There’s no getting around it…for most of us in sales, times are tough. Sales managers everywhere are faced with shrinking travel budgets and getting pressure to reduce their cost of sales. One way to go is simply to stop traveling. This cuts costs, but is death to new business, and ultimately leads to a failed sales plan…and a failed business. In tough times, you need your sales force on the streets more than ever, knocking on doors and bringing in the new business that is still out there. Yet companies have significantly curtailed business travel.
A new survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives found that 71 percent of travel managers foresee spending less money on corporate travel and events in 2009. “Business travel is down in the range of 20 to 25 percent on a global basis,” according to, Sam Gilliland, Sabre Holdings chairman and CEO, speaking at a recent business travel News symposium. “Even with large corporations, and in particular financial services, you see travel down in the 30 percent range” according to Gilliland.
So as corporate belts get tightened we continue to cut travel budgets, and end up seeing fewer prospects in the bargain. Seeing fewer prospects results in less sales, leading to tighter travel budgets…and a downward spiral that’s tough to pull out of.
