FAMs are not free trips or cheap vacations. They are a terrific opportunity for travel agents, but they also carry obligations and responsibilities if you want to make them profitable and productive. Use FAMs to explore new destinations of interest, to investigate emerging niche markets, to personally experience hotels and activities that interest you, and to sample the quality and delivery of services by prospective vendor partners.

When you're investigating a new destination that you might offer clients, it helps to visit the region's official tourism website, attend webinars offered the tourism agency or vendors, and read blogs and trade articles on the destination. After you’re armed with the basics, a FAM makes perfect sense for personal exploration, to confirm what you've been told by trade sources (or traveler reviews), and to get that inside knowledge by meeting with local experts and hoteliers.

When it's organized by a tourism bureau, the FAM gives you a basic overview of what they think is important for travelers to experience and what they consider the region's shining attributes. When it's organized by a vendor specializing in that region, you get the added benefits of learning the ins and outs of escorted tours vs. independent travel and when which would be preferable.

FAMs are also great for investigating niche markets. Do you have a lot of fun-loving clients who love beer? Then a FAM on a pub crawl through Ireland might be a good opportunity to learn about more beer destinations than the obvious Oktoberfest vacation for your clients. Do you have a group of wine aficionados in your clientele? Then a FAM to the lesser-known wine regions in Italy might be the ticket to jump-start your wine tours.

Besides the obvious benefit of learning about how that region caters to a niche market, you also gain valuable tips on how to attract and market to that clientele. Do you and your neighbors compete for best garden of the year? Then how about a FAM to the gardens of England to learn how you can package a niche tour for your gardening friends and others?

When I'm basically familiar with a destination but want greater in-depth knowledge, I love to experience a FAM that gives me greater insights to distinctive hotels and activities in that area. Personally experiencing a hotel's service delivery beats any amount of print collateral.

And when I try unique activities in that area, I can design more comprehensive itineraries custom-tailored to my clients' personalities. I can use this richer knowledge to make my clients' vacations to that region more experiential and ultimately satisfying.

I recommend you choose a FAM not solely for its destination, but also by its supplier. Choose a FAM offered by a prospective vendor you're really keen on partnering with so you can experience firsthand the quality of their product and their service commitment.

I've been on FAMs where the vendor has actually been rude and indifferent to the travel agent participants. If the vendor is rude to its travel agents, who represent the gateway to more clients, then I know my clients would receive the same inferior service that I received.

Sampling a vendor's product before offering it to my clients has been a lifesaver. In several instances, I've been saved from the horrible mistake of using an inferior tour operator. But I've mostly encountered vendors whose products and service quality mirror my own standards and whom I now use exclusively for those select destinations.

Those are the occasions when a FAM has really worked well for mutual profitability: I've learned more, I've partnered with a great supplier, and the tour operator finds a new advocate to sell its products.

Recognize that a tour operator is assessing you as a prospective partner as much as you're assessing them. Be professional. Be on time (in other words, don't make the group consistently wait for you). Be courteous. Ask questions that show you're paying attention and analyzing future interactions. Initiate discussions about how to market their products to your existing clientele and how to attract new clientele.

Warning: Do not use a FAM solely for personal pleasure when you have no interest in selling that region or using that vendor as a partner. It's exploitative. It costs the tourism agencies and tour operators money to host a FAM, and they're hoping that they will get a return on their investment when you send travelers and business to them.

This face-to-face time with a tour operator is the building block to future partnering efforts. Don't miss this golden opportunity.