In this blog, we talk a lot about Langhe and Piedmont … but sometimes we also talk about me, Claudia, the creator of SlowDays.
I like to call myself a local consultant but also a travel artisan and since the end of the year is typically a time of balance: I feel the need to draw the boundaries of what I do.
In this fast-paced world with continuous and constant inputs from all over the world that can distract us, sometimes it can be difficult to explain what you are doing. You are not always able to communicate your role and your profession in the right way.
We are in the age of new jobs, those that no longer define themselves with a word, those that are invented day by day. And if sometimes, answering the question “What do you do?” can be fun and you feel part of a world that evolves, other times you have doubts:
“But am I offering something that really matters?” and “How do I explain my work so that you don’t expect something from me that I can’t give?”.
Doubts come
because the world of tourism to which I have approached about three years ago is something enormous and boundless.
There are countless ways to propose trips, so you find yourself thinking that what you do is not enough and that you could/should offer more, in a different way.
Maybe you could standardize your offer so that you can serve more customers. Or you could expand and offer other regions, obviously in a more superficial way…
And there are days when what you have “created” and ” conceived” seems little to you, because after all it is not so difficult to find a room on the web, book a restaurant and a tasting in the cellar … everyone can do it from the sofa of their home. And the great thing is that all this is absolutely true!
But then some customers just show up
who tell you things like “Without you I would never have found that place”. They tell you that the weekend was simply perfectly organized, with the right experiences, lived in the right time to fully enjoy them.
Then they are happy that you understood what they were looking for, that of the whole holiday the day organized by you was the best time! And that next year they want to come back to stay more days and bring friends … in short, the tearful review is always lurking!
Then there are the people I work with, precious milestones of the success of the whole work, who say that my customers are always interested, nice and very satisfied with the experience they are living.
They say they are happy to collaborate with me because it is clear that I put passion into what I do and in some way customers perceive it.
Then I’m back on the right path,
I stop being distracted by the “thousand winning ways” to sell my product and I focus on it to make it even more beautiful and authentic: I go to visit the cellar that I do not yet know, to chat with that truffle hunter and explore a piece of Piedmont that I want to deepen.
Why do I do all this? Because I believe that my product must always have my soul and must always be created ” tailored ” for those who decide to contact me. This means a great job “behind the scenes” and also the possibility to follow a relatively limited number of customers.
In the era of the boom of online portals, which sell experiences of all kinds, rooms where before you arrive you already know the color of the tiles in the bathroom, I think that a local consultant can still do a lot for you!
On the web everyone can be promoted but who selects what is best for you?
Who can tell you if there are usually a lot of people in that cellar or if they will have a little more time to dedicate to you?
And where can you find wine at low prices if you want to shop?
Who can assure you that the search for truffles is not an experience packaged “for tourists” but something authentic and that you will always remember?
Who can know the guides and sommeliers who will accompany you on your tours, making sure they are both nice and prepared?
Modestly, I think I can say that SlowDays, as a local consultant, can and does make every effort to do so.
Can this be for everyone?
No, maybe not! Only for those who trust me, will tell me about themselves: If you want to answer all my questions and understand that the experience we build together and hardly is something standard … also to say not to ask me the color of the tiles in the bathroom … or better maybe let me know if there is a color that you do not like so we avoid ;-)!!!
Seriously, I’m a artisan, someone I’ve already told, and the artisans are trusted to build a unique piece … for everything else there are supermarkets!
To each his own and friends as before!
Speaking of reviews, read a bit here!
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