PROFITABILITY GROWTH GAP CALL

Thirty minutes. No pitch. Just the gap.

A Growth Gap Call is a free thirty minute conversation with me about the single biggest gap between the business you are running and the one you meant to build. You will leave with that gap named and the first thing to do about it, whether or not you ever work with me.

I have sat across from a lot of tourism operators now, and the conversation starts the same way almost every time. The boats are running. The reviews are good. The season looked strong. And when I ask what landed in the bank at the end of it, there is a pause.

That pause is the gap.

Through COVID I spent a fair bit of time in rooms with government ministers and politicians, arguing the case for small tourism operators. What I saw in that period is what this whole business is built on. The same story in every region. Good operators, working themselves into the ground, with nothing much to show for it. Not bad operators. Not bad luck. Something structural that nobody had bothered to name for them.

So that is what this call is. Thirty minutes to name yours.

What we actually do in the thirty minutes

 will ask you a handful of questions about your business. Where the bookings come from. What you charge and when you last changed it. What your season actually looks like. How much of your week goes on things only you can do.

Then I will tell you what I think the real problem is, and where I would start if it were my business.

That is it. There is no report, no slide deck, no presentation. If I need a whiteboard to explain what is wrong with your business in thirty minutes, I have not understood it well enough.

What to have ready

Not much, and I mean that. I suggest you spend five minutes before the call thinking about three things:

  • Roughly what percentage of your bookings come through OTAs versus direct

  • When you last put your prices up

  • The one thing about the business that keeps you awake

You do not need to send me anything. You do not need to prepare a document. If you turn up with nothing but the honest answers, we will get plenty done.


What happens after

One of three things.

I will tell you the first thing to fix and you will go and fix it yourself. That happens a lot, and it is a good outcome.

Or I will tell you the first thing to fix and it is something I can help with, in which case we talk about what that looks like.

Or I will tell you that you do not need me yet, and why. I have to admit that is not the most commercial thing to say on a page like this, but it is true and you would find out anyway.

Is it actually free?

Yes. There is no invoice at the end of it and no obligation on either side.

For me, the call is how I work out whether I can be useful to you. I would rather spend thirty minutes finding that out than have either of us commit to something that was never the right fit. If it is not a fit, I will say so on the call.

You will not be sold to. If you have been on enough of these calls to be sceptical about that sentence, book it anyway and hold me to it.

Who this is for

Owner-operators of tour, attraction, cruise and charter businesses, and accommodation with an experience attached. Usually somewhere between $500,000 and $20 million a year. Busy, established, and quietly frustrated that busy has not turned into profitable.

If you are in your first year and still working out whether the idea holds up, this is probably not the right call yet. Send me a note anyway and I will point you at something more useful.

Pick a time that suits you. Times shown are in your own time zone.

I work with operators in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada, and everything is delivered remotely. If none of the times work for where you are, email me and we will find one.

If you would rather just talk, call me on 0491 729 043.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • No pitch. I will tell you what I think the problem is and where to start. If working together makes sense I will say so, and if it does not I will say that too.

  • Thirty minutes on Zoom. Longer if the conversation is going somewhere useful and we both have the time.

  • Most are. You do not need a tidy set of books for this conversation, you just need to know roughly where the bookings come from and what you charge. The messy numbers are usually where the gap is hiding anyway.

  • You do not have to. It takes ten minutes and it makes the call sharper because I can see where you stand before we start. If you would rather just talk, book the call.

  • Yes, and I would encourage it if you both make the decisions. No extra cost and no extra time needed.

  • Yes. Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada. Everything is delivered remotely, and anything quoted is billed in your own currency.

  • Then the call is still worth thirty minutes of your time, because you will leave knowing what to work on first. Plenty of operators take that away and do it themselves.