Time Management
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Time to Travel
November 14, 2008
From pillows to peanuts, airlines are packing in the passengers and charging for every convenience. Strapped for cash, companies increasingly insist that employees use no-frill travel alternatives. Many clients are downright scared about how the economy will impact their company’s bottom-line. Despite these issues, it’s never been more important to hop on a plane and put in some face-time with key business associates.
In stressful times, it could be easy to stow travel etiquette and carry on unnecessary mental baggage. To successfully navigate the increasingly unfriendly world of business travel today, consider the following best practices:
- Dress for the TSA as well as success
Before you head to the airport, select travel attire that is both business and travel appropriate. Make getting through the airport security lines less of a hassle by dressing for the unavoidable undressing. Since extra clothing like jackets, sweaters and vests must be removed at every security clearance point, avoid outfits that involve excessive layering. Opt instead for the simplest outfits possible. Select footwear that is easy to take-off and put back on, such as simple slip-ons, and avoid overly complicated lace-up shoes and boots. As an extra time saver and as a courtesy to the travelers behind you in line, long before you approach the security line; pull-out your plastic bag that has already been filled with three ounce or smaller containers of liquid.
Having flown nearly one million miles with a major airline, I am constantly tempted to travel in the most comfortable clothing I have: yoga pants and a turtleneck. However, I learned long ago that I could never predict when I might encounter a client or a prospect on board. Choose travel outfits that are comfortable as well business appropriate.
- Always pack back-up
As a general rule of thumb, assume that if anything can go wrong on your business trip, it will. Plan ahead for any possible catastrophe and pack a back-up outfit that will help ensure you are always dressed appropriately for business.
If you head out on an important business trip and pack only one suit, you have absolutely guaranteed that someone—a flight attendant or a member of a restaurant’s wait staff—will spill something all over you.
- Connect with contacts
Before you arrive in town, reach out to all of your internal and external business contacts who reside there. To the extent possible, schedule business meals—breakfasts, lunches, and dinners—and connect with your contacts on a very personal basis.
In tough economic times, it is especially important to be conscious of the types of restaurants at which you choose to meet your contacts. Now is not the time to select the most extravagant restaurants in town or the most indulgent items on a menu. And don’t forget, if you extend an invitation to a contact to join you for a meal, you have the responsibility to pick up the tab.
- Remember the hotel and wait staff
While you are on business travel, don’t forget to recognize the efforts of the wait staff who serve you meals and the hotel staff who clean up after you. These people work incredibly long hours, their work is often physically demanding, and they receive relatively little pay. They also make the life of any business traveler much easier.
At a restaurant, for good service, plan on tipping wait staff a minimum of 15%. When service is especially attentive, tip 20%. As to hotel staff, before you leave your hotel room, leave three to five dollars on your pillow.
- After the trip ends
Once you return from your business trip, stay in touch with all of the people with whom you met. Remember, these contacts can, and in many cases should, become a part of your professional network, something that you want to constantly build.
Before other items grab your attention, gather up any loose business cards and the names of key contacts and add the information to your personal client relationship management data base. Then, seek out opportunities to reconnect. For example, whenever you come across an article or an Internet link that you believe might be of interest, forward them to your contacts.
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