Break One Clay Target Sports

Wherewolf Makes Check-in Easy for Break One Clay Target Sports

The van winds its way up the gravel road, heading further and further into Queenstown Hill Station until it reaches an overlook with stunning views of Coronet Peak, the Shotover River, and the Wakatipu Valley. It is here that customers of Break One Clay Target Sports will be handed an iPad to check-in while they enjoy the spectacular vista.

Owner Blake Holden shares a few stories about the area, preps the guests on what to expect during their target shooting experience, then the group jumps back into the van as they descend down to the private shooting range.

The start to the day is pleasant and professional – and before the first shotgun shell is fired, Blake has collected the all the customer info he needs, without a single piece of paper.

Small Business – Easy To Implement Tool

Break One Clay Target Sports is a small tourism business, with Holden and a small team of guides running the adventure tourism activity. Previously relying on a paper journal and waivers, the team has streamlined their daily operations by adding Wherewolf as their guest management tool.

With Wherewolf, Break One Clay Target Sports now has one simple, easy-to-use system that has driven dramatic improvements in the efficiency of their operations and has seen a marked increase in their profitability.

As Break One Clay Target Sports founder Blake Holden described it: “Wherewolf has been as big a step forward as the Internet for us.”

The power of portability

Break One Clay Target Sports offers a unique shooting experience and Blake remains as passionate about it today as he was when he founded the company 14 years ago.

“Not only is it about clay target shooting, it’s about the experience of Queenstown. We drive through the farm, past sheep…it’s a total experience of New Zealand”, Blake said, emphasizing the importance of Queenstown Hill Station to Break One Clay Target Sports’ business.

Before Wherewolf, the Break One Clay Target Sports team had to make phone calls or send texts to update each other about new customer bookings and cancellations, and all of this information was managed manually in a single diary. This approach didn’t always go smoothly – phone calls were missed, the diary was not in the right place when it was needed, and mistakes were made. For Break One Clay Target Sports, as with any small business, even those relatively minor mistakes were costly.

According to Blake, the complicated nature of the check-in process also set a less than ideal tone for customers: “It was cumbersome” and made the company look old school, handing out papers, finding pens that work, etc.

Wherewolf has changed all of that.

Wherewolf’s portability and ability to store information while offline have meant that Blake and his staff can stay in constant communication, reducing the mistakes that cost the company in the past. Blake is particularly pleased to have a digital replacement to their diary. Staff can log into the Wherewolf Dashboard on the iPad and check the current days bookings and details in a single, central place. This means that the entire Break One Clay Target Sports team remains up-to-date with minimal effort.

The portability of Wherewolf has also allowed Break One Clay Target Sports to cater to their customers better, by being more flexible about their logistical requirements. For example, specified drop-off and pick-up places are able to be selected by customers and updated in the Wherewolf app with ease.

Saving on staff training

Like many adventure tourism companies, Break One Clay Target Sports has a lot of casual staff. “Wherewolf is very intuitive to use,” said Blake. “Our new staff can onboard with our guess check-in process in a matter of minutes.”

And by running a paperless check-in process, Blake’s staff has one less thing to do – allowing them to focus on the guest experience. The administrative relief, and savings for printing and storing paper waivers, has been a boon to his bottom line.

Boosting profitability

Tracking customer data is another feature of Wherewolf that Break One Clay Target Sports has used, with excellent business results.

“From the data in Wherewolf, we were able to establish that some of our trip timings weren’t working”, said Blake.

In particular, Break One Clay Target Sports found out why the timing of their 3 p.m. trip wasn’t as popular. The feedback they got via Wherewolf was that customers wanted to have the time to do other activities after finishing their clay target shooting, and felt that the 3 p.m. trip didn’t enable that. By bringing the trip forward an hour, Break One Clay Target Sports has achieved 15 percent more business from new bookings that work into more potential customers schedules.

Wherewolf has also helped Break One Clay Target Sports generate and record repeat business through the app’s email follow-up capability. Blake has found that customers will use the follow-up email that the company sends out via Wherewolf to make additional bookings, or to make referrals.

“Our repeat business list this year is 25 percent”, said Blake. “It’s fantastic.”

And, according to Blake, Break One Clay Target Sports’ customers are as enthusiastic about Wherewolf as he is.

“We have many clients who come in the van…and [they use] Wherewolf and go “that’s amazing”, said Blake. “We hear that a lot.”

You can learn more about Break One Clay Target Sports and book an experience online at.www.breakone.co.nz.