Harmony might sound like something that a hemp-clad masseuse brandishing a stick of lavender would be concerned with, rather than a priority for someone who’s trying to run a business, but don’t write harmony off too quickly.
Hear harmony out - it has a place in your business, Without using a metaphor borrowed from a thousand cliched business growth seminars, a business just works better when everyone is working in coherence with each other; if a football team is disharmonious, with each player doing their own thing and ignoring the actions of their team mates, then they'll never hold a trophy above their heads. The same is true in business; businesses are much more likely to grow and be successful when the whole team is working towards a common goal, with their actions all tailored to benefit the business.
Business travel can fragment and disjoint a business very quickly - it’s one of the few areas of a business in which people are often let loose to do whatever they like. Employees develop their own rules, practices and routines and as a result there’s often a lack of communication, a lack of synchronisation and a lack of concord; no way of keeping track of travel spend, no way of knowing where travellers are at any given point during their trip and no easy way of communicating travel arrangements to multiple travellers.
Here’s how to make sure that, when it comes to business travel, everyone in your business is on the same page/ singing from the same songsheet/ any of your other favourite business cliches…
Tracking Travel Spend
Most businesses have a travel policy - most will take note of the maximum they can spend, scan the small print and forget about it. Using this convenient amnesia as an excuse to book premium prices, despite the fact that there is almost always a cheaper, suitable alternative available - these are the people who are increasing your travel spend unnecessarily.
Search for a travel booking tool that tracks your travel spend, showing you what’s being spent and, more importantly, who’s spending it - knowledge is power and having easy access to information like this is key if you’re to stamp out out-of-policy bookings and consequently make savings.
Sharing best business travel practices
Fragmented methods of booking business travel, i.e one employee always using booking.com, another always using laterooms.com and another just typing their destination into Google and hoping for the best, means that no one is really working towards discovering an efficient way of travelling; everyone is paying different prices, for different sized rooms or standard of flight due to th different deals available on their chosen booking method.
Mandating the use of one particular type of booking tool, preferably something that is geared towards the needs of business travellers (a tool that requires little effort to sign up to and is easy to use), means that you will quickly develop your own best practices; for example, you might discover that the Hilton that’s situated 5 minutes from one of your VIP clients has a weekday rate of £75 and suggest that this is your employee’s first port of call should they need to visit.
Booking multiple business trips
The process of booking business travel for more than one person, namely yourself, can be an ordeal; lots of double checking, triple checking and constant clicking of Fwd. There might be one person you forget to send booking details on to, one person who misses their train as a result and one person who definitely won’t be getting you a present come Secret Santa season.
Look out for booking tools that allow you to book trips for multiple travellers and then send them an email containing all of the details at the click of one button, rather than several - this ensures that all travellers receive the correct information and that no one will be missing an all important email that tells them what time tomorrow’s train leaves.
Traveller tracking
Switch on or scroll through the news and you’ll be confronted with terror, war and coups - none of which soothe the anxious mind of a business traveller. Of course, things usually go off without a hitch, but should an emergency occur it’s reassuring to know that your business has processes in place to keep the situation as under control as possible and none of those processes include searching through three months of emails in order to find out the name of the hotel at which your traveller is staying.
Prioritising booking tools that keep a clear log of your business travel and that store traveller itineraries in a centralised place that can be accessed by other people in your organisation, as well as ensuring that all employees use said booking tool, means that your business and its travellers are well prepared should the worst happen.
Travel.cloud was designed to bring more harmony and less hassle to your business; it makes bookng your travel quick and easy, which is the first step towards securing successful business travel.
To find out more about using travel.cloud for your business, cut right to the chase and sign up for free today.
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