Articles

Lessons from Business Tours

Jana M. Kemp

Business travels often provide opportunities to tour or shop at new places. Each time I visit a new store or business, I look and listen for the ideas that I might use in my business, or pass along to you.

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to tour these and several other businesses. Each business has a distinct product line and a theme that is incorporated into its retail space.

Custom Weld – Lewiston, Idaho. The Barnes family business makes jet-boats. From the folds on the aluminum hull to the beads on the welds and the finishing details, each boat radiates an unmatched pride of workmanship. The Custom Weld tour for special groups and for individual customers is the same – passionate. It includes a walk through a sparkling clean showroom and a start-to-finish look at how each boat is made from the 4-piece hull to the finishing touches of the paint and carpet. Employees along the tour stops gleam with commitment to and pride in the more than 400 boats they make each year. Theme: Water sports are fun when you have boats crafted with pride.

Camille Beckman – Eagle, Idaho. The outside of the brick building is well-landscaped and invites drivers to pull off the highway for a visit. The retail store feels like a bed and breakfast gift shop and opens onto a hallway that overlooks the production floor for the Camille Beckman line of soaps, lotions and related body-care items. The signage along the hallway creates a self-guided tour experience that loops you back onto the sales floor. Camille Beckman is headquartered here and the products are sold all over the world. Theme: Bed and breakfast, self-pampering.

IKEA – Mall of America, Minnesota. A stand alone building that has its own showroom, marketplace and restaurant, the IKEA store offers a one-stop shop for gifts, toys, furniture, home décor, bedding, kitchen and bathroom cabinets and fixtures, home accessories and even a ready-made meal that you can sit down and eat in the store. Immediately inside the front door is a hand-held blue and white map of the two floors. The map is a self-guided tour through the store departments. On the map-rack are pencils so you can make notes on the map-order form, and a paper yardstick that you can tear off and carry through the store to make good purchasing decisions. The variety of products offered and the size of the store are a bit overwhelming, yet with the map in hand you can navigate your way through the displays, impulse-purchase bins, and sale shelves. Theme: One-stop, low to moderate price for moderate to good quality products sold in a bright and fun environment.

Action Plan: Take a look around your business to identify what you want to show people coming in to shop or for a full-fledged tour. Then, identify what you can do to let people take self-guided tours through your business. Also identify what you’d show and talk about on a guided tour. Consider your place of business a place to showcase.
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Reprint Permission: The author is willing to grant reprint permissions. Please contact Jana Kemp: jana@janakemp.com or call 208-367-1701.