In today's rocky economic landscape, many companies are cutting back spending on business travel. But those facing unexplored terrain, are ultimately facing unexplored revenue. In hopes of saving money by reducing travel spending, the opposite and adverse effect happens. Companies can stand to lose a staggering amount of current and potential revenue. IHS Global Insights' study on this subject found that the average company's return on investment would be $15 for every $1 spent on business travel. For more on this study, go to http://www.vegasmeansbusiness.com/pages/BusinessTravel.pdf
Building Relationships
Gaining new clients and customers promotes healthy business growth. Networking at meetings, trade-shows, and conventions is a vital part of this growth and only in-person trips allow access to developing tight business relationships. Three quarters of businesses believe that increasing travel, while competitors are reducing it, can build market share and customer relationships.
Moreover, stronger, more meaningful relationships with and between a company's own employees improve as well. Corporate executives cited increases in idea sharing, better communications and staff morale as significant achievements of internal meetings.
Converting Customers
In addition to protecting current customers from competitors, new business is constantly up for grabs. Prospects are more than twice as likely to become new customers with an in-person meeting. Corporate executives and business travelers indicate 40% of prospective customers are converted to new customers with an in-person meeting, compared to 16% without such a meeting. Over half of business travelers have stated that 5-20% of their company's new customers were the result of trade show participation.
Investing in Human Capital
Investing in a company can mean investing in its greatest resource, its employees. The majority of business travelers identified internal company travel as the key to professional development, better job performance, and higher staff morale. Most executives believe that incentive travel has a real impact on both employee performance and job satisfaction.
Keeping Customers
According to business travelers, 25% of existing customers and 28% of revenue could be lost to competitors if customers were not met in-person. Face-to-face meetings are essential in providing the service that customers have come to expect. If a company does not rise to these expectations with in-person interactions, it is almost certain that a smart competitor will easily accomplish what another has deemed less important. Companies could see a significant dip in revenue, customers, and even their reputation.
Location, location, location
Business travel is clearly important in keeping a happy, growing, and competitive company alive. But choosing where to travel is just as crucial as the decision to travel itself. For meetings, trade shows and conventions, choose a city such as Las Vegas, whose temperate weather, vast selection of venues, and large volume of daily flights make planning events simple. Metropoll XII, a study conducted among major meeting and convention decision makers ranked Las Vegas as the #1 convention and meeting destination out of 40 major North American cities. Also, its 12% hotel room tax rate is lower than virtually any other major U.S. city.
For more on the state of business travel, go to http://www.vegasmeansbusiness.com/notbusinessasusual/index.jsp
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