Transforming Great Journeys New Zealand’s Scenic Plus journeys into unforgettable experiences with storytelling

An elevated experience for the senses

Katy Meadows heads up the team of hosts delivering Great Journeys New Zealand’s Scenic Plus train journeys, the TranzAlpine, Northern Explorer, and Coastal Pacific. Great Journeys New Zealand is committed to making their passenger experience truly exceptional.

Katy explains, “We like to call Scenic Plus an elevated experience for the senses. So, it's a culinary experience and a sensory experience with views of the Southern Alps, the Central Plateau, or the Pacific Ocean. But we want to be more than just a restaurant on wheels.”

“Our crew’s role is to act as hosts and amplify the Scenic Plus experience by telling stories. But when we relaunched the service, we could tell the team were reluctant to engage with customers because of the public speaking element. It's not that they were against the idea, it was that they were apprehensive. Nobody likes public speaking. We knew we needed help.”

Going for the customer experience wow factor

General Manager of Great Journeys New Zealand, Tracey Goodall has worked as a tour guide and has run tourism companies for over 20 years in Asia, Europe, the US, and New Zealand.

Tracey says, “Coming to Great Journeys New Zealand after being in the tour operator space, there was work to be done lifting our customer experience to be first class. Great Journey’s hosts were already an amazing team who received great customer feedback, however their focus was more operational, over being customer-centric, so the goal was to give them lifelong skills to lift them to the next level. It’s all about continuous improvement.”

Tracey has a background in training tour guides, and she realised the Great Journeys team needed support to elevate the hosts’ storytelling and public speaking needs. She says, “We were going for the big customer experience wow factor, so we needed some help. I'd worked with Michael before when I engaged him to help local businesses in Rotorua uplift their presentation skills. Having seen him in action, it was a bit of a no-brainer to ask for his help to train our hosts.”

Boarding as strangers and leaving as friends  

Great Journeys goal is to curate a sense of generous hospitality, or manaakitanga, on their trains, creating a space that feels warm and welcoming. The organisation has recently refreshed their brand to reflect their signature experience. Tracey explains. “Great Journey’s new brand identity centres on our emblem, Manuhiri. It represents the gathering of birds and the spirit of a bird landing after a long journey. It's a symbol of unity, belonging, and pride. We want our guests to feel that sense of belonging and welcome and that’s why we go above and beyond.

Relaxed, friendly customer engagement doesn’t always come naturally. Marisa Newman, Head of Crew and Customer Experience for Great Journeys explains, “A lot of our team come from an airline background. They’re used to making announcements and doing scripted safety briefings, but that’s far easier than sharing a story in a way that feels natural.”

Tracey knew making Scenic Plus journeys more memorable was about the details. She says, “A great customer experience is as much about the way our hosts listen to our customers, and the quality of their interactions, as it is about the things they say.”

Katy adds, “We wanted to get the team out of the mentality that they had to do a speech. We didn’t want to force them to tell specific stories. I explained that I simply wanted them to make friends with their customers, create a bond, and things would flow from there. We wanted it to be organic, to empower the hosts to talk about things they wanted to talk about and encourage customer involvement. Our ultimate goal was to curate an atmosphere where guests would board as strangers and leave the train as friends.”

Build your team’s storytelling confidence organically

Michael and Astella started by travelling on the TranzAlpine as secret shoppers, watching passenger hosts’ interactions with customers, and finding opportunities for improvement. Then they got the ball rolling with workshop, giving the whole team tools and foundational skills to make them comfortable with storytelling. Training continued with a series of group coaching sessions onboard the train.

Tracey recalls, “That first workshop gave people the opportunity to see how they presented, embrace where they were starting from, and start looking for improvements. Michael videoed those first raw moments, so people could look back and see how they’d improved. In one day, we saw people come on massive leaps and bounds.”

“One of the team came up to me at the end, and said, ‘I thought, this was going to be a load of rubbish, but I want to thank you for organising this amazing opportunity. We've all benefited so much, and this is only day one.’

Katy says, “Michael showed the hosts how to turn facts into a story that will keep people engaged and wanting more. He taught them how to read the room and get people talking.”

Marisa adds. “Michael grew people’s confidence in increments. First, he encouraged the hosts to share a few words one-on-one, then to share a story with a small group, until they were talking to everybody in the room. He built their confidence in a really slow organic way.”

Make sure change sticks and don’t expect perfection

Good change management is critical when you ask your team to try something new. Katy says, “When you’re implementing change, people's initial reaction is often to go into defence mode, so it’s important to make sure change is introduced the right way. We wanted to introduce storytelling training in such a way our team felt they were doing a good thing.”

Great Journeys knows what happens when you get storytelling training wrong. Tracey recalls, “Three years ago, the staff were asked to do storytelling, however they didn’t have the necessary training and confidence to deliver stories. Soon afterwards, the storytelling microphones for the trains went missing. It was obvious the team were forgetting them on purpose because they lacked confidence, and we hadn’t given them the skills for their new roles.”

If you need help selling the idea of communication training to your team, Astella is an experienced change manager who can advise you on ways to get your team’s buy in. It’s important to share with your team why you’re proposing coaching and what’s in it for them.

Katy explains how Great Journeys made this second round of training stick. “Public speaking is daunting, so we had to explain to our team why training would benefit them as well as our customers. I asked the team how they thought becoming more confident storytellers would help them. Then we went into talking about the ways it was good for our customers.”

This approach paid off. Tracey says, “The staff are proud to tell stories. They’ve really embraced the idea of making everything into a storytelling opportunity. Today, the microphones don’t go missing. In fact, it’s the opposite. The team are asking us for more gear because they want to share stories with our guests. They don’t feel like they’re being forced to do storytelling. It’s an exciting part of their role and a skill they'll have for life.”

Storytelling starting with connection

The Scenic Plus experience feels different now. Katy says, “When I first started as Scenic Plus manager, it was a dining experience where customers could go to the viewing carriage and look out at the landscape. Now, when you get on board, we’ve still got great food and beautiful scenery, but there's also the atmosphere created by the hosts.”

“On the opening day of the Coastal Pacific in December 2023, I witnessed the most amazing thing. Everyone started the trip as complete strangers. By the end, everyone was chatting to each other, taking photos together, exchanging emails.”

Marisa adds, “Michael and Astella showed our team how to do storytelling starting with connection. As a result, our hosts’ conversations with our customers are far more organic. Their pitch, tone, and eye contact are very natural, and it feels like if I went on the train two days in a row, I wouldn’t hear the team saying the same thing.”

Katy feels Scenic Plus has come a long way. She says, “So much of that is from the tools Michael and Astella have given the hosts. “The Scenic Plus experience is so interactive now. The hosts tell stories, and the Maître D will shout through the carriage, hey, everyone, come back to the viewing carriage, I’ve got to show you something. When it's somebody's birthday the team will get the whole carriage involved. It's turned into a much more personable experience. Now Scenic Plus has atmosphere, sprinkles, glitter, and fun.”

Improving NPS score, customer feedback, and team morale

Great Journeys New Zealand use a Net Promoter Score to measure customer satisfaction. They’ve seen a dramatic improvement in their score since investing in storytelling coaching.

Katy says, “Customer feedback helps us track improvement. When I look back on feedback from when we did no storytelling, comments were all about the food. But there's been a massive shift in feedback. Pretty much every single comment talks about the experience the hosts provide.” The Great Journeys experience is also attracting international attention. The New York Times named exploring New Zealand by train one of the best things to do in 2024.

Another valuable outcome from the storytelling training for Great Journeys has been their team becoming more comfortable with each other. Katy says, “Practicing storytelling made the hosts closer. This whole process allowed for really open communication and helped me instil a high level of trust with my team.”

Katy’s advice for organisations seeking to elevate their customer experience is simple. “Invest in good people then make them feel valued. Give them the opportunity to upskill. The more you invest in training, the more you invest in the longevity of your team. Make sure you listen to your team as well. A lot of people in the customer service front line have their suggestions dismissed, but often they've got brilliant ideas.”

“It's been a huge experience working with Michael and Astella. They're easy-going, chill, relaxed and very accommodating. What I really like about them is they take speaker coaching really seriously, but they have a lot of fun with it. If you want to amp up your customer experience, go with Michael and Astella because they really know their stuff.”