Coming up with new incentives to keep your customers happy is a step in the right direction, but retaining them takes even more work: Make sure the service you provide suits their needs.
Destination Snow is BC's largest group ski and board tour specialist. From December to April, Destination Snow will oversee 8000 tours per year, each departing on a Friday afternoon and returning on a Sunday evening.
Cameron Mein will tell you that he and his partner, Chris Buss, stay on top of the service that their trip leaders provide as one of the many ways to ensure better customer retention.
Well-trained staff minimize complaints
With more than 8000 tour groups and 125 group organizers to keep satisfied, Cameron and Chris have their work cut out for them.
Customer retention is tied directly to the way in which Cameron and Chris train their staff. If clients are unhappy, then group organizers are blamed. When group organizers get complaints, they find another supplier.
Cameron and Chris know from experience: "It's far cheaper to keep existing clients happy than to spend money on attracting new ones. This is why we spend a lot of time on ensuring our guides are properly trained. We want the client to have a great experience and return next season."
Real hands-on training
According to Cameron, his company spends more time training employees than most of his competitors do. To begin with, applicants are interviewed on a number of criteria, but the one quality they must possess is a passion for having fun.
Each fall, Cameron and Chris spend four to five days training new guides and existing staff for the season ahead. After covering first aid and formal training in a classroom setting, the group is then taken on a three-day tour that as new guides they will soon take clients on.
All new guides start out as co-guides at Destination Snow. After eight to 12 trips they become guides. After more experience, guides become senior guides, eventually moving onto the role of trip leaders.
Two guides per trip
Unlike most operators, who only send one guide per busload, Cameron and Chris send two guides on every trip. A less-experienced guide is always teamed with a senior guide or trip leader. With a range of guides aged 20 to 45, Destination Snow also tries to match the guide's age to the group's average age, making for even better group dynamics.
Owners are on board
You will find either Cameron or Chris—sometimes even both of them—aboard most group tours as one of the guides. (What better way to ensure that your service meets your clients' expectations than to be there first-hand?)
With a small staff, and weekly staff briefings every Monday, any issues or concerns about a trip can be quickly rectified and new procedures implemented before the next group tour goes out. Overall, Cameron and Chris aim to treat all employees as equals.
