Boy..let me tell you, there are many old-school consultants out there, claiming they can save your company xx% or simply throw you a big number. If these people don’t know anything about how you procure travel services and what is your overall spend is, how could they come in and offer you any savings? Where are they picking the numbers? I tell you, out of their a@#.
Not to mention, there are no single template/cookie-cutter approach to implementing a travel management program, not there are such thing as “the best travel agency in the world.” You ask 20 buyers who their favorite travel agency is, you get at least 10 different answers. Why would this be the case?
There are no simple answers, but one thing I can tell you is that most of the “major players” – American Express, Carlson, etc. all have acquired other agencies. Navigant is gone, Rosenbluth is history, Maritz is long gone. Some of these were very famous for their stellar customer service. Hal Rosenbluth, the former owner of Rosenbluth always talked about the importance of taking great care of his employees; the person who makes your travel arrangement is like a hair cutter who’s been cutting your hair for the past twenty years. Of course the name of the game now is to automate all simple transactions by booking your sinple roundtrips online (you must use a company sponsored self-booking tool that is truly configured for your company’s travel policy compliance- more on this on a separate post) as to minimize the transaction fees, but if you are traveling to five countries–not having to repeat anything and have one truly reliable travel agent to arrange everything for you (this person knows I have to have a bath tub in my room, not near the ice machines, higher floors, preferably a Chick Fil-A within the walking distance, etc.etc.) makes you more productive and also enables you to focus on what you need to: make that sale for your company or fix that problem.
Anyway, I got sidetracked…what I was saying is that even if you are talking about American Express or Carlson, what version is it? (is it the one that used to be a Navigant office? Rosenbluth? A wholly owned original agency?) Did you used to have fully dedicated agents (=most expensive, absolutely the best customer service possible if you do it right)? Did you just use a call center in India? You see, there is no such as thing as “This agency sucks.” That’s like saying this Two-buck Chuck sucked. First of all, Two-Buck chuck is always a blend of the left over swills from all over the place-you aren’t going to taste the same wine with the grapes from the same terrior.
Anyway, back to the subject of consultants… I am one, coined a term, “TIC”- I am a TIC (Travel Infrastructure Consultant.” What I am is basically a travel manager in between jobs. I have implemented three consecutive and successful travel infrastructures at three companies (with all three CFOs as my references). I will not guarantee you x% of your spend, I will not charge you x% of the amount I am going to save for you. Instead, what I will do is to give your company a very thorough assessment of where you are, where you can go, and the best infrastructure models I can recommend based on how much resources you can allocate. In other words, plug-and-play components to maximize the return to your organization.
Heck, if along the way of baseline analysis and I identify a big fat cost reduction figure, you bet I will charge you $$ for that. But most importantly, my recommendations will make you, the company executives heroes because your travelers, trip arrangers, accounting folks, managers, procurement folks are all going to work together to accomplish what you want:
So contact me if you are interested in having someone look over your program (or lack of one). I know I can help you succeed. Travel is a pain in the you-know-what to truly manage!
Travel Infrastructure Guru's Blog 