In my last post, I spoke about people blindly following other people and getting hit by cars. This was the lead in to this post about travel managers and buyers blindly trusting everyone and creating a poorly run travel program. There are a lot of followers in the world that do not adhere to the the ideal "be a leader, not a follower".
So as you are creating your program, remember that you need to measure and verify that your pollicy, your agreements, and your philosophy is being used and adhered to. Simple to say, hard to do. So lets give you a list:
a) Are your negotiated hotel rates loaded correctly so they can be booked by your travelers?
b) Are you negotiated airline rates calcuating your discounts correctly either via your traditional TMC or an online TMC?
c) Do your travelers obtain and travel on the lowest airfares within the parameters of your policy?
d) Are your travelers using your travel program or are they going outside of the game?
e) Do your travelers use the corporate card or are they using a personal card to get other benefits?
Now, these are just a few of the things that do not work unless you measure and verify the performance of your travel program and only if you are a leader and not a follower. Try and not get hit by that car!
