The Value of Corporate Travel
One of the best things when you’re running a company or working in corporate world is that you get the opportunity to travel and visit places you’ve never been before. Corporate travel is very important to all business owners because this allows them to expand their reach and grow their business. However, with the advent of technology, many companies now consider the alternative forms of communication, which is communicating through video, email, Facebook, Twitter, website, etc. After all, this saves them a lot of money as they no longer need to pay for tickets, hotels, food, and other travel expenses.
While electronic communications deliver significant cost-saving benefits, face to face contact with your customers, clients, or suppliers is still essential to communicate more effectively. Here are some reasons why corporate travel remains to be valuable even in this modern world.
Develop trust and personal relationship
Personal interaction helps you develop more personal rapport and trust than when you interact with virtual mediums. When you meet someone in person, you will be able to appreciate and understand more his or her facial expressions, body language, and speech pattern. It also allows you to know more about the person you’re dealing with. Sometimes, it’s easy for us to form judgment about others when we only talk to them via email or video, but when we’re able to interact with them face to face, we tend to feel more connected, which builds deeper relationship and understanding. And one of the best things is that it gives you higher chances of success, because when you know someone on a personal level, it’s much harder to let that person down.
Demonstrate your services or products more clearly
While video conferencing and other electronic communications now allow you to introduce your new offers with your potential clients – without the need to travel – there’s still nothing better than meeting your clients face to face. When you interact with your clients personally, you get the opportunity to demonstrate your product more effectively because you’re able to find out more about their needs. It also helps you make sure that they use and understand them clearly and get the maximum benefit from it. Effectively demonstrating your products and services is crucial to closing deals.
Build your network and access new ideas
Corporate travels, including meetings, seminars, trade shows, and conferences expose your company to new ideas and people. When you travel, you get the opportunity to meet other people, especially people with the same mindset as you are; and from them you can learn new things and other business techniques. Travelling also gives you an opportunity to find new vendors, suppliers, and even new customers and clients. The money that you spend for airfare, accommodation, and meals is actually well worth it because of the so many benefits you can get. After all, you can always get your money back or even multiply it by using what you learn from your travel and gathering more potential customers.