I went on a guided tour at a popular amusement park during my trip. We paid a healthy sum for this special tour, and after reading what was included during the tour- it easily sealed the deal.

Great! I thought this was fabulous; it matched what our agenda was and would save us oodles of time.

What the actual tour consisted of doesn’t matter at this point. What I’d like to point out is how much off course the tour went. We were in a small group of 8, and while we signed up for one thing, others signed up for a small piece of the tour and then altered the course of everyone else!

The tour guide’s responsibility is to keep to what people are paying for, maybe giving a little above and beyond if they’d like to. What happened was a few people shifted the day. There was something VERY specific about this tour, and the reason people sign up for it. That something became an afterthought.

In the course of my day I started to think about how this relates to business. I went in paying for one thing, and got something different. Was I still satisfied? I was mostly satisfied, but I felt like it wasn’t what I paid for.

What if you offered a great sale at your business- the latest trendy shoes for a limited time price of $29.99, which normally run for a price of $129.99. What happens if a customer comes to your business, and you give them a different pair of shoes, something that looked different than the pair you came in for…they could look similar, but they aren’t what you went for. You’d feel a little frustrated. That’s not what was advertised…

Now, during the course of this day, it’s a flexible thing, and the guide works around the clients. I think it was more the other client’s fault for expecting something that they didn’t sign up for. They signed up for one thing, and then manipulated the situation so that it fit their agenda. It was then up to the guide to politely get it back on track and give the other clients what they were looking for.

All in all, we had a good time. It just wasn’t what we anticipated based on the description of the tour. Could I have complained loudly and gotten a refund, maybe demanding to redo it how it was described? Who knows, I guess some people do that…I didn’t feel cheated, I had a good day, and since it was vacation, we decided to just roll with what was going on. In the end, we had a good experience. Was it what we had paid for? Hmmm, I’m just not sure at this point.

Maybe what it comes down to is I’m too flexible of a consumer. I’m willing to bend and shift as needed. In business, it’s not good sense to bend too far from what people expect. Bending somewhat can work at times, but I walked away from the experience knowing that maybe it needs to be better managed.

Just how flexible should you be?

I’m back from our trip, and while I was away, I really took a good look at how things were run at each place we visited. Were attractions marketed well, and were they a fair value for their money.

Even a simple vacation can turn into other things when you allow it. Don’t worry, I didn’t think about work too much, but at times I’d jot a note down, or toss some thoughts around about how places were managed, what could have been done differently, what worked, what didn’t, and also things that impressed me.

I hope to share some of those insights over the next week. I’m still in vacation-brain mode, so hopefully in a day or so, I’ll be back to my old self! As for now, I’m still enjoying this lingering vacation feeling.

When I get involved in a project, I work hard. I’ll sit for hours at a time to get something just right. I’ll bury myself in the fine details to make sure it meets my approval.

I also play hard, and this time it means a 2 week vacation with my son.

All work and no play makes Deb a dull and fidgety girl.
See you on the flip side!