On a recent visit to Seville, my group of 4 friends engaged Pepe Muñoz (www.SevillebyPepe.com) to show us around on bikes and take us on a tapas tour. Pepe exceeded our expectations — we loved his humor, his insights, his perspective of life and his great English — so we hired him to take us to Alhambra, the famous castle 3 hours away. Then we asked him to take us to the airport the next day.
At our next stop, Lisbon, we also hired a private local guide, Joanne, based on the recommendation of our hotel. While Joanne was friendly and spoke good English, she wasn’t much of a guide. In retrospect, she was a local driver with a tiny bit of knowledge on the sites she took us to.
I outlined for Pepe how his services stacked up to Joanne’s so he’d know what stood out. I do this for clients, shopping their services as well as the competition, to know where they shine and how they could improve. Have you done this lately? If not, maybe you’re like Joanne, not knowing you’re missing out on referrals and repeat customers. If so, I’m happy to help you.
I thought you would like to see the comparison of Pepe and Joanne in the hopes there might be something you can extract to apply to your own business.
Pepe: Always on time, in fact, usually early. He’d text when he was on his way, then again when he arrived.
Joanne: Came 10 minutes late, didn’t text or ring the bell to let us know she was running late or had arrived. We had to contact her.
Pepe: Told us about the sight we were visiting during our travel to it. He pointed out photo opportunities we would have missed and took pics so we could all be in them. He translated for us and pre-ordered tickets.
Joanne: Let us out at the sights but didn’t come with us. So we had no commentary on the sights we were visiting and no one to take pics of us all, so we had to ask strangers.
Pepe: Accompanied us on stops, helped us order and took our pictures.
Joanne: Took us to a bakery to get the regional cakes. But we had no idea what to ask for.
Pepe: Took us to the places he wanted us to find. He took us to his favorites, where he knew the proprietor and they gave us extras.
Joanne: Took us to a beach town and told us to go to a restaurant “down the second street, then turn left” but not the name nor street. She stayed in the van. We couldn’t find it. We texted her but the number she gave us was for the company phone that she didn’t have with her. When we returned to the van, we learned the restaurant she suggested was on the beach and we would have loved that, but she didn’t mention it was at the beach.
BTW, Pepe is also an Airbnb host and manages several apartments for his family, including his own. So if you’re going to Seville, stay with him! The link above takes you to info on his services and his Airbnb listings.
