Our good friends over at TourismTiger know a thing or two about how to make your mark online as a tour and activity operator. In this post, Senior Content Coordinator Emma Russel takes us through some effective ways to ensure you're making the most out of your online presence. Social media can seem daunting, but trust us, this article is sure to steer you in the right direction. Thanks Emma!Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, Linkedin, YouTube...feeling overwhelmed yet? You’re not alone. Many tour operators struggle to market themselves effectively on social platforms, and even more fail to get started in the first place.Here are a few reasons why:

1. I don't have the time.
2. I don’t think it’s important.
3. I don’t know which platforms to target.
4. I don’t know what to post.
5. My target market doesn’t use social media.

As a tour operator, your time is valuable, and you want to be sure every investment is worthwhile. You need a guarantee that dedicating time and effort to social media will benefit your company. You may also ask yourself: do my customers even use social media?The short answer: yes. A common misconception is that companies don’t need to worry about social media if they’re targeting anyone older than a millennial. In reality, the majority of your customers -- young and old -- use some form of social media. A 2018 report revealed 64% of adults aged 50-64 are on at least one social media site, and according to Internet Marketing Inc 76% of travelers post photos of their holiday online, while 52% gain inspiration from their friends’ Facebook photos. No matter your demographic, social media matters. Creating an online presence requires work. But ignoring this aspect of your business could mean ignoring direct channels to your customers. Social media shouldn’t be an afterthought: these platforms present a great opportunity to increase brand awareness, boost traffic to your website, and increase bookings.

Source: https://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/

Not sure where to start? Below we’ve shared a few tips to help you craft a solid, profitable social media plan:

Slow down and give it some thought

Of course you want to see fast results, but effective social media marketing requires some thought. Before setting up accounts on every platform imaginable, dedicate time to creating a plan. Are you looking to establish a brand for your company? Increase traffic? Advertise special offers? By having a clear idea of your goals, you can establish which platforms are most beneficial for your company. Before you begin, consider the factors necessary for a successful campaign:

• An understanding of which type of customer is relevant to your business and what they want

• Attractions/locations/activities people want to share

• A commitment to sharing other content outside of your own

• An eagerness to connect with your customers -- i.e. respond to reviews, reply to comments, etc.

Below are some examples of companies that know their audience:

Many of Wild Rover Tours’ Instagram and Facebook followers are ex-customers that are interested in returning to Ireland. Their social media posts are aimed at interacting with their followers and showing the best spots in Ireland.

Harry Potter Universal have a large fan base they stay engaged with. They often repost their followers’ experiences and offer the chance to be featured on their social media platforms.

Competitions are a great way to keep your followers engaged while promoting your product. In the above post, Secret Food Tours turn a new tour offering into a competition.

Be selective

It’s only natural to want to get your brand out there, utilizing all possible channels -- but for some, this means biting off more than they can chew. There’s nothing worse than an out-of-date company profile. Large gaps between posts or neglected sites imply laziness, disorganization, and a lack of interest. The fewer platforms you have to manage, the more time you can dedicate to getting it right. Rule of thumb: Facebook is your most solid option and the most widely used platform. This is not only due to its larger network of users, but also to the fact that you can display a list of your products, making it incredibly easy for a visitor to move from your Facebook page to the booking page on your site.

An example of Facebook’s capabilities on Wild Rover’s Facebook page.

Instagram is your next best option. Users on this platform are steadily increasing and Instagram is gradually becoming the platform of choice for many. Whichever (select few) platforms you ultimately choose, ensure that they are popular among your target market and focus on making your posts count. There’s no need to spread yourself too thin. Instead, be critical about which platforms can really be of benefit to you.

Source: https://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/

Understand what works

Follow successful companies and fellow operators on social media, and take note of what works for them. Pay attention to which posts have the most engagement or which had the most impact on you. Remember: the point of social media is interaction, but as a tour operator, it needs to go deeper than that. Gently encourage your customers to leave reviews on Facebook. Try offering discounts and special offers to those that share your posts. Add a face to your company by featuring your incredible guides; posts images of happy customers on your tours; link to your website. Doing all this keeps your customers/followers engaged and excited about your product. Trafalgar Travel is a fantastic example of an operator maintaining customer engagement while posting relevant material. Here is the proof.They show they care about what they do:

They always respond to messages:

They listen to their customers:

Get organized

As mentioned above, an inactive site can do more harm than good in terms of how your company is perceived. Rather than attracting customers, a disorganized account will do nothing but repel potential clients. Even if you’re short on time, there is no excuse for allowing your site to fall to the wayside. Creating a schedule ensures you always have consistent, high-quality content to share. Not only that: by scheduling what you post, you can take advantage of the most active times your users are on social media.

Source: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/

There are a ton of resources available to help you with planning and scheduling. Hootsuite is a popular social media management (SMM) system and is used by over 20% of companies including Ebay, UPS, and Gap. TweetDeck and SocialEngage are also popular with businesses.Simply input your posts, add the date/time you want to share it, and allow Hootsuite to take care of the rest. By scheduling posts in advance, you reduce the need to dedicate time to social media every day. You could even set aside time to bulk schedule posts every month or so. Plus, no need to set your alarm in the middle of the night to target overseas followers.

Set up alerts

For business owners, time is money. Scrolling through Twitter or Facebook in search of useful content to engage with can be way too time-consuming. Google Alerts sends notifications directly to your email, notifying you of activity surrounding your business. You can set them up to ping you with industry-related news or when your company’s name is mentioned. Essentially, Google Alerts takes care of the scrolling, making it easier for you to stay up to date with the latest news and activity.

Google Alerts is incredibly easy to set up.

If you’re a tour operator, social media will likely be a part of present and future marketing strategies. This is no longer a secondary aspect to tourism marketing. Social media offers incredible opportunities to increase brand awareness, draw in new customers, provide a platform for reviews and feedback, advertise your product and share relevant content.The good news is, the more thought and energy you invest in your social media marketing strategy at the beginning, the easier it will be to maintain. Take some time out to plan a strategy. The payoff could be huge if you do. If you’re a novice, don’t despair. Start small, focusing on Facebook or a similar platform, and work on expanding your audience. Scan the internet, pick and choose which aspects could work for your company, and craft a campaign that makes a splash. And remember: the goal is not to churn out content with little engagement; the goal is to create an online presence which both promotes your brand and provides a two-way channel between you and your customers. What are you waiting for? Your audience is waiting. Emma is a Content Coordinator for TourismTiger – the premier web design agency for tour and activity operators. We build websites that sell tours. Get started on yours today.

Navya is the VP of Product at Peek and is responsible for continually elevating the experience that partners & customers have with our product. Navya studied Engineering at the University of Sheffield in the UK, going on to obtain a Master of Science at Stanford University and an MBA at NYU. Prior to Peek, she ran product at StyleSeat, the world’s largest marketplace for beauty services that has fueled over $3 billion in beauty services. She has also built large-scale products at Uber, Disney and Goldman Sachs.In this post, we ask Navya about her time working at Peek, and what exciting things she is working on this year with our product team.

How did you get involved in Engineering and Product Management? Was it always something you were interested in, or was there a catalyst that encouraged you into the industry?

Growing up, I always had an innate desire to help improve the lives of people - a service before self mentality. This stems, in part, from growing up in a community of doctors in India- actually both of my parents and my sister are doctors!I started programming when I was 15, after my dad bought us our first computer - and the rest is history. It was obvious to me that technology could improve our lives. I was intrigued with the hardware and software aspects of engineering. So, I pursued a degree in Electronic Engineering in the U.K. and then a Masters in Computer Science at Stanford University.Pursuing a technical career satisfied my intellectual curiosity, but I’m also very much a people person. I wanted a career that could combine those two different worlds - technical and anthropological. I realized that as an engineer, I missed the interactions with the customers who were using the products I was building. That desire to talk with customers and dig deeper into their pain points led me to the world of Product Management.

What do you like about working with the Tours and Activities industry?

I’ve spent the better part of a decade working for startups and have a tremendous amount of respect for entrepreneurs who work day in, day out to turn their company’s vision into a reality. The Tours and Activities industry is filled with thousands of entrepreneurs who are in this exact same boat, undergoing a similar journey. I get excited about solving problems for tours & activities operators through product innovations. I am passionate about driving product development at Peek. We play a part in helping operators achieve their visions and ambitions! By putting smarter technology in the hands of our operators, we are able to change their lives for the better. That brings immense joy to my work.Finally, learning has always been a big part of my life. Having been fortunate enough to have lived in Asia, Europe & North America, I love to learn more about new cultures. The Tours & Activities industry embraces people from different cultures every day by creating memorable experiences for everybody, all over the world!

What are your 3 favorite features that Peek Pro will launch in 2019?

I can’t play favorites, but I love to talk about the problems I’m really excited for the Peek team to solve this year for our operators.Our engineers have been working super hard on massive infrastructure upgrades over the last few months that will be all coming together in 2019. This means that we’re stronger than we have ever been to drive Peek Pro to the next level. We identified three core challenges that tours & activity operators face today that we are best positioned to address with our upgraded infrastructure. 1) Grow Revenue: We know from talking to operators that big or small, whether you’re a bike rental shop, run comedy tours, or a cat cafe: growing revenue is always a top priority. Which means it’s ours too. In 2019, we’ll be introducing new product innovations to our booking flow to further drive online conversions through partner websites. We’ll also be launching integrations with partners such as Groupon to drive more bookings at full-price for our partners. This will add to a large existing network that includes Peek.com, Reserve with Google, Yelp and more. 2) Save time: Time is money. Our operators save an average of 10 hours/week with our software: managing on-the-go with our mobile apps, getting fewer calls because of self-rescheduling options, and automating business systems through connections to 750+ online business tools. Over the last year, we’ve used direct operator feedback to completely rethink & further streamline our booking & payments flow on Peek Pro. The first release will allow operators to easily split payments among different customer payment options! This is just the beginning of other exciting improvements that will follow this year.3) Provide a great customer experience: We’re more than a booking software. Our philosophy is to holistically look at customer experience.We obsess about all the steps involved for customers: from researching the options on your website, to booking an activity, to having a great experience, and leaving with great memories to share with friends.Technology can empower operators to effortlessly deliver a 5-star experience to each customer, and I can’t wait for our new product innovations in 2019 that take this end-to-end experience to the next level.

What does it take to make a great product? How do you find ways to improve the Peek Pro software?

A great product is the result of a clear vision and a team that obsesses about solving real problems for customers. Peek Pro’s vision is to be the software of choice for Tour & Activity operators. We want to be the technology backbone of these operators so they can provide amazing experiences for their customers.Everyone at Peek gets excited about helping operators grow and change their lives for the better. Our product team regularly sit down with our customers to see how the product is used, and to better understand the problems that operators face on a daily basis. We are fortunate to have an operator base that provides valuable input to help shape the future of the product.I also read every single request that comes to improve the product from current and prospective customers. We then prioritize features that solve the biggest problems and create the highest positive impact for our customers. 2018 was a big year for Peek Pro with over 600 updates to the software! We’re super excited about all the new ways we’ll improve Peek Pro for our operators in 2019.

Partner visits are vital to improving our product and seeing it in action!

What do you enjoy most about working at Peek?

So many things! Here are my top three:The Mission: Our mission to connect the world through experiences inspires me. I’m passionate about building products that customers love. Being able to directly contribute to this mission by improving the Peek Pro software gets me excited to bring my best self to work every day!The Challenge: As the businesses of our operators grow, new opportunities come up to improve their lives. I get excited about solving new problems every day that directly help our operators. Never a dull moment!The Team: I am lucky to work with Peek’s team that is passionate, collaborative, hard-working, intellectually curious, caring and loves to have fun!

Peek Company Offsite 2018

Both the Tours and Activity space and the Tech Industry are male dominated. What has your experience been like as a female leader in your industry?

My mom started her career as a dentist in 1970s in India, at a time when dentistry was highly male-dominated. Seeing her thrive in the environment by focusing on her career aspirations and bring herself has always been a source of inspiration for me. When I started my career in engineering, I received this advice from my mom that still helps me to date: Be yourself and command respect. I genuinely believe that being authentic makes you a good leader. Not feeling the pressure to fit in means I can bring my whole self to work every day. I am not shy about my feminine interests. I openly talk about my lack of interest in male professional sports (!), and actively focus on self-reflection to stay authentic. It’s important to pick a work environment where authenticity is encouraged and you can fairly compete to rise in your career. As a female leader and a mom to my 2 year old daughter, I consider it my responsibility to help younger women in the industry. I am lucky to work at Peek, which is not only female founded but has a culture that promotes great workplace equality.

Peek ladies across our Utah, San Francisco, New York and Santiago offices!

Any words of motivation to end on?

“Do what you love, love what you do”Thanks Navya! Check out more content from our SheTalks series by clicking here!

Social media marketing expert and founder of Amore Social, Samantha Hardcastle, is a sucker for a great story. She understands the power storytelling has on consumers. In this post, she offers some tips on how to leverage your social media platforms and promote your experiences in a way that engages and connects with readers. The result if done correctly: more sales for your tour business! Hit 'em with the goods, Samantha! Storytelling has been a buzzword in marketing for as long as marketing has been around. And rightly so: stories transport us and make us feel like we’re actually part of the experience. A participant, rather than a spectator. What better way to engage with your customer than to pull them into your experience, the very thing you’re selling?Storytelling evokes strong emotions within your customer, creating a deeper, more profitable bond. Narratives cut through this noisy online world like nothing else. That’s why you should start looking at social platforms like Instagram and Facebook as a micro-blogging platform to tell stories (visual and written). Don’t just use them to promote your experience.“But if I’m not constantly selling on social, I won’t get any customers” – right? Wrong!First, 92% of consumers want brands to make ads feel like a story. By giving people what they want, you’re already way ahead of the competition who is spamming them with boring or unwanted messaging.Second, emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as “highly satisfied” customers. By taking the time to tell stories and create connections with people on social media, you create more lucrative relationships!Stories carve the quickest path to the heart and the mind. Storytelling comes naturally to most people (we often do it without even realizing!). But it sometimes can be hard to wrap your head around in terms of your business. The good news is, you can keep it simple - and still get results.This checklist will help guide you towards better storytelling on social. Not EVERY post has to follow this formula, but the more you do, the more you’ll see results.

This is your starting point. Now let’s dive in to some of the strategic details of storytelling, so you can get the most out of it!

Create Flow with Purpose

Like all good stories, make sure there is a clear beginning, middle, and end. There are so many storytelling formulas to follow, that it can be overwhelming. Take some time to familiarize with all of the different formulas, but don’t overthink it or you’ll never get a message out.For social media, I find it’s easiest to take each story through this framework, and then fill in the rest of the details after:The Feelings You Want Your Reader to Have:Since people are prone to putting themselves into the stories they hear, then where is this story taking them? Does it align with their wants & needs? First Sentence Hook:Capture their attention and let them know that there’s a story coming. Aha Moment, Turning Point, or Takeaway:This will ensure that your story is always going somewhere. Don’t just post to post! What is the purpose of this story? In the example below, you can see how this comes together. We wanted the reader to feel sentimental and nostalgic:

You know when the water sparkles so bright, you start to wonder if there’s a million diamonds underneath the surface? That’s how the water was today, and, well, we jumped in and looked around. No diamonds. 😞 But from the way our guests were laughing, singing, and splashing around in the water, you’d think they had found their own sort of treasure!Are you ready for a sparkling sail with us?

Takeaway: Our boat tour and the closeness/memories it delivers are priceless (and possibly worth more than an ocean full of diamonds). Experiences bring us closer, help us develop better relationships and memories, and are worth more than tangible things that won’t really bring you happiness.It’s important to note that the image you choose should tell a story in its own right, enough so that it encourages people to stop scrolling and start reading. If your image isn’t enticing enough, you’ll never get people to the point of reading.BONUS TIP: Messages delivered as stories can be up to 22x more memorable than just facts, so find a way to turn your facts into stories.

Communicate Shared Values

As the leader of your organization, you have values. Your organization has values. And your customers have values. When you can clearly tell stories about these values that your customers resonate with, you are leading them through your funnel, establishing that ever-important Know, Like, & Trust factor.What is your organization’s “why”? What statement are you making that people will nod their heads to? Tell stories that embody this, rather than making statements. Example:

Statement: we keep it local & sustainable!Story: Meanwhile, down the road at the orchard, thousands of apples were being hand-picked for our first batch of applejack…

Evoke Emotion

When you show (through your stories) that your experience can lead a customer to their desired “after” state by making them feel that way NOW, it instills a sense of confidence in them. It says to them “I can trust this tour/activity to give me what I am looking for.”How can you use stories to evoke emotion? Share sincerely, be vulnerable and tell stories that allow you to laugh at yourself. Paint a vivid picture. Don’t shy away from tales of struggle, failure, and overcoming barriers. This is what it means to be authentic in today’s modern marketing world.Magazines have been doing this for decades, and they have taken to social media to extend their emotional storytelling. Look to tourism and travel magazines for inspiration. The more stories you read and hear, the better storyteller you can become!

Don’t Forget the Call to Action

While storytelling is powerful, a Call to Action (CTA) gives it a serious boost. There’s nothing wrong with “asking for the sale” if you’ve delivered an immense amount of value through your storytelling. By the time you’ve ‘warmed up’ by storytelling, they will be eager to get in on your experience.The next step you want your customers to take should never be a mystery. Show them how your experience results in a happy ending, and then tell them how they can take the steps to get there.

Embody Your Story

Great stories surprise and delight people. They are unique, unexpected, and should challenge our perceptions of reality in some way. Just like your experience. Does your current experience have all the makings of a memorable story? With twists and turns and moments of wonder? Make sure every story you tell matches up with the experience you deliver. The most common cause of bad review and unhappy customers is unmet expectations. If your story is epic, your experience should be just as epic (if not more!).And there we have it! Perfecting the art of storytelling won’t happen overnight, and every single post won’t have a killer story behind it. But just getting into a storytelling mindset instead of a selling mindset makes all the difference.Start looking at social media marketing as storytelling instead of promotion. The more you understand people and the feelings they want, the more you’ll be able to create irresistible on and offline experiences that draw people in.Check out Samantha's website, Amore Social, for more great marketing tips and tricks and to find out more about Samantha's awesome services. Have you signed up for our SheTalks webinars yet? Register for live links and recordings here!

Avital Ungar has been leading food tours since starting Avital Tours in 2011. She has served as a judge at the International Chocolate Salon, the Best of the West Rib Competition, the Good Food Awards and has been featured on CNN, the Travel Channel, Travel+Leisure and more! In this post, Avital takes us through some of the ways in which tour operators can work to make their experiences truly stand out in a fast-growing, competitive industry. In the tours and activities space, it can be hard to stand out.You might be lucky enough to offer a totally unique and once-in-a-lifetime experience that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. But for many operators, you might be offering a similar activity, or hitting up the same spots, alongside many of your competitors in the area.If you run food tours, for example, it might be that you visit the same neighborhoods, or even some of the same restaurants, as other tour operators in the area. So — how do you create an experience that is truly unique for your guests? What can you do to differentiate yourself from the competition? For me, it has always been about the customer journey. Taking steps to differentiate our tours at every single stage of the experience, start to finish. In this post, I’ll lay out just a few ways in which you can achieve this, and create an experience that is totally unique to your business.

Remember that the experience begins as soon as the booking is made

Many operators tend to focus on the experience that they offer on the day of the tour or activity. It makes sense — it’s the most important part. But by doing so, you could be missing an opportunity to build up anticipation and hype for your tour. Why not set up automatic emails to be sent out before your tour or activity to really get your guests excited? This is not only a happy reminder of their upcoming trip, but a chance to offer some little tips and recommendations in the area. That way, you’re showing your customer that you’re thinking about them and enhancing their experience before they’ve even arrived for your tour!As an owner-operator, I understand that these details are often low priority as you juggle the day-to-day tasks of running a business. But, by investing a little time in emails like this, you help plant the seed of your incredible experience and create a relationship with your guest before you meet them! They won’t forget it.

VIP is what you make it

Everyone loves a little VIP treatment. For tour operators, offering exclusive access is a great way to set you apart from the rest. As a food tour, for us this could be meeting a chef or restaurant owner who can offer their story and a little something special. But what happens when the restaurant owner has to leave for an emergency dentist appointment? Things like this can happen all the time, so it’s important to manage the expectations of your guests when offering these exclusive experiences. VIP can definitely mean exclusive access, but it doesn’t have to. Consider the easiest way to make your experience special: service.Take hotels. Most offer the exact same service; there are only so many types of beds! The real difference for them however, lies in the service. What can you do to shine?Why not use custom questions in your booking flow to learn more about your guests ahead of time and provide great service right off the bat? We cater for all forms of dietary restrictions, but knowing this ahead of time means we can go the extra mile to provide great service and accommodate those guests.

Did you know that in Peek Pro, you can ask custom questions AFTER the guest has paid? This means you can collect relevant info without sacrificing conversions!

You can also offer discounts for repeat guests, and incentives for them to go back to the places or landmarks on your tour. This makes them feel like they’re getting a deal that’s not available to just anyone and helps your partners feel recognized for the value they bring.If it’s a special occasion, point it out. Have the group sing Happy Birthday to them. On Mother’s Day, hand out roses to all the moms on the tour. It’s minimal effort on your part, but it could make their day — and that happy atmosphere will also rub off on the other guests.

Being dedicated to incredible levels of service and VIP touches helps to give us a unique advantage in our niche

Your guides are your biggest asset

If guides are part of your business, use them wisely. They are a huge part of the uniqueness that you offer. In San Francisco, everybody wants to see the Golden Gate Bridge — but the stories they’ll hear along the way are what they’ll talk about when they tell their friends and family about their experience. That’s why I focus on hiring guides with strong presentation skills. I’m looking for people that I would want to go and get a beer with after the tour or talk to at a cocktail party — since they have no issues with being the center of attention! Depending on the style of your tour and balance and type of content you share, you might want to think about how guests interact with your guides. Do you want your guides to talk with the guests or at the guests?

My guides’ relationship with our guests is a top priority, always!

You should also think about how much content should come from management, versus the guide themselves. There is no right answer. It’s all about trade-offs. Find where your tour falls, and how relevant it is to have that spontaneity on your tour. Think about your guide turnover, and the type of people you generally hire. Remember that the more tailored the experience is to each guide, the more the experience will change if that guide moves on.Not everyone will have the capacity to create a whole tour themselves, or possess a deep, all-around knowledge of the area. But they will always have different interests that can add color to your experience. I suggest digging to find these and encouraging them to use them! Maybe you have a guide who’s an architecture buff, or has a strong understanding of the area’s LGBTQ scene. Use your guides’ personality and life experience to your advantage.

Know your brand — but don’t be afraid to shake it up

A brand is an evolution. It’s never static. When I started in the Mission District eight years ago, guests would be often be nervous to visit the area. To many it seemed dirty, unsafe, just on the wrong side of ‘quirky’. One of the values we offered was that we knew where to go. We offered a safe route into an unexplored area to show our guests the hidden gems.Now, eight years later, the Mission is totally different. Everybody knows about the food, they’ve already read up on the hotspots and many of the locales are well-known by tourists and locals alike. If I was still trying to lead the same tour I was a few years ago, there’s no way it would work. I have to evolve with my surroundings and adapt my tours to ensure they are always offering something unique.

A tour cannot be stagnant. You have to constantly be on the lookout for new and exciting opportunities the city has to offer, and mould you tours to fit the evolution of neighborhoods and towns.Which brings me to this: don’t be scared to kill an experience. I’ve built products that I thought were phenomenal. But sometimes, they don’t age as well as you’d like, or sadly, the market just isn’t there. I recommend specializing — focus on what you do well, and make it fantastic. You can’t be everything to everybody. The whole industry is moving that way, and that’s what will help you truly shine in your niche. Have you signed up for our SheTalks webinars yet, bringing you more exclusive tips and content? If not, sign up here! You can also check out all of our SheTalks content from the month of March by clicking here! And for more tour operator inspiration make sure you check out Avital’s website featuring her incredible food tours in San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles!

How do you start a tour business in the aftermath of one of the most devastating hurricanes your country has ever seen? How do you build your brand, spread the word, and find that first paying guest? How do you get to the top of your game and still manage to love what you do? In this post, Cindi Richardson takes us through her journey as a tour operator, and how her efforts resulted in her business, French Quarter Phantoms, being named the Number 1 Ghost Tour in the U.S. in 2018. Take it away, Cindi! My love for New Orleans began as a small child. The city seemed so special - it had a magic to it. I was born and raised in Baton Rouge, so New Orleans was where we went with family and friends for special occasions and family fun. When I got old enough to move out on my own, there was only one place I was headed - straight to New Orleans. I was so excited to live and thrive in my favorite place on earth.Fast forward to Hurricane Katrina: The city was devastated - it seemed like everything I had once loved about it was now gone. I heard people asking, "Why do people live there? Why should it even be rebuilt?" It broke my heart that they couldn’t see the magic and beauty of New Orleans that I had seen throughout my life. Every evening, my neighbor Mike and I would sit on our porch, waiting for the Red Cross to bring us our daily plate of hot food. The city was filled with volunteers from all over the country who had come to lend a helping hand in the wake of the destruction. Mike and I started thinking about what we could do to pay them back. How could we share with them our love for New Orleans, and show others exactly why this incredible city deserved to be rebuilt?Mike had his tour guide license and my background was in sales and marketing - we were a good fit. I also had a passion for anything scary: Hitchcock, The Twilight Zone, the Anne Rice novels. And so, the idea for French Quarter Phantoms Ghost Tours was born.Our first year “in business”, most of the tours we did were for free to the many disaster aid workers who were in the city. Every day, Mike would do two tours, while I walked around five miles back and forth across the downtown area, getting the word out and building our reputation.Eventually, word started to spread, and visitors started coming back. We took on a partner, Drew, who funded our first round of real brochures. We started charging a little for the tours and the business started to grow. This year, 12 years after we started, we were named as the #1 Ghost Tour in the country by USA Today.

The road to success

Our goals today are pretty much the same as they were in the beginning. We want to make a decent living doing something we love. It’s not about getting rich - for our team, what’s important is feeling great about what we’ve done at the end of each day. There are plenty of lessons we’ve learned along the way, and a few key things I believe are vital to our success as a business. Here are a few pieces of advice I would give to other tour operators on their own journey:

Hire people who love to tell a story

There's a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that I love and have really taken to heart: “A great manager is someone who hires the right person to do a job and has sense enough to leave them alone while they do it." I think that this applies perfectly to our hiring and employment practices. We hire educated, intelligent people with engaging personalities and allow them to craft their tour in the style that best fits their personality. We make sure we give a few guidelines, but we don't micromanage or script their tours. Instead, our tour manager, Luke, will regularly walk with each guide to pass along pointers (and compliments!) where needed. Allowing our guides this creativity gives them a sense of ownership and great job satisfaction. It also ensures all of our tours are the right balance of chills up the spine and good laughs.

The French Quarter Phantoms team - I am so proud of them all!

Our tour guides - or as we call them, our Master Story Tellers - are French Quarter Phantoms’ greatest asset. I am a great salesperson - I can get a hotel concierge or ticket seller to recommend us once. But it’s the post-tour feedback conveyed to that reseller that gets us the 2nd, 3rd and 100th recommendation. Our storytellers are the reason they’ll recommend us again and again.

Think like a customer

I’ve always believed that entertainment value needs to be better than the price of the ticket. That means that after the tour is over, I want you to think you had so much fun that really you would have paid more. It’s important to provide something that is fun no matter what the age or makeup of your group. Think about college groups, bachelorette parties, family outings - spend time crafting a tour that has something for everybody. Give a little Lagniappe - a Louisiana way of saying a little something extra. On our tours, we offer 2 for 1 Hurricanes (our famous New Orleans cocktails) for adult participants, served in a free souvenir cup that they get to take home and keep. On the rare occasion we do get a complaint, well - remember that old saying about the customer always being right? It may sound cliché, but the truth is: if someone is mad, I am probably not going to get them to change their mind. The best thing I can do is listen, learn and provide them with the best customer service possible. I always try to let customers know their voice has been heard, and try to make it right for them however I can.

Never stop learning

I read our online reviews - and those of our competitors - several times a week. It is important to understand what the customer likes and doesn't like from both our tours and those of the operators around us. I then pass pointers along to our guides or office personnel. We never stop asking ourselves what we can do to be more efficient and more entertaining. We want to be one of the reasons that people fall in love with our city as much as we all did.

There is a lot to be learned from your customers, so take time to listen to their feedback

The best advice I can give to another business owner is: never stop listening to your customers. Never stop listening to your competitors’ customers either! There is great value in "hearing" what they have to say.Plus, when those great reviews roll in, it makes the job even more worthwhile. Here are some of my favorite things that have been said about French Quarter Phantoms: "French Quarter Phantoms guides are the strangest bunch of real historians you will ever have the pleasure of spending time with.""My kids loved the tour so much they didn't even realize they were learning something!""This was the world's best tour guide and tour. I dragged my boyfriend along to this and he hates ghost stuff but by the end of this he was asking all of the questions and wanting more. I've never seen this side of this man. I think I will marry him."Our dedication, willingness to learn, and passion for what we do is what has kept us going strong more than a decade after we first began in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Mike eventually left the business to follow his calling as a Calvinist minister, leaving Drew and I with the company and my passions. Mike is still my best friend and I will always love what we started together. And I will continue to love what I do, right here in the city I love the most.

For more stories and tips from fellow tour operators, why not check out our latest post from Vantigo owner Erik Hormann, talking about how he created a profitable, popular tour! And if you’re planning a trip to New Orleans, make sure you drop in on Cindi and her team at French Quarter Phantoms Ghost Tours for an unforgettable experience - and to see a top-class tour operator in action!

In this post, serial entrepreneur and super coach Drew Renner takes us through some simple tricks to boost revenue through upselling - without putting customers off. When not writing blog posts for Peek, Drew is busy helping tour and attraction owners win customers through simplicity, authenticity and highly-leveraged systems, providing no-nonsense frameworks for business growth. Trust us, this guy knows his stuff. Hit it, Drew! If you’re anything like me, you hate the feeling of being ‘sold’ to. You have these awesome tours and activities for your guests. You may also have a few little ‘extras’ that you are offering, or want to offer, in order to bring in some additional revenue. But the last thing you want to be is that greasy salesman from the car lot. Here lies the issue: how do we avoid being aggressive while still presenting the options to guests? As a former owner and operator of an off-road adventures company, here are 3 simple things I have always kept in mind when it comes to increasing my upsells without being pushy or sleazy.

It should actually enhance their experience

Do your current upsell options make the experience better, or is it just more revenue for you? Think about what things you could offer that would make the experience way cooler. What things would it suck not to have? What things have guests mentioned they would love? Upsells can also be great when there are some things that you would like to add to the experience, but recognise not everyone might want. Whatever the reason, keep in mind the needs and wants of your guests.Here’s an example. With our off-road outfitter, one thing people were liable for was damage to the vehicles, including tire damage. This didn’t happen often, but when it did it was a real bummer for the guests. We decided to offer a “Tire Protection” option that they could purchase for $25. It wasn’t expensive, and it could potentially keep them from having to pay $200 for a tire. Really a no-brainer for most guests. The way we presented this offer helped them to see we had their interest in mind.

Don’t offer too many options

Too many options will overwhelm your guests. When they feel overwhelmed, they run away. And if they keep seeing all these options or offers they’ll feel like they are just being sold to. Select a few things you can offer to your guests during the booking process. I suggest no more than 3. Present them all at once. You want to make the check out process as simple and short as possible. If offers keep popping up, you will lose out on bookings because people will get annoyed and leave.

Offer what they want - even if they don’t know they want it

I kept hearing my guests say after the tour was over that they wished they had a GoPro to record their adventure. Hearing this consistent dialog told me people wanted it, but didn’t think about it when they booked their adventure. So as they were booking, I set up an add-on item in Peek Pro to offer to them the option to rent a GoPro. 15-20% of our guests chose to rent a GoPro during their booking process. Rad, right?!But wait - there’s more. Just because the remainder didn’t go for it when booking, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t want one. Having that add-on option was just planting an idea. As guests arrived and were checking in, we’d causally ask them if they had brought their GoPro so we could mount it for them.This was now the second time they’d heard about it, which started to cause them to wonder if they needed one for the trip. They’d most often reply that they forgot it or didn’t own one. We’d reply with something like, that’s a bummer... and proceed to tell them a story about how people would tell us how the wished they had a GoPro recording of the ride. Almost like magic, the guests would ask, “do you guys have one I could rent?”. In which we’d reply yes - would you like one? No pushy sales. They saw a need to have one and we helped them. As you think about what and how to offer upsells to your guests without being pushy, decide what would enhance their experience, keep the options simple, and offer them in a way that shows you have their best interest in mind. Share a story about it. When you do, people will be willing to open up their wallets knowing you have their best interest in mind.If you’re a tour or activity operators looking for other great ways to enhance your experience, check out Drew’s site at DrewRenner.com to see how you can grow both sales and profits!