Build up your own client base

When you work as a private tour guide for travelers, you have the opportunity to know more about your clients. In many cases, a happy client and the tour guide can turn out friends after a trip. Therefore, build up a client base is important for guides to continue the friendship.

Why is it important to have a client base? You can not keep everything about your clients in mind. Popular tour guides especially need written records as they may meet different travelers on daily basis. You do not want the mess, trying to find out one client contact through thousands of mails. Records of client preference will help to grow your future business.

How can you build up your own base? It can be as easy as a collect of emails. You may save them by date or by country origin. A better way will be setting up a spreadsheet to centralize information. So you can easily sort out client info from various fields. If you have a mature business and want to have a more efficient client base, you can check out customer service software. There are many choices on the market. You just need to compare and pick up the one that fits your needs.

What to record in your client base? Basic contacts including name and email are critical for you to keep in touch. Personal backgrounds of your travel clients are useful to design a customized tour for their return trip. Some travelers do pay a return trip to the destination they like. If the tour guide has noted their preference, e.g. culture, adventure, foods, entertainments…, your client will acknowledge your personal service and become a loyal customer. Places visited during the sightseeing tour. It is similar with each tour, but not exactly the same. On one hand, you can avoid repetition of route for a return client. On the other, noting down the route helps the guide to remember tour details with different clients. It is also helpful to track client’s country of origin or source of the client booking. Country of origin helps to settle a targeted market, while the guide can decide promotional channels with data on booking sources.

Have you already had an existing database of clients? What other fields do you think are important for a better service? We would like to hear from you.