Chair In The Sky: Business Travel Correlates with Increased Revenue

Like a lot of business people - especially those who travel a lot - I?m pretty quick to adopt new technologies that will make my life easier, more efficient or even more fun. So I have to admit that even though I?m in the business of bringing people together physically to meet about important business issues, I like Skype.

I use Skype all the time. I use it for meetings with work colleagues. I visit with friends via Skype. When I?m away from home at night I Skype my family because it gives me more of a feel of actually interacting with them than I can get over the phone.

Still, if I have something really important to say to my wife, particularly if its sensitive or tough news, I guarantee you that she would much rather hear it from me face-to-face rather than over Skype. The same is true with my work associates, my children, and even with my friends. There?s just something deeply powerful about dealing face-to-face with people on important topics that you can?t replicate with Skype, or with any other technology.

That?s why business people need to travel. Intuitively we have known all along that if you?re going to do important business with people, you need to meet them in person, shake their hand, look them in the eye, and establish personal rapport.

Now there?s empirical data supporting that long-held belief. ?In a study done for the Global Business Travel Association by IHS Global Insight looked into what the impact of increased business travel would be on 15 distinct industries. Among the more profound results:

• There is a significant and measurable relationship between increasing business travel and increasing sales volume.
• Increasing business travel drives sizeable returns on investment ? on average, profits in the 15 industries studied would rise by $15 for every additional $1 spent on business travel.
• Increasing business travel massively stimulates the U.S. economy ? boosting business travel to ?optimal? levels would create 5.1 million new jobs in the U.S. and generate more than $101 billion in new tax revenue for governments.

But this was not merely a boosterish study performed solely to benefit the travel industry (read the full report?Can We Afford Not To Invest In Business Travel?). ?It clearly states that there is a point at which increasing business travel spending no longer increases profits, but cuts into them instead.

So the real question for a company is ?Where are we on the business travel spending curve? Are we spending enough to derive maximum benefit in terms of sales, profits and return on investment? Or, are we spending more than necessary to achieve the best results??

And let me suggest that for many U.S. business travelers my company, Linear Air, presents the most cost-effective and efficient solution. Rather than requiring a business traveler to drive a long way to a major airport and submit him/herself to the indignities, delays, wasted time and frustrations of commercial airline travel, Linear Air operates as an on-demand air taxi service that can shave up to 40% of a business person?s roundtrip, door-to-door travel time. And in most cases we can do it at competitive price. We pick you up at the uncongested airport nearest you. We fly you to the uncongested airport nearest your destination. We do it on YOUR schedule, not ours. And we do it in comfortable, efficient and safe Eclipse Jets, the first and most successful of the new generation Very Light Jets now on the market. And along the way you?ll be provided warm, friendly and personal service by our highly-trained pilots and agents. By getting you to your destination - and back home ? quickly you can avoid the cost of hotel rooms and extra meals on the road. You can get maximum productivity out of your day. And you travel with a very high degree of comfort and security. So I hope that the next time you or one of your team members needs to travel to make an important sales call, or to tend to a key commercial relationship, that you?ll see the wisdom in using Linear Air. We think we can help you get the best possible financial results from your business travel spending. See you on board. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??

Source: http://blog.linearair.com/2012/07/business-travel-correlates-with.html

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