Eat, Sleep, Treasure Hunt, Repeat.

The key to any successful business, apart from getting lots of customers, is to get repeat purchases. When I set up Black Cat Treasure Hunts, there was a worry that once you had completed one of these original hunts you would look at alternative types of activites in the future. The past week I have written treasure hunts for two companies, one of which had a teambuilding treasure hunt in 2018 and the other in 2019. In addition, this Sunday (26 Sept) sees the first of a series of treasure hunts planned in conjunction with Connected Brighton:https://www.connectedbrighton.com/diary-of-events 

1. Responsive/Open to Ideas: At the enquiry stage for a new booking it is crucial to be enthusiastic about any brief or idea presented. In terms of treasure hunts this can be starting from a new place or adopting a different theme you may not have heard of. The best example of this was for a birthday treasure hunt that wanted a Dragon Ball Z theme whilst exploring the V&A Museum! It turns out that a number of the displays incorporated dragon motifs...I took it from there!

2. Keep to the time schedule: Generating confidence for a new enquirer is very important in developing a business relationship both in the present and the future. A lot of the enquiries to Black Cat Treasure Hunts are via email or through the website. People have not met or spoken to me and need re-assurance that they are making a good decision. By sticking to a rigid time schedule, at least on my part(!), in terms of sending out booking forms,responding to suggestions,producing a first draft and sending answers etc will allow the client to relax and let me do my best work.
3. Check and Get It Right First Time: Building on the whole confidence issue and setting up the possibility of repeat bookings for the future is to make sure the first experience is a great one. Writing an original and fun treasure hunt, checking that everything (in terms of the answers/directions etc) is correct as close as possible to the event date and allowing enough time for the customer to see a first draft and potentially make changes should all be standard procedures. By doing these you have given yourself the best chance  of securing a repeat booking.
4. Feedback on the day or soon after: I have put the option of attending treasure hunts to do the organising and marking on my booking form now. I used to give it as an option to corporate teambuilding bookings only. Now that it is open to everyone, it can be very helpful to eventually meet the people you have been arranging the booking with. It also means you get immediate feedback to fine tune any future bookings. If I am not required to attend then I will send a follow up email the next week to check everything went well and ask for a review. Any feedback is extremely helpful.
5. Keep the past bookings easily identifiable:  This sounds obvious and is easy to accomplish with a neat booking system. I have computer files for each style of treasure hunt and venue for them split into years. Each booking has either a company name or the initials of the person booking and the exact date of the booking. Once you have accessed thr previous booking then you can quickly see hich questions/challenges and route you used before. The harder part is to make sure that treasure hunt 2.0 or hopefully 3.0(!) uses an original route and/or theme.
6. Take the lead on repeat bookings: Whether the repeat booking is from the original person or maybe from a new person who has been told how good the treasure hunt was before, it can pay to be the one making the suggestions second time round. For example...one of the bookings I referred to at the start wanted to do the same afternoon activity (go on Brighton Pier) as before. Instead of leaving myself with a big problem of how to get from their office to the Pier via a new route I suggested we start at the Pier so that I could use it as an integral part of the treasure hunt. This kept it fresh and entertaining. 
The other one needs to be from the same place, but has allowed me to finish it where I like. This means I can ut together a very different route and subsequently fresh questions and challenges. The Connected Brighton series of treasure hunts should benefit from the fact that I know in advance that the intention is to write several different hunts for them. Different themes,routes and styles will come into play and ensure there are new participants.
Whether you are a new or repeat treasure hunt booker with Black Cat Treasure Hunts I (Tim) look forward to your enquiry on info@blackcattreasurehunts.co.uk