How did Offbeat Roads India grow?

Its been ten months since we started our company Offbeat Roads India and in such a short time with limited resources, we have handled more than 700 clients and in the process have learned some valuable lessons.

One of the most interesting realizations was that in this business if our company goals and our client’s goals are not aligned then we have a big issue going forward.

What I mean is since we are a start-up, to begin with, we were focusing only on one geography i.e. North East of India. And we wanted to be number one in that region. Very soon we realized number one at what cost and who cares. If my client is unhappy then it doesn’t matter what number I am, I will lose that client. So our goal shifted from being number one to ensure that clients are more happy and satisfied after their trip with us.

When we started doing this we realized that within a short span of time we started getting referrals and repeat customers not only for North East of India but for different regions across the globe.

One of the main reasons for this was we started understanding our customers, not just knowing them. Before the trip, we began to connect deeply with them to understand their reasons to travel, what they wanted out of it and who all were there in their family travelling and if possible not travelling. What hobbies or activates they liked and then accordingly we would curate the travel for them.

The second reason is we started telling ‘No’ to customers. There were a lot of customers who called us wanting to do a particular trip and when we ploughed deeper to understand why they wanted to do that particular trip we had to say ‘No’ to them either because there was an expectation mismatch (what they were expecting from the trip and what they would have got in return) or the time was not right to go to that particular destination.

Our benchmark is very simple before selling/curating a travel package think about the Goal i.e. if we sell this package would the client be happier and satisfied once he is back, and if the answer is ‘No’ then we would say ‘No’ to our clients. This built more credibility in our client’s mind and some of them wanted to do more travel via us.

We are focused on creating a system where we truly want to understand our clients, and I mean whole-heartedly and not just for the sake of doing it. We want to build a deep obsession with our customers beyond knowing their name, age, etc. we want to know what they love doing, what their partners, kids, parents love. What makes them happy in life and how they would like to spend their time, what makes them tick, what brands they like and what values they have in life. It might be sounding a bit creepy, but it is not. By understanding the client in such depth, we can create programs, which they really care about and meaningful to them. This knowledge is like a gold nugget, where we need to spend less time convincing them and keep adding more value to them.

In short, practical learning has been that when we focused more on the GOAL and less on the REWARD we grew faster. And we intend to continue on the same path with Offbeat Roads India.

To plan your trips call us @7304654584