Traveling for business can foster better client relationships and improve your bottom line.

What does business travel look like in an increasingly virtual world? Technology like Teams and Zoom has made it easier than ever to communicate with customers and coworkers, but some things are too important for a phone call or video chat. For lots of reasons, business travel is still sometimes necessary and remains a major operating expense. In this article, we’ll look at some of the benefits of business travel and ways to travel smart.

3 Benefits of Business Travel

Technology has made it easier than ever to communicate with our customers and coworkers, but business travel remains a major operating expense.

1 Securing New Clients

When it comes to landing clients, nothing works as well as a face-to-face meeting. And plenty of research backs this up. According to reports from Oxford Economics USA and the World Travel & Tourism Council, corporate executives and business travelers determined that they had a higher conversion level after an in-person meeting.

While video calls allow business representatives to speak with prospective clients, it’s much easier to build trust and negotiate terms when participants are in the same room and can read each other’s body language and other nonverbal cues. Building a customer’s trust through a face-to-face interaction is often just as important as the product or service you’re selling. If a prospect is wavering between you and a competitor, being the company that literally goes the extra mile could make all the difference.

2 Maintaining Professional Relationships

We all know attracting new clients is only part of doing business. Nurturing existing client relationships is equally important. Whether it’s a courtesy check-in or an important negotiation, traveling for an in-person meeting demonstrates your appreciation, respect, and commitment to your clients.

Maintaining professional relationships extends to those within the company as well. With remote work on the rise and teams spread out across different states, scheduling in-person team-building events can keep colleagues connected and improve morale.

3 Networking Opportunities

Attending trade shows and conferences helps the people on your team meet potential new clients and keep in touch with current customers – while at the same time staying up to date on current industry developments and the competition.

According to an Oxford Economics USA report, over 50% of survey respondents said that trade shows were responsible for up to 20% of their new customers.

How to Measure and Improve Your ROI

As we’ve discussed, now, more than ever, business trips are necessary. Still, it’s important to be smart about how and when you travel.

Gauge Value

It’s hard to calculate the ROI of a company’s overall business travel, but some educated guesses can help you determine when a trip is justifiable. Add up the costs – of things like airfare, lodging, and meals – and consider this expenditure in light of how much value the trip will likely provide. Consider these questions:

  • If visiting customers: How much business do they generate now and is there an opportunity to increase wallet share? Would travel for an in-person meeting help mend a customer relationship?
  • If visiting prospects: How much revenue could they generate, and what’s their level of interest?
  • Can you visit other clients or leads while in the area?
  • If the trip is for internal purposes: Are in-person meetings necessary for productivity or employee engagement?

You’ll want to treat these criteria as general guidelines only. After all, if a high-value prospect shows only medium interest, the potential payoff may justify the cost of flying out your top people. You’ll need to make the call on a case-by-case basis.

Maximize Return on Investment

Judging the necessity of business travel is only part of the equation. To offer the most benefit, business travel must be both efficient and cost-effective. Consider how these factors can affect travel ROI:

  • Time: How can traveling employees accomplish more in fewer days?
  • Spending: Do you have formal guidelines or procedures to prevent overpaying on airfare or lodging?
  • People: Are you sending the right personnel, and how will their absence affect productivity back home?

Support Your Employees                                                                                                                                   

Finally, pay attention to your employees’ comfort and convenience when they travel. Managing costs and increasing productivity shouldn’t come at the cost of employee morale and performance.

Time to Show Up

Virtual meeting technology isn’t going away, but travel is still sometimes a necessary part of doing business. In fact, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has forecasted that corporate travel spending will be back to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 – a year sooner than originally projected. If you have questions or need help managing your business finances, reach out to us; we’re here to help!

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