If you build it…

 Marketing  Comments Off on If you build it…
Aug 122013
 

The phrase “If you build it, they will come” seems to be the mindset of many adventure operators. Perhaps it’s only true if you’re building a baseball diamond in a cornfield, because it sure doesn’t work for most other ventures. Marketing tends to be one of the first items to be cut when money starts running short, either at the construction phase or during the first year of operations usually.  And it will cripple your business.

So how much should you be spending on your marketing efforts? Financially speaking, 10-15% of your annual operating budget. Minimum! Time wise you should be spending 40-50% of your work day on marketing efforts. That includes testing and measuring the results of your current marketing tactics. If you see a positive return on your investment for a particular tactic, do more of it. If you don’t, do less of it or stop it all together.

Your marketing budget should be an untouchable amount as you grow your business. Unless you decide to do more of it…

Facilitated Growth

 Business Planning, Marketing  Comments Off on Facilitated Growth
Apr 082013
 

My wife Michelle and I have put together a unique training opportunity that we are hosting in Golden , Colorado April 18th and 19th and we would love for you to join us! Here’s what we’ve put together:

The Business Development Track by Paul Cummings includes:

1. Marketing the Experience – We all know that marketing is important, but how do we find the time for it amidst everything else that we have going on? This session will explore tools and techniques to help you communicate your message more effectively, and to the right people. The techniques that you learn will ultimately help save you time and money by spending those valuable marketing dollars in the best way possible.

2. Selling the Experience – If you run a business, chances are you already have some sales experience. Do you have a process in place, or are you just “winging it?” Come learn how to develop a real sales process that yields long-term clients, and find out what is the most common “make or break” for businesses.

3. Starting your own Business – What does it take to start your own business? What are the common pitfalls and less known obstacles to creating a successful venture? I’ll show you!

4. Growing your Business – Whether you are running a successful operation or struggling to make a profit, chances are your business could use a bit of fine-tuning. This interactive discussion will target the areas of your business that most need adjusting so that you leave feeling well-equipped to make the changes you need, and take your business to the next level.

Maximum of 20 people in each session.

The Group Experience Track by Michelle Cummings includes:

1. Awesome Icebreakers & Energizers- Come prepared to play and learn a ton of interactive activities in this action packed workshop. The adventure based activities are suitable to share with groups ages 12 and above and group sizes of 4 to 50+ participants. Activities that keep your group meaningfully active and engaged throughout their experience. They can be used together or to break up the day. Build your bag of tricks in this action packed workshop.

2. Effective Debriefing Tools and Techniques- Are you good at the games but not so good at the debrief? Do you ask questions and get blank stares from your participants? This workshop will focus on 10+ effective debriefing tools that are simple and easy to use. We will discuss nine different techniques for processing to help liven up your debriefing circles. Learn simple and effective ways to process experiences so they relate to real life and future learning. In this interactive workshop participants will experiment with an interesting array of prop based methods that lead to metaphorically rich reflection. These tools from the book “A Teachable Moment” are easy to duplicate or make on your own.

3. Conflict Resolution/Bullying Prevention- Walk out of this workshop with a variety of tools and techniques for dealing with conflict, bullying and discipline issues. Apply your learning immediately to help your participants understand that through collaboration, encouragement and an appreciation of differences in one another’s lives we can defuse tense situations and de-escalate conflict.

4. Best Problems Solving & Communication Activities- Michelle’s most favorite activities and new ideas!

Maximum of 80 people per session.

Specifics can be found on the Training Wheels site at the following link: Facilitated Growth

We hope you can join us!

 

Paul

 

The Greatest Zip Line in the World!

 Adventure Parks, Marketing, Zip Lines  2 Responses »
Dec 052012
 

Every day, I see marketing for the biggest, fastest, longest, blah blah blah zip line tour. And it’s all crap.

Why? Because that’s why people come the first time, but has zero relevance on whether they come back. If you want a zip line tour that is successful for the long term, you NEED people to come back and what gets them back is your quality of service coupled with how accurately your tour is presented in your marketing.

Case in point: I was developing a feasibility study for a client and had to go ride the competing tours in the area. I know, I suffer for my craft… Anyway, the first tour I visit said on their web site that they had the only tour in the area with zero hand braking. Intrigued, I booked my tour. Upon arriving at their office I signed my liability waiver. As I handed it to the check in person they loudly proclaimed “First to sign, first to die!” I was stunned. If I hadn’t been “undercover” I would have let loose on this unsuspecting individual. However, I kept quiet and waited for the rest of our tour group to finish signing their lives away.

On to the course! As with most tours, we start on a short training line to get everyone ready to tackle the longer lines. Now, guess what they show us how to do… Hand Brake! And not only do they show us how, they proceed to tell us that it is required for every single one of their 12 lines. Major disappointment.

From there I witness many other gaffes:

  • Guides not clipping in on platforms
  • Duct tape being used to finish cable ends
  • More jokes about safety and the impending doom of each rider
  • and many others…

    • All told, one of the worst experiences I’ve had on a zip line/canopy tour. Now hopefully I’m not describing your course! However, take a look at your marketing and see how it compares to the actual experience. It may be worthwhile to hire a secret shopper or two and get some solid feedback to see how your business is or isn’t attracting repeat business.

    Paul

    Adventure Business Questions

     Marketing, Questions  1 Response »
    Jun 272012
     

    Recently I guest wrote a newsletter article for the Training Wheels newsletter and offered to answer some business questions from their readers. The response was so good that I want to offer the same thing to our readers here. Here was the first question I received:

    Hi Paul,
    For the last 5 years we’ve being focusing a service and we’ve done pretty well, but I feel we might be missing something. What different strategies should we consider when selling a service versus selling a product?
     -Graham
    Graham, that’s a great question!
    The first thing to know is that a service sale typically has a longer sales process than a product sale does, unless you are needing to have a plumber come and fix a leek or some other emergency service. It is important to be able to talk to the individual who is looking at your service. Most services aren’t purchased with the click of a mouse! Which means you have to have a way to get him to contact you, such as a website with copy written to get the prospective client interested enough to call or email you.
    Often the biggest mistake that a service provider will make is not being descriptive enough about the service in their marketing material. If the phrase “custom designed” is on your webpage and you aren’t selling furniture, odds are that you aren’t selling much of your service either.
    So now readers, what else do you see as the difference between products and services? Comment away!
    Also if you have a business question for us, shoot me an email! paul@strategic-adventures.com
    Paul

    The 4 things every business owner must know – Parts 3 & 4

     Marketing, Value  Comments Off on The 4 things every business owner must know – Parts 3 & 4
    Jun 142012
     

    #3

    You must communicate the idea of an Ideal Client Relationship. What is an Ideal Client Relationship (ICR)? Well, it’s different for everybody. It consists of a series of behaviors that you want your best clients to exhibit in their relationship with you. Think of the way that your very best clients interact with you. These interactions are the basis of ICR.

    Here is our ICR behavior list for Strategic Adventures:

    • They see the value of a long term engagement with us
    • They provide us with a testimonial
    • They follow our advice and recommendations
    • They experience a measurable outcome
    • They use us multiple times for different services
    • They respond to proposals in a timely manner
    • And they refer others to us

    Now, I have yet to have a client fall into my lap that did all of these automatically. It would be nice if the world worked that way. So how do we get clients to start behaving this way? We let them know that this kind of relationship is possible.

    Ultimately, the responsibility is on you. You have to make the relationship happen, it is a two way street after all. Let use the our second ICR characteristic as an example: They provide us with a testimonial. In order to get a testimonial you have to do at least two things.

    1. You have to do great work for your client that is worthy of a testimonial

    2. And you have to ask your clients for the testimonial.

    You have to do the work to get ICR’s.

    #4

    You must communicate the possibility of an ICR with the Qualified Prospects we identified in #2. That’s all there is to it!

     

    What are your ICR characteristics and how are you communicating them?

     

    Paul

    http://www.strategic-adventures.com/content/business-plans

    The 4 things that every business owner must know, part 2 of 4

     Marketing, Value  Comments Off on The 4 things that every business owner must know, part 2 of 4
    May 232012
     

    The second thing that every business owner must know is that you must communicate with qualified prospects. Not all prospects are created equal, which means that not everyone with a pulse is a potential client. So who is a qualified prospect?

    There are three criteria for being considered a qualified prospect.

    1. The prospective client must have a need for the service or product that you are selling. Contrary to the teachings of many sales training programs, Eskimos really have very little need for ice…

    2. The prospective client must be aware of their need for your product or service. It is often your job to give them the opportunity to become aware of their need, using a little something we call marketing. If they are not aware of their need they will see no reason to contact you to take you up on your offer.

    3. The prospect must be able to pay for you to satisfy their need. This is often an overlooked component of what constitutes a qualified prospect. The true qualified prospect has the ability to make the financial decision required to purchase your solution.

    All of your marketing efforts should be going towards getting your message out in front of more and more qualified prospects.

    Who is a qualified prospect for you? What need are you trying to fill?

     

    Paul

    http://www.strategic-adventures.com/content/business-plans

    The 4 things every business owner must know, part 1 of 4

     Marketing, Zip Lines  Comments Off on The 4 things every business owner must know, part 1 of 4
    May 172012
     

    The very first thing you must know about your business is that you are a sales and marketing firm. It doesn’t matter if you operate a zip line tour, a challenge course, a whitewater outfitter, or are an experiential trainer. Your very first priority is to market and sell your services.

    “Nothing happens until we sell something”

    I first saw this phrase on a sign in a clients office and it immediately rang true for me. It really begins at the start of your business. You have to sell people on the idea of your new venture… the banker, your spouse, your new employees, and especially the community! Only then can you even begin to think about marketing and selling to paying clients.

    Speaking of paying clients, do you have a great marketing plan and sales process to make it easy for them to buy your services? Do you have it written down? And have you given it to your employees so that they understand what your expectations are?

    If you don’t, go do it now. It can transform the way clients interact with you and re-energize your business!

    In the words of Dennis Miller, “But that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.”

    Peace, Love, and Marketing! (and Selling!)

    Paul

    3 Great Project Management Tools

     Marketing, Project Management  3 Responses »
    May 092012
     

    Re-branding a company, like many other business initiatives,  is a big job and keeping track of it all can get to be a bit overwhelming. Being the techno-geek that I am, I went to find some resources on the web to help. I wanted to share these with you, because now matter what you are working to achieve I believe that they can make your life a bit easier.

    1. Evernote – Think of it as a virtual filing cabinet for everything and anything. I started using it to catalog design ideas for our new site. Now I use it for everything from recipes to client data management to To-Do lists. Once you get started with Evernote, it just might become part of your daily life and the best part is that it automatically syncs with your phone, ipad, and computers! Free with paid options.  www.evernote.com

    2. Dropbox- A great tool for sharing large files among a group of people. We use it to collect photos for our stock photo gallery as well as keeping all of our frequently used templates and files. Like Evernote, Dropbox will sync to all of your devices and it doesn’t care a bit if you are PC or Mac. Free with paid options.  www.dropbox.com

    3. MindJet- A piece of mind mapping software that does so much more than mind mapping. We used it initially to map out the structure for our web navigation and have since used it for marketing planning, document prep, gantt chart creation, and even curriculum design. Not free… but you can get a free trial! www.mindjet.com

    Whether you’re starting an new Zip Line tour, building a challenge ropes course, or just wanting to streamline your operational processes in your adventure business, these tools can make a world of difference! What are some tools that you use?

    Paul

    Marketing isn’t a gimmick…

     Marketing, Outcomes, Value  Comments Off on Marketing isn’t a gimmick…
    May 012012
     

    Marketing isn’t some trick or gimmick to coerce someone to buy what you are trying to sell. Marketing is the communication of your promise to deliver a remarkable experience or outcome to your clients. There is no magic trick to marketing, it is simply putting your promise in front of people who care, on a consistent basis. When you try to use a gimmick, you get in the way of the promise, and that keeps you from developing Ideal Client Relationships.

     
    Paul

    Zip Lining in South Park

     Marketing, Zip Lines  Comments Off on Zip Lining in South Park
    Apr 242012
     

    Zip Lines have officially hit pop culture. Last week, the latest episode of the cartoon South Park did a not so nice parody of the boys going on a zip tour. While they say that any publicity is good publicity, the episode actually pointed at some of the weaknesses in the average zip line experience.

    If you want to see the episode, you can find it online. I’m not going to provide a link due to the crude nature of the show, but if you really want to see it you can find it. Let’s just say that their experience is not what they expected it to be.

    While I was watching it, I was struck by how I have actually had many of the same experiences when I’ve gone on various zip tours. I’m not going to name names, but feel free to ask me if one of them was at your tour. Here are some of the take-aways:

    • The anticipated experience – The experience you market must match the experience you deliver. If you don’t know, hire a secret shopper to evaluate it.
    • Feigned enthusiasm – Clients can tell if you are being fake with your smile, your manners, and your enthusiasm. Be real.
    • Branding Image consistency – Nothing screams adventure like an airport shuttle bus. (This is sarcasm, although Stephanie has quite a story about a recent Super Shuttle experience…)

    So, what can you do to improve the delivery of your services so that they are genuine, consistent, and enticing people to come back for more?

    Paul

    © 2011 Strategic Adventures 7095 S. Garrison St. - Littleton, CO 80128 | (888) 553-0167 | | www.strategic-adventures.com
    Web Design by Triple Smart