Our vision is to make Discova the best place in Asia to be a tour guide. How the hell do you do that? Well, here’s how we’re doing it…
I started by giving our guides a “Great Place to be a Guide” survey. Apparently, we’re the first DMC to approach our guides with this type of research programme. The feedback they gave us has been invaluable and has helped us set the baseline. Most comments were positive ideas for improvements, especially around the need for greater communication, greater inclusion, and a more customised approach to training.
A lot of the feedback has led to instant, easy wins, like expanding our range of guide merchandise by updating the style, materials, and colours of the uniforms we provide. Simple stuff, but until we took the time to ask everyone, who knew?!
Importantly, we were able to identify three opportunity areas in terms of guide satisfaction.
Great tour guides don’t just show guests the sights; they tell stories of a time and a place. We’ve done training on storytelling before, but we haven’t thought, “Are we giving the guides everything they possibly need to tell those stories?” We’ve realised that we need to give our guides a more holistic view of what the customers are going to be experiencing and the story that the Product Team imagined when they created the itinerary.
So, we’re updating how we prepare guides for every tour. It’s an innovation we call ‘Service Delivery Savvy’. We now offer complete itinerary insights to guides, not just the two/three days they’ll lead, but the entire guest journey. This will mean that guests receive a cohesive journey, rather than a patchwork of good but unconnected experiences. The result is better delivery, better connection, and more effective feedback.
I’ve recently taken on the responsibility of the Customer Experience Team and have found that 90% of the time, when there is a complaint and it is related to a guide, it’s not actually a guide problem. It’s a mismatch between the wrong guests, the wrong tour, and the wrong guide.
So, we’re trying to get smarter about the information on our onboarding form. On the new system, we ask guides broader questions around how interested, passionate or knowledgeable they are on a range of topics. This information on each guide will help us do a better job of matching up the right guide to the right customers. In turn, we are asking our Sales Teams to really assess their customers to understand their needs and wishes. Then we can match customers with the perfect guide – swipe right style. This will set our guides up for success and set the stage for happy customers because we’re already trying to identify commonalities and overlaps. Their personalities will click more naturally, and the tour will be better for everyone.
We have a pool of over 1,500 full-time and freelance guides across the region, and we want to make them an even closer part of the Discova Team, working even harder on building up team spirit and training. We’re doing all sorts of things to get this right, the most tech-forward is our new learning management system called EdApp – Ed for Educate, and App for… I think you get it…
Most DMC’s host guide training for a couple of days once a year in the low season. But who can remember everything from that? You might not need a particular skill or bit of information for months after the training. We want our guides to have access to useful content when and where they need it. All of our content is designed on a mobile-first format because we know guides are out on the road and their phones are their source of information. They can go in at any time and consult the content. Things like: how to be a great guide, how to deliver engaging storytelling, what is the difference between a guide and a tour leader and a tour manager, and all the sessions from the annual training course. We even have specific FAQ articles like: ‘How to lead a full day walking tour’, or ‘Managing customer groups with limited mobility’. We want the best-trained, fully informed guides in the business.
We’re also updating our onboarding process to make them feel as welcome and as part of the family as any new office-based Discovian. We’re going to have them in the office for two days (paying full wage), giving them the chance to meet the whole team and engage with our team. They’ll have welcome lunches with different team members to explain who’s who in the zoo, getting to know people from all departments, and really connect with the product managers and their new colleagues. We’re also rolling out a new annual review programme so that they know that we are invested in them for the long term. In short, we’re making it a much more inclusive process so that they feel part of the team from day one.
Which beautifully takes us back to where we started: an infinite loop of communication, inclusion and training. I want our guides to be the best in the business, loved by guests, and proud of it. I want our guides to be the envy of the industry!
I hope you’re inspired by what we’re doing at Discova. I’m always looking to push our programmes even further, so please feel free to share your approach to guide immersion as well.
JAMES DUQUETTE
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