A Day in the Life of a Treasure Trails Partner

Treasure Trails has a group of authorised Trail writers that between them cover virtually all of the UK ensuring that current Trails are up to date and new Trails are written in places that are crying out for them!

We follow one authorised Trail writer over a typical day!  Amanda and her husband David have been associated with Treasure Trails since 2007 and are Treasure Trail Gold Partners.

First Thing and Most Days

Amanda checks her own and the Treasure Trails Twitter feeds and where appropriate communicates with customers and retailers and other interesting people that are chatting about Treasure Trails or other relevant topics.  She reads Facebook at this time too.  Emails are next on the list and she is particularly interested in any answers that have been submitted because with those comes feedback from customers.

The feedback that we get generally falls into two different types

1. The people loved the time they spent out with their friends and family exploring a new area
2. Regular Trailers and new Trailers let us know if they couldn’t find a clue

It is incredibly heart warming to read that folk have enjoyed something that she has created, Amanda told us.

On the other hand if a Trailer reports that a clue has gone missing, then solving that issue goes to the top of the “to do” list. There are several checks that Amanda does to identify if the clue really has disappeared; including having a look at the “Stuck on a Clue” data to see if anyone has phoned through to get answers to that particular clue.  Sometimes a clue is elusive to some but obvious to others and in her early days, Amanda told us that she often used to rush out to check only to find the clue was in situ!

A day in the office

On office days Amanda and David get involved in quoting for bespoke projects which could be anything from a request to create a hen party challenge, or to run a team building event for a local company or deliver some training in how to create a treasure hunt, the Treasure Trails way, for a local school.

As well as quoting for new business, Amanda and David spend their time creating the products that they are delivering and Amanda told us that currently they have a 80 head team building event they are working on for delivery at the end of June. They also have a couple of hen party challenges they are personalising.  They have been working with a school in Shropshire and are awaiting the school’s data so they can input it into Treasure Trails’ bespoke software.

Amanda spends much of her office time on marketing the business through social media channels which she has found is a useful way to develop the brand, build her knowledge of the local community and get sales leads!

The best bits

Writing new Trails is one of the best bits of being a Treasure Trails Partner – researching a new area, town or village to identify the best bits of the place and then heading out there to walk the researched route, photograph possible clues and sort out an accurate set of directions fulfils the creative urge!  Both Amanda and David write new Trails and once they are back in the office they build the Trail in Treasure Trails’ bespoke software, print a draft copy and then head out again to test it. They test each other’s and then put the Trail out to an independent tester to ensure it ‘works’.  They also complete a risk assessment, write the back stories and fact files and make sure the whole thing hangs together so that they can look forward to 10/10 ratings from Trailers and great feedback!

The latest feedback that was received for their Hereford Murder Mystery was “I thoroughly enjoyed this trail, a great way to keep fit and have fun along the way”.  And for their Malvern Hills Driving Trail “We had a great day on the trail with our two children 6 and 2 and an elderly relative who can only walk short distances. It worked really well to entertain the children while not having to go too far if we didn't want to.”

Our Treasure Trails Partners really appreciate any feedback you want to give after doing a Treasure Trail either when you submit an answer, or through Facebook or on Twitter. And if it is great feedback we are thrilled and if something has gone wrong then we really want to know that too.  We look forward to hearing from you!