How well do you know what FishingBooker really does? We’ve gathered some of the most common questions and misconceptions about what we do as a business and are ready to reveal all!
Read on: Some of the answers might be surprising…
Myth: First and foremost, FishingBooker promotes captains who pay the most commission.
Reality: Yes, commission influences how visible your listing is. But it’s not the only – or even the most important – thing that our site looks at when choosing who to rank in the search pages.
Imagine carefully selecting the trip of your dreams, securing your date, and then finding out it’s not going to go ahead as the trip was double booked. This is an exhausting and painful experience, and something we want to avoid for our customers.
So, we track how often each captain accepts trips and how often they cancel them due to being double booked. Then, we promote the captains whose bookings tend to go ahead. We also look at reviews and boost captains who have a track record of providing a great experience. Instant Book contributes to how well you rank too, as it means you’re committed to accepting trips.
If you invest the highest commission percentage but don’t have great reviews and only accept a couple of the trips we sent, you won’t rank as high as someone with the lowest commission, excellent reviews, and a history of accepting bookings.
But what about customers who call us? We send them to the captains who invest the largest commission, right?
Wrong. It’s quite rare that we suggest specific captains over the phone, but when we do, we recommend people who we know have provided the type of experience this customer is looking for. Regardless of the commission percentage!
Myth: FishingBooker promotes fake guides (and pushes part-time guides above full-time captains)
Reality: We’re serious about promoting legitimate businesses. We run checks on all our US captains and unpublish any of them who do not send us proof that they have the correct documentation. Worldwide, our team is working hard to enforce the same vetting standards as we currently have in the US.
As we work with fishing businesses all over the world, one of our biggest challenges has been to create a system that highlights licensed captains, regardless of their country, state, and type of waters they fish. These regulations are very specific, and we’re working on applying them in a way that’s fair and safe for everyone we work with.
When it comes to new and part time guides, as long as you have the correct credentials, you can work with us. But part-time guides aren’t specifically ranked or promoted above full-time captains – this simply isn’t how the site works.
Myth: FishingBooker is based in Russia/Syria/China… I don’t know, but they’re not from around here!
Reality: FishingBooker is an incorporated business registered in Norfolk, Virginia. Our legal structure is made in alignment with American laws, and we pay US taxes.
At the same time, we’re not in Silicon Valley, and we’re not pumped full of money from investors. We’ve had to work hard to get where we are today. And where are we calling from? Our operations are based out of Serbia, a country in southern Europe.
We’re not surprised if you haven’t heard about Serbia before. Granted, it’s small! But we recommend you come pay us a visit. It’s famous for its generous servings of BBQ food, as well as for some incredible culture. You can stumble across Celtic, Roman, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian ruins without even leaving the capital, Belgrade.
It’s also known for its great thinkers. Mihajlo Pupin, one of the founders of NASA, came from here and went on to perfect the telephone. Nikola Tesla, who discovered how to harness electricity for modern use, also had Serbian heritage.
At FishingBooker, we’re not forging a path in physics, but we do start every day by driving to work on roads named after people who changed the world for the better. And we’re constantly inspired to do the best that we can do, too.
Myth: The money FishingBooker takes from commission is far more than what they give back as a booking platform
Reality: Well, this one is up to you to decide. But here are some of the benefits we provide as soon as you hit “publish”:
- Full, expert digital advertising of your business on Google, Bing, and other search engines, as well as social media platforms;
- 1-on-1 walkthroughs of how the product works;
- Tailor-written content and photo/video optimization;
- Support for you and the customers we match you up with;
- No hidden costs – Instant Book, listing optimization, and all our other benefits are provided free of charge.
Whatever your commission percentage, we provide all of this with the promise that if we don’t get you out on the water, we won’t make a cent. We don’t take any additional charges other than our commission on successful bookings.
Worth paying commission on successful trips you wouldn’t otherwise get? We think so.
Myth: We don’t let you talk to the customer over the phone before the trip
Reality: We’re a bit confused about this myth. You can find your customer’s contact details in our Messaging platform, by checking out the Booking Details. We encourage you to talk to your customer before the trip so you can both get the most out of your day!
And yes, as long as your customer has an upcoming booking, you can share any additional contact details over Instant Messaging, too.
Myth: FishingBooker doesn’t work for my business. They only care about captains in the US, and captains who fish saltwater.
Reality: It’s true that we work with a large number of captains from the US – and yes, they mostly fish in saltwater. But we welcome captains from all over the world. We work with people everywhere from Australia to Norway, and have hooked customers up with incredible fishing as far away as Kenya and Argentina.
Think we’re just about the Speckled Trout and Tuna? Think again – we’re talking Golden Dorado, Paddlefish, Alligator Gar, Payara, Arapaima… the world’s five continents have some really cool fish to offer anglers, and it’s our mission to make all of this easier to get out and explore.
We get it though – sometimes it’s hard to fit all of this onto our listings, which are predominantly designed for people who fish with a boat out of one fixed location. But our content marketers, business development specialists, and captain coordinators are always ready to put the extra time in to find a solution that fits your business. You just need to give us a call!
Myth: FishingBooker takes control away from you about how you market your business.
Reality: We sometimes hear this from captains who would like to be able to edit or change their listing more easily. This is because once we’ve optimized your listing, you can’t directly edit the description or change your first photo any more.
Why? We have a dedicated team that works on each listing so it’s more likely to attract customers, and we want to make sure that we’re keeping our standards up across the board.
But, of course, you know your business and your target clients better than anyone. As much as we try to understand what makes your business stand out by researching and talking to you, we know that we sometimes get this wrong. This is why we really appreciate hearing back from you once we’ve worked on your listing. After all, it’s in no one’s best interest for it to be inaccurate!
We have a dedicated team that keeps listings up to date and talks to guides about any changes they’d like to make. Simply get in touch through the form on your listing and they’ll reach out. Find out more about how and why we do this here.
Myth: The people who work at FishingBooker don’t fish. Myth or reality?
Reality: While some of us have been passionate anglers for years, plenty of FishingBookers never caught a fish before their first day with us. But whatever their previous experience, everyone in the company gets trained about fishing.
And no one goes without catching a fish for long. Every year, we run a company-wide fishing tournament to brush up on our skills. Attendance is expected!
We’re proud of what we do and how we do it. And we want to talk about it! So – what would you like to know? Get in touch via the comments below.
