Screen. Now you have the ability to globally modify an agent’s Commission Rate Percentage % or amount to all bookings or bookings selected by travel type in the query screen. This globally applied percentage could be used by agencies that want to pay agents a base salary plus a commission bonus based on exceeding an identified commission 'threshold'.

The Total Commission field is used as an aid to easily see whether an agent has exceeded the threshold, and then a calculated percentage is used for the global modify of the agent commission rate, without running an additional report. For specifics on doing this simple calculation see Help – Agent Reconciliation.

Value Feature # 6:
A booking can quickly be voided via a right-click option from the Create New Payment screen. Highlight any ARC/BSP, Supplier or Comm Track Booking, then right-click and select Void Booking. Void a booking without having to use the Edit Invoice button. This enhancement saves over 4 key strokes/mouse clicks over using the Edit button.

Value Feature # 7:
Do you have slush or wash accounts where you have items going in and out all the time and you just need to know what items are not yet offset or OPEN? Check out the new GL Account Reconciliation option under General Ledger. Now for any GL account (liability, asset, etc.), you can flag it as an open item account. You have the ability to query GL transactions using the flags of OPEN, CLOSED, or ALL. This is like only looking at cleared or uncleared in your bank account reconciliation, only now you can do it for any GL account. Simply toggle closed any corresponding debit & credit items that are deemed matches and clear them from the screen. Makes it a lot easier to track monies received and paid out from these ‘in’ & ‘out’ accounts.

Value Feature # 8:
Sort options for Total Commission and Total Commission by Client Type have been added to the Client Activity report. Now you can focus more on a client's commission yield than total sales, and can readily rank your clients by dollars to the agency rather than dollars from the client.

Value Feature # 9:
You can now add a description to the UDID’s you use. Under Utilities|Setup|UDID's, a Description field has been added that allows you to change the UDID 1-99 dropdown items to more meaningful and descriptive terms. A UDID #5 could be changed to Purchase Order, for example. The UDID drop-down fields then display the changed new description of Purchase Order instead of the previous UDID #5.

Value Feature # 10:
Added conditional operators (Is Equal To, In, etc) to the group fields on the Report Generator Report Selection Criteria screen. To be able to run Report Generator Reports for multiple groups, just select the conditional operator of “In” for the type group the report is for, and either hand enter group names separated by commas, or create a multiple group drop down in Utilities|Groups where the individual groups are separated by commas.

Creating and implementing a marketing strategy is critical to success in today's changing retail travel environment. Gone are the days where an agency can passively rely on the business that just happens to walk in the door. If you are, you may find yourself busy, but are you as profitable as you would like? Are you enjoying your business as much as you would like? The truly successful agencies today are actively driving in the type of business they want to sell, with the Vendors they want to sell, to the customers they want to sell to. Accomplishing this is not as difficult as it may sound. It simply takes a basic strategy and a commitment to investing some time each week working “on” your business not just “in” the business.

To create a well balanced marketing strategy, we recommend you consider the 3 core entities involved and develop a plan around each.

• Develop a Vendor-Driven Marketing Strategy – Preferred Supplier Marketing (Identify the right products then match them to the right customers.)

Identify and focus on your key preferred vendors. Start with a handful of select vendors and work with them, your consortia and other marketing partners (such as TMA and Passport On-line) to obtain a continuous flow of marketing materials that can be used for driving in more of that business. Don’t water down the impact of these marketing efforts by mass marketing. For each and every promotional piece, identify the target audience and filter your database accordingly. With ClientBase, it’s easy to filter your list based on future travel preferences (Marketing Info) and past purchases (Travel History). Use these filters to put just the right products in front of just the right clients.

• Develop a Client-Driven Marketing Strategy – Sweet Spot Marketing (Identify the right customers then match them to the right products.)

With every new trip inquiry and every welcome home call, your agents should be capturing what they learn about their clients’ likes and dislikes within the Marketing Information tab. This will not only help them with future trip inquiries, but will help you drive those clients in the door time and time again by stimulating their travel interest based on your unique understanding of them. Use the Marketing Code Statistics report (Reports|Profile|Statistics|Marketing Code Stats) to easily identify niches within your customer base. Now, anticipate your clients’ travel needs. Use their preferences and past purchasing behavior to create personalized offers that stimulate travel purchases. Create some generic HTML templates (or hire someone to create a few for you) that can be easily customized with different promotional content. Then go have some fun and send some ski promotions to the skiers in your database, send some spring break deals to your families with school age children, send some romantic getaways to the newlyweds you recently sent on a honeymoon.

• Develop an Agency-Driven Marketing Strategy – Agency/Brand Marketing (Heighten your presence and develop a high touch client strategy.)

Repeat customers are created by developing trust and a relationship. In today’s world customers can get virtually anything, from anyone for any price. Your only real advantage is the quality of the relationship you have with your customers. Don’t expect your customers to do all the work. Any relationship involves an investment by both parties. Your investment is a commitment to communicate regularly with your customers and actively remind them how important they are to you. It’s easy to do with ClientBase and the Document Templates that can be printed or e-mailed. Use some of the ideas below to mine your database for relationship building opportunities. The objective with this type of marketing is not to promote specific travel opportunities but to bond with your customers.

• Send Welcome to the Agency letters to new customers
• Send Thank You for Your Booking letters to those who just booked travel
• Send Welcome Home letters
• Send Trip Anniversary letters
• Send Referral Thank You letters to those who refer business to you
• Celebrate Birthdays, Anniversaries and other Special Dates

If you are interested in learning more about developing an effective marketing strategy, come join me on November 3, 2006 in Los Angeles, and spend the day exploring these topics further. For more information click here.