I was invited to have a first chat about a place in a nearby village. The family owns a big house, a pension which can host 8-10 people, maybe more... (I actually haven't seen the house, because the family lives a few kilometers further down on the road).
I met the couple who have 3 daughters. Two of them university students, one still at secondary school. They are very nice, friendly people.
We talked about many things, but one of the questions I asked was, how did they get this pension? What was the original idea? I found out that someone who was in debt to the family, gave them this house, which originally was built for hospitality purposes, and obviously they accepted and kept it for future times. :)
So, there is a house, there is this big property with a nice big courtyard, fully equipped and there are no guests. This is why I was invited there. :)
How can they advertise it? What can they do to attract customers?
So far, they had a couple of newspaper advertisements and hosted 2 groups of people, one of the groups coming back for the second time. They had a great time.
On the way there I was thinking about all these questions, so I could maybe give them some ideas to start off. And just to illustrate how differently our minds work I will tell you what I came up with.
I told them to make A5 or smaller size leaflets with their offer and contact details and distribute them to all the villagers and the nearby communities. (The administrative district has 4839 inhabitants according to the 2011 census). Because the church and the priest still has considerable power in the local communities' life they could ask the priest to spread the word whenever there is a major event in the village (like choir reunion, generation reunions, weddings, baptisms, village days, pilgrimage etc.) that guests can stay at this pension. Usually on these occasions family members, and friends who don't live in the village any longer come home and spend a few nights there.
After listening to me and talking for a while, the man said that he actually thought that my idea is not a good one, and it wouldn't work. And I said: how do you know? I just know - he answered. People stay with their relatives, their friends, their godparents. They would never stay in a pension. I insisted, asking: have you ever tried? No, but it won't work - was the very determined answer.
Ok then. This won't work. There is no good mobile network in the village, they don't know how to use the internet and they don't speak any foreign languages. Then, what? They can and they will register on some booking portals. They will probably advertise the pension in the local media. Probably, but not sure.
The children are far from them, so their knowledge is not much use in this case.
I asked who is "devoted" to this work? Nobody, yet! But once it starts working we'll be there for the business!
This is my biggest challenge I think. To make people understand that FIRST YOU WORK, INVEST WHATEVER YOU NEED TO AND THEN THE BUSINESS WILL GROW. And not the other way round which seems to be the majorities' perception of a business.
I met the couple who have 3 daughters. Two of them university students, one still at secondary school. They are very nice, friendly people.
We talked about many things, but one of the questions I asked was, how did they get this pension? What was the original idea? I found out that someone who was in debt to the family, gave them this house, which originally was built for hospitality purposes, and obviously they accepted and kept it for future times. :)
So, there is a house, there is this big property with a nice big courtyard, fully equipped and there are no guests. This is why I was invited there. :)
How can they advertise it? What can they do to attract customers?
So far, they had a couple of newspaper advertisements and hosted 2 groups of people, one of the groups coming back for the second time. They had a great time.
On the way there I was thinking about all these questions, so I could maybe give them some ideas to start off. And just to illustrate how differently our minds work I will tell you what I came up with.
I told them to make A5 or smaller size leaflets with their offer and contact details and distribute them to all the villagers and the nearby communities. (The administrative district has 4839 inhabitants according to the 2011 census). Because the church and the priest still has considerable power in the local communities' life they could ask the priest to spread the word whenever there is a major event in the village (like choir reunion, generation reunions, weddings, baptisms, village days, pilgrimage etc.) that guests can stay at this pension. Usually on these occasions family members, and friends who don't live in the village any longer come home and spend a few nights there.
After listening to me and talking for a while, the man said that he actually thought that my idea is not a good one, and it wouldn't work. And I said: how do you know? I just know - he answered. People stay with their relatives, their friends, their godparents. They would never stay in a pension. I insisted, asking: have you ever tried? No, but it won't work - was the very determined answer.
Ok then. This won't work. There is no good mobile network in the village, they don't know how to use the internet and they don't speak any foreign languages. Then, what? They can and they will register on some booking portals. They will probably advertise the pension in the local media. Probably, but not sure.
The children are far from them, so their knowledge is not much use in this case.
I asked who is "devoted" to this work? Nobody, yet! But once it starts working we'll be there for the business!
This is my biggest challenge I think. To make people understand that FIRST YOU WORK, INVEST WHATEVER YOU NEED TO AND THEN THE BUSINESS WILL GROW. And not the other way round which seems to be the majorities' perception of a business.