Traveling for business means that you are making connections all over the place and hopefully landing big accounts for your company. Meeting face to face with clients and potential clients has a lot of rewards. That personal touch can make or break a sale.
For the serial business traveler, hotel hopping will wear you down after a while. But these travelers know that there are critical things that make the traveling smoother and simpler no matter where you go. Going from airplanes to rental cars to hotels to business meetings and back again becomes a process that with the right apps and tools becomes much simpler.
Points or Airline Miles Credit Card
If you’re a serial business traveler and you’re not using a points or airline miles credit card, you are missing out. Booking hotels, rental cars, and even airline tickets is much easier with a credit card.
When you put all that money on a credit card that gives you points, cash back, or even miles, you can rack up a lot of them very quickly. When you’re paying off the balances monthly you can easily take advantage of all the benefits without paying a cent in interest. Plus, some rewards cards offer you perks at the airport with certain airlines that you only get if you’ve accumulated a certain number of points or miles.
TSA Pre-Check
Getting on and off the airplane quickly can save you a lot of time. Waiting in long TSA lines means that you’ll waste more time at the airport. Travelers who have passed TSA Precheck qualifications will wait in much shorter lines at the airport. This means they can basically cut the main line to go through special, less intense, screening.
The great thing is that you can even apply for TSA precheck online. This allows you to quickly input all the information and schedule an appointment for background check and fingerprinting.
Sturdy Carry On With Laptop Compartment
Hard-sided laptop cases are important for the serial traveler. Having something durable that will last through airports and hotels means that you don’t need to worry about broken zippers and rips in the side of your carry-on.
Additionally, having a laptop compartment means that you can easily stow away your computer and keep it protected even when people are shoving coats and bags into the overhead compartment of the airplane. A hard-sided case offers better protection than the soft counterparts.
Smartphone
While most people have one anyway, the business traveler needs one of these handy devices more than most. Choose a carrier who offers service to the places you travel to the most. You’ll also want one with a large amount of memory and disk space. This will allow you to use multiple apps and you can also put some entertainment on there as well.
With apps like Movies Anywhere and Amazon Prime, you can download movies for a time to use them even when you don’t have service or WiFi. This gives you a much-needed break when you’re on the road most days of the month. Additionally, you can use your GPS to help you navigate new areas more easily.
Expense Apps
Want to document your business expenses with ease? Using something like Concur or Expensify will make it easy for you to save your receipts without saving the paper copy. Take a picture and upload it to the online portal. You can quickly categorize and add in notes about the expense.
Whether it’s a meal, or picking up a gift for a client, these apps help you manage every penny you spend. It makes it easier for your bookkeeper and accountant at the end of the year as well.
Translation Apps
Business travelers who work with international clients or who travel overseas will benefit from using translation apps. Learn key phrases and customs in the other language to show respect to your clients and to put in the effort. Your time spent learning to navigate in another language can open up opportunities that someone else may not have.
Use translation apps to help communicate in ways that you can’t get across in your own language. You’d be amazed at how welcoming people are to those who take the time to learn their native tongue.
