036 How to give a guided tour around your company

Preparation

The key to a successful tour is planning. You need to have an idea of what you are going to explain and the route that you are going to follow before your guests arrive.

You should keep the following things in mind when preparing a tour:

1. Objective: if possible you should know your visitors´ objectives. This will help you to adapt the tour and show them the parts of the factory that interest them most.
2. Ask for an anticipate questions: you should be ready for any questions that come your way. Furthermore, you should ask regularly if there are any questions you can answer.
3. Make sure staff know: having your staff know a tour will take place will help them feel more comfortable if they are asked any questions. Include staff members in your tour where possible.
4. Duration of tour: Think about how long the tour will take and make sure you have enough time and things to say. Check with your guest how much time they have before the tour and if necessary adjust the tour length to fit this.
5. The route: Think about which route you should take around the factory or offices. Keep in mind factors such as noise and any dangers.
6. English expressions: Prepare what you are going to say and then print some expressions out or have them on a tablet ready to consult during the tour. Remember the general rule, large groups, more formal language, small groups of 3 or 4, less formal.
7. Machinery and noise: This can be a big issue for effective communication. You will need to use effective body-language and signalling with your hands. Try and avoid turning away from people when you are talking to them. It is best to explain a noisy machine before you reach it, so you don’t need to shout.

Before we end this first part of the episode, I would like to give you an example of how to brainstorm some typical questions. Simply sit down with some colleagues and generate some ideas based on what you think people will want to know. Remember, this will be linked to the individual objective for each visit.

Here are some example questions to get you started.

How many people for this process?

How many people do you need to handle the material?

What is the workability of this part/process?

Can you explain the ease of production?

How are you implementing MTCR in the process?

OK, now that we have a plan in place, let’s take a look at some expressions you can use to start the tour.

Welcoming guests and starting the tour

Starting a tour is similar in some ways to starting a presentation, we need to welcome the guests and give them some indication of what we will be doing. Let’s take a look at some useful expressions.

Good morning/afternoon everyone.

If I could all just have your attention for a minute/May I have your attention, please.

Welcome to The Ford Motor Company/ I would like to welcome you all to the Ford Motor Company.

My name is Andrew Ambrosius and today I will be your guide around the installations / offices / plant / factory/ As some of you may know, my name is Andrew and today I will be leading this tour of the installations / offices / plant / factory.

The tour should take about 30 minutes, please feel free to ask me any questions as we make our way around/The tour should last about 45 minutes. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions at any time. / I expect the tour to last 30 minutes, is that OK for everyone?

Depending on the type of tour, you can offer some warnings about noise and dangers.

For example, you could use some of the following expressions.

All guests must put on their ear muffs when I indicate. I will hold mine up in the air before we enter a noisy area.

Before we enter the plant, please place your protective glasses firmly on your face.

Can I please bring to your attention some safety points? / I would like to explain the safety rules before we officially start the tour. / Could all guests listen carefully while I explain the safety precautions.

OK, now that we have welcomed the guests and explained any safety precautions, let’s look at some essential language for during the tour.

What to say during the tour.

I would like to start this section by looking at some common expressions we can use for giving indications. I’ll give you the expression then the translation.

Now that we have some common expressions for giving indications, I would like to quickly give you a list of common prepositions.

On

Over

Under

Above

Next to

In front of

Behind

Near

In

Below

Here are a few phrases to help you with some small talk before the start of the tour. These will help in situations where you are waiting for someone to arrive and you find yourself alone with the guests.

Let’s look at some common expressions for talking about your company. During the tour you may want to explain the company history or some milestones.

Once you have finished giving some history and milestones, you may want to talk about the building premises, plant or offices.

Finally, let’s look at some expressions for talking specifically about a plant or factory space.

Bringing the tour to an end

To finish up today, I am just going to give you some tips on how you can bring a tour to a nice close. Remember, this language depends on the formality of the tour. Let’s take a look at some nice expressions for wrapping things up.

Final thoughts

Well, there we are, the end of another episode. I would like to finish up by giving you some final tips. The key to your tour is planning, all tours are different but with these expressions you have the framework to help you to put together your tour. You have nice expressions for the introduction and conclusion and the body of your tour can be filled in with relevant information and some key language from this episode.

As always, I really hope you have found this episode both interesting and useful. If you do need any further advice, then please get in touch and I will be more than happy to help. Remember, we don’t promote the AOBE podcast, so we can only help others and reach more people by having you share and recommend it to your friends and family. If you love AOBE, then please share and rate us. I would really appreciate that.

Well, till next week see you all soon.