There comes a time in the executive world when you’ll be required to travel overseas for an important business meeting. You can only do so much with Zoom and the need to present an offering, conduct smooth negotiations, get a better understanding of target markets and your clients and customers, and assess infrastructure requires you to get on a plane to do the business.
With this in mind, how best to prepare for a business meeting overseas?
Let’s find out.
Get to know the cultural landscape
It is important to understand the cultural norms of the country you’re travelling to. Do your research or get one of the team to do it and brief the rest of the team that is travelling with you. Research now will help you avoid cultural blunders and equip you with a means of making the right impression, and making the right impression is critical to a successful business trip.
Consider flying by private jet
There are several advantages to charting your own plane for the business trip. There are numerous advantages to charting a flight for your business trip. Consider:
- You avoid the risk of cancellation.In the first four months of 2022 nearly 7000 flights were cancelled in the UK. Being on time is critical to good negotiations and conducting business.
- You avoid airport drag. There can be no denying airports are not fun. There is a lot of waiting around and the whole boarding process is energy sapping. A private flight, on the other hand, often sees the team board at an airstrip closer to your home destination without the need to check in as this is done prior to boarding and the same applies going through customs.
- Better flight. As well as having faster boarding processes a private flight itself is very refreshing, enabling the team to prepare for the meeting. When you land and you clear customs easily you are ready for meetings and to do the business, especially as it is easy to arrange a private car to transport you to the hotel from a nearby airstrip.
Finalise logistics
Even if you are travelling by private jet it is good practice to nail down where you need to be and what time, and decide how you are going to get there. Make a spreadsheet so you can have a big picture view and arrange transport on the day-to-day. Do this prior to catching your first plane.
Check the tech
Technology operates slightly differently from country to country. Not everyone uses a British plug, for example, so make sure that you have the right plug to power your device. Check aspects such as if you need the internet for your presentation. If so, do the recipients of your presentation have it, or will you have to provide it yourself?
Getting this right now avoids a world of pain later.
Despite uncertain times, business is business. You will need to travel to mission critical meetings and being there prepared and ready is mission critical to success. Get prepared and you’ll give your best performance.
