31 Jan Providing the Best Tours for Your Customers
Providing great experiences for people on vacation is something that tour operators love to do. Tour guides in Tallahassee have so many great destinations! Whether you’re traveling to see a nature reserve, exploring an area’s culinary offerings, or taking the scenic route through a national park, it’s fun to watch people enjoy new experiences and create lasting memories. As you do your best to make their tour something they’ll never forget, you hope that they will share their experience with others and bring you more business.
Because customers talk, every aspect of your tour must be geared to their enjoyment. You want them to feel valued and appreciated, and you want to develop a camaraderie with them that will make them comfortable. If they love you, they will likely tell all their friends—in person and on social media as they share pictures of their trip. The opposite is also true: if they have a bad experience, everyone and their dog will hear about it.
Knowing that, the real question might be: What can I do to enhance the customer’s experience so that they walk away happy every time and get more business as they share their experience with family and friends? While you can undoubtedly advertise your business via Facebook or Instagram, here are some ways that you can specifically focus on making your customers have the best possible trip. After all, they’re your best advertising tactic.
First, don’t offer the same tour every year. Of course, you’re likely to have at least one or two tours that are popular and are typically sold out months in advance. If that’s the case, keep doing those tours that are well-loved. However, switch it up aside from those tours that everyone talks about. If customers go on a touring experience with you and love it, they’re going to want to come back. Focus on developing new tours for returning customers who offer the trademark service, comfort, and fun they associate with traveling with you. You’ll likely have them coming back each succeeding year.
Offer an incentive to those who are willing to give you feedback. They are the reason that you have a livelihood, so don’t fail to tap into how they feel about their experience with you. Maybe this is as simple as buying drinks for an evening and finding out what their favorite parts of the tour have been and what they would have liked to see more of. Maybe it’s an online survey with complimentary dinner tickets for them if they’ll take the time to fill it out. Perhaps you want to offer a gift that’s specific to your business, and that’s fine, too. Whatever you do, make sure that it’s something your customers will appreciate. Make it worth their time.
Bundle. As you do business over the years, you build connections and forge friendships with other local business owners who are also trying to find ways to increase their business and encourage positive feedback from their customers. People always love to save money, and if all of you are working with the same people, why not combine to offer great deals and discounts that they can enjoy throughout their stay in your local area? Maybe you offer a deal at the steakhouse for dinner, a two-for-one special on an evening activity, or time at the spa. Maybe you pool your business with a local charter bus company and offer a great group rate on the motorcoach that is used for the tour. If everyone pitches in to offer amazing deals that will enhance the customer’s experience, everyone will also benefit from more business.
Focus on what they enjoy. When you’re first beginning a touring business, you won’t know what people consistently love. But, as time goes on, you’ll start to see common threads—the parts of the tour that are always the guests’ favorite. Once you start to notice these consistencies, tweak your tour to include more and more of those types of experiences. The more that you can offer things they love, the more they’ll rave about their time with you.
Lastly, take time for the simple things. In today’s world, it often feels as though everything is rushed. People notice when others have taken time to focus on simple things. Arrange for fresh flowers, fruit, and chocolate to be in your guests’ rooms when they arrive. Offer complimentary drinks or dinner at a local hotspot to be used during the trip. Write a thank-you note. Take time to have conversations with each of your guests to build a personal rapport with them. Go the extra mile to show you care. Learn their names. Buy everyone ice cream in the middle of a full day of sightseeing.
In today’s world, you can always use social media and the Internet to further your business, but nothing can replace the personal experience people have with you when they go on a tour and you spend a few days together. As you focus your efforts on providing an experience that is geared specifically to your customers, they’ll tell people about it, and they’ll likely keep coming back for more, too. Follow this link to see the services Astro offers & more: https://astrotravel.com/