Traveling For Business The Right Way ~ Guest Post
It’s no secret that we travel less for business than in the past. With Skype, GoToMeeting and other technological advancements, many companies have stopped traveling if possible. This guest post from Logan Baker with Jet Charters in Knoxville, TN may change your mind.
Photo by Andy Rusch used under Creative Commons License.
Traveling for business the right way
Lately it seems like business travel is getting a bad rap. Depending on your business, travel expenditures can be one of the first things on the chopping block. It’s often easy to justify cutting out the cost of sending people all over the place, but the costs associated with that philosophy can be quite significant. Travel is a great way to invest in your business, but only when it’s handled correctly. Read on to find out how you can maximize the return on your business travel investment.
Travel with purpose
Think about your previous business travels. Why did you go? Who did you see? How much profit did the trip generate? The first two questions are probably pretty easy to answer, but that might not be the case with the third. The vast majority of business trips can and should generate revenue. You should approach business travel like any other revenue stream in your business plan. How much is it going to cost, and what kind of returns should you expect? More importantly, what does the historical data say about whether the trip is worth it in the first place? If you haven’t been analyzing your travel like everything else then now is the time to start. Every trip should include a purpose, a goal (revenue or otherwise), and proper tracking for the future. Put the analytical skills you’ve perfected to good use here!
Travel with efficiency
You can almost never go wrong with efficiency. Making efficiency a part of your company culture will increase your returns in nearly every sector. Business travel is no different, but it often requires some creative thinking to get the job done. Many business trips are for a specific purpose. Sometimes you might be making a trip to see your best customer and reassure them that you’re doing a great job, and other times you’ll be traveling for lead generation. Whatever your primary goal, it’s likely you’re going to have some down time you can put to good use. If you’re there for your customer, don’t be afraid to go out and land some leads when you can. You could spend the extra time sightseeing, but that’s what you do on vacation. Business trips should be — not surprisingly — all business.
Efficiency also refers to your travel time. You can probably find cheap flights if …
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