Looking for ways to make your next business trip super productive? Here are three reasons why business travel can actually be helpful for your productivity, plus five productive things to do on a business trip to make sure you’re making the most of your time on the road.
3 Benefits of Business Travel
Business Trip Benefit #1: Relationship-Building
When it comes to business networking and relationship-building, there’s no substitute for face-to-face contact.
In fact, setting up strategic, long-term business partnerships is always best done in person, rather than via an email, a phone call or Skype call. Good old-fashioned, face-to-face meetings are much more effective in closing deals with distant partners, vendors and clients.
Plus, if you’re the one assessing the possibility of partnering with a certain company, meeting face-to-face gives you the opportunity to assess your potential partner’s trustworthiness and capabilities more accurately, and a head-start in developing a solid and friendly business relationship.
More generally, business travel such as attending international events or events in a different state or territory can give you the opportunity to build and expand your business network. You’ll likely attend lots of meetings on your trip, so come well-equipped with business cards so the people you connect with on your trip have a way of easily contacting you in future.
Business Trip Benefit #2: Motivation and Company Morale
Business trips can provide motivation and build morale within your team. Corporate travel is an excellent opportunity for team building events that will bring your employees together, so they can collaborate better on projects back in the office. Travel also breaks the monotony of a normal workday and gives your employees the opportunity to experience new places, improving their engagement, motivation and productivity.
Business Trip Benefit #3: Creativity and Inspiration
Since business travel gives you the chance to experience something new, it can help foster creativity and inspire new business ideas.
5 Productive Things To Do On A Business Trip
Although business travel can be immensely valuable, short-term productivity can often falter when on a business trip. Here are five ideas for things to do on a business trip to make it as productive and enjoyable as possible.
1. Keep Organised
Make a list of things you need to accomplish on your business trip and make these your priority. Creating a detailed checklist of everything you need to do will help you feel purposeful and in control.
Use collaborative tools like G-Suite to stay organised and connected with your team while on the road.
Once you’ve arrived at your destination, schedule in blocks of morning or evening time for solid work (and recreation time) when you’re not in transit or participating in a business-related meeting.
Organise new ideas and contacts with Evernote (either on your mobile phone or laptop). This syncs across other connected devices, making it easy to share updates and notes with your team.
2. Make Excellent Use of Flight Time
Don’t waste flight time. You can free up a lot more time to enjoy and soak in your destination by getting any boring admin work out of the way while you’re on the plane. Use this valuable downtime to work offline or work on something that’s saved to your laptop. Prepare emails so they’re ready to go the moment you have access to WiFi. If you’re feeling nervous about a big networking event, use this time to practice networking by initiating conversations with strangers.
3. Play (As Well As Work)
Of course, when you’re travelling for business, much of your time will be spent doing just that – business. Carving out a little extra time during your business trip to experience new sights, sounds and food can help you feel more excited about the trip in general – and doing so doesn’t even need to eat into your productivity.
If you need to hold a business meeting, consider making the location a local iconic restaurant of holding the meeting inside a conference room. Bonus tip: Schedule meetings at or near tourist destinations you’d like to visit to limit your need to commute.
Don’t forget to spend at least some of your time relaxing. Take the opportunity to go sightseeing or eat a bite at a local cafe. Personal growth makes you a better leader and experiencing different places and cultures expands your mind. Take the opportunity to immerse yourself in the new place and look at the world from a different angle.
4. Get A Solid Night’s Sleep
Strive to get a good night’s sleep. If you’re travelling internationally, avoid jet lag as much as possible with careful planning.
Unfamiliar hotel rooms and time zone changes can lead to a terrible night’s sleep, which usually compounds each day as you run around in meetings and try to squeeze in extra work.
To help your body get a good night’s rest, wind down early the first night you arrive, avoid alcohol and LED lighting from your phone or laptop. Consider bringing a natural sleep aid with herbs like melatonin and valerian.
5. Plan Your Transport Well
Business trips are often an amazing opportunity to expand your business network and also explore an unfamiliar city. Moving around from point A to point B needn’t be stressful when you can pre-book a luxury Hughes vehicle and arrive at your destination relaxed, refreshed and focused on any business objectives. Hughes’ luxury chauffeured transportation options throughout Australia include both Executive and Luxury European sedans along with larger People Mover and Mini-Coach type vehicles. Hughes can take care of all your transportation needs so can solely focus on your business priorities.
