Jet Ski Hire in Auckland: A Business Story with Dr. Jürgen Kolb; Episode 3 (Part 2)

Bernard: [00:00:00] Welcome to Go Beyond Busy. The podcast for small business owners who are ready to slow down, breathe, and bring calm clarity to the way they work and grow their business.

This is the second and final part of an interview with Dr Jürgen Kolb from Hibiscus Jet Ski Hire in Auckland, New Zealand.

Bernard: Here’s your host, Christine Abela.

Christine: Do you have any other tips for business owners that you’ve learned over the years?

Jürgen: Yes. You can spend a fortune on Google advertisement and even more on Meta, Instagram and Facebook. And yes, it depends on your product. It can work a dream, but you basically go fishing. So you have to be very specific. Find out what your target customer profile is, and really find that out and then have three or four campaigns. Don’t do more than that.

It’s not possible. And focus. Really focus. Be a sniper and pick out your, ah, he’s over there. That’s a guy I want to pick out of the crowd, and this is my offer to you. [00:01:00] Does that match with what you want to do today? Absolutely. There we go. A hundred percent sale. So when people find me as an intentional search from Google, but the closing rate for when they even call is people actually just book.

But from what I can tell with trackers on my website, those kind of things to know what people do. Their behavior once they found you is literally nearly a hundred percent. The only reason they wouldn’t come is because it doesn’t work out with the friends who can’t come or some other changes or of course if the weather changes.

But that’s is weather dependent unfortunately. That’s not really a reason to put into the mix as customer relation or whatever you want to call it. So what then comes out of that combination is that people have an expectation. They come ask what to do. You can do more than just the jet ski forwards and back.

You can actually go to the island, you can do this and this. And then they basically say, ah, okay. But maybe not this time. We do it next time. That’s one part. But once they go out and they come back and they actually completely overwhelmed by joy.

They didn’t expect all this. They’re [00:02:00] energetic, they’re positive. And then they basically offer to give a five star review. And that is the magic bullet. So if you get people out there and they come back with intention to reward your efforts with a good review that’s gold.

That’s what you need to get. Because what I can now tell from my one and a half years in business I six-folded, basically, the five star reviews on Google. And that is now the most important factor why people choose me. Not just look at me. It’s okay, how many reviews does this one have?

And that one have. Oh gosh, look at that. He’s got more than double than the next one who has more than four times what the other one has. Holy smokes. He must be good. And then they come. So the most important part is actually the peer review and the social proof. Not on Facebook. Oh, look what I’ve done last weekend.

The envy factor. I want to do it as well. Yes, that does play in, but don’t use [00:03:00] that. It’s too expensive, it’s too difficult. And it’s also quite honestly you attract the wrong customers. It is more the question of what do the other people say about you. So what does your customers think after they had your experience or after they’ve used your product. And what do they say and especially how they say it.

Absolute key. And then you can use those words, literally their words, and use that in your marketing, but you also put that into your website and into your content. So the content marketing is massive, is an absolute new beast, I would say. So the AI search, all that ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, you name it.

Zero click economy. SEO. Yes, great, but that’s not enough anymore. You need to be on those search platforms and if you don’t show up there or if you’re not on the number one you lose out massively. And I know that for a fact because I did strategically think last year, what do I do? How do I do [00:04:00] that?

How do I take this challenge head on and how do I digest it into small bite-size workable steps? And I managed to be on all the platforms that I know people use. If you say, who’s the best jet ski operator or boat rental in New Zealand, not just Auckland, I show up. I’m the number one. Or number two; depends a little bit on whether you phrase it slightly different. But when it comes to top performance and top response, I’m at least on the second spot. So if you want to be ahead of your competition, not pay a fortune, it is a question of whether you put the money into growth or into advertisement. The easiest way to make it lasting and a really good impression is to do it dynamically. So either dynamic SEO on Google ranking, or dynamically on large language models. So the optimization for AI search engines.

And that’s your content. Now, you can’t really control how the AI interprets your [00:05:00] data. That’s the holy grail of marketing in the next generation of marketers. But you can put out a lot of ideas and a lot of answers to potential questions people could ask, or the AI will ask after the input prompts from people.

So if a customer says, best jet ski Auckland, then the AI will say, okay, probably means, give me the best jet ski operator in Auckland and give me reasons why that is the best jet ski operator. So if you can answer those questions and not just say, oh, I’m the best because I say so, everyone says so, make it stick.

How do you make it stick? Aha, here we go. There comes your reviews. That’s the easiest way for the AI to figure out that there’s hundreds of people saying exactly the same, it probably is true then. How do you manipulate a hundred people? It’s unlikely. So they give you an authority, they give you this big pat on the shoulder and saying, alright, well done.

Okay. We believe what you’re saying. Because everyone else says the same. So if someone asks us, we’ll send it to him. Use the [00:06:00] AI, like your biggest networking buddy that you could possibly find. It’s a bit of a scary buddy, but it’s I think my best friend at this point.

Christine: So I’m really liking what you’re saying about your business here Jürgen. What’s to come, what’s the future look like?

Jürgen: Oh, that’s the exciting part. I’m trying to come into the ecotourism and adventure part of the tourism industry. Because that’s what people really want to do that bespoke, unique, this is just once in a lifetime experience if they’re on holiday. And New Zealand is unique in many aspects to actually cater for that.

That’s why there’s so many tourist attractions are basically, what you refer in Europe, high risk adventure activities. Maybe some of them are. Bungee jump I would say is a high risk. What happens if the cord breaks, but hey, apparently it doesn’t. With jet skis, it’s the easiest way to actually get out on the blue and experience the water in a way that you can’t do on a ferry or on a big cruise ship or anything else. And that’s the magic.

[00:07:00] So I thought, okay, if people want to go and actually do the jet ski hire, but they always ask, so what’s there to do? Or what can I see? That made me think exactly what’s there to see? My background is marine science.

That’s where my PhD from. So I’ve got a very deep passion for the ecology and the animals and the bio system of the marine environment. And I thought, how can I do a bit more than just hire jet skis. So ecotourism is something which is huge elsewhere on the planet because people are conscious about it.

They actually want to know, and they do want to experience the place but not destroy the place. And that is in particular with European and American tourists. So I’m trying to cater for exactly that because that’s at my heart. So it’s a bit of education. I always try not to lecture but I keep it short.

Bite sizes, little things about ecology, about animals and what’s out there. And people are very responsive to that, they actually want to know. So I do self-guided and guided tours now. The guided [00:08:00] tours are more popular because they get to drive out with me. So I drive them to specific spots I know. And then just basically tell them about the biology or certain things about the spot.

And that is something unique. So my unique selling point is exactly that ecological background that I can bring. But it’s more than that. It’s not just a USP as such. No, it’s position. So my spot here is 15 minutes from Tiritiri Matangi. That’s the conservation island where we launch normally from.

And that is the number one spot for things to do in Auckland. Out of over 200, but you can’t get there unless you have a boat or take the ferry. So if you really want to experience that island and you want to circumnavigate that island and see some penguins, and if you’re lucky, some dolphins in particular, listen to the bird song because it’s amazing.

You’re out on the water on a boat, you switch off the engine and just sit there and it blows you away. Honestly, it’s stunning. I call it the New Zealand Soundscape tour. So you literally get to [00:09:00] hear what the early settlers were welcomed, and it’s more than exotic. When you hear that, it’s yeah, that’s what they were talking about in those diaries back then, goodness me, I landed on the other planet. It’s totally different. And it’s beautiful. So if you have a preteen 12-year-old girl who doesn’t really want to do something with the family, take ’em out there, switch the engine off, and she actually doesn’t want to leave.

She said it was amazing. So there we go. It’s no problem. But the eco tour is definitely one part. The other thing is sustainable fishing. I say take the trophy photos, throw it back for the really big fish . Obviously the small ones, I tell people exactly what and what not to do.

There are exclusion zones now that are important to be aware of. So I know where people are and if I think they’re fish there, I’m gonna give them a call and say, Hey, move on, mate before you get a fine. And then there’s a nice trip to farms. It depends on the season, obviously, but that’s something unique.

You go along the coastline to Kawau Island and on the way you can stop and get really fresh oysters from the (oyster) farmer who’s out there. He gives you a dozen or two dozens in your hand and off you go. Shuck [00:10:00] oysters at Scott’s Landing, which is up north in Mahurangi Inlet.

It’s a magical spot. It’s a former home stay for Victorian times couples to steam up north with a little steamer for the weekend. That was the thing to do. And it is beautiful. That is absolutely magical. So that is something which I’m trying to promote and to bring out there because no one else does it, because no one else has my location.

No one can actually offer that, and they don’t have my knowhow or my background.

Those different kind of things where I thought I can easily facilitate that and people do want to do more than just go for the jet ski ride. That’s the tool. But the fun and the experience is unforgettable moments that you create out there.

That’s the interaction with the environment, interaction with the wildlife in particular, and people see little blue penguins. Everyone goes oh, aren’t they cute? Oh, aren’t they adorable. And they hop up. And then they go back and you just sit there.

He’s over there. Same for dolphins. Obviously Dolphins is the ultimate thing. You can’t guarantee it, but they’re out there, quite a lot of them. If you get [00:11:00] lucky I would say a fair amount of people this season got lucky because they have a lot of dolphin sightings.

It is literally something people come back and say, this is the best thing on a holiday like UK tourists, American tourists. They’re just blown away by that creature. I tell people, if you see dolphins what to do and what not to do in particular but because you don’t have a propeller it’s extremely safe interaction with dolphins. And they’re an intelligent species.

If they don’t want to be with you, they just go, they don’t even come. They know exactly what a jet ski is. They’re smart enough. But and they approach you because you’re fast moving boat and they love the speed. So if you just go along in your speed and all of a sudden there’s a dolphin under you don’t slow down, don’t speed up.

Just keep going because you just join in the fun. He just there and says hello. Obviously initially please do stop and do slow down and see whether there was an accident, but if they actually just join you in your trip to where you want to go. And that is magic. That is really magic. There are few other bits and pieces, but I’ll talk to people when they come so they know what to do with a dolphin encounter. But it is a [00:12:00] magic inter-species connection that only you need a boat, otherwise you can’t do that.

Christine: Very good. Thank you very much.

So how do people find you? Let’s say they live in Auckland or they’re coming to Auckland and they’re interested in jet ski hire. How would they find you?

Jürgen: Oh super simple, you just Google “Best Jet Ski hire Auckland”.

Click on my website. You can book directly there. You can book out of my Google Business profile. You can find me on Facebook or Instagram WhatsApp and book straight up from there.

Or just give me a call. It’s very simple. A lot of people like to talk to someone and ask a few questions like, is it really for me? Is it safe? I got that question very often. It’s if it wouldn’t safe, I wouldn’t operate it and I wouldn’t be allowed to operate either. It is safe.

Yes.

Christine: Thank you very much.

Thanks for listening to Go Beyond Busy. I’m Christine Abela, helping small business owners fall in love with their business all over again. See you next time.

Bernard: Thanks for tuning into Go Beyond Busy.

Bernard: If you’re looking to grow your business and want expert guidance, visit [00:13:00] GoBeyondBusy.com to apply for a no-cost Business Strategy Session on Zoom. Christine Abela is a business consultant and tech strategist who’s helped hundreds of business owners move from chaos to calm.

Bernard: Want your business to run better, feel easier, and earn more? It all starts at GoBeyondBusy.com.