Making More Money From Factory Tours

Factory tours are nothing new. Lots of companies now know that conducting factory tours is good for their financial bottom line and is also good for their public relations (PR). Usually, companies don’t give much thought to factory tour processes. This could be lost money.

A factory tour usually happens like this: a tour operator or a private group like schools or other companies book with the company for a factory tour. The company designates someone in their company to act as a host for the visitors.

The company host then orients the visitors to the different facilities and manufacturing processes of the company. Then the factory tour ends. Isn’t it a small wonder why many factory tour visitors are underwhelmed by their factory tour experience?

Companies fail to see that they’re actually selling entertainment. Companies fail to see that not all visitors are interested in the mundane manufacturing processes of the company. Visitors want to be entertained and even amused.

One of Japan’s big draws in terms of tourism is selling their culture. Many people worldwide are interested to know and experience Japanese culture. And many Japanese businesses engaged especially in craftwork know this.

There are specific Japanese tours which includes visits to traditional small businesses. For example, there would be tours especially dedicated to small candy factories and other Japanese foodstuff.

In fact, if you Google the search keywords: “factory tours in Japan”, you would immediately be shown various articles that list the various popular factory tours in Japan. This shows that factory tours have become integrated in the tourism industry already.

And Japan is not alone. Many countries are also offering factory tours that are concentrated towards their traditional small businesses. In fact, a lot of these traditional small businesses derive a lot of income from their factory tour earnings.

One of the ways companies make money from factory tours is by charging an entrance fee or a visiting fee to their factory. This can range from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. For example, Ferrari charges 150 euros or US$ 146 for factory tour tickets or entrance fees.

This doesn’t even include Ferrari’s additional charge to enable a visitor to visit their museum. Ferrari even have factory tours specially tailored to high net worth individuals which comes with free coffee and other perks.

Of course Ferrari can charge this much because they have an extremely popular product which a lot of people like to know which includes how they are manufactured. This is how obsessed some people can get with a particular product.

Besides charging factory entrance fees, companies also have a small shop which sells a lot of the company’s products. For example, in the winery I visited, the tour ends with us landing on the winery’s store.

These two ways are how companies traditionally make money from factory tours. But as I have said, and if you visited Ferrari’s factory tour website, a factory tour can offer more as an entertainment product for the company.

A lot of people today are actively engaged in social media especially the young people of today. People want to be able to show to the world that they’ve been to a place that only a few have heard of or even reached. They want to show unique pictures and videos:

A company can close off a certain part of their factory to visitors who can only access it if they paid more besides their entrance fee. As Ferrari has done, they have separate fees for their factory tours and their museum visits.

An automobile company can for example close off their car design and sculpting area. Of course, car enthusiasts who want to know how a car is designed and sculpted would be interested to visit these area which they consider as special from the rest of the factory.

A company’s special processes can be very desirable to visitors as well. A coconut peeler who can manually peel a coconut fruit in mere minutes can be a good attraction to anyone visiting a coconut oil manufacturing factory. In fact, there are YouTube videos that feature these people.

I have already discussed that Ferrari demands an extra fee if a visitor wants to visit their museum. Your company can do the same thing too especially if you are a very old company. You can use your old machines, furnitures, images, documents and so on for your museum.

For example, if your company sell snacks, you can use your expired products as props for your museum. Empty confectionery wrappers can be wrapped in such a way that they can pass of as old confectioneries.

There are social media channels for example that are into old food packaging. Your confectionery museum can be a go-to destination for this social media content creators. But it doesn’t only have to be old food, it can be anything old like clothes, cars and so on.

And don’t forget to guide your visitors into your cafeteria where they can buy food and refreshments. This helps you to fill time in your factory tour and also generates income for the cafeteria.

And while they’re at the cafeteria, you could start displaying your company’s products just to whet your visitors appetite into buying your products at the end of the tour where your actual shop is located.

But you don’t have to always charge additional fees besides the entrance fee whenever you conduct factory tours. You can make your factory a must see event that you get more and more visitors which translates to more and more entrance fee earnings.

You can for example, entertain visitors with forklift stunts. Not many people especially young people have driven a forklift. There are actually a lot of people who are interested in anything than can be driven from delivery trucks, forklifts, fishing boats and so on.

Just imagine the publicity your company would get if visitors to your factory are wowed by the stunts done by one of your company’s forklift drivers. I have driven a forklift and I can honestly say this it’s like driving a big robotic toy even though it’s just a forklift. It’s very amusing.

I happen to see a YouTube video titled: Top 5 Amazing Forklift Tricks and I was blown away when a forklift driver was able to use his forklift to lift a flat coin in the ground. One was even able to put a coin inside a plastic bottle with a very narrow opening.

I’m sure that if ever you integrate such forklift stunts in your factory tours, your factory tours would become popular. You can even teach the visitors how the stunt is done which could be an integral part of your factory tour as well.

Letting your visitors wear your company factory uniforms could be a social media goldmine for your company especially if your uniforms are well designed and are beautiful. I don’t know if Ferrari does this, but Ferrari can let their visitors wear the company’s uniforms.

They can come complete with a cap, jacket or even an overall. We all know that Ferrari already sells clothing with their branding in them and they are well desired by many Ferrari fans. But a true Ferrari enthusiast would also likely want actual Ferrari racing and factory uniforms as well.

An aspiring Ferrari mechanic might be elated by the sheer fact that they can temporarily wear a genuine Ferrari factory uniform or even just a cap. This marketing goes well with Ferrari but it could also work for your company especially if your company uses special clothing.

Let’s say that your company handles hazardous products in your factory and some of your employees wear containment suits. You can let your visitors experience the feeling of what’s it like to wear a containment suit for even just a while.

But this small amount of time might just be what it takes to make your visitor’s day. They’re probably already thinking that they have experienced something dangerous or futuristic which is a departure from their usually boring normal lives.

MANUFACTURING MANUALS: You can sell these instructional materials at the end of the tour. For example, if your company manufactures candies, you could sell manuals that teach your visitors how to make their own candies at home.

This includes the step by step process of how to make the candy as well as the ingredients and portion sizes. You can even advertise that you sell the ingredients which are specified in the manuals.

But it doesn’t have to be just your product. For example, you can sell manuals on how to operate forklifts or how to maintain the various machines that can be found not just in your factory but other factories as well.

It could be a manual for hand tools or kitchen utensils. The first primarily is best suited for companies that manufacture mechanical equipment and the latter is best suited for companies that manufacture food.


INDUSTRY REPORTS: Your company spends a good deal of money analyzing your industry and your competitors right? Why not turn some of your cost into earnings by selling some of the non-confidential industry reports you have collected.

For example, a company involved in the manufacture of car parts could create a small book or report that they could sell to visitors who are interested in the car parts business side of things. You can even promote your company’s product standing in these reports.

This is because there would be factory tour visitors who are primarily interested not only in your factory and its manufacturing facilities and processes but also in the actual industry that you are in.

These factory tour visitors might be businesspersons or investors who want to know your industry in great detail that they would be willing to pay good money for your books, reports and manuals because of the knowledge you give to them.

INDUSTRY CONSULTATION OR SEMINAR: This would be a great opportunity for the company to network. The company can conduct a seminar where not only the manufacturing side of the company is discussed but also the industry as well.

It would be the company’s chance to meet promising graduates and undergraduate students who might be interested in working for the company. This allows them to pre-screen potential employees.

It is also a chance for the company to meet possible investors in the company. Investors don’t usually contact companies they are prospecting and only contact companies once they are convinced that the company is worth investing in.

Therefore, by conducting these consultations and seminars, a company is able to reach people whom they normally wouldn’t meet and connect to. Often, a simple factory tour is not enough to accomplish this.

Factory tours are good for a company’s financial bottomline as well as for their public relations. Companies often make their money by charging entrance fees and by setting up a store within their factory’s premises.

With a little more imagination, a company can make more money with their factory tours through more entertainment and products. A company can also connect with more people via consultations and seminars than just thru mere factory tours.

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