The soul of any business is money. To get
this money, earning it not only important, you need to save it as well. Every
company, big or small, dreams to expand and be bigger. For expanding your
business you need to travel to parts of the country and even cross borders,
because your company cannot be present somewhere, until and unless, you or your
sub-ordinate is physically present there. Business trips although highly crucial,
can completely bleed you dry. From travel to food to lodging, the company is
liable to pay for all of it. But, if you do not take the risk and decide to let
go of a business proposal, you might just lose out on earning some big bucks.
So, here are some tips on how to manage your business trip expenses.
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1. Is it worth it?
Today, you are flying from Delhi to Indonesia to propose your
business plan to a potential investor. Now, they might invest or simply might
turn you down. Either way, your money is being spent. So, before you spent it,
think clearly, is the money spent actually give a return? Spend ample amount of
time to go over your objective of visit, what you will do to achieve it, how
will you do it, and most importantly, what’s your contingency plan.
2. Take the lead and manage your deals
When you travel to visit your clients and
offer them the privilege to choose the meeting point, you are basically serving
your bank account on a silver platter. Plan ahead, decide where you want to
meet your client, what’s the cost of food of the restaurant or hotel, what are
their specialties and cost of other facilities. When you go for a business
meeting, you are bound to order food, now if you know what to order, there’s a
chance your companion might just opt for the same or something close enough.
This gives you the upper hand to get an assumption of the possible costs.
3. Ask for every invoice
For every company it is not possible for
the owner to go down for every business meeting. When you send in your associate to represent
your company, you can either provide an allowance to them, but that might
backfire, since they might try to skim some money into their own pockets, by
taking your clients to a cheaper meeting point or by staying at a low priced
hotel. The most efficient thing to do, is to book the hotel and travel tickets
of your employee beforehand and ask them to hand over any receipts that they
incur, like cabs, hotels and food, and the company can simply repay back to the
employee.
4. Plan ahead
If you just started a project in Bangalore
from your office in Kanyakumari, the chances are you have to travel there every
fortnight. If you tie up with a hotel or booking broker, you can easily get
tickets and hotels whenever you need them, at a lower rate. Or, you can easily
rent out an office space, so that in future if you or your associates need to
come down for a couple of days, you can provide them a place to stay and work
from.
5. Do your math homework
Never go to a meeting unprepared. We are
not talking about your business basics, but the basics of your expenses. If
your client fixes up a meeting at JW Marriott, and you walk in there with 10
thousand bucks, you might get embarrassed. Do your homework, other than
checking out how the place is and how to get there, Google how much it would
cost you just to sit there.
Your
client can order anything on the menu, from 1000 rupees coleslaw to a 10,000
rupees bottle of wine. You have to be prepared for it all, because you don’t
want your billion dollar investor walking out the door because you decided not
to pay their 10,000 rupees bill. See what the highest cost is and what’s the
lowest. Let your client order anything they want, but always suggest. Order
something good but not very extravagant for yourself. This gives your investor
the assurance that you are willing to meet their demands but at the same time
you are here on business and not here to enjoy a good time on your company’s
account.
6. Stay lavishly but stringently
Your whole business tour is part of your appeal to your client. So
if you book a one stat hotel and take your client to a five star to dine, it
might catch up with you, if your client decides to pay you’re a visit out of
nowhere or may be comes down for a drink. Your hotel room represents your
company’s image. So choose a place with is suitable to entertain but at the
same time not very expensive.
Business trips are more like risk trips.
You invest money in the hope of a better outcome. But the outcome is entirely
dependent upon your presentation skills. Send only the best to represent out
company, one with crystal clear knowledge and sense in the matter. Set a budget
for every trip and try not to precede it. If it does get preceded, see what
cost you more, so that you can plan better the next time.