Today we want to discuss 5 essential business systems. We believe this builds on the things we have been talking about recently in terms of setting goals, getting things organized and building solid foundations. 

If you have a foundational goal and have completed some of the tasks on our goal planning worksheet, this post is the perfect continuation for organizing your business into the five core systems and software we use with our clients as well as a team internally. 

We believe these are key things that every adventure business needs in order to succeed and scale your business.

Why do we want Systems in our Business? 

Systems are a collection of processes or software tools that can improve our business. We want and need systems implemented because when set up correctly they allow us to do the same things over and over again and become easier. 

The impact of doing something the same way time and time again is eventually you define the process which will save you time and money. 

The second impact which is just as powerful is the way you feel about your business. Having the correct things set up frees up your time for you to focus on growing. That not only eases the pressure but also lets you spend more time doing things outside of your business like spending time with family etc. 

Let’s Bust a Software Myth

Software is expensive that’s correct BUT it saves time and elevates your customer service!

From our experience with implementing these tools into MANY adventure businesses, it is immensely cheaper to have really good software for $100/$200 a month than it is to have a team member perform these tasks. Think about it. If you pay someone $200 per month what work are they going to achieve? The minimum wage here in Nelson BC is $20CAD. So your not going to achieve a lot. Paying for the software you get the bells and whistles, automation, CRM system and everything else that comes with that!

Your systems inside your business are going to help you become more productive, free up time AND save you money. 

Five Core Business Systems 

• Client Acquisition – (marketing, lead capture & sales)
• Onboarding
• Internal Operations
• Communication Systems
• Trip Delivery Systems

Client Acquisition

You need a way to bring in new leads into your business and convert them into sales. Client acquisitions are about bringing people into your business which should end up being a two-step process. More often than not people just think MARKETING! But what is marketing? Marketing isn’t just posting on social media you have to have an effective marketing strategy in place. 

People may think of lead capture but that’s only half of the process. You have to spend time capturing them, nurturing them and eventually turning them into sales. Businesses that are successful are spending less on marketing efforts and more time nurturing interested people and focusing on them with methods that are proven to work. 

Onboarding

Onboarding means bringing people into your business and onto trips. When someone signs up to join a trip that you are providing you want them to go through a very organized clean process so they know exactly what they need to do before joining your trip. 

This is why we love YouLi so much and always recommend them to our clients. They do such a good job with customer onboarding. YouLi is the leading travel management software and booking platform for groups and multiday trips. It’s an (almost) all-in-one platform offering easy Group Travel Management Software for trip planners.

Internal Operations

How does your team get work done? This can be your travel designer process, your pre-trip prep tasks for groups, paying suppliers, invoicing travellers and much, much more!

Communication Systems

This is both external and internal. You need to be focusing on your emails with your clients and how you communicate with your team members and any freelancers you may work with. It’s important to have a very clear internal and external environment where everyone can work together. We recommend keeping your email inbox/CRM software for external comms and using software like Slack or PM tool for internal communications.

Trip Delivery Systems

Your trip delivery systems are where you think about how to run your group tour operations, your day trips, or manage gear rentals, but also how your guides deliver safety talks, handle accidents, delays, and generally all elements when clients are there in person. Having clear systems and SOP’s/operations manuals/tour briefs ensures safe delivery and helps meet your traveller’s expectations.

What elements should make up your Sales System? 

This is where you will capture your leads. You can’t have sales without leads – simple. You shouldn’t generate leads if you can’t close a sale. 

Automatic Lead Generation 

Set up a free opt-in. Create an area on your website where people can sign up with their email addresses to receive a freebie relevant to them.  This works and it is definitely worth spending your time setting this up. Pay to play option here is paid ads on Facebook, Google or Instagram.

Email Marketing Automation

If we could suggest one thing this is where we recommend you spend some time to properly set this up. We want you to put some intentional time into your email marketing game. PLEASE start sending emails. At first start by sending emails manually but we highly recommend setting up automation eventually. If you have no idea how to do that please reach out to us and we can set that up for sure. It is not something you learn overnight so if you need help don’t hesitate to ask! 

Prospecting Process

This is about determining who, out of all your leads, are your best prospects (aka future travellers). A way to do this is by tagging your leads when they come in on your email platform. Or you can ask one or two questions in a survey on your website, or trip admission form to get a better understanding and idea of who the person is. This could be their skill level, destinations they are interested in or activities they like etc. 

An Effortless Sales Process

Once you have reached out to your prospect and they are interested and ready to join your trip it is now about creating a routine to help them decide if you are the right fit for them. Typically this would include engagement from a team member to discuss things further like a video call. 

Effective CRM System

Your lead system is only truly powerful when you have the correct CRM system in place. A CRM tool is an element that is missing in most adventure travel businesses. The reason is people tend to think it is too expensive. If you are paying for staff to keep spreadsheets updated, send birthday emails and payment reminders – you can afford to invest in a good CRM tool!!

Automations are not intended to REPLACE team members, they are intended to ELEVATE their role and free up their time to provide either a) better customer service (time to call pax pre-trip) or b) help MORE pax and support closing sales.

We know and like KEAP CRM and you can catch a demo here if you are curious.
Want to test drive KEAP CRM? Click here instead.

Lead Tracking and Connecting with Leads

Who’s coming in? Are they a qualified lead or are they not the right fit? You need to be thinking about the leads you have and approaching them in a way that is relevant to their status. It’s important to connect with them and always create a good lasting impression. People like to feel that businesses genuinely want to interact with them. 

Setting up Referrals and Affiliate Partnerships

These are really important as part of the lead capture piece. Reaching out to your affiliates and expanding your network and your reach can really yield your reach. As proven in our example below;

Your Client Systems Checklist

This is where you need to be thinking about everything you need to put in place in order to make things run as smoothly as possible with your clients. Things you need to be thinking about are;

1. Your waitlist process 
2. Having regular check-in calls with clients
3. Sending them proposals or itineraries
4. Your negotiation process – what will you tolerate?
5. Your contractor agreement 
6. Communicating with clients when your business is taking time off
7. How will you send any gifts to your clients if you plan to?
8. Flagging bad clients – how will you report this?

This is just a brief overview of the things you need to be thinking about when it comes to your Client systems checklist in order for them to have a positive experience with your business. Feel free to download the full in-depth checklist to refer back to at any time. This will help give you an insight into where you are falling short and what could be improved on. 

What business processes should I be thinking about?

SOPS! We can’t stress this enough. You should be thinking about SOP creation if you haven’t already got them in place, maintaining them and assigning them to be managed by the correct people. If you aren’t already convinced please head on over to our blog post “What is an SOP and how do they help your adventure business” to read more. 

We recommend SOPS should be reviewed annually at least but twice a year is ideal. 

Setting up a system that works for you

Your business needs to have a method. So any freelancers or outside people who come in need to come into your office and adapt to do things how you work. They need to slot into the business with as little disturbance as possible and help improve things not decrease productivity. 

Software Management

Are you backing up your systems and making sure they are integrated fully as can be? It’s important to ensure the security of all your software, which isn’t just your payment system this also includes your password security! 

Useful Resources

We have gone in-depth with a lot of the systems you need to have in place. If we were to go into more detail this would be an extremely long post. As always our aim is to make things easier and set you up for a successful business. We have loaded Katie’s Facebook live session discussing this on YouTube so you can listen to her going into more detail and share her wisdom. So please feel free to watch below! 

To Conclude

This has been quite a high-level look into 5 core business systems that should be implemented into every business but we have tried to tailor it specifically to adventure small business owners. We hope this has been helpful and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out! 

Join the Conversation

We would love for you to join our Business of Adventure Facebook group. This is a collaborative space for business owners or freelancers in the adventure travel and tourism space. The focus here is to share best practices and tips about online presence and digital marketing (front end) and online systems (backend) so you can establish a rock-solid foundation for your adventure business. If this is something you could benefit from, please join!