Top 3 Concerns of Outdoor Companies in 2023

America Outdoors (AO) is a national trade association for outfitters and guides, and it provides a wide range of resources and services to help members improve and grow their businesses. The group survey conducted was at a focused session at the 2022 AO Conference in Orlando Florida. You can find out more about AO and the 2023 conference here.

In this post, you will learn more about these concerns and we will explore actions to consider taking, when it comes to your outdoor business in 2023.

Table of Contents

• How to look at staffing going into 2023
• What is the outlook on the concerning economy
• Ways to set yourself up for success with a new pricing strategy

1. Staffing

Maintaining staff and filling positions continues to be a top priority, now more than at any point in recent history. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed the U.S. job market has hit a record-high ratio of 1 potential worker to every 2 available positions.  2023 is quickly shaping up to be the year requiring more time, energy, and money to focus on your staff.

A number of proposed staffing solutions were contributed through the CEO & Owner Connect event at AO. The top three that we found to be the most essential are the following:

1. Increase wages (One group suggested up to 20%!).
2. Offer benefits including profit share, year-end bonuses, referral bonuses, paid-for training programs, and guaranteed days off.
3. Build a strong company culture by promoting peer-to-peer recognition, focusing on operational excellence, and being aware of mental health in the work environment.

Increasing wages can be scary and it can be difficult to comprehend where the money will come from. By changing your perspective on your pricing and approaching price settings based on needs and your value, you can remove the roadblocks that feel unfeasible.  Read on to our pricing strategies below to see how others are making this seemingly impossible action - actionable.

Benefits and Bonuses can be frustrating. You may feel like you are already giving a lot. And, if your staff is not recognizing the benefits you provide as what they truly want, you are missing an opportunity - and likely wasting money.

Everyone loves some extra cash but if you are already increasing wages (and feeling the pressure of securing that budget) get creative with things that your staff would enjoy that aren't cash incentives. Better yet, just ask them what they want.

Zion Guide Hub, a guide company and bike shop based at the entrance to Zion National Park brought bonuses and benefits to their staff directly. After a few years of providing end-of-year cash bonuses the "thank you's" and gratitude seemed to be waning. So with a survey, they learned what their guides truly valued and wanted. The top results were:

1. Time off
2. Company events (free food and beverages)
3. Paid learning (workshops, wilderness first aid, responder courses, skills growth)

With this feedback, the management at Zion Guide Hub implemented brand-new benefits. First, an accrued PTO plan to make time off a better benefit. Second, they set up annual, pre-scheduled company-wide events (which staff volunteered to help plan). Last, they budgeted for an education fund based on the money they had been spending previously on cash bonuses and implemented a process for staff/guides to apply for funding towards a course or directive of their choosing.

Don't make things harder than they need to be, ask your staff what they want and give them options if you think you cannot provide what they may request.

Strong company culture is something every organization likely wants but seems to be the elusive Yeti when it comes to actually creating it. Although this topic can include a lot of buzzwords pointed at gaining and keeping staff, your culture is an ever-evolving effort. 

Stay tuned for more details on this topic in upcoming blog posts and articles as we deep dive into this topic by interviewing experts in the field. From psychologists focusing on mental health to HR Organizations and consultants who focus on the outdoor industry, we know the effort of creating a strong company culture will be essential in your 2023 plans. 

2. Economy

The economy is an ever-changing variable in your business, and although this is something unpredictable, the way in which you operate is directly affected by the tidal flux.

According to the Outdoor Industry Associations State of the Outdoor Market Fall 2022, the outdoor economy is strong with $862 billion in gross economic output, 4.5 million jobs, and 54% of the population participating.

Original Source: Gross Domestic Product - Bureau of Economic Analysis, Wage Growth, Inflation, and Unemployment - Bureau of Labor Statistics

Outside our specific industry however, there is uncertainty around the US economy. The inflation rate today is at a 40-year high. The average worker needs a 10% pay increase in order to maintain the same standard of living in 2023 as they have had previously.

Inflation is not only affecting your wages, it also directly affects your operational expenses like gas, payment processing rates, and the cost of goods (helmets or paddles, office equipment, etc.).

Unfortunately, there is no definitive opinion on the potential of a recovery vs. a recession. And while this can make it difficult to plan for, you can take control of what is within your management sphere.

The top recommendations from the survey mentioned above provide a few must-do efforts for you to prepare yourself:

1. Strategically raise prices
2. Find operating inefficiencies - make them more efficient
3. Be intentional with spending

3. Pricing Strategies

Although pricing does not have a "one-size-fits-all" model there are a few things you need to be thinking about when reviewing and adjusting your pricing strategy. 

• Moderately increasing your pricing does not mean you will lose customers. Blend provides a great reference chart that can help you find the sweet spot of pricing changes. As you look at this chart, you can evaluate the impact of increasing your price by 20%. As you watch your conversions and overall sales volume, you know that as long as you don't lose more than 16% of your conversions, you will have a net increase in revenue, while decreasing costs. 

Blend helps tour & activity businesses grow through strategy, branding & marketing.

Increasing pricing can be very intimidating. If you can take an approach that follows a strategy around your value, a premium experience, or an anchored price, it will have a better chance of success and seem less scary. 

• Anchor Pricing is an easy way to begin to test the idea of increasing prices without the pain of only offering a new, higher price to your customers.
  
  
• Packaging and Upsells are proven ways to bring in additional revenue. Maybe you have bike rentals and want to bundle add-ons like seat cushions and cell phone holders, or you are an adventure resort offering cabin rentals, rafting tours, and bike rentals. Packaging all of these offerings in a way that your customers can easily curate their own experiences is a proven way to increase value.

The Flybook booking software focuses on managing all aspects of your business in one platform. The Packaging feature within The Flybook helps your customers book any (all in one cart) of the many offerings you may have. Learn more about The Flybook and the solutions available.

As a recap; there is a list a mile long of ways to improve or dial in your business. But, if you can prioritize and focus on these top 3 concerns other Owners and CEO's in the outdoor industry are finding important, you can set yourself up for success moving into this new year.

Stay tuned for more details on managing pricing and staffing in an upcoming upcoming workshop at ACCT focusing on Staff Retention. The Flybook and Zeb from Zebulon LLC are teaming up, with a few other experts to bring some actionable tactics to your workspace this year.

Zebulon LLC is a person-to-person consulting company for the outdoor adventure industry.