For most New Zealand organisations, business success depends on long-distance international travel to develop and maintain market links and to plug into the international networks that keep commerce flowing.
Flying off to exotic destinations may be the stuff of dreams for many, but as most who travel for business will confirm, there is more stress than glamour in jetting here and there. Even the shortest trips suck up seven hours of precious time. Then there is the challenge of operating in foreign environment, even if it is just the other end of this country, spending nights away from home, family and familiar business environment.
As your future business success is dependent on the key contacts, meetings and deals that are the reason for travel, strategies to maximise your executive performance while travelling are extremely important: although perhaps not as much as they were when travel was by steamship and rail, or even in the early golden age of airlines, when Comets and 707s ground their way towards merchant destinations in Europe and North America.
Quartz Reef Vineyard’s marketing manager Simon Beck has been catching planes for business since he was part of the Kiwifruit Marketing Board’s incursions into Asian markets from Thailand to Japan. In those early days, marketing trips demanded portable office that was in itself feat of organisation, and travel lacked many of the refinements we now take for granted.
“Looking back on paper tickets, tiresome airport processing and cramped seating, the improvement in travel conditions is vast,” Beck says.
“Today with electronic ticketing, high-speed check-in processes and quieter, roomier aircraft, the actual flying is relatively no-fuss. The only problem modern business travellers face regularly is airport security, and that is impossible to plan for as you never know what any airport will do at any given time. Some are better than others, but security checks before boarding can take anything from 20 minutes to two hours.”
This, he says, is where getting access to decent business lounge facilities makes huge difference to ease of travel. It’s the only place where air travel has become more difficult in recent years.
“Large airports are always risk because they are handling so much traffic,” says Beck, “but Asia is generally better in the business lounge stakes than other places and the United States is the worst.
“If you really want to experience the ultimate business lounge experience, try to get into Virgin’s lounge at Heathrow. Snooker tables, champagne bars, the works. You feel as if you’re in James Bond movie,” he says.
Beck’s experience is telling, as somebody who has regularly travelled as an employee of large company, and now on behalf of small operator with strong export focus.
Corporate employees tend to fit into well-established, coordinated travel programme that is clearly defined by company policy covering all possible risks to executive health and consequent performance. Travellers from smaller companies are more closely linked to budgetary constraints and have to do much of the organising themselves.
As Heinz-Wattie NZ marketing director Tim Skellern says, “I just do what I’m told. It’s company policy, for example, that we travel business class on long haul, which means anything other than Australian east coast destinations. We all travel with insurance company ID cards that we can use if we are ever in any trouble, either health wise or other problems. And our hotels are always part of corporate deal that is prearranged.
“I am very well looked after with regard to travel,” he says. “Frankly it mostly takes care of itself.”
If he does have any input, Skellern tries to avoid travelling north via the United States, preferring to head to Europe through Asia whenever possible.
“If I can I always try to avoid the States, and Los Angeles is particularly uncomfortable hole of place to pass through or stop over in,” he says.
He is also particular about making sure his personal banking facilities are in place so that they can be accessed while he is away.
“It’s essential to have your banking connections running smoothly. There is nothing worse than having your card rejected when you are in foreign city, just because your bank did not know you were out of the country.”
Another of the key personal details that ensures he is prepared for his travel, Skellern makes sure he has everything in place to maintain contact with home office and home via his iPhone. One of his most recent discoveries is the power of Skype from his mobile to keep him in close contact with his family: system that is both cheaper and easier than other options.
These may be small things in the generally complex nature of international travel, but small things can make big difference to how you perform. They can also have an influence on your attitude when you’re at the sharp end of your company’s operations, potentially destroying your professional demeanour when you need it to be at its best.
It is also of value to step outside the travel culture that is typified by chain hotels, and Skellern says on long trips it is good to get away from your regular accommodation and stay somewhere “… outside the sanitised corporate work mindset: somewhere friendly and local”.
Beck concurs, but for different reason.
“It is important not to get caught up in the hotel-restaurant-jetset lifestyle while you are travelling,” he says. “You have to have your own character and identity when you are presenting overseas and too much corporate hotel culture can dilute your Kiwi-ness. Who you are is always big part of your business success,” he advises.
It is often good call to check out online hotel deals, via sites such as Wotif.com, which usually deliver better deals for smaller business travellers than they can do with the chains, and often in more homely, local hotels that help you relax. friendly place at the end of the day is one of many survival techniques for the wily business traveller.
After years of trekking across the globe, Beck says that stamina is one thing that business travellers should beware of. Just because you can keep going for the long haul, doesn’t mean you should.
“I try never to be away from home for more than two weekends,” he says. “I find my productivity declines in the third week, so it is better management of your travel to plan two, two-week trips rather than one of four weeks.
“I also plan not to waste time on actual travel by doubling back. Your destinations should be progressive, so that at the end the next step is home. And I travel so that I arrive in the evening, so that I sleep before I get into business at the start of new day in new place.
“And, wherever you can, take advantage of sleeping or totally relaxing in flight. If you are not ready for your meeting when you get on the plane, last minute preparation is unlikely to help as much as good rest will.”
Skellern agrees, “Travel is job extension, not an option. Learn to enjoy it, and when you have chance to sit back, relax and be pampered, then take it.” M
Top tips for savvy business travellers
The unexpected can happen to the best of us – which is why little preparation can save whole lot of hassle if things don’t go to plan.
• Buy travel insurance as soon as you have paid for your travel. It can take just few minutes online. To be covered under your policy, events that may derail your travel plans need to be “unexpected” when they occur. You are unlikely to be covered for catastrophic events like flooding, volcanic ash clouds, and severe weather after they have occurred, even if you didn’t know about them when you bought your policy.
• If you want cover for any medical conditions or symptoms that you currently have, be sure to disclose these during the application process. The cost of medical treatment overseas can be astronomical. For example, in 2010, Southern Cross Travel Insurance paid over $1 million
