Tour the Force of Tours on Consumers

Stanley A. Feder wanted to set things straight during his New York Times interview. As president of Simply Sausage, he vented his irritation about the quote popular among legislators and often attributed to 19th century Prussian politician Otto von Bismarck: “Laws are like sausages. It is best not to see them being made.”
     Quality sausages are made from a specified recipe for each type, with the unsavory parts of each ingredient cut out before production, asserted Mr. Feder. Lawmaking, in contrast, is victim to the corruption of politics.
     For marketers in Mr. Feder’s situation, it might be best to reverse the Chancellor von Bismarck advice. Show consumers how the product or service is made. Tell them about the process. That is, promote tours of the premises conducted by informative guides.
     This advice follows from studies of tour results at a beer brewery and a university campus by researchers at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Graz, and Imperial College London. People participating in an informative tour became more willing to recommend the organization to others and, in the case of the brewery, more interested in purchasing the products.
     The richness of the tour experience was important. A university tour producing better results included the historical background of the university, the current usage of the university buildings, the various departments, current challenges facing the university, the university’s impact on society, and a description of student life. The inferior tour omitted coverage of the historical background, current challenges, and the university’s impact on society.
     As we might expect, consumers coming to the tour having less familiarity with the brewery showed a larger effect from the tour experience. However, a prior positive attitude toward the brand made less of a difference than the knowledge and the experiential enjoyment gained from the tour.
     Backstories told during the tour add knowledge and enjoyment. Items sell better when accompanied by a tale to give it distinction. Backstories also give conversation starters for generating word-of-mouth. Have handouts available for the tour participants to take away with them. Be alert to stories from the participants during the tour and use snippets from selected tales to build the backstories further.
     Backstories delivered face-to-face to the participants add the appeal of exclusivity. The impression, deserved or not, is that the consumer is privileged to be told the tales. Use this fact to inject a touch of drama.

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