Maximizing business travel
If you return home relaxed, you’re doing it wrong.
Over the past year, I have shifted from the day-to-day responsibilities as a CTO driving technical decisions to wearing a more public hat, sharing the story of our founding and the details of how we operate to captivated audiences. Despite all the interconnected goodness the Internet brings us, there are aspects of in-person communication it cannot replace — not to mention the serendipitous moments that come with being in new environments, which often lead to fantastic new opportunities. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have a knowledgable and dedicated VP of Engineering lead our engineering team of 12; this has enabled me to present at conferences, meet customers who need that extra “founder’s nudge”, and invest in strategic relationships.
A business trip should never be a waste — there’s really no excuse no matter how long or short the travel.
Although we’re now in our sixth year, it’s easy to draw a crowd (no pun intended!) who knows little to nothing about what we do and even less about how we do it. While it may seem like I get to travel a lot — I do, and I enjoy it — there’s a lot of strategy and structure that I put into each trip to make the most of it. A business trip should never be a waste — there’s really no excuse no matter how long or short the travel. For entrepreneurs entering a similar stage of their growth, I thought I’d share some strategies that have helped me save time and maximize each trip.
Anchor with a cause
There are numerous reasons for a business trip — to speak at an event, to attend a conference and learn about an industry or generate leads, to visit a satellite office, to meet a special customer. Whatever the reason or purpose of the trip, it should have an anchor that you’re excited about. Even if the purpose of a trip is more “thematic” — like fundraising or learning about a city to see if it’s worth opening a new office — I find that it helps to select a specific event as an anchor to “ground” the visit. The exercise gives your mind a concrete event to plan and look forward to. On some trips when I’m in a city for nothing else but to meet customers, I’ll pick a specific customer to look forward to and focus my planning towards them.
Pack the evenings; embrace chance meetings
These days there is no excuse to have an evening with nothing to do. Every major city has an event-management service showing what’s going on when you’re in town. So a few weeks before your trip, scour the Eventbrites, MeetUps, and Peatixs of where you’re going and pack as many evenings as possible. You might think you’ll be exhausted, and by all means be proactive about managing your energy throughout the trip — but let the opportunist in you take the lead while you travel. You never know who you’ll meet or what you’ll learn.
…while traveling on business you’re not only an ambassador of your company to the public, but a window to the outside ecosystem for your internal team too.
A few weeks ago when I was in New York city to meet current and potential customers, I attended a monthly technology meet-up. Over 800 entrepreneurs, technologists, and startup enthusiasts made up the audience — but most coincidentally, I watched another translation service present their business to the audience and recorded them fielding questions so I could share with my team. I believe it’s important to know how other companies in your industry present themselves — their vernacular, their style, their approach; at least don’t be oblivious to them! And capturing these observations is important — while traveling on business you’re not only an ambassador of your company to the public, but a window to the outside ecosystem for your internal team too.
Manage your face-time
Sometimes a string of evenings with crowds of people can be exhausting, and you’d rather spend time with individuals. For every major city I visit often, I maintain a list of names I should spend time with — whether over coffee, dinner or, if I’m lucky, a weekend. Some are friends from previous walks of life like college, others became friends after starting as business acquaintances. Still others are people I met in Tokyo, and who I wish to see in their local environment. I try to meet as many on the list as possible, and I cycle through it evenly as best I can — i.e. to meet everyone at least once before meeting the same person again.
Being somewhat strategic to this approach is important — it helps to keep a level of breadth to discussions so that everything is not just business during the trip. You’ll be amazed at not only how small the world is, but what new opportunities arise from these encounters — anyone worth spending time with has another friend who’ll be in your neighborhood and is worth getting to know too.
Nurture the opportunist in you
By taking a strategic approach to “face-time” during business trips, you’re mentally preparing yourself for new opportunities. I’m reminded of Woody Allen’s quip — “80% of success is just showing up”; it never ceases to amaze me how in-person interactions that could never be replaced by a Skype-call, can flourish.
During one of the DEW conference sessions in Los Angeles earlier this year, one panelist was from DramaFever. I approached him after the session and learned that he had not only heard of Gengo before, but wanted me to meet his product team to discuss how we can help their global expansion. It just so turned out that I was going to be in their home city of New York in two weeks! If I hadn’t had the open mind to approach him afterwards, I definitely would not have met their team in the best way — in person.
It’s incredibly satisfying when you exit a meeting with a new customer, especially after having accepted the opportunity to meet with initial reservations.
At the same DEW conference, one of the sponsors had a booth featuring a service I found interesting but didn’t think would have much potential as a business customer for Gengo. Still, I was cordial when one of their BD employees approached me. I took the chance to share what we do, gave my business card and didn’t think much else except to mention that I sometimes make it to the Bay Area for meetings.
A few weeks later I found myself in this potential customer’s brand new office, learning that their services have diversified and that they need our solutions to grow globally. It’s incredibly satisfying when you exit a meeting with a new customer, especially after having accepted the opportunity to meet with initial reservations.
Get used to repetition
One aspect of business travel that may take some getting used to is how often you must repeat your story; that’s just the result of meeting so many new people. It may seem exhausting or even annoying at times, but find ways to spice up your pitch. Even better, have a list of regular questions you ask various audiences and see what patterns you spot.
Bonus
Finally, a hat-tip to one of my colleagues: loyalty programs — especially in the travel industry — are worth spending time planning around. Each component of travel — the hotel, the car rental, the airline — has their competing brands with various loyalty programs so I won’t get into which to choose, but the benefits of sticking with one really come out when you’re in a bind. Needing to change a room, car, or flight becomes a much better experience when the representative sees you’ve been a loyal customer.
One caution though: Expedia used to be a favorite for booking trips because everything is consolidated, and their iOS app is actually great with reminders and flight-change updates. But Expedia often “intercepts” your relationship with say a hotel brand, so if you ever need to change a room or complain, the hotel won’t always see your loyalty. If possible, book directly with the brand. These days the top brands now have a usable online experience.
Thanks for reading this far! If you got value out of this article, it would mean a lot to me for you to scroll down a bit farther and hit the recommend button. Safe travels!