1981 was the year. It was just three vans, two visionaries, and one big dream for the future. This may seem like a great start to any success story. But this is a different one. Lomas Travel was not founded by investors or industry disruptions. The founders of the company knew that there was more at stake. They had to impress customers if they wanted to succeed.
Lomas Travel is Mexico’s shining example of how extraordinary customer experiences can lead to startup is successful. Lomas Travel is a leader in Mexico’s tourism sector and has grown to be one of the largest costamar travel companies in the country.
Each year, more than 1,000 tourism specialists care for over one million tourists. They plan and coordinate destination weddings, organize activities, manage transportation, and even plan trips. Although transfers and excursions make up the majority of Lomas Travel’s business, it doesn’t stop there. Its portfolio includes all-inclusive resorts as well as popular amusement parks, a marina with activities, and a new waterpark. Outstanding customer relationships fuel all of these properties.
One problem was faced by the company. Every time the company reached another milestone, its customer base would grow. Again. Lomas Travel, despite all its advancements and innovations, was desperate for a way of connecting, communicating, and managing the customer experience.
We Created a Monster Lomas Travel
Lomas Travel has relied on local solutions for decades to manage its customer experience and guide its expanding network of agents.
Manuel Lamadrid, Corporate Director, stated that “we used to have everything on different Excel sheets.” They were excellent Excel sheets, but you only have so many things that can be done with spreadsheets. It was quite a bit of work to do this.
The technology that the company had was scattered across different departments and there was no way to unify or integrate them. Each department had their own method of doing things. Each system was unique and could not be “talked” to each other. Employees couldn’t get a 360-degree view on customers and their needs.
Lamadrid stated, “We created Frankenstein by hiring one company after another until we had a monster in our hands.” It became extremely confusing.
Although the company had achieved so much, there were still many goals. Technology was the only obstacle. The one obstacle was technology. Agents did not have a good understanding of commercial activities league, could not launch campaigns automatically, and didn’t have the visibility necessary to be effective.
It was clear that it was time for a change
- Time for a change
- Lomas Travel was determined to find a better solution. Decision makers were able to see exactly what they wanted.
- They wanted a solution that offered a lot flexibility.
- They had to deploy the platform “really quickly”–faster that the average platform.
- They had to be able to connect with many systems, including the mission-critical ERP.
They needed to gather a lot information: on customers, opportunities, and how they all work together as agents towards achieving their goals. Although there were many options, such as Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce, Sugar was the best option.
In a matter of months, a core team of sales and promotion professionals relied on Sugar to measure outreach through a specialized Module. This number grew quickly to include more than 100 members of the sales and marketing teams from a variety of service areas.
Configurations for the Rescue
Lomas Travel made Sugar easy to use so that the business and its employees can keep up with current trends.
Sugar seamlessly integrates with the ERP company, so specialists can see agent sporting activities. Lamadrid can identify which opportunities turn into sales and help his team replicate these successes throughout the company.
Lomas Travel is able to adapt its system to suit its needs, which is especially important when dealing with high-value clients and groups. The company needed a way of measuring the effectiveness and communication between customers in an industry that relies on one-to-one communication. It was as simple as adding a few configurations and modules to get full visibility into the impact of meeting held by agents around the globe. Executives can easily see which opportunities are turning into sales and what is working.
Lamadrid stated that sugar has helped them overcome their biggest problems. We must keep our sales up and not waste the opportunity that is available to us as a tourist company.