Increasing sales is among the first ways many business owners try to boost profits. However, that can be a long-term strategy requiring significant marketing and pre-sales costs.
Revenue management systems (RMS) are automated tools that help companies refine their pricing strategies to increase profitability. Industries such as hotels, airlines, and car rental agencies often rely on these systems.
Pricing
A revenue management system allows businesses to vary pricing (and other sales terms) to maximize the revenue generated from their underlying inventory/supply. Hotel rooms, golf courses, airlines, and car rental agencies are typical examples of industries that use a sophisticated revenue management process to optimize prices and other sales terms. Revenue management tools include demand forecasting and automated pricing strategies. These features enable businesses to hone in on customer demands and respond quickly and efficiently with pricing, inventory, and other marketing tactics. Accurate forecasting also enables businesses to make operational changes that increase occupancy rates, boosting profits. When choosing a revenue management system, look for a solution with integration capabilities that seamlessly link to other critical business software solutions. This unified approach streamlines data entry and reduces the likelihood of errors. A robust dashboard that provides detailed, visualized data is another critical feature. For example, a dashboard that highlights RevPAR (revenue per available room or space) trends can provide valuable insight into booking patterns and how marketing efforts are performing. Finally, consider your budget when implementing a revenue management system. A robust solution with bells and whistles may only be practical for your business if you utilize the premium capabilities.
Inventory
Inventory is all the items, goods, merchandise, and materials a company has to sell to earn a profit. This means everything from the products on shelves to spare parts in warehouses for retail. For manufacturers, it includes the raw materials used in production and work-in-process on the factory floor. The cost of maintaining inventory is significant, from buying to storing it. It also includes the interest expense a company pays on any inventory-related debt, which draws directly from a business’s cash supply and, therefore, inhibits growth. Reducing inventory levels is complex, but the potential savings are enormous. Whether a business is a small retail store, an e-commerce site, or a large hotel chain with multiple locations, the amount of inventory that can be reduced dramatically increases profitability. As a bonus, improved inventory management reduces waste and allows businesses to use more reliable forecasting to create and execute a revenue-maximizing strategy. For example, detailed forecasts can provide information on the number of customers likely to consider each product or service, and this can allow a company to plan to deliver a certain level of sales or volume each day while maintaining or increasing revenue. The system will also help a business understand supplier lead times so that the company can take a more regular approach to order to avoid stockouts and stale inventory.
Marketing
Although it may seem counterintuitive, a revenue management system is more than just optimizing pricing. It also involves optimizing marketing and customer retention metrics. These KPIs are essential to the growth and success of your business. For example, you should keep your customer lifetime value (CLTV) high and on the rise. This can be done by providing better customer service, offering add-ons, and increasing the number of repeat customers. You must align your product availability, price, and placement to your ideal customer profile (ICP). An excellent way to do this is by using demand forecasting results to optimize your distribution strategy across all channels. This includes online travel agencies (OTAs), bed banks, and metasearch engines. Ultimately, you’ll need to decide how much profit each channel is worth for your business. Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment. While making intelligent decisions is essential, testing different ideas is equally important. After all, information has value, and the cost of a failed experiment is almost always less than that of not learning anything.
A revenue management system can significantly boost your profits and free up time for employees to focus on more strategic tasks. It’s necessary for any hospitality business that wants to stay competitive in today’s market.
Customer Service
Whether you sell professional services, tangible products, or a software or technology solution, revenue management tools can help you track and monitor your revenue streams and prevent leakage. They can also make it easier to centralize your revenue calculations and reduce period-end closes. With detailed forecasts of demand and customer behavior, you can determine the optimal response for your business. Many top tools offer built-in optimization algorithms for maximizing revenue. However, bells and whistles are only meaningful with a strategy. If your team works best with a simple solution, avoid paying for premium capabilities you won’t use.
One of the most critical aspects of successful revenue management is ensuring that your customers stick around. Retaining existing customers costs much less than acquiring new ones, and it’s essential to ensure that your revenue operations team is optimizing your customer retention metrics. An excellent way to measure this is by tracking customer lifetime value and churn rate. This metric can be tracked weekly, monthly, or even yearly. Many revenue management systems now support cloud technology for easy data storage and software updates.
