Today I'm joined by Alexandra Kenin, who is the founder of Urban Hiker San Francisco. Her business model is super interesting because though we've had quite a few tour companies on the show now, their approach has been very different.
Even though Alex does offer her tours directly to consumers, a big focus of our conversation today was all about the B2B market and how she's grown her business through networking. And before you write this episode off because you think networking is a dirty word, I really want you to wait and hear it from Alex's perspective.
Her approach is all about forming relationships with other businesses. She does this as someone who loves meeting new people and loves establishing new friendships. When you think of it in those terms, networking can be anything but a dirty word.
Alex shares her story of how she's grown Urban Hiker San Francisco, largely through working with corporate groups. She shares how she's partnered with match.com to offer dating hikes where ten to twenty single people show up and get to go on a group hike and maybe meet the love of their life. She's also partnered with several local DMCs, or destination management companies, that specialize in organizing trips for large corporate groups. This has been a huge component of her business and it's fascinating to hear how making connections with these DMCs has enabled her to grow her client base. She even offers her tours on Zola, which is the wedding website and guests to a wedding can buy her tours on a registry for their loved ones.
Alex’s approach is just so different from so many other more traditional tour companies. There is nothing wrong with the traditional way, but it's nice to hear about alternate routes that people could take to grow their businesses. As it shows, there's really no one right way to go about it. Alex is full of ideas, she’s got such an entrepreneurial mind and fantastic energy. I'm really excited for you to hear her story.
Find the show notes and resources mentioned in the episode here.
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Travel Business Lounge | For Travel and Tour Entrepreneurs