As a company grows and becomes more successful, the need to travel becomes critical. In order to close that deal with a potential partner, you have to meet with them face-to-face rather than relying on the use of a phone.

Travel costs make up a significant portion of the expense you accrue throughout a business year. Therefore, as a business owner, you and your team should try and come up with ways in order to improve this process. This can be done a variety of ways. Let’s explore some of these ways to limit travel costs now.

Dictating Allowed Expenses

As a business owner, there should be a clear line regarding what is and what is not allowed to be spent. Therefore, you should create a list that highlights these issues. In this list, you need to decide how luxurious your employees are allowed to go regarding logging and travel. Will your employees stay at a low-scale hotel, or a high-end resort? Will they travel coach or first class? These expenses can add up dramatically, so this is something that you should strongly look over when trying to cut travel costs.

Another thing to consider is a per diem rate. Having a set amount of money allotted for certain expenses can be extremely beneficial to you and your finances. With a per diem, you know how much you are spending exactly on travel costs. However, a per diem can pose problems during special client meetings, where the need to spend more is prevalent. In cases like those, it may be wise to lift the per diem and allow your employee to properly wine and dine your potential client.

Communication Is Key

With the advent of smartphone technology, everybody is able to be constantly connected to one another. Therefore, make sure that every employee has access to you and your company phone. By doing so, they can contact you about various expenses that fall outside policy and see if it can be approved or not! When everybody is on the same page, life is much easier!

By having a clear and concise picture of what your travel and expense report policy will be, your employees will thank you. Ambiguity can lead to severe problems within the company and can cause people to point fingers at each other. By implementing your allowed expenses onto the entire company, they know not to mess with any of the rules and regulations.