As an outdoor property manager or owner, adding to your business may become a priority as the number of campers and boaters continues to increase every year. For any business to be successful — especially during times of growth — there must be a dedicated staff supporting your business goals.
When scaling your outdoor property business, decisions have to be made about how many staff members to add to the team, when to add them, how to train them on processes that align with current industry trends , and more. Below, we’ll discuss what scaling entails, what it means for staff capacity, and how to set your current team members up for success.
Scaling growth can be described as detailed planning for the future growth of your business. According to Score, “Scalability is about capacity and capability.” For outdoor properties, scaling may account for multiple growth opportunities such as:
To be successful, your outdoor property growth has to be mapped out. For example, even if your marketing efforts have maximized your bookings, the level of caring customer service provided may be diminished if you don’t have the staff or resources to support these additional campers.
To promote growth and improve the guest experience, you may need to add more staff members to the team. But when is it time to start the hiring process?
If your campers or boaters are waiting long periods of time to have their questions answered or requests filled, this could be an indicator that you don’t have enough staff members needed to provide quality service.
Even if your current staff is able to provide a great guest experience on most days, there may still be an employee shortage if the guest experience is negatively impacted when even one employee unexpectedly misses work.
If there is a lack of enthusiasm over providing quality service, your employees may need a break, but feel like they can’t take one due to lack of coverage. They may also feel like they have to work overtime since no one else is there to complete daily operations. If this is the case, you should consider hiring more staff to relieve the undue pressure on your current team.
Efficiency happens when employees tackle the necessary tasks for successfully running a business. When time is wasted battling an outdated reservation management system while remaining in the same position for long periods of time, this can result in unhappy staff and a high turnover rate.
The Hospitality and Accommodation Industry had roughly 47% in turnover from February 2021 to February 2022, according to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Upon excellence in their current roles or when new team members are added, consider promoting within your team to help your employees feel motivated as you scale your outdoor business.
Adding staff can be difficult — and impractical — if done all at once. That’s why it’s crucial to grow your team as you grow your outdoor property venture. You’ll want to look at your current staff and growth rate, as well as how training is currently handled, in order to keep up with the demands of the industry.
Even if you know you need new team members, it’s important to take a deeper look and understand how many and when. For example, you’ll want to hire new staff before adding services or properties so your team is ready to effectively handle the resulting new requests.
Since your current staff members may wish for career advancement opportunities and you may not need specific positions filled until later, it may help if you separately assess the staffing needs of each department or outdoor property of your business.
Charting courses logically means that no staff member — whether new, contracted, or promoted — will feel untrained in their position, because each department will only grow when it’s ready to grow. This will save you time and money, as you’ll be handling fewer “growing pains” at one time, allowing for smoother operations.
Once you have the right staff in place, you can also take action to reduce your turnover rate. One way to help your employees gain confidence in their role is to set goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). To help your staff reach these goals, you can provide continuous learning opportunities and customer service tools, including an effective reservation management software. With this extra support, your team can provide an amazing experience for every guest.
Even after you have the staff needed to run your outdoor property, they can’t be successful without established processes that are straightforward and logical. When adding a new team member, it’s a great idea to ask for feedback as the team member learns about your daily operations.
Even if you have a workable strategy for scaling growth, your current reservation and property management system may not be able to keep up. To discover how to enhance your guest’s stay, download your free copy of the Operational Excellence in Hospitality to get started.