It’s not easy to be “on” all the time.
Ask any sales person, tour operator, front desk staff, etc. That is why we, in visitor services, have to remind ourselves that the visitors we talk to on a daily basis find everything we say NEW and EXCITING!
So, although we’ve told that same ”Did you see the large gold ball structure as you were coming into our downtown? That was our Sunsphere, built for the 1982 World’s Fair that was here in Knoxville, one of the smallest cities to ever host a world’s fair………”, we have to be as excited on time number bazillion and ONE, as we were on time number one! That’s what I try to teach our Visitor Services Team.
My name is Laney Shorter and I have been a part of Visit Knoxville for 8 years and in hospitality for more than 10 years. I am currently the senior director of visitor services, and one part of my job is managing the Knoxville Visitors Center.
I love to learn about people…I always begin with these types of questions:
· What brings you to Knoxville?
· What are your interests?
· Is there anything in particular you have in mind to see?
· How much time do we get to keep you here in Knoxville?
These questions help shape our conversation. No matter how they answer, even when they are committed to one area/topic, we are always able to work in other areas they might be interested in, to get them a well-rounded view of Knoxville.
Knoxville has so much to offer and we work very hard to be sure to get as much as we can in front of each visitor. Is there more to visitor services, absolutely! But this is your first snippet.
