ABOUT SCOTT FRANKLAND
Scott Frankland is Head of Content at Sengerio. His spirit of inquiry leads him to the world of transportation and mobility to connect with the industry’s leading experts and shine a light on the hot topics.
Maximizing Business Efficiency for Buyers and Transport Companies
Get the tools your company needs to create your transportation services.
There are many things to take into account when ensuring your business is running smoothly.
No matter how fantastic your services are, the growth of your business will always be limited by how efficiently you manage your workflow.
For this, it cannot be stressed enough the importance of streamlining the processes of service acquisition. This is particularly true when it comes to the passenger transportation industry where operators’ businesses rely on the income of customer requests.
So how can your company maximize its growth and profitability?
In this article, we’ll observe the process in which buyers and transport companies come to arrange their services and how this can be optimized to increase the overall profitability of their businesses.
The problem with optimizing the booking process
Prior to securing bookings, there is a series of back-and-forths between the buyer and transport company.
The buyer requests a quotation, the operator responds with a quotation. The buyer accepts the quotation, and the operator is assigned the booking.
In a perfect world this process seems so simple. But in reality, there are numerous complications that have to be overcome to reach a result.
For example, having delayed responses to quotations, dealing with modifications to any of the initial service details, handling the changes to a service once the quotation has been confirmed and so on.
Though these may seem banal, there is no doubt that they pose implications to how well your business is being organized.
So what is the best method to hurdle these complications?
From the traditional methods of emails and phone calls between buyer and transport company, to dedicated software for managing the quotation process, companies are faced with the same problem.
It can be incredibly difficult to manage all customer interactions and keep each activity of the booking process organized.
That’s where passenger transportation software comes in.
The solution to this problem
Passenger transportation software provides the perfect platform that centralizes the entire process of creating a quotation and turning it into a booking.
What does this mean exactly?
Sengerio eliminates this problem by providing a shared platform for both buyers and transport companies, meaning that all communication between the two parties is streamlined into one, unique system.
In other words, there’s no need for the additional email and phone calls, everything is done directly through Sengerio.
With a dedicated chat for each quotation and booking on Sengerio, buyers and transport companies remain in constant contact with each other, meaning that all the steps in the process of securing the booking are recorded, including any modifications.
Let’s take a look at how Sengerio optimizes the process of creating a quotation and turning it into a booking.
Buyer creates the quotation request
The process is initiated by a buyer creating their desired service in Sengerio. Here, a buyer can insert the relevant information of the trip, such as the number of passengers and the vehicle and trip typology.
From here, they can invite as many suppliers from their transport network to provide a quotation for this service. Once selected, the quotation request is automatically sent to the selected transport companies
One fantastic feature about this is that on the very same page, the buyer has a complete overview of the trip details and which operators have been sent the quotation. Therefore, it is clear to understand which operators are still pending to reply to the request and which have responded.
The transport company provides a quotation
Not only is there a page dedicated to quotation requests in Sengerio, transport companies can instantly select each quotation request to visualize all the travel information that the buyer had previously filled out.
From here, the operator has the choice to either provide a quote for this service, or simply ignore it.
When a transport company quotes a service, they are presented with a form similar to that the buyer had completed. Here, they can propose a price for this service that will be then be relayed back to the buyer as a quotation once it has been saved.
Sengerio also automatically generates a personalized quotation document that is to be sent to the buyer. The ability to insert the transport company’s logo, company details, and even a personalized message, means that all your documents reflect quality and professionalism.
In addition, you can even configure automated follow-ups to the quotation document. Sengerio re-sends the document, but each has their own personalized message to remind the buyer of your pending quotation.
Buyer accepts the best quote for them
Returning to the Buyer’s perspective of pending quotation requests, Sengerio updates this page to show which companies have provided a quote. The buyer can immediately see which operator has quoted which price and accept the one they think is the best with a simple click of a button. This instantly sends a confirmation request back to the operator who can either accept or refuse the booking.
Great! We are a step closer to securing a booking.
All that is left now is for the transport company to confirm the quotation and we have successfully turned a quotation request into a booking.
From the quotation process and beyond
Once the operator accepts and confirms the booking it is transferred into a unique list to manage bookings. The booking list provides the transport company with a comprehensive overview of all their services that need managing.
Within each booking, it is possible for the operator to assign all the necessary resources for the trip, such as the vehicle and driver, and be shared directly with the buyer.
But we are still faced with the problem from earlier. How does Sengerio help operators effectively manage their bookings in the midst of constant modifications?
Simple.
Thanks again to the unique platform, all the modifications made to a booking are communicated directly between both parties. Sengerio offers a quick, easy, and simplified solution to this problem, keeping in mind that all the activities are communicated directly through Sengerio’s messaging system.
In case any further information needs to be sent, it is also possible to add attachments, notes, and activities from within the booking itself.
Conclusion
In this article, we have looked at the typical process of how a passenger transport service comes to be.
Though it may seem a process that requires attention and meticulous organization, thankfully we have the tools to streamline this. There is no doubt that once an operator has established an efficient system to acquire bookings, they will find the well to their success.
Try Sengerio free for 14 days and see how it can improve improve how you manage your quotations and bookings.