Common mistakes when booking corporate groups.

Corporate groups are the most profitable thing you sell, yet most operators quietly leave that money on the table. The mistakes are almost always the same six: underpricing the group, having no dedicated page, writing to a tourist instead of a planner, quoting slow and following up weakly, staying dependent on OTAs, and treating a group as a one-off. Here is each one, and what to do instead.

In a tourism marketplace that is increasingly dominated by OTAs, tour operators are finding their public tour margins shrinking year after year. It is a noble goal to take on behemoths like Viator and fight for more direct public tour sales, but this David and Goliath matchup may already be won by the giants. Instead of facing that battle head on, more and more operators are making an end-run around the big guys, shifting their focus away from public tour sales in favor of finding new direct sales markets. Among the most lucrative areas of expansion, both on an event-by-event basis and in terms of a client's lifetime value, are corporate events.

Why corporate groups are worth it

Corporate tours carry a number of benefits for today's tour operators:

• Profit margins are generally much higher than their public tour counterparts. Not only can you charge a higher price per guest for a custom corporate event, you are not giving away up to 30% of your revenue to OTAs or other third-party sales platforms.
• Corporate events support repeat and referral business. Unlike public tours where your guests are generally one-time customers, corporate events let you build long-term client relationships, which makes the lifetime value of each guest much higher.
• Custom corporate tours are easier and more fun to execute. Corporate events usually have a long planning runway, so every aspect of the tour is buttoned up days or weeks in advance. Planning custom events also lets you break out of the repetitive mechanics of public tours and spread your wings a little.

That is not to say there are no speed bumps along the way to building out the corporate side of your business. The biggest misstep I see tour operators make is treating their corporate events the same way they handle their public tours. Running successful corporate tours requires a different business model than the one you are used to using with public tours. It is as if you are running two different companies in parallel, each with different target audiences, sales strategies, and booking and payment platforms. Read on to sidestep the common mistakes and make the most of your corporate events.

#8) Not following up to sell future events

Corporate groups offer an amazing opportunity for repeat and referral business. Reaching out to past corporate guests is among the easiest ways to increase corporate tour business. You already have their contact information, they already understand your product, and they already know its value. Check in regularly with past corporate guests and ask them directly whether they are ready to do another event with their team, or whether they know anyone in other departments or companies who might enjoy your tours.

#7) Sending an unprofessional looking proposal

Any item you send to a client is part of your company's perceived value, and the greater the perceived value, the more truly valuable your experience becomes. A professional proposal is both a functional document and a way to build confidence in your company. It lets you spell out your services clearly and present pricing in a straightforward, uncomplicated way. Using templates from services like Proposify or DealHub can actually help increase your business.

#6) Selling public tours as private events

Simply repackaging your public tours as private or corporate events hurts both products, reducing their perceived value and stopping you from offering a tailored event your corporate guests will really find impressive. Instead, as you build out the corporate side of your business, use it as a chance to expand the kinds of tours you offer. That can mean adding new vendors and creating new routes that can be customized to a corporate client's needs. Custom tours command higher price points, and your guests will not feel like they are getting a repurposed, warmed-over public tour.

#5) Not asking for referrals

Your previous corporate clients are not just a source of great repeat business. They also work within networks of other corporate teams who are on the lookout for amazing event options. Build a strong follow-up email campaign after every corporate event, and be sure to ask directly whether your previous guests know anyone else in their network who would enjoy one of your custom tours.

#4) Not using email to promote your corporate experience offers

Beyond reaching out to past guests personally, your email list is an incredible tool for driving corporate bookings. Aim to send a monthly email that highlights the value of your events, links to blog posts on your site, and encourages recipients to follow you on social media. You can also segment your lists and tailor your messaging more specifically, and set up automations to prior guests so your company stays top of mind for future events.

#3) Forcing payments through your public tour reservation system

Reservation systems are fantastic for booking and processing payments for your public tours, but they are simply not designed to handle custom private events. Their credit card processing rates are usually higher than average, and the rez-tech company itself usually takes a cut of every transaction. One of the many benefits of corporate events is the simplicity of pricing and billing: most often an organizer books the entire event for one price on one credit card. Instead of forcing that through your current reservation system, seek out a third-party credit card processor with low processing fees. Ideally the platform you choose also has seamless invoicing so clients can pay you directly from the invoice. Options like QuickBooks, Stripe, or Square offer competitive alternatives to your rez-tech.

#2) Not capturing the email address of each guest

You have the contact information of your main event planner, but what about the rest of the guests on the tour? Those guests may work in different departments or at other companies, and they represent incredible potential as future clients or referral sources. My clients use a digital guidebook tool to capture the email address of every attendee, so everybody gets added to the mailing list, not just the main planner. Savannah Taste tours, for instance, captured 3,000 new email addresses in just five months. If even 1% of those people turn into new clients, that is 30 new corporate events, plus the possibility of return and referral business.

#1) No page for corporate groups

Without a corporate groups landing page, you miss the chance to start a very profitable conversation with your target clients. With a page dedicated to corporate groups, you can speak directly to event organizers, address their concerns, and show them why booking a tour with you is the answer they are looking for. If you have nowhere to send a planner, start with how to build a corporate group page that books, and if you are still quoting groups off your per-ticket price, read how to price corporate and private group tours.

Additional mistakes graciously shared by the community

These came straight from operators who were willing to be open and vulnerable in front of the whole community to help raise everybody's game. I thank them for it.

None of these mistakes come from laziness. They come from running the group side of your business with tools built for the public side. Fix the tools, and the groups follow.

Register now for the next Town Hall

If you could not make our last Town Hall, never fear, we will be back. Learn how to win more corporate groups in a 60-minute, interactive Zoom meeting. You will meet other tour operators, discover new business ideas, and learn how to grow corporate tour revenue. This year I will keep exploring new strategies to grow your corporate and private tour business.