“No one goes there any more; it’s too crowded.” – Yogi Berra
My Vacation
This past week I took a vacation to Texas with my wife and four kids. My wife’s sister and her family live just north of Houston so we planned to stay with them for a few days. Then we planned to head west to New Braunfels (just north of San Antonio) to visit the Schlitterbahn waterpark.
Thank God for in-car DVD players! When we first left our house, our GPS (which my wife has now named Mary Poppins due to the British voice we’ve programmed it to use) told us it would only take thirteen hours to make the journey to my sister-in-law’s house. Throw in bathroom breaks, meals, and road construction, and it ended up taking us over sixteen hours. We left at 8:30 in the morning and didn’t arrive until past 12:30 am.
Anyway, we spent a couple of very hot and humid days (it is Houston) at my sister-in-law’s before heading west to the water park.
The Water Park
We chose to go to Schlitterbahn because (a) we’d been there about 5 years ago and had had a great time, (b) it was hot and a water park would feel great, and (c) it was a Thursday – how busy could it be?
Famous last words, apparently. We got to the park when it opened at 10:00 am, slathered on sun screen, toted our coolers to a nice sunny picnic table (the shaded ones were already taken of course) and headed to the water.
Now, what I remembered about the park from the last time we were there was a ride called the Master Blaster. It’s a roller coaster that uses water to push you around. We all remembered it as being pretty cool and worth the trip, so the first thing we did was head to that ride.
Other people must have thought it was a decent ride, too, because by the time we got it line there was already over a two hour wait. Two hours! For one ride. Holy cow! How about “No F***ing Way!”
Okay. Let’s try the ride next to that ….. one hour! Well, that’s not going to work, either. After all, we had seven kids between our two families (including two four year olds).
The park is made up of three distinct sections, each with different water attractions, so after being frustrated with the first area, we hopped on a shuttle and headed to the next park.
There, everywhere we walked had lines that extended so far we couldn’t fathom the wait times. All the bigger attractions had at least one hour waits so we settled for spending time in the lazy river and some of the kids areas. Some of our group did get in a couple of water slides, but that was about the extent of it.
The third park area wasn’t any different. Long, long, long lines everywhere.
This Wasn’t What I Remembered
What had changed since the last time we were there?
I’m actually not sure what changed, but I think they’ve been a victim of their own success. The park has been covered by the Travel Channel and is ranked as one of the best water parks in the country. I’m sure that hasn’t hurt their business.
But seriously, 2 hour lines on a weekday? I can’t even imagine what weekends are like.
The Impact of Their Success
They are experiencing great success now. But I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t going to come back to bite them. After our experience this time, with the money and time we spent to go to the park (gas, hotel rooms, park tickets, food, etc) measured against the enjoyment we got from the park, I think we came up with the short end of the stick. And I won’t go back anytime soon!
If the park doesn’t adjust the way it does business – add more rides, raise ticket prices, or find a way to make lines move faster – it’s success is going to hurt it. Eventually more people will get disgusted and stop going.
Success Can Hurt You
That is what too much success can do to a business. If you find you are getting too busy and you risk alienating clients because your work product or customer service is going downhill, you’re business will not survive. You need to institute changes to keep this from happening.
But Your Business Doesn’t Have To Suffer
So, if you are lucky enough to be in a situation where demand exceeds your ability to do the work to the same level as you had, here are some suggestions for coping (and taking your success to a new level):
- Raise your prices – It will naturally eliminate those less motivated to work with you and make you more valuable in the eyes of prospects. After all, if you can demand such rates, you must be good.
- Increase your supply – Hire employees to work with your clients.
- Add leverage – Outsource less critical tasks or automate tasks where possible.
- Fire some customers – Some customers take far more effort and are harder to work with than others. Think of the 80/20 rule. It says that 20% of customers will take 80% of your time. Maybe you should think about firing some of the 20%.
- Raise your standards – Be pickier about who you choose to take on as clients. You might as well work with clients and do the kind of work you really savor.
What ever you choose to do, make sure your clients aren’t impacted negatively. Any changes you make should maintain or raise your customers’ experience with you. If you become too difficult to work with or your product goes downhill, your customers may well say the same thing I did after my vacation experience – “That kind of sucked and I won’t go back anytime soon.”
Photo by Galveston.com
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