Founded in 2006, The Flybook now helps tour, activity, rental and lodging providers worldwide. Get to know the team behind the work: introducing, Ian Gordon!
Q: What is your job at The Flybook?
A: I am a member of the Sales team. I search for new Flybook partners, show them the platform’s functionality, and assist in the on boarding process. On a daily basis, I talk with everyone from paddle board rentals to mountaineering guides; learning about their operational needs and goals to determine how the The Flybook can help their business.
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: Growing up in Montana before moving out to Oregon, I’ve always spent as much time outdoors as possible - whether that meant being on rivers, trails, or mountains. While there’s some close seconds, my favorite pastime would probably be snowboarding. I’ve never lived more than 45 minutes from a ski hill and always look forward to powdery weekends!
Q: What’s your most common question from customers?
A: There are typically multiple stakeholders involved in the sale and adoption of a new reservation system and each one is usually interested in finding out, “How is this going to benefit my role within the company?”
Therefore, starting with the demo and continuing through training, an important component is showing owners, managers, reservationists, and guides alike which parts of their day-to-day processes and responsibilities can be improved, simplified, or streamlined through The Flybook.
Q: What are some of your favorite tips for users?
A: I enjoy talking with our users about adopting business practices that our platform supports, but that they may not have utilized before. Whether that’s improving their marketing through promotional campaigns, encouraging third-party business relationships, or booking birthday parties and other events online - giving clients tools to help grow their business or think of new possibilities is rewarding and helps to strengthen the relationships we have with our partners.
Q: What do you think the coolest Flybook feature is?
A: My favorite feature of our system is the Performance Dashboard. This area of the platform includes a variety of business management tools that help owners and managers to review, analyze, and forecast their company’s performance and client behavior. The coolest component, in my opinion, is being able to see where clients are travelling from, based on what they book. This provides benefits like confirming where your client base is located, seeing where you might have some good word-of-mouth marketing going on, and tracking the success of targeting advertising efforts.
Q: What do you like about your job that you haven’t experienced at other workplaces?
A: The company culture at The Flybook is great. We have a very engaging, forward-thinking, and collaborative work environment where every member of the team is directly engaged into company, and client, success.
The markets we target and the clients we work with are also a huge positive for me. I have a genuine interest in the outdoor activity industries and therefore I enjoy fostering relationships with individuals and companies involved in those industries. Through the process of selling The Flybook I also might learn how the Musky fishing season has been over in Virginia or how spring runoff is going up in British Columbia so, for me, keeping plugged in to that world is one of the most rewarding parts of the job.