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Adventure Travel – Offer an Epic Experience for Your Customers

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Today’s guest is Tom Ranieri, the owner of Pacuare Outdoor Center. The outdoor center located in Costa Rica is about a love for adventure, never-ending exploring, and passion for travel. Hosting guests from all over the world, Pacuare Outdoor Center also offers an affiliate program to bicycle retailers who wish to suggest and offer to their customers and riders a chance to experience a trip of a lifetime, while offering the retailer a revenue boost for the referral. Today’s conversation is about why now is a good time to think outside of the box with customer-centric conversations and also to start thinking about packing the bags for a trip to remember.

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Adventure Travel – Offer an Epic Experience for Your Customers

Tue, 10/5

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

trip, costa rica, bike, people, travel, industry, pandemic, bicycle, bike shop, raft, retailers, thinking, river, big, business, offer, affiliate, tom, biking, mountain

SPEAKERS

Heather Mason, Tom Ranieri, NBDA , Kent Cranford

NBDA   00:10

You are listening to bicycle retail radio brought to you by the National bicycle Dealers Association.

Heather Mason  00:16

Welcome to another episode of bicycle retail radio brought to you by the National bicycle Dealers Association. This is President Heather Mason. Thank you for listening. We’re happy you’re here. Do us a favor leave a review. It helps members of our industry find our podcast. This podcast is designed specifically for the bicycle industry dedicated to strengthening our retailers and cycling community. Today’s guest is Tom Ranieri owner epic quality outdoor center. The outdoor center located in Costa Rica is about a love for adventure, never ending exploring and a passion for travel. They host guests from all over the world. And the quality outdoor Center also offers an affiliate program to bicycle retailers who wish to suggest an offer to their customers and riders a chance to experience the trip of a lifetime. That also will offer the retailer an important revenue boost for the referral. So today’s conversation is about why now is a great time to think outside of the box with customer centric conversations. And also to start thinking about packing the bags for trips, remember alright without further ado, let’s get into the episode welcome Tom’s bicycle retail radio

Tom Ranieri  01:25

gather thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited to be on the show you for your past guest or impressive list of individuals and kind of a river guide from Costa Rica is something special. So happy to be here.

Heather Mason  01:40

Tom, I know you’re banned you told me when we first met that you listened to the podcast. So when we started having these conversations, it was just natural to have you on as a guest. I always like to give our listeners some background. So I first met Tom and his family at the big gear show this year, August his daughters were super kind, we hit it off right away. And we’ve been conversing ever since. And he’s always in this beautiful habitat. And we’re always joking about a trip. You know, Tom, I am serious about this.

Tom Ranieri  02:11

I believe Yeah, it seems pretty serious last night when you were sending over flight costs that

Heather Mason  02:19

I couldn’t I started looking it up. I’m like, how much does it take? You know, to get to Costa Rica, I found some pretty amazing.

Tom Ranieri  02:26

I think our listeners should know that $200 was the amount that’s round trip. So I think I think that’s all we need to say right there. We could in the show.

Heather Mason  02:39

I literally for our listeners like I emailed Tom I was like, Where is this airport? Is this close to you? I found this this rate, he’s like, pack your bags now pick you up. I mean, seriously, your daughter’s just so awesome. And really have you guys at the big gear show.

Tom Ranieri  02:57

It was fun. You know, I’m a lucky guy I live with, you know, my wife, nice and beautiful daughter. And we were able to get into big gear show as a family. And, you know, it sort of went along very well with the shows by because it felt like a family vibe at the show. Yeah. I’m just, I’m a lucky guy. We’re gonna say,

Heather Mason  03:22

it’s so awesome when you know it right? And you’re right. It was like this magic happening at the show. And the field is pretty spectacular.

Tom Ranieri  03:30

I don’t like that. I’m sorry. I was gonna, one of my favorite things was when the girls were saying they kept saying, I was pointing out the president, the president of NBDA. And I was like, I gotta go remind me to go talk to her. And the whole time they were just like, female president. Yeah. And she so yeah.

Heather Mason  03:52

It was super cool. I love to see all the women getting into the industry, you know, and you can tell your daughters were just jazzed about being there supporting you and seeing what was going

Tom Ranieri  04:02

1. Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, that’s that’s one thing that and more so in coming from Costa Rica, Latin America, you know, you have the machismo culture, we’re probably about 510 years behind on you know, progressive stuff that happens in the US that you know, step into that world and see into the future is it’s pretty awesome and motivating. So thank you for that. Because I know you’re a big part of that.

Heather Mason  04:28

All right, you’re giving me goosebumps? Yeah. I want it we want to know more about you. We want to know more about the outdoor Center and the affiliate program. And you know, when you came up to me, we’re just chatting for the first time you know, at the big air show, you were just beaming about adventure travel and how retailers could work with you to just explore, explore their their options for making a customer centric culture and really giving people options that maybe we hadn’t even known existed. You’ve got you’ve done your homework, obviously. So a lot about, like the wind that you see for retailers right now.

Tom Ranieri  05:06

Well, you know, it’s funny, because I’ve been in the travel industry for almost 20 years. And, you know, just like a lot of industries, there’s, there’s a lot of there’s a lot of middlemen. So, once you start dissecting it and looking at it, you know, there can be up to four or five people in the middle of an individual booking a trip. And so the pandemic started by began, and I, you know, I was following that, you know, I have a lot of friends with rafting Outfitters stand up paddleboard bike shops, and I was just sitting back and I was like, wow, you know, this couldn’t happen to a better industry. And then it, you know, it dawned on me, I’m like, why are we not? Why isn’t there more of a direct link for Outfitters, like myself, and retailers, they’re having success right now, in building these new lists of contacts of the so called hobby COVID cyclists, and you know, that those same people are going to be leaving those shops in six months in spending, you know, their money on travel companies, you know, hopefully, like ours, so why not sort of keep that in the family, because, you know, we’re all part of the, that’s why like, the Wi Fi gear show, it’s like, we’re all part of this outdoor ecosystem that just feels like, you know, we can work together and, you know, keep the money. Like I said, in the family, so it’s sort of sparked with that, and it’s just, we developed an affiliate program based on that idea in the affiliate program. You know, we know you’re running bike shops, and we know that the amount of time that goes into that, well, I don’t personally, but I can imagine, you know, I’ve heard the stories. And so the, the affiliate program is set up to where it’s really no work whatsoever, on your end, all you’re really doing is sharing a link. I mean, I’m sure most of the individuals listening are familiar with affiliate programs, but if you’re not, you know, it’s all digital, you just sign up and you create a link and with that link, any purchases that are done from that link are automatically credited to you. So we offer cash kickback, or more importantly, which I value more as we’re offering vacation credits. So if you sell some trips from your shop, you can come down and hang out with us you know what I mean? Like shop owners what could they use more right now than that than a vacation right?

Heather Mason  07:40

I totally I love what you’re saying because you know we’ve been talking about engaging these new cyclists and and retailers have an opportunity right now to play a part in someone’s journey right and so we have new cyclists coming in to bike shops you know getting outfitted to go into their own communities and what’s next as we start opening back up and travel does let’s encourage them to you know, stay connected to the bicycle in a way and what a great way to work with someone like yourself and have a you know a network right there to suggest

Tom Ranieri  08:13

right and i mean i think he said you know it’s the be a part of their journey and their journey doesn’t stop when they when they leave the store obviously you know I I’ve always thought that like shops they’re part of the travel industry whether they know they’re not you know they might not be the you know travel agency that you think over a company like that I’m running but you’re selling bikes you’re selling the one of the most basic and popular forms of travel that exists on the planet and started just dabble a little bit in our in the travel industry, I think really isn’t something that that can expertise. We’re excited. We’re just gonna see what happens with it. Alright,

Heather Mason  08:58

so I want to know more about quality outdoor center. When did you start it and what was your vision?

Tom Ranieri  09:04

Okay, the quality First of all, what is the name of the river it’s down here in Costa Rica it’s Costa Rica’s most popular river for for rafting we of course, get there on our mountain bikes to the to the put in, and then we raft down and then we get to the lodge and then stay there a few nights and then the raft out. The natgeo add it is one of their top five most scenic rivers on the planet. And it’s absolutely gorgeous. I mean, it’s, it’s what I fell in love with when it came to Costa Rica. And it’s one of the reasons why I stayed. I started as a raft guide when I was 20 on the squatty and just, I was on my gap year and it you know, just finished my second gap decade. My parents I think they finally figured it out. I wasn’t going back to school, but but, you know, it’s just the putting groups together and getting trips and, you know, being able to buy By the way, we harvested all the trees on site to build the cabins. And it’s sort of I mean, it’s, it’s a work in progress. It started out as two cabins, public cabins, six cabins, a little bit more land, nine cabins, now we have the zip lines. And so it’s

Heather Mason  10:22

your mountain bike to the river, and then you raft to the lodge, and you stay there. And I mean, this trip of a life. It is it is, you know, we’d liked it, we’d like to think so. And it’s, you know, it’s remote. And everybody that comes, you know,

Tom Ranieri  10:38

they say that, like, you know, we had the trip over our life, and, you know, we honestly feel that, you know, we’re, we’re having an impact on people’s lives. Now, that sort of stems to where, you know, working with small businesses come comes from too, because, you know, I’ll be honest, the last seven years of the business has been really well, but some of the passion, just sort of, you know, I think it can happen to any business owner, no matter what business you’re in, and it just became this, it became more of a transaction and relationships. And I think, you know, for a lot of, I’m sure shop owners out there, you know, going through the same thing, but when the pandemic came, I was thinking I was like, Oh, no, now I’m, now I’ve got Minish passion, and no income, you know, things are going to be horrible. I got on the river that first day, it was just like, wow, the magic still here. It wasn’t about I’m like, you’re gonna be broke in six months, you know, it’s like, but you know, everything was okay. And then this whole idea of, I asked myself, like, what do you want to do? Do you want to go after the bigger travel company contracts that, you know, some of which we have? Or do you want to do like a grassroots thing, something that, you know, I’ve always thought of, like, just never been able to put in this rotation. And the idea of reaching out to these small business owners has been so much fun. I mean, I’m on calls with, like minded, you know, people like myself that we can, it is business. But it’s also, you know, a relationship, which is fun. And that’s, you know, that’s part of the business that I think I’ll always hold close and want to be a part of, at least my business structure. I know not everybody has the same way of doing business. But that’s sort of what we do. Down here. It’s genuine,

Heather Mason  12:31

and it’s those memories you’re making. And at a certain point, you just have to trust and go with your gut. I mean, I can see this looking at you. I mean, you’re, you’re happy, you’re a happy human, like you’re following your passion following and you have no idea where it’s gonna take you. When we were talking earlier, you were talking about, I think, Colombia and some something in the past that had happened there. Can you share a little

Tom Ranieri  12:53

bit about that? Yeah, the Colombia project is, you know, another thing I hold very close to my heart, my close friend, Don Rafa guy who’s the former president of international rafting Federation, he, when the pandemic started, he was diagnosed with cancer and sadly passed in March. But him and I had sponsored a junior rafting team to go to Colombia, and the whole idea of he had started raft in Colombia. And the whole idea was to go into the FARC territory, where the, you know, the war had been going on for years, and try to get these soldiers to change their machine guns for battles. And so, you know, we go, they had just done the six peace agreement. And we’re, we are in the farthest deepest, most, you know, it was a forgive forget treaty. So, we walk in, and we’re talking for the first guy, and then I was like, wait, and I looked them up on the internet, I’m like, whoa. And so you know, you’re really doing like, what would you call it, just, you know, work that can really change not only lives, but just the whole way a country can relate to 30 years of war. And so it turned out that they’re running an eco tourism operation there now where they’re receiving guests, and they’re taking them rafting, you know, daily. And I, when I go down there, I gotta tell you, I think bikes, I’m like, man, we got to get like 20 bikes into this village, because then the people will come they’ll stay two or three nights, and then they’ll stay another two or three days, biking, and then so it’s just just a neat way of how adventure travel can not only affect those of us that are sitting in quarantine, but they can expect you know, even you know, wars. So, I mean, you’ve no

Heather Mason  14:56

idea like where that’s I love life because you have no idea where Gonna take you and you go in to these situations, and then you walk away with this being changed, changed human right and right,

Tom Ranieri  15:07

right, yeah, not to mention the change it has on on yourself. I mean, I know I’m changed forever. Every time I go down the river, it feels just like I’m sure why the listeners, every time they get on their bike, it’s, you know, it’s their therapy, it’s their way keeps us keeps us going.

Heather Mason  15:28

We talked a little bit, you spoke a little bit about the pandemic, and maybe some of the ways that you took a deeper look at yourself through it, did it change your business at all, and the Costa Rica experienced a bike boom as well.

Tom Ranieri  15:43

storica did have a bike. I mean, it was a, it was a big bike boom, just like, in the US. And it was, it was great. Our entire staff, we were, we were out probably three times a week. And, you know, we loved it. And this was, this was sort of, you know, in one of those ranges of cases weren’t too high. And it wasn’t too bad down here yet. And so the bike boom came, it did really well, we thought it was going to be six months here in the travel industry. So obviously, it was long in that it had a huge effect on Tesla, because number one industry is microchips for, like Intel and computers. But then the second one is tourism. So it was a huge impact. And I’ve always felt responsibility to, you know, try to as a business owner here to do what I can to keep everybody on staff, but it was impossible. And, you know, we’re, we’re a staff of probably 22 when we’re full. And we’re down to like, three now. We’re very, very much ready to get everybody back in doing what they did.

Heather Mason  17:10

I’m thinking about the travel industry that and I’m thinking about the bike industry. I mean, two completely different ways that we got through this pandemic.

Tom Ranieri  17:19

Oh, yeah, yeah, I always tell people like the travel industry in the bike industry could not have gone through the pandemic any differently. I mean, it was total opposite bike boom, which is awesome. couldn’t happen to a better industry. the travel industry literally shut off and borders were closed. But I do think that they’re going to have similar long term outcomes. I think the travel industry, well, I know the travel industry is going to, it’s going to get a boom, I mean, it’s it’s one of these, how many times do you actually have the chance to know what the next boom is?

Heather Mason  17:59

I’m with you. I’m like, I don’t think people can wait to get out and start traveling.

Tom Ranieri  18:04

Right? Right. I mean, we get a, there was this one lady yesterday, she just sent me these flights for $200. She’s like, I’m coming. Oh, wait.

Heather Mason  18:18

So I actually had to ask you, though, because this sounds really silly. But I didn’t even realize that we could travel again, I think some borders are still closed some places. Right, but

Tom Ranieri  18:27

right. Well, that’s in that it’s the uncertainty right now. And you know, this country has these things that country has that things, cases or cases are down here. Yeah, you still have to get a test to get into the US. from certain countries and from other countries. No, so it’s, the travel industry keeps saying, you know, it’s the it’s the return of the travel agency, because people need help and figuring out what’s available. So I, I’m really hoping that, you know, this might be travel might never get back to normal. It might be like after 911 people were like, air travel is never going to get back to normal. And it never did get back to the normal pre 911. I mean, we now have to go through TSA. But now TSA is normal to us. Yeah, we might, we might be needing testing to get back into us. Like that might become normal for us. So we just, we don’t know what the new normal is going to be. But at some point, it’s going to feel normal for people and they’re going to start traveling a lot. Yeah, we’re, we’re starting to see it.

Kent Cranford  19:42

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Heather Mason  20:02

I was completely shocked. I just did a quick Google search like New York to Costa Rica. And right out of Newark, it’s a five hour flight. And like I said, round trip, learned $10. And then I googled, what do I need to travel as far as vaccination proof? And it was, it’s actually pretty simple. And for me, Costa Rica always seemed like, oh, I’ll never get there. But after looking into it for like, literally five minutes, it was like, Oh, this is easy.

Tom Ranieri  20:30

It’s, it’s very easy. I mean, my, my 18 year old parents, they retired down here. And they, they’ve, they’ve since moved back, but they were down here for 15 years, going back and forth. And, you know, even now, with the pandemic, they’re coming down in November, you know, they just fill out a health pass. And, you know, you get a test in the making, you get the test to be here. 47.

Heather Mason  20:58

I was like, This is easier than going to California, right? Yeah. Let’s talk about the current operation. You know, what you’re currently doing as far as music, your staff is a little bit lower, but I’m imagining you’re still operating tours. And I want to know, is it like tours, water tours, hiking tours, use of zip lining, like,

Tom Ranieri  21:18

tell me what Yeah, we’re doing right. Right now we’re doing basically, we just had the lat the lodge open. So we’re doing a few small group tours. But we just have the lodge open, and we’re doing like for, because really the only market we’re getting so far is people that are already in the country. So we’re really sort of sitting back and just trying to get ready for the boom, you know, I’m not I’m not putting up Google Ads trying to get, you know, trips now. I want to, we’re building nine more cabins right now. I mean, people are like, what are you crazy? You’re building nine workout? I’m like, Did you see what happened to the bike industry? You know, did you see what don’t you. I mean, I’m sure some bike shop owners out there, the minute they saw the pandemic ordered a bunch of bikes, you know, and they probably did great off it. And so we’re preparing for the boom, that’s coming. And part of that preparation is reaching out the small business owners and trying to prepare them to get in on it. And we’re doing that two ways through the affiliate, as you mentioned, and we also have a white label system. That’s very easy. It’s basically like a CRM that you just, you know, it takes care of everything for you. So you don’t feel like you’re, you’re starting a travel company on your own.

Heather Mason  22:45

So but but we can come so people can come and they can paddle with you or they can mountain bike with you or can they put everything together and like a mixed tour.

Tom Ranieri  22:54

We do like we put together a package. So let’s say like your bike shop wants to do a week long adventure. And let’s say you don’t want to do with the affiliate. You just want to get you want to build some community and run a trip from the shop. So you say, Tom, we want to come down we want to play for three days and raft for three days. Put together a six day trip based on you know what you’re looking for the amount of people that you get signed up, and we sort of customize it for you. We know one of our favorite rides his bike in from volcanoes a volcano. So we started the itosu volcano crater, we’re looking down in it, and then we bike over to the more active Turrialba volcano, which is big. I mean it’s smoking daily. You can see it that’s in the clouds. But so yeah, and then we do you know, do we bite down through the coffee plantations, and we get to the big waterfall. We hike over to the waterfall. You know this is all on the same day so biking is the area we live in. I mean just the way the locals were able to enjoy the biking around here was so neat to see during the pandemic and you know I know they gotta be thinking gosh, there’s so many foreigners that come here with you know not that many are are biking. So you know we’re trying to open that you know market a little bit and get people excited about them. You know, not biking but also mixing it with with other stuff. Like you mentioned the rat thing the zip line, we’ve got a big Tarzan swing, you know we have one event that is we referred to as waterfall jumping, where you actually jump off a 30 foot waterfall into the white foamy pool.

Heather Mason  24:50

I forgot about the coffee feels like I don’t know this is like a must. The fact that you could just invite your friends you know invite your customers, your clients to join you and experience this I think it’s a trip of a lifetime. Is there a better time of year to go?

Tom Ranieri  25:05

Or, you know, that’s tough because there is what we call the dry season in the rainy season. But, you know, the rain doesn’t that doesn’t really affect. It’s like if you’re familiar with Florida, you get this two hour afternoon showers made like you can feel the morning activities and I always tell people if you don’t experience the rain in the rain forest, you didn’t really come to the rain forest. So we’re looking around and you’re in the paddleboarding? I, I’d say come to the rainy season because the actual Caribbean is flat water and blue skies. But the mountains get rains, you know? And if you’re if you’re in the just Sunshine, sunshine sunshine come during the dry season.

Heather Mason  25:55

Yeah, I don’t I’m with you. I don’t think like rain doesn’t diminish and experience for me Actually, sometimes it can actually where the majority of your clients coming from

Tom Ranieri  26:08

majority of our clients are from the from the US. I mean, we do get we do get Canada, we do get European pre pandemic, we were starting to get Asian. So we do get from, you know, from all over the world. But most of our, our group trips that we run are from the US.

Heather Mason  26:29

I want to know you said, mountain bikes. So it’s just mountain nice. No road bikes at this point, or

Tom Ranieri  26:37

we don’t we don’t operate road bikes. I mean, that people do it. Yeah, no, I’m speaking to the bike industry. So road biking on, I would say sketchy roads in Costa Rica, they, you probably all have seen been on all sorts of roads. They Yeah, just for the moment, just mountain bikes. But with that said, the big gear stuff certainly opened my eyes to just so much. And while we do mountain bikes, and mountain biking, the bike industry, and how that is going to be part of the travel industry, you know, I think is going to be huge in the years to come. And just like it would it would make life. Even on the tours we do now it would be the coolest thing. Yeah, I

Heather Mason  27:25

was gonna ask Are we like, what is the ability levels? Are we climbing up huge mountains? Like are people pushing their bikes? If they like, what does that look like right now?

Tom Ranieri  27:34

Sometimes, you know, it’s, it’s hard, it’s hard to gauge, I’d say, for the most part, everybody’s making the nothing too strenuous, unless somebody says hey, we’re, you know, this is what we’ve done. This is what we’re looking for. And we try to align something to their ability, because, you know, the hills here, like, straight up and down. Costa Rica is 70 miles wide. And the mountains are 13,000 feet. So that’s a steep, steep drop by the Caribbean and the Pacific. It’s I mean, you gotta you got to enjoy hills. Anyway, again, we, we do it commercially. So we’re not nothing too crazy. We try to avoid any pill, that’s too insane. But it’s definitely hard to avoid.

Heather Mason  28:25

I’m gonna come over and we’re gonna have to do some writing and I’ll report back.

Tom Ranieri  28:30

There you go. You’re welcome. I think you’re totally welcome. You know that. That’s another thing that, you know, we enjoy doing, we do. familiarise strips, where like, you know, if you have a shop and you say, Hey, we want to, you know, run a trip a year, I’m always like, hey, it would be much cooler if when you walk down the airport, you know, you knew the guy that you know, that was you were able to communicate to your audience, you know where you’re going, Oh yeah, don’t worry this and that. So you know, if you’re interested in familiarize trip, you’ll, I’ll give you my information at the end of the podcast, and you can contact me for sure. So let’s talk

Heather Mason  29:11

about use mentioned a white label system, which sounds to me like you will pretty much take take part in helping the shop execute their own trip. Can you talk more

Tom Ranieri  29:21

about that? Exactly. So basically, the white label system is set up in our like in our CRM, so we give you like a domain. And all you have to do is upload your your logo. So in that system comes sort of like a media kit of what we have seen sell trips successfully, and a lot of it has to do. I’m a big fan of email. I think you know, if you can, there’s still time for email, you know, email. I know there’s a lot of spam out there and whatnot. But those of you that have lists and I’ve been building list over the last 18 months, there’s You know way to do we we offer a drip campaign so we sort of you know it’s just the system that walks you through the whole process but white label is all the booking all the follow up emails are automated all the clients pay they get their packing list and all that’s automated so it’s basically just like an automation system for running trips which again is the thought behind it is we’ve got a bike shop to run so you know it sounds fun but no, we don’t have the time to take on another project. So you know, well I can’t say there’s no work involved there is I would like to think like 80% less work involved with the white label system that we offer

Heather Mason  30:50

and then retailers who decide to do this they either can get a travel like credit or use a cash back to her.

Tom Ranieri  30:59

Yeah, so we you know, we there’s with the affiliate, we offer a cashback or for every five trips they book they get a trip so if they want to give it to their staff at the end of the year or auction it off or or do whatever Yeah, they have that choice but then the white label system was sort of working more for actual partners you know be like Alright, so let’s let’s partner up and you know, make this run we can run it under your name and then what do you need to make to make this worthwhile for you you know, what do we need to make so it’s there’s two different sorts of businesses where we’re trying to offer to

Heather Mason  31:41

businesses and so you’re basically the person so if a retailer listening wanted to know more about how to set this up or what the you know revenue exchange would look like or anything like that they’re talking to you correct?

Tom Ranieri  31:53

Right right. Yeah, I was gonna give my information so you can contact me but you know, I’m happy to hop on the phone or or WhatsApp i think you know the world the US my one pet peeve is that doesn’t use WhatsApp. I think the whole world is using it but I finally got you know, I think I got most of my friends on it. It’s coming so I think the sooner you get on it the better and it’s coming you know for commerce they’re doing I think Facebook

Heather Mason  32:26

I’m on the WhatsApp to find each other

Tom Ranieri  32:29

oh there you go. preaching to the choir

Heather Mason  32:36

for a Belgian company for so i mean you

Tom Ranieri  32:38

know they will do it so you

Heather Mason  32:41

guys have bikes for people to use when they come over that’s part of the trip that you don’t have to bring any like visit to bring their hell

Tom Ranieri  32:47

we you know we’re sort of refer to ourselves as like an outfitter so we have the stand up paddleboards the whitewater kayaks the mountain bikes the you know whatever you’re looking for we don’t have the E bikes yet but as you know that’s on the list but the idea is that you you know your clients show up and they don’t have to bring anything and just you know get ready for some fun

Heather Mason  33:13

mentioned you have a good number of affiliates already signed up that you’re working with that’s pretty awesome.

Tom Ranieri  33:19

We do we have about 60 affiliates that have been signed up and we’re you know they’re they’re very much engaging and promoting trips and you know, driving traffic and we’re just getting ready for the I think you know, they’re in the right spot they’re putting out little teasers to their audience and then you know, once this travel uncertainty turns the corner I think it’s gonna it’s gonna pan out okay for us.

Heather Mason  33:53

You mentioned that the quality river is so special to you when you went down it that you want everyone to experience it like it’s such a beautiful,

Tom Ranieri  34:04

what is it about it? That’s a good question. That’s a great question. I don’t think I’ve ever put it into broadcast. I mean, it’s, it’s pristine. It’s you know, there’s Canyon was there 300 feet, there’s 200 foot waterfalls falling on, you know, not on you what, technically you could take the rest it’s virgin tropical rainforests from start to finish. It’s remote, it’s, you know, it’s everything you know, you’re looking for in the outdoors. And it’s, you know, it’s a magical place. And, you know, I haven’t met anyone that hasn’t, you know, gotten off that river and just hasn’t said that, you know, they didn’t have that wow moment. So, I mean, I think we all look For that wild moment in the outdoors, when we get it, we’re we’re extremely grateful. And when people get off that river they are. They’re hugging their guides they’re like, was great. So, I mean, I think I like the Venezuelan friend. He went on it came over with his family from Venezuela just two years, two years ago, which is a whole nother story. He calls it Tom’s Fun Factory. Or no, what? No, yeah, no, Tom’s happiness factory that he’s producing happiness at the quad is a happiness factory, it produces happiness, which, which is, which might be the reason why the case. You mentioned, I thought I was happy because the Rican people are happy. I made a happy bunch of people. I mean, I always tell people I stayed. I stayed in Costa Rica for the nature and scenery. Second, the first was sweet of people. They were fun group, they’re always voted like up and they’re like, top five is the happiest people on the planet. So just why wouldn’t you want to come down and hang out with happy people, I was just thinking,

Heather Mason  36:07

in the bicycle industry, I feel like every day we’re showing up, we’re turning the lights on in the store. Again, we’re working with customers trying to energize our staff keep our staff going. And you know, some of us will have on our bike, that’s our escape, which is great. But one amazing experience just escaped to something completely unknown, and just new. And, I mean, I can imagine you can’t walk, you can’t help walk away with just like sitting in grids.

Tom Ranieri  36:34

Now, I know, it’s, it’s true. And I know that what you just described was sort of like what I’m doing but in reverse, you know, it’s been so therapeutic for me to go and pick your show, you know, get meet you get involved with the bike industry, which is something that, you know, I mountain bike, but I’m not deep in the industry by any means. And just, you know, have this experience stateside of meeting the company, others, it’s been awesome. And I think, you know, the reverse model of that is what you just described, you know, you’re, you’re in your routine and the, in the US and why not just, you know, flip the table and go down to Costa Rica and take a trip with with Tom and

Heather Mason  37:26

give them back, get

Tom Ranieri  37:28

their magic back? Yeah, there you go.

Heather Mason  37:31

Alright, so time, outside of retailers,

Tom Ranieri  37:33

you mentioned you also work with brands, I think you said Asprey? Can you tell me more about that? Yeah, this recently, and this was another reason why I went to the big year shows, because I wanted to do some of that cross marketing with, with brands. And there was, it was great for that. I mean, I think every, every brand there, and then some that I wanted to get in contact with, was there. And the idea is that, across the river from us, as all indigenous, I mean, the kaback indigenous tribes will hike anywhere from two to seven hours to get to their homes, and in very rugged, very rugged terrain. And, you know, they might just have like a Hello Kitty backpack that’s on the lab, and they’ll make it no complaints and your story. And, you know, our tourists will show up with our travelers with, you know, the state of the art backpacks that will, you know, prevent spinal injury, it’ll keep your stuff dry, and you know, you can probably take it to the moon. And so one of the ways that we want to give back to our neighbors who have helped us protect the river that have helped us, you know, protect land that, you know, we use for biking and things like that, is trying to work with brands to offer a pack for every child that comes down, they get a pack as part of their trip. That’s been, we also donate a pack to the indigenous. So we’re trying to outfit the indigenous in a project, we’re calling it packet forward, you know, in through this, you know, as you know, I do want to sincerely do want to help. I’m also a businessman, I want to you know, we’re looking, we’re looking for stories, and you’re just trying to, you know, get some, some good press and in the brand, sometimes they’ll they’ll tweet about you or, you know, say hey, happy to be a part of this. And it’s just exposure that I think businesses can work together with each other. There’s certainly the outdoor industry has so, so much opportunity for that. I mean, there’s, you know, the same way,

Heather Mason  39:50

we’ve been preaching that, you know, I’m just listening to you and I’m thinking, oh my god, here’s this amazing human who’s like really going after making things happen like and it’s because you Have a desire to, yes, grow your business, but also do good things and, you know, just share something you’re passionate about. And it’s gonna work because look at all the good, you’ve already done that. So

Tom Ranieri  40:12

yeah, it’s been, it’s been a long pandemic, but you know, it’s gonna work, it’s gonna, everything’s gonna be fun. And, you know, you’re grounded every day, once you know you have to do is, I could sit here complaining about having any revenue for 18 months, but I just try to look the other direction and, you know, keep moving forward.

Heather Mason  40:35

I hope this is one of those magic moments that our listeners, you know, if they’re listening, they’re like, Alright, maybe we should look into this, because it takes zero investment, it’s like 30 seconds of their time to go onto your website, or give you an email, and just trust this unknown course of like, okay, I never thought about this, I never even thought this was going to be part of our business plan or something that we would communicate to our customers, but here it is, I’m listening to us. And now I’m inspired.

Tom Ranieri  41:05

Yeah, I mean, we’d be happy with that response. And it’s, it’s something that sounds very foreign, probably to some bike shop owners, maybe some road trips, because I know a lot do. But, you know, it’s not new, it’s, it’s assist, you know, an affiliate program is, is Amazon, you know, that’s what they do. It’s, you know, there’s a lot of companies that do it, you know, if Costa Rica is not your, not your jam, there’s other companies that offer travel, and there’s other small businesses out there that you can, you know, work directly with. And it’s, you know, it’s pretty easy. You know, there’s, there’s a lot of times in the world that, you know, we’d love to work directly with, with shops. So, you know, I think there’s a lot of options out there. And just because it’s foreign, doesn’t have to feel foreign, you know,

Heather Mason  42:02

makes such a good point, you know, right now, retailers, or some are having a hard time with getting bike inventory. So their numbers are up. So we’re thinking about other things they could do for revenue. And you’re right, we’re talking about traveling to Costa Rica, right now we’re talking about, you know, obviously what you’re doing, but they could become affiliates with it any other business, like, you know, if you want to connect to your community on a deeper level, like, just explore all these

Tom Ranieri  42:29

options, right? I mean, you know, you think of a bike shop is just mean a place you can trust, you know, a community or whatnot. And if you have that, that community, you’re really not limited to, you know, what you can do, as far as you know, selling, helping out. Or partnering with other businesses, being a traveler, or like you said, you know, whatever. But I do think, you know, we’re the moment that small businesses, you know, we have to work together. You know, we have to, we can’t just sit back and wait for, like, I can’t just sit back and wait for the big company to send us 30 groups a year and be done with it. You know, we would, there’s so much more value and working directly with another small business owner. There’s so much more joy.

Heather Mason  43:25

Yeah. Yeah, I’ve been like, I’ve been stressing, you know, think about why you started your business. What’s your mission vision? be unique. Be your authentic self. Alright, so Tom, why did you start your business? Can I just like, call you out on that?

Tom Ranieri  43:41

Sure. It started as I was the community I live in right now. It’s a it’s a rural mountain community here in Costa Rica. It’s about 30 minutes from the river. And I would stay. When I was practicing via guide, I would stay the friend’s house, I would stay with the moms. You know, there was 12 women, who six of them were single moms. And they didn’t have like, they didn’t have income because, you know, it just there wasn’t much to do in the rural setting at the time. So my idea was like, all right. I’m learning in Spanish here. I’ve learned Spanish, all of you, you know, are just so fun to be around. Let’s bring it a school. Let’s bring school groups down to learn Spanish. No, bring it over little extra income. And so, you know, fast forward to 2020. And we have 25 school groups. And these women, they have formed this. I don’t want to call it an empire. But you know, just this world, its World Tourism. And just this world authentic experience that is it’s on par with like Disney World. And so, you know, that’s where the, and then the lodge and everything else sort of just evolved as part of part of that. But that’s, that’s where it all started, you know, just just having a purpose.

Heather Mason  45:14

I love that story. And when you said it somehow at Disneyworld, I was like, last night, as I was looking into Costa Rica more, I was like, I should be taking my kids here at this, like, this is definitely a trip like, I should be living $200.

Tom Ranieri  45:26

Now, for sure. I mean, it’s, yeah,

Heather Mason  45:32

I love the connection you’re making with bicycle retailers. I love that you’re looking at our industry, and you’re hopeful to team up with bicycle retailers, for me, and it makes total sense. And I’m just thankful that your daughters were like, Let’s go meet the

Tom Ranieri  45:47

meet the president. Yeah, me too. I mean, like I said, it’s a big year show, I was the only travel company. So for all the listeners out there, I just want to personally say thank you, I know, I’m an outsider. I think somebody told me they’re like, be careful, trying to get into the bike industry. You know, it’s like, What are you talking about everybody, everybody I’ve met seems so nice so far. So thank you for, you know, the space to speak and be a part of part of this. And, you know, I agree with you, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here that, you know, this does make sense, the travel boom, is coming. The bike bike shops are the gateway to the travel in my opinion. So it doesn’t make much sense for me for your clients to walk in and buy $100 helmet and then go home and book $1,000 trip on on a website, you know, from a third party that could easily keep that money in our sort of, like big gear show ecosystem of outdoor enthusiasts, which as you seem to know, we need to, we need to support each other and make the best of it,

Heather Mason  47:07

you’re right that the bicycle industry is seemingly a little hard to permeate, you know, to get into it’s like, but I challenge our listeners to just just open up to this idea that this is a way to be really authentic, like, I can’t remember, if ever, it’s never happened, that I’ve walked into a bicycle store. And you know, as I’m buying my mountain bike, or getting the bike tuned up, or maybe I’m waiting for a flat to be fixed, you know, someone’s talking to me about this trip that they’re doing to Costa Rica, and I could come and being a woman that is a single woman to go on a trip by myself like that, you know, I’m I’m pretty, you know, maybe I’ll do it, but to know that someone else like that I trust from the shop was going, I might be more inclined to be like, let’s jump on the bandwagon, you know, so, you know, in

Tom Ranieri  47:55

the end, that happens a lot people are surprised that trip sort of just fill themselves, you know, because it’s so and so told so and so and so just word of mouth. And, you know, like you said, you might not have ever take that trip because you just never had the experience or reason to. But you know, until somebody put something together, and then blah, blah, fill it up. Not only are you offering unforgettable experience to your, to your guests, and you know, just building community for the shop, but we’re making money, you know, so it’s sort of a win win win. Have you? Do you have any plans

Heather Mason  48:39

to come to the US again, any other shows on your schedule as of this point, or anything that you’re thinking about?

Tom Ranieri  48:46

Now, not, not to the rest of the I mean, we do want to get into big gear show next year. I mean, I’ve got a few on my radar, but nothing, nothing close to? Definitely not for the rest of the year. We just wanted to put

Heather Mason  49:07

together like a white label event like you know, pick their own dates, pick their own thing work with you to get that going. What is the like from when I contact you? How long out like what is the planning time, you know, just for shops who might want an idea of how long? That’s a

Tom Ranieri  49:23

good question. Good question. And, you know, pre pandemic, I knew this answer, you know, and then I you know, I listened to like travel podcasts and they were talking about how the searches were, you know, last minute trips is going through the roof. transatlantic open and planning went up 600% on, you know, reservations within that week. But I think for the most part, Ark types of trips are going to sort of be consistent with that three to six month period, if not more, so, you know, we have trips on the calendar for for next time. October, we have trips for March. So I would say six month average.

Heather Mason  50:07

And how is you know back to that white label? I really like the idea of like a shop trip is there a certain number like the minimum number of guests that you need to get to go with you?

Tom Ranieri  50:18

Six is sort of our minimum number. And then we do the pricing is down from six to 11. And then from 1280 it gets cheaper and shear

Heather Mason  50:32

doesn’t seem like a big ask to get six people to want to go like I’m like maybe organize an NBA white label trip.

Tom Ranieri  50:41

Let’s do this. I think I think you should.

Heather Mason  50:46

Who wants to go with me? I’m going

Tom Ranieri  50:50

you know, it’s funny you said that because that’s another thing. I mean, shop owners got to be thinking vacation right now. Right? I mean, they’ve just been going going going. I mean, yeah, now we can I can admit,

Heather Mason  51:05

we have this like core group of retailers that seem to show up every Monday for this Monday mingle that we do, and we have other people who come but there’s like a core I’m like, Oh my God, we get the Monday manglers together in Costa Rica. It’s gonna get crazy.

Tom Ranieri  51:21

Flying on a Monday, I’ll be at the airport waiting for you.

Heather Mason  51:26

By Monday. I love it.

Tom Ranieri  51:32

I was thinking how do you say mainland Spanish but I don’t know. I guess I’m not fluent.

Heather Mason  51:38

What’s the food situation Like what? Like I have

Tom Ranieri  51:43

food in Costa Rica is delicious. It’s so fresh. I mean, you’ve never had a you haven’t tried to pineapple until you’ve eaten that customer you can find Apple

Heather Mason  51:54

drinks part of the trips? Or is that like how’s that all worked out?

Tom Ranieri  51:58

Yeah, we everything’s included. Alcoholic beverages are not included. But recommended. The $2 per year Imperial beer. And PDL are pills to serve servatius Spanish class for the day and then all your breakfast lunch and dinner you know we include with some variety we adapt to any dietary restrictions that you have. So yeah, I mean foods we like the

Heather Mason  52:32

Yeah, I’m drinking and eating is something that Alright, so let’s share your contact information and though the website and

Tom Ranieri  52:44

yeah, okay, so the website is www. dot say it. Core quality, our quality, outdoor center, that’s P is in Pennsylvania, hey is an Arkansas, C as in Charlie, you as an umbrella. umbrella. A is an Arkansas our is in Randy, and he is an English quality, outdoors center, calm. And that’s the website, you can go down to the bottom and you’ll see a link to become an affiliate. You click on that link and there’s a three or four questions that you’ll fill out. Just like that, you’ll be an affiliate, and you’ll get a you’ll get an email automated. And if you come from bike shop, our will hop in there and make sure it’s not just an automated email, and I’ll send you over one. But it’s pretty simple to join. And then if you just go to the website, there’s a chat bot, you can type something into that chat bot, I will get a text on my cell phone and I will answer you immediately. If I don’t answer you immediately it’s because I’m probably on the river or biking.

Heather Mason  54:03

Yeah, and for our listeners as well. It’s Heather mdba comm send me an email and I’ll send you the link to the website and Tom’s contact information as well. So this is awesome. Like I’m serious. I’m coming to visit I’m gonna follow up with you later today.

Tom Ranieri  54:20

You better not be played with me because I you know I got that trip on the calendar. I love it.

Heather Mason  54:27

Thank you for coming on. It’s been just a pleasure, Rochelle and I have loved our conversations with you. And you know you are an association member of MBDA and we can thank you enough you’re supporting retailers. I think we’re doing our newsletter launch this week, actually. So I got to get with you to get a follow up to that too. But thanks for making the time for sharing the information. This is truly something that I definitely want our listeners to get behind. So please email me Heather NBDA calm I’ll connect you over there. I’m like jealous looks like you’re living the life over there I can’t wait to experience this river

Tom Ranieri  55:07

thank you so much it was it was such an honor to be on the show as I mentioned before your your list of guests I know come from some pretty interesting people in the industry and I just want to share my gratitude to the industry for for letting the river guide mountain bike loving guys from Costa Rica come on the show and and share a little bit about what we’ve got going on down there.

Heather Mason  55:31

It’s so awesome that we build on these relationships and you know you never know what’s going to come and next year big year show we’re gonna be hanging out and the family just expands and that’s how it not

Tom Ranieri  55:44

right. Right and it’s that’s that’s what the magic of that big year show. It’s it’s the outdoor You know, it used to be paddlesport retailers before the bike show I think was was one thing but it’s the outdoors. I mean every everybody you know that’s in the outdoors likes the bike or raft or kayak or whatever. So let’s bring it together and make a communion with one they’re strengthened with numbers.

Heather Mason  56:14

I love it. I love it. So that is it. Thank you, Tom for coming on. I invite you to connect with me. Come on bicycle, retail radio, share your story with our listeners. Lots of love. There’s lots of great webinars coming up those Monday member mingles. Don’t forget to share your favorite episode with your friends on your social media platforms. We thank you for listening and appreciate your support and speak out.

NBDA   56:39

This has been bicycle retail radio by the National bicycle Dealers Association. For more information on membership, and member benefits, join us@nbda.com

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The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

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