Best Practice - Case Study: Dairy Barns

Case Study: Dairy Barns Dairy Barns successfully promotes rural living in Norfolk, utilising a multitude of sales and marketing channels to deliver year-round bookings.

Best Practice

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Dairy Barns Dairy Barns successfully promotes rural living in Norfolk, utilising a multitude of sales and marketing channels to deliver year-round bookings.

Setting the scene Dairy Barns is a multi-awardwinning tourism and wedding business located in close proximity to the coast in North Norfolk. Owned and operated by the Deane family, it forms part of Lound Farm and the family farming business. Boasting a 20-25% repeat customer rate and employing 10 part-time staff, The Barn and nine B&B rooms celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2015.

Rated ‘excellent’ by over 270 reviewers on TripAdvisor, the business initially took advantage of a gap in the local market to offer high quality farm based B&B accommodation.

Complimented by its hugely successful wedding operation, which manages up to 20 functions a year, Dairy Barns successfully promotes rural living in Norfolk, utilising a multitude of sales and marketing channels to deliver year-round bookings.

Faced by challenges associated with providing a personal service to every guest, encouraging year-round visitors and recruiting and retaining staff in a rural location, Dairy Barns has forged a profitable business that is passionate about its people, customers and area, and keeps guests coming back year-on-year.

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Case Study: Dairy Barns

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Approach GETTING THE OFFER RIGHT Building on her previous career in the tourism industry, owner Hannah Deane quickly identified a gap in the market for farm based bed & breakfast accommodation and set about creating Dairy Barns, a high quality B&B, which would also host the occasional wedding and function. The aim was to offer ‘better than average,’ but not so over the top that people felt they couldn’t come and relax and enjoy their stay.

The family wanted their guests to feel comfortable and at home as well as enjoy nice things, such as super king beds instead of doubles and Espresso coffee machines - this is what stood them apart from their competition.

“We made it nicer than average, but not so nice that people felt they couldn’t come and relax and enjoy it - that was our mission and this is what stood us apart.”

SELLING THE LIFESTYLE Part of the appeal of Dairy Barns is that it is not in the family house; it is a barn conversion next door. However, the owners are fully aware that guests crave the personal touch of a B&B and recognise that they are selling a personal service.

Hannah describes how visitors believe rural locations are like Country Living magazine and they want to experience little snippets of it. She understands that the business must deliver on these expectations; otherwise people might as well stay in a chain budget hotel.

“You have to give more as a B&B, you have to sell a little bit of your lifestyle, or what people perceive to be your lifestyle, and that’s what they come back for.”

“People can find nice accommodation anywhere, but hotels can be impersonal, people pick us because it is personal, they meet the family, the dogs and the ponies.”

From early on it became apparent that guests came to stay at Dairy Barns not just because of the rooms, although of course they have to get the B&B right, but it’s also about the add-ons. People love to hear about the history of the farm and learn how it works; they enjoy meeting the family and becoming part of their life.

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Case Study: Dairy Barns

SELLING THE AREA

EMBRACING ONLINE TOOLS

The Deane family recognises that in order to encourage repeat business, it must not only ensure that visitors enjoy their stay at Dairy Barns, but have a favourable experience of Norfolk as a whole. The team takes the time to share their local knowledge with guests, answer questions and give recommendations. Hannah ensures that their staff members talk as passionately about the barn and the area as she does and encourages them to interact with visitors. She understands the importance of delivering an extra special service and doesn’t mind if the team takes longer to carry out tasks if they are talking to guests and helping them to plan their day

Hannah reminicses how 10 years ago, all that was needed was a few words and a picture in the Farm Stay UK brochure, however since then, everything has changed and the internet now rules, she observes. Dairy Barns recognises that however hard it works on its own website it is never going to rank as highly on search engines as the likes of Booking.com or Laterooms.com. Such portals are nationally and internationally recognised, they have huge marketing spend and strong technical support, so people go straight to them. Instead of trying to compete, the business embraces these online tools and uses them to its advantage, for example to fill gaps in bookings. Hannah admits that it takes time, but notes that the B&B receives more reservations through Farm Stay UK online booking or other such portals than it does through telephone enquiries.

“It’s all well and good visitors enjoying their stay here, but unless you really work hard to get them to enjoy the area, they will not come back.”

WORKING THE WINTER SEASON Dairy Barns employs a range of tactics to generate business during the winter months. Working with a local bird watching company, it attracts bird watchers who come and stay in December. It also accommodates winter weddings and runs special offers in November, January and February to try to entice people to book. Hannah utilises online portals such as Booking.com and Laterooms.com to let as many rooms as possible during the winter. Although they take commission, she works on the basis that it is better to take the booking rather than have an empty room and hopefully when the guest enjoys their stay, they will reserve direct next time. On this same premise, Dairy Barns has worked with Red Letter Days offering voucher schemes in the hope that an initial booking will lead to repeat visits.

“It’s not like selling shoes off a shelf, what you don’t sell today you can sell tomorrow, once you haven’t sold a room tonight, you can’t sell it, you have lost it.”

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“People don’t want to ring up, they want to go on their computer, look at pictures and book.”

This doesn’t however mean that it neglects its own website, in fact Hannah strongly advises having a good website and to not even think about settling for a cheap one. A high quality website enables people to see everything they need to when choosing accommodation, it is your shop window and they will book as a result.

Recognising the need to move with the times, Dairy Barns is investing in making its website mobile friendly, as Google is giving higher priority to sites that are mobile and tablet compatible.

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“You might have the best accommodation in the world, but if your website is out-of-date and not user friendly people will just go onto the next one.”

GETTING SOCIAL

PICTURE PERFECT

Facebook increasingly drives Dairy Barns’ bookings and was the highest referrer of traffic to the business’ website in May 2015. With over 2,300 likes, Hannah stresses the importance of using Facebook in the right way – “it’s not just about selling” she warns. Instead, Dairy Barns provides a taste of life in the country; sharing comments and pictures that encourage followers to feel good about the place and as a result, the business enjoys strong levels of engagement as people interact with the posts. Hannah recalls how she shared a picture of a bull from the farm and asked for ideas for a name. In just a couple of hours she received over 130 suggestions and even had guests who were arriving to stay asking to meet the bull.

Recognising the importance of imagery, particularly for weddings, the business has invested in professional photographs for its website, brochure and media enquiries. It is now using Instagram and is investigating Pinterest, as ways of sharing and tagging images of Dairy Barns, raising its profile. Video is also a really useful tool to help people understand the B&B’s offer and feel more confident when booking. Its website already features some video footage and the business hopes to add to this soon.

“Don’t just use Facebook to sell and promote offers and late availability, people don’t like that.”

In addition to its organic activity on Facebook, Dairy Barns ran a competition to win a two night stay in one of its extra special rooms which saw great pick up and was liked and shared extensively. It also utilises promotions and paidfor-advertising targeting its followers and their friends, to boost visibility. Hannah admits to having less success on Twitter, seeing this more as a business-to-business platform and one that they are present on because they think they have to be rather than for the success it brings.

“People don’t want any surprises, the more you can show them the more confident they feel about booking.”

MANAGING YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION For Dairy Barns, TripAdvisor is important. The business recognises the value of managing its online reputation and encourages others not to be frightened of such sites. Hannah replies to every review, taking the approach that if a guest made a similar comment at check out, she would answer, so why ignore it online. She believes people make judgements not just on TripAdvisor reviews, but also on the responses, and is of the opinion that if she doesn’t reply, it gives people more opportunity to be unpleasant and unhelpful - it is easy to do and doesn’t take up much of her time.

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Case Study: Dairy Barns

MAKING THE MOST OF PUBLICITY Dairy Barns enters industry awards for publicity, prestige and to stand out from the crowd. The business looks for opportunities to provide free rooms in return for advertising, rather than pay for it. When Visit Norwich was in search of a competition prize, Dairy Barns provided an accommodation package and in return enjoyed a two-page spread in Staffordshire Life Magazine, coverage that would have cost thousands to purchase. In the past, Hannah has actively sought out journalists and has developed a good relationship with NFU Countryside Magazine who has published a number of articles about Dairy Barns.

The business is a member of Visit Norwich, Visit Norfolk and Visit North Norfolk and takes every opportunity to attend meetings, talk to the organisation’s representatives and build relationships. Hannah makes a point of going to the local visitor information centre every spring to engage the staff and take them leaflets and as a result of her efforts the business sees a good number of referrals.

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“Embrace TripAdvisor 100% and make it work for you, after all it’s your reputation for everyone to see.”

“We enter awards because they give us credibility, publicity and prestige and help us stand out from the crowd.”

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Results

Hosts 20 weddings a year

could take bookings for 30 - 40 events, but has limited to retain a good work/ life balance

278

‘Excellent’ reviews on TripAdvisor

£££

£££

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20% - 25% repeat customers

Dairy Barns has exceededthe family’s expectations and has been profitable from year one

£££

Part time staff

Over 2,300 likes on Facebook

£££ CONGRATULATIONS!!

Multi - award - winning tourism and wedding business celebrating 10 years in 2015

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Case Study: Dairy Barns

Challenges and lessons learnt YOU MUST BE A PEOPLE PERSON

BE FLEXIBLE TO ENCOURAGE MORE BUSINESS

A large part of the family’s success has been their ability to meet people’s expectations of what life in the country is like and deliver a personal service to guests. In doing so, Hannah identifies one of the biggest challenges as being able to smile and be welcoming, even when you don’t feel like it. She appreciates that to achieve as much as they have, you have to like people and not just pretend to.

From the outset, Dairy Barns enjoyed success with its bed & breakfast and wedding venue offer. High quality B&B accommodation based on a working farm was somewhat unique in the area and, together with the chance to get married on a farm, proved an immediate hit. In comparison, due to the saturated nature of the Norfolk market, it was much harder to generate income from its holiday cottages. In response, the Deane family took the decision to accept dogs in the smaller of its two properties and has seen an increase in business as a result. Hannah and Ian have learnt from experience to be flexible and will also offer breakfast at the cottage if requested.

“You have to like people. There is no point pretending to like people, because they are in your life 24/7, knocking on the door, asking questions and wanting to be part of your life.”

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“You cannot be hard and fast when you run a business like this, people come along and tell us what they want and we try to accommodate them.”

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RECRUITING THE RIGHT STAFF IN A RURAL LOCATION Dairy Barns has found that attracting and retaining the right staff in its rural location can be hard, particularly as individuals need to be able to drive to access the site. The business utilises free local advertising channels such as community notice boards and Facebook to recruit new employees and Hannah looks for people who have the same passion and enthusiasm about the barn and area as she does. Recognising that you can teach people anything except how to have a nice way with guests and be personable, Hannah identifies individuals who have that ‘extra sparkle’ and can deliver good customer service, regardless of the role they are undertaking.

Now employing 10 part-time staff, the business acknowledges that once it has taken the time to recruit and train them, it must work hard to retain its team. In response, it offers flexible working hours, pays a little more than average and does its best to keep employees on during the winter, even if it’s for reduced hours. Hannah admits that they could close November - January to make like easier, but then questions “what would we do with our staff?” Instead Dairy Barns tries to pick up as much business as possible during the off season so, even though this period is not profitable, it can pay the wages. That way in the spring when bookings pick up, Hannah and Ian have a team of staff ready to respond.

“Once you have good staff and you have trained them, you don’t want to just say goodbye come October.”

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Case Study: Dairy Barns

Top tips 1.

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Never leave your best room empty - instead upgrade people, they will appreciate the gesture and get to experience your best offer. When they return, they are likely to request the better room and they will tell their friends and family about it, leading to more bookings.

When you are starting out, always give opportunities a go as you never know where they might lead - as long as you are not losing money, 9 times out of 10 some kind of business will result.

Invest in professional photographs of your business - high quality images communicate a strong message about your brand and are important for your website, brochure and press enquiries.

Don’t be frightened to use online tools such as booking.com or laterooms.com - be selective and take advantage of these portals to fill gaps in your bookings. Repeat visitors will reserve direct with you next time.

Utilise a range of sales and marketing channels to raise the profile of your business and grow your bookings throughout the year.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON DAIRY BARNS Contact: Hannah and Ian Deane Email: enquiries@dairybarns.co.uk Website: www.dairybarns.co.uk

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