Whatever we choose to do to earn a crust, we do it because we have to. We need to live somewhere, sustain ourselves, and buy things. That’s a sweeping generalisation, but it’s true for most of us. But our work shouldn’t define us. Work isn’t who we are, it’s simply what we do for a chunk of the week and our lives. Because we have to.
I deliberately ‘humanised’ my brand as I built my business, which is partly why it’s done ok. There a cliche about people buying people, but it’s true. People would rather buy into someone than buy a thing. This page touches on me as a person. You might feel a connection with me when you read some of the things on here, or you may feel that I’m up myself. I don’t mind which, as the overall result is that I am where I want to be, by being who I am. You can’t please everybody, though I do like to try.
I can’t help being how I am, I just like to talk a lot, and be nice to people. But that seemed to make people who came to stay at Woodfarm feel at home. And that’s what it’s all about. All I ever tried to do was to make guests feel welcome, feel that nothing is too much trouble, and to have them leave feeling that they want to come back, and to tell everyone they know all about us. I knew that if I did that, I’d build a business and make money. It worked.
Along the way I used my interaction with guests, and potential guests, via our growing database, social media platforms, over the phone, and in person, simply to make them feel at home. I have said a billion times over the years that it is not rocket science, and it isn’t. Actually, probably not a billion, but a lot.
Cheers…
Do you remember the old TV programme ‘Cheers’. The chorus went like; “Sometimes you want to go, where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came”. If you stop for a sec and really think about it, that is it. In a tiny nutshell, that is one of the reasons that my business works. And that is what soooo many people in customer focussed businesses are missing. I’m not talking about literally remembering everybody’s name, but embodying that feeling of belonging. It’s just basic human nature. If you don’t remember everybody’s name, at least leave them with the sense that you know them.
It ain’t rocket science…
I never, ever, ever, targeted making money. I just targeted making people happy. Yes, it does sound sickly, but it’s true and I’m forever saying this to guests, friends and clients. And like I say, it worked. There will be lots more detail on this in my yet to be written book, as well as individual discussions with future consultancy clients, but like I say, it ain’t rocket science. And fortunately for me, lots of my competitors don’t get this. And I’ve even put it out there for them to read. Publicly. (Insert your own face palm emoji as I can’t work out how to do it here)
I just spent a decade or so getting to know people, and letting them get to know me. To know who I am, what I like doing, how I like to spend my time, and a tiny glimpse into the weird brain that occupies the cavernous void between my ears. And it is weird. But it works.
Rather than being a faceless business that customers couldn’t ‘connect’ with, I decided to let people get to know me, and for me to get to know them. I’m quite good at retaining faces and names. Not everyone, but a lot of people. Getting back to the ‘Cheers’ theme though, it’s not literal. That parallel is about a ‘feeling’. A feeling that you are known, and cared about. I’ve made hundreds of friends through my holiday cottage business. Hundreds of friends, who repeatedly book again, refer us to others, and pay me. They’re not under any obligation to do this, they do it because they want to.
The bottom line is that we have worked hard to provide the best accommodation we can (again, not rocket science), and give people the tools to tap into the very best that Suffolk has to offer. But the icing on the cake, is that everybody is made to feel welcome. Whether I meet them, or one of my team does, I recruit nice people who do what I do too.
I think one of the contributory factors to the success of the business, is the transparency with which I run it. I’m really open about how I market the business, what we do with data, why we do things the way we do. People like this. Insert saying about rocket science again!
A little bit more about me…
The net result is that I tend to be fairly transparent about lots of things; the fact that I’m dad to Lauren, the best daughter a chap can have, I love music and being an amateur musician (see Music tab), I try my best to be healthy (with varying results due to the invention of cake), and I love getting out on my bike around the lanes of Suffolk and Essex, and hitting the gym. I also take an interest in nutrition (trying, but often failing, not to eat crap), politics (shouting at the radio), photography (iPhone pointing), and human behaviour (people watching). Oh, and I love Tuscany too.