However, if only 1 per cent of those employees spends no more than £100 a year on travel, that’s still £15 million. And, given the cost of, for example, train travel these days, it seems reasonable to assume that those employees who do travel spend a great deal more than that... Which is precisely what the folks at
FCM Travel Solutions woke up to five years ago. Originally established as the UK corporate brand of Australia’s Flight Centre Limited, the Corporate Traveller brand was created in 2010 specifically to target the SME sector. In June last year, annual turnover exceeded £200 million. Last month, if 2014 targets prove to have been met, annual turnover will have been closer to £240 million.
“When you are looking at SMEs, you have companies spending anything from £50,000 a year to £2 million”
Not that it is an easy ride, as Corporate
Traveller area manager Donna Crompton explains. “You can have a company spend- ing £200,000 a year, but they may only have six travellers. There’s a huge range – when you are looking at the SME market, you have companies spending anything from
T
QUESTION TIME Q
Regarding communication...
ravel buyer , private sector:
My biggest challenge is educating travelling staff to think about what they request from bookers. It’s crucial to give detailed information about a trip, so the most economical tickets can be purchased. We need to educate travellers on why they must book through the TMC. A small percentage seem to think they can get a better deal elsewhere. Some don’t understand why TMC contracts are in place with regards to the pricing structure, volumes and rebates. Bookers need to push back on
52 BBT JULY/AUGUST 2015 ITP Travel A
Key to communicating travel policy is stakeholder involvement. You set a policy for a reason, so make sure everyone knows why. Use preferred suppliers and the TMC to help promote their part in the policy through events, such as ‘lunch and learn’. Be creative. At those events you
£50,000 a year to £2 million. You have got to be flexible because
every client is very different. With SMEs you are looking at having
a relationship straight away, either with the travel booker or with the
purchasing department. Larger com- panies already have procurement people in place. With SMEs, they haven’t been told what to do, so you work with them as their procurement provider. They want someone to manage their travel and make it cost-effective, they want to be exposed to negotiated rates, but they also want to a have a hand in managing the travel.”
THE TECHNICAL TOUCH Nigel Meyer, chief operating officer at Fraedom, HRG’s new baby, says that
Smaller companies are not often blessed with large internal travel teams. The SME market, therefore, relies heavily on travel management companies (TMCs) for support and guidance. Martin Ferguson speaks to travel managers who spend less than £2 million annually on travel – and puts their questions to the TMCs.
travellers requesting to stay in hotels that are out of budget, and communicate when a preferred hotel is available and should be booked. Advice on communications would be appreciated.
Richard Lovelock, director of business travel management,
can take time to discuss the policy and why it’s important to overall business objectives. It is in the suppliers’ interests to promote their services. Also, if you have buy-in from the very top of the organisation you can play the tactical card and make any bookings or charges outside of policy non- reimbursable. It’s a strong line, but one that I’ve known to be very effective.
T Q Improving TMC-traveller relations ravel buyer , private sector:
Having all our travel booked through one preferred supplier [a TMC] gives us instant visibility of travel spend. The TMC helps
us analyse monthly travel reports so we can make sure cost is being kept to a minimum. There is great value to be derived from working with travel experts who also understand your business. They should be proactive in spotting trends and advising how to get the best out of the company’s travel budget. But they could, in my opinion, always do more. For me, they need to reach out to the travellers more often to better understand their challenges. In turn, the travellers will gain better comprehension of the TMC’s role. How could we achieve this together?
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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