Crazy Idea
The Team at Western Influences International gets to work with literally hundreds and hundreds of businesses in Bali. Every now and then, an unexpected opportunity arises that is irresistible. Here is the story of one crazy idea . . .
Part One: Business in Strife
Mr Rowan Marchbank purchased Expedition Bali, a four-wheel drive tour company based in Kintamani, Bali, in March of 2017. Just six months later, he approached Western Influences International with serious concern for the future of the Company. Mount Agung had just erupted and Expedition Bali had experienced 100% cancellation of tour bookings into the future. The owner did not know how he could keep the Company alive and ensure the staff would stay employed. He came to Western Influences International saying:
Just shut it down. I can’t do this anymore!
Western Influences reassured him that the business did not have to close down. It just needed to get innovative and creative in a challenging market.
Part Two: Under New Management
To begin, Western Influences undertook a services audit of each of the tours on offer at Expedition Bali; plus, an investigation into the planned future of the Company prior to the eruption of Mount Agung. Although not making money, the Company was viable. It had reasonable systems in place, although they needed to be assessed and improved under Mr Marchbank’s relatively new ownership.
Western Influences proposed an expansion project for Expedition Bali, which would introduce tours to Java to mitigate the risk of low tourist numbers in Bali. Mr Marchbank was so impressed with the proposal that he requested Western Influences take over management of the company in its entirety. Western Influences’ Director and Senior Consultant Tracy Wilkinson was experienced in tourism marketing and management, so led the project.
Part Three: Turnaround
The lack of cashflow for marketing is one of the greatest challenges in taking on the management of a company on the verge of collapse. Western Influences had to get creative and fast.
The first sub-project was a series of newsletters to stakeholders addressing the concerns many people had about the eruption of Mount Agung. The newsletters were crafted to shift the conversation from the intense negativity in the international media to that of an opportunity for travellers to witness a great phenomenon of nature – an erupting volcano. The newsletters were distributed to over 3,500 Bali businesses and many of them circulated the newsletters to their own contact databases. The reach of the newsletters was significant enough to see a change in the conversations about Mount Agung in social media. Tourists began to return to Bali.
Part Four: New Systems and Structures
The following three months were spent developing, implementing and testing new systems across Expedition Bali’s administration and operations. The resistance to change was palpable, as is the case in almost every Company restructure Western Influences has ever been involved in or witnessed others undertake. People tend to fear change. The outgoing administrative staff were replaced with an internal team of Western Influences staff to reduce costs to Expedition Bali, and to give the Western Influences team a greater understanding of the Company. The intention is that, in turn, the internal team trains the incoming staff so that they are proficient in the upgraded systems and are not weighed down with the old systems.
Western Influences staff taking on positions in a client’s company is not standard practice. However, the financial constraint Expedition Bali was experiencing were a barrier to recruiting replacement administrative staff.
Part Five: Accountability of Management
Often, the greatest resistance to change comes from the Owner, Executive and / or Senior Management that appointed the outside consultant to undertake the necessary changes to the Company. Hearing about how one might need to adapt to market conditions can be confronting for some stakeholders, and they have been known to form a dislike of the consultants for a while. Western Influences includes a clause in all its contracts that makes the decision makers aware that this is a very real possibility and that they must acknowledge that they may need to deal with this in themselves as individuals.
For Expedition Bali, there was evidence that the “hands off” approach of the then-owner was not working. The Company did not have the resources to hire anyone to facilitate the high level meetings required to secure sales from the international destination management companies that are critical to the success of the company. Expedition Bali was not foremost in the minds of the selling agents, which cost the Company in missed sales opportunities. The owner needed to be a recognisable personality in the business.
Part Six: Reality Matters
Many a foreigner dreams about owning a business in Bali and living a life of island hopping and sipping cocktails by the beach as the sun sets over the ocean. Some go so far as to buy a “bargain,” not knowing that they may be buying the remnants of someone else’s shattered dream. Some set out with great intentions, unaware of the magnitude of the financial and physical time commitment they are making. Some come to Western Influences wondering what went wrong.
Expedition Bali is a time and money intensive business. The phone rings 24 hours a day. The custom-built four-wheel drive works in extremely harsh conditions and requires regular repairs and maintenance. The operational costs are high all year round. The business cannot be neglected for a moment.
Mr Marchbank again reached a point of “Just shut it down. I can’t do this anymore.” The commitment was beyond his and his family’s means.
Part Seven: Management to Ownership
By the time Mr Marchbank realised that he did not want to continue with Expedition Bali, Western Influences International had invested almost six months in developing the Company. Western Influences was asked to either sell the business very quickly or shut it down. In the economic climate of that time, still reeling from the impact of the eruption of Mount Agung, it would be extremely difficult to find a buyer for the business, even with Expedition Bali posting two of its highest volumes of sales in the past year, under Western Influences’ management.
Western Influences did the unthinkable – bought Expedition Bali. Handover occurred within a few weeks and the temporary team became permanent. Western Influences morphed from a consulting company to a tour operator in the blink of an eye.
Part Eight: Down the Track
Four months after taking ownership of Expedition Bali, Western Influences is proud to report that the past sales records have been smashed each of the four months. In two of those months, sales doubled the best on record to date. This was happening in a depressed international tourism market, exacerbated by a second eruption of Mount Agung that caused the Denpasar airport to close on the first day of the Australian winter holiday break.
Expedition Bali now has a new face, new quality standards and a new team. Western Influences will keep treating the business like it belongs to a client, growing it to its greatest potential. And, the team will have heaps of fun doing the work.
To book an Expedition Bali tour, have a look at the variety of great adventures on the website – www.expeditionbali.com.
Happy travels!
