Wednesday, July 24, 2013

London – Making it Your Business

London – Making it Your Business As a business it is in your interests and that of your company to have the best possible insights, not only into the market players you want to connect and do business with; but also into their corporate identity. Having that understanding, that local knowledge, may make the difference between cementing a deal and losing it. With London being the number one destination for American business travelers within Europe, knowing what to expect, how to create that great first impression and build rapport is essential. With the trend being for smaller and medium sized businesses to be spending proportionately more than the larger ones on business travel, getting value for your dollars and bringing home the bacon has to be a priority. Dressing to reflect the ethos of the customer is helpful. Business dress in the UK still tends to the conservative; functional, classic lines and dark colors, with women accenting formality. Although dressing down to smart casual has become more accepted in the workplace, formal meetings still tend to revert to more traditional style. Understatement is the order of the day, even with less formal wear, with any colors tending to be muted rather than bright. There is a penchant among certain echelons of business for men to accent their business suit with a brighter, contrasting tie, but if you are uncertain then you won’t go wrong with a more restrained design. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Stockbroker.jpg/800px-Stockbroker.jpg Communication in business is a careful balance between saying what you want to get across and not being seen as either undiplomatic or pushy. Rather than just give a negative opinion, it is better to find a way of softening the impact by the use of compensatory expressions or focusing attention on positive attributes while couching the negative somewhere in the middle. As with dress code, understatement is often better than hard sell; so getting your sales pitch across needs to be carefully considered, delivered with sincerity and good body language. Networking and relationship building are essential to building your business in the UK and Europe, being key to middle to long term success. There is much respect for seniority and proven experience and knowledge; so demonstrating these attributes and communicating well will be very supportive to your company’s aims. Why not take the opportunity of condensing the opportunities available and raising your corporate profile at the 2014 two day Business Travel Show at Earls Court, London, taking place 4-5 February. Opportunities for Businesses Servicing Business Travel Here you will be able to promote your company and products to a captive audience. The only business travel fair in Europe, the exclusively hosted buyer program facilitates appointments with exhibitors in advance, while a dedicated team will ensure that buyers arrive at your stand ready and waiting to do business with you. The event attracts more than 6,000 industry executives, which include 2,500 corporate travel buyers and small to medium enterprises. This is an unparalleled opportunity to make the most of a business trip to Europe, renewing existing contacts and extending your networking to new customers. In its third year, the Business Travel Show has the most comprehensive supplier offering and sourcing anywhere in Europe. For air, accommodation and travel management, as well as technology providers, it is the primary focal point to extend their customer base to new markets around the globe. Taking a stand at the exhibition will mean your services standing out from the crowd in the market place. This makes you ideally situated to lay out the details of your products and the advantages that a buyer would have by choosing them rather than a competitor’s products. It is also a perfect opportunity to ensure that prospective customers will remember you; both by making that human contact which we know is very often the decider between buying from you rather than someone else; as well as by presenting them with a card and branded reminder of your business, helping prospective clients to remember both you and your products. With such a crowded market place, the promise you give of outstanding customer service allied with competitive products will add the final touches to ensuring that it is your company’s phone that rings when customers need to renew their existing products or purchase new ones. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Earls_Court_2.jpg/800px-Earls_Court_2.jpg Maximizing Profitability Through Business Expenditure In today’s climate of reduced operating costs and carefully calculated profit margins, ensuring that you have the best possible business support services for your company is paramount. From air travel through hotel or apartment accommodation to security and mobile communications, you can hone and refine your business travel requirements to fit your company’s annual budget. With the chance to come to one central point and procure the most cost effective support, tailored to your company’s needs, you can take advantage of the exclusive networking which takes place over the two days of the show; as well as the free conference program, which is aimed to equip you to manage your travel to your best advantage. By Julie Bowen

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