TripAdvisor Changed This Man’s Life

Posted on 24. Feb, 2011 by admin in Just for Fun

Meet Jasen. Jasen used to work at a prestigious hotel on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. One day, Jasen decided that he didn’t want to live the life of having a structured job anymore, so he quit… and frankly decided to become a bum hanging out on the streets of a small city called Soufriere. Anyone who has been to St. Lucia knows that if you drive up the west coast of the island to get to the north, you have to pass through Soufriere, and there are really only one or two streets that you will pass through. After several weeks of sitting on one of the main street corners in Soufriere, and hanging with his friends, a group of tourists stopped to ask Jasen a question. Jasen’s hospitality bug came alive again, and he was so helpful that the group of tourists wrote about Jasen in TripAdvisor. Sure enough, Jasen started talking to more and more tourists that were passing through Soufriere, and those that had already read about him in TripAdvisor came back to post about Jasen and reconfirm what others had said. Now, people come to Soufiere looking for Jasen. When I heard about Jasen, I was so intrigued by this story that I had to go and meet him for myself. So I parked on the street and asked the first guy I saw if he knew where I could find Jasen. He immediately flipped open his cell phone and within 10 seconds he had Jasen on the line. “Hey Jasen, you have a customer,” he said. Apparently, the entire city now has Jasen on their speed dial.

Jasen was there within 2 minutes to talk to me and told me all kinds of stories about how people had come looking for him because they had read about him on TripAdvisor. Jasen now has a network of friends on the island that can get you whatever you need. Want to rent a yacht? No problem! Jasen will hook you up with a friend of his that has a yacht. Need groceries to take with you on the yacht? No problem! Jasen will hook you up. He is quite the savvy entrepreneur… and he knows how to deal with people. He also knows how to build up a solid network of lead generation and treats his customers in a way that generates positive word of mouth. Jasen, this bum off the street in Soufriere, also seems to have mastered social media more than most people I know.

It’s quite an amazing story. If you ever find yourself in St. Lucia, and are passing through Soufriere, ask for Jasen. I think we could all learn a thing or two from him about lead generation, customer service, social media, and just about business in general.