In 1982 they raised $600,000 by mortgaging their home and draining their savings to purchase a controlling stake in the ski area. And the early years were extremely rough. Uncooperative weather, dilapidated equipment, and demanding customers were a few of the problems they dealt with.
It's tough to make money in the ski industry. Ski areas are capital intensive and dependent on the weather. Even many large corporate operators with deep pockets have gone bankrupt trying to run a ski resort. When the mueller purchased okemo, not only did they have to cope with these realities,they had two additional challenges to overcome Lack of resources and inexperience. Tim says, we were young and naive enough to think that we could make something happen. We never talked about what would happen if it didn't work. Becouse they didn't have the resources to focus on major improvements, they decided to emphasize quality and execution. They focused on delivering better serice to customers and lavished time and attention on making snow and grooming the trails to perfection. The couple felt that these were the ways to deliver a better skiing experience. And even though they can now afford to make necessary equipment improvements, those two strategies continue to guide the company today.
Each fall, diane indoctrinate the 1,200-plus seasonal employees with the importance of customer service. She tells them it's everyone's job to exceed the expectations of guests anytime and anywhere. And a lot of attention to detail goes into taking care of the mountain itself. Trails are groomed carefullynyear-round a fact not missed by ski magazine, which has ranked okemo the best-groomed mountain in the east since 1999.
Put yourself in the muellers shoes. They're considering expanding their business by purchasing other ski areas. How could swot analysis help them make this decision?