by Kaitlyn Wallace
When it comes to planning meetings and events, we all know the mantra: do your research. We want to be diligent, so we hop on Zoom meetings, construct intricate chain emails, and immerse ourselves in virtual tours. We do our research in the comfort of our own home, online and virtually, and for the most part, consider our research stage checked off our list, complete and held at arm’s length. This approach is convenient, efficient, and comfortable—but what happens when it’s not enough?
Familiarization tours (or “fam tours”) have ebbed and flowed in importance over the past few decades in the meetings and events world. In this virtual age, as we start to miss the personal touch and one-on-one interaction of the older business world, it seems that fam tours may be back on the rise.
“The really valuable tours—the ones that have a high ROI—are the ones where planners get a fully immersive experience,” says Megan McConachie, Communications and Outreach Supervisor of Columbia Conventions & Visitors Bureau. “They stay in the hotel, dine at the restaurants, experience the activities. They use all of their senses, not just the virtual sights. Tasting the food, smelling the smells, touching those tangible items that you can take away—you just can’t get that online.” Nathan Hermiston, VP of Sales and Services for Visit KC, echoed this sentiment, explaining that “the goal is to make the location three dimensional. We go to trade shows, we do sales calls, we prospect, we solicit—we’re pushing content out at all times, but that’s all two dimensional. Actually bringing our planners to the airport, the downtown, the hotels, the attractions we’ve been talking about—that really creates that click moment where they think ‘oh yeah—this works.’”
Fam tours, as Hermiston and McConachie explained, are not just checking a box. They’re a multi-day, full-service experience for multiple attendees, and that’s not cheap. Suppliers may shy away from the time, commitment, and expense in favor of cheaper, more impersonal methods. But Hermiston believes that this may be a mistake. “Sometimes you’ll see short term ROI,” he explained, “but a lot of times, it’s long term. I’ve seen customers book us four, five, six years after attending a fam tour. You have to understand the commitment to the process and know that it works.” The impact of an experience—the smell of the city, the feel of the roads, the emotional highs and lows of travel—stick with us far longer than a simple click through a website. We remember specific locations and experiences fondly, which makes us more likely to return to them when a new destination is needed. These gains can be multiplied by thoughtful follow-up.
“Don’t just follow up a few days after,” says Hermiston. “Follow up a month after, two months after, six months after. For example, we hosted a fam trip in February, and we did our standard follow-up, but then additionally, right around Memorial Day, we sent everybody a barbeque package from Kansas City to remind them of their experience and to tie in with the start of the summer… We keep those little touch points going to make sure that we stay top of mind.”
Fam tours can be used as a sieve—a mechanism to narrow down your audience to who, of your intended audience, is most likely to respond positively to these types of high-cost continued follow-ups. Like all strategies, they should be deployed thoughtfully.
“Begin with the end in mind,” says Terra Nuzum, Tourism Sales Specialist with Columbia Conventions & Visitors Bureau. “What’s the goal? Do you want a certain type of planner or meeting, or meetings at a certain time of year?” In short: on whom should you focus your time, money, and attention in order to meet your goals? To reach this group, you will have to cast a wide net.
“If your goal is ten planners, invite 100,” says Hermiston. “Invite early and invite often. Always have your list refined and updated. One thing we do is tagging—it’s a note on every customer that shows whether we want them to come on a fam tour. If it’s part of your daily routine to think about the customers you want to invite, that 100 gets a lot less daunting.” In this way, you can deploy your high-cost, high-impact recruitment strategies only to those who will respond to them, maximizing your ROI.
Finally, and most importantly, fam tours should be used as relationship builders. By providing your guests with a unique, meaningful, and fun experience, you begin to form both a partnership and a friendship. Fam tours are an invitation into your home—a home you work in, live in, and love. This invitation is a form of intimacy in and of itself, and is not likely to be forgotten in an increasingly impersonal and virtual age. You also connect your guests to your partners, and through this relationship, connect your partners more closely to you. McConachie drove home this point, emphasizing the importance of “getting your partners involved. They have a personal touch that can be really effective. Your partners seeing you make the effort to bring people in and show people the destination is really valuable as well.”
Some planners may argue that fam tours are a thing of the past, no longer necessary in the expansive and information-rich virtual age. And while they are right about the breadth of facts that can be gleaned from a simple web search, we all feel a loss of richness in a virtual experience. The location lacks depth, texture, the sights and sounds that bring both destinations and events to life. This is the place for fam tours: an opportunity to bring interested parties into a vibrant, lush experience to show off your partnerships, and to showcase your love for your home city. Ultimately, fam tours like this will cement and bring to life a virtual relationship, and will pull your guests into planning for your destination once and for all.
MEET
Kaitlyn Wallace is a contributing writer/editor from St. Louis.
For 20+ years, the MEET family of products have provided regional and national resources that have kept corporate, association, medical, education, independent, and religious meeting and event planners informed about relevant vendors, industry news, tech innovations, and resources that impact and influence how and where they plan their group business.
For 20+ years, the MEET family of products have provided regional and national resources that have kept corporate, association, medical, education, independent, and religious meeting and event planners informed about relevant vendors, industry news, tech innovations, and resources that impact and influence how and where they plan their group business.
