PLEASE, COME AGAIN BY STEPH SIBILLE
Commercial and traditional operators share best practices for fostering repeat business.
For some operators, repeat customers are the entire backbone of their busi- ness. For others, the mere prospect of generating recurring customers who came for a one-time “bucket list” experience feels like little more than a fantasy. But regardless of where their customer segment lies, everyone can agree that repeat business is good for business. To get a gauge on how to successfully generate repeat customers, we spoke to a variety of operators—ranging from commercial aerial parks to traditional challenge course and team-building pro- grams—who have found success in this arena. While some of the sales strategies differed, other themes were universal.
tures a different market segment than the one-time leisure visitor and creates strong word-of-mouth marketing. At Sandy Spring, one annual mem- ber—a 62-year-old woman—climbs 160 times a year and is “inspirational to other members,” says Hines. Other regulars have gone so far as to use their annual membership to the park as a replacement for their gym. The behav- ior that they model serves as an “asset” to the park, according to Hines; these visitors often come during off hours and are highly self-sufficient, requiring little guidance or instruction from staff. Sandy Spring and ZipZone, which also sells a membership product, both include discounted guest passes as a benefit of annual pass ownership to encourage loyalists to bring friends, converting potential word-of-mouth marketing benefits into sales dollars and potential new customers. Pingle says annual memberships and season passes also appeal to gift givers. At ZipZone, many annual memberships are sold as gifts during the Thanks-
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Design . The ability to bring back recur- ring customers often starts with one simple question, “Is there more to do here?” According to John Hines, owner of The Adventure Park at Sandy Spring in Maryland, park design is key to bring - ing people back. “Our park is laid out in such a way that nobody can do it all in one day [because] there’s too much stuff to do,” explains Hines. The main attraction, the Adventure Forest, has 14 courses and seven levels of difficulty. The park also has an axe throwing venue and a special climbing structure for private groups and parties. “We always want [guests] to come back to do more things in the future,” says Hines. ZipZone Outdoor Adventures in Co- lumbus, Ohio, similarly offers multiple activities, including an aerial adventure park and a zip tour. Here, programming also plays a role in courting repeat visitors. For example, the “Night Flight” zip tour offers a new experience on the
Through its annual pass product, The Adventure Park at Sandy Spring, Md., has developed a base of regulars that are an asset to the business. same zip line course as the daytime “Canopy Tour,” providing enough vari - ety to entice repeat guests without the need for additional design elements. “People come and climb our adventure park, and then come back for the ‘Night Flight’ zip lines,” says owner Lori Pingle. Product offerings can also incentivize return visits, particularly in the aerial park setting where businesses sell primarily to individual customers. For example, punch cards or season passes provide customers with an easy way to become “regulars.” Developing a base of regulars serves two purposes—it cap-
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