be going through, and how things may differ from other school years.
but spread over more hours across additional time slots—sometimes earlier in the morning or later in the evening. As a result, people wait less, creating a more positive experience overall. Happy visitors are more likely to return. For Pingle, the quality of service all comes down to how guests are treated by the staff. One easy trick for wowing customers? Learning peoples’ names. At ZipZone, it’s expected that guides learn and use everyone’s name during a two- hour zip tour. “It’s one of the hardest things—but it’s so, so important,” says Pingle, adding that the effort “makes people feel included and cared for.”
Crumbaker echoes this sentiment. “We talk to every single client,” she explains. “[Repeat customers] never go back into our system without somebody reach- ing out and talking to them.” This level of personalization allows for a truly custom experience that ensures each school or corporate group feels valued. Level of service. For commercial opera- tors, the product and sales process may be different, but the level of service is equally critical. According to Hines, one key component to developing repeat business was simply lowering the park’s capacity post-Covid by more than 35 percent. “On average, half the people on any given Saturday are new to the park—is it crowded or is it rewarding?” he asks. “We chose to make it rewarding by holding our numbers down.” Capping numbers doesn’t equate to a loss in revenue. The reservation system allows the park to continue to capture the same overall volume of business,
conversation with a group starts with the same question, “What are your goals and desired outcomes?” “I’m having this conversation every sin- gle time,” he explains. Even for repeat customers, “it’s far more tailored than it may look on the outside.” This may involve asking a school what specific dynamics are going on in class, what kind of transformation the school might Facilitator training at Hale Reserva- tion, a nonprofit course near Boston.
INCLUSIVE SERVICE
According to the operators we spoke with, one critical theme that “wows” repeat customers is an inclusive approach to service. For Crumbaker, this takes the form of accessible access and pro- gramming, a critical component of Hale Reservation’s course design. Many of Hale’s high and low elements have been designed with universal access in mind,
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