How to Keep Your Business Active during International Business Trips

Sara Stringer

November 11, 2013

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When that international call comes, you're ready. You pack your bags, head overseas, and do your business.

However, operating when you’re off on international business trips can cause a few snags. Not being in the office means that project management may be compromised. It’s up to your team (or technology) to pick up the slack and keep business running as usual.

Luckily, a lot of businesses can now be conducted anywhere in the World as long as you have a stable Internet connection. There are a lot of great tools and resources for conducting business on an international scale - which works wonders if you’re constantly on the go.

The following are a few strategies and resources for handling working online:

1. International Contact

A major issue that you’ll face when traveling abroad while keeping the business afloat is how customers and employees will stay in contact.

Failure to keep open channels of communication can make a business go haywire due to the lack of leadership. Likewise, not being able to handle customer inquiries and support while you’re out of the office can cause a drop in repeat orders and chances at word-of-mouth referrals.

Once way to avoid this trap is by using a service like TollFreeForwarding.com which offers custom international numbers for businesses and conferences. This type of service will lower the overall cost associated with taking international calls. You can also set the phone number it to look like a local number - which means you can increase your calls when you’re marketing your business while on your trip.

Now you’ll have the ability to handle all of your customer support without a snag so you can focus on your trip.

2. Project Management

Hopefully you’re leaving the business with someone in charge. Otherwise it means you’ll need to set policies and procedures in place for employees to handle the business operation while you’re out.

To keep everything running smoothly you should implement a project management service or software.

There are plenty of project management tools on the market, such as:

· Basecamp

· Trello

· Zoho

The use of these tools and services will allow you to dictate important tasks to employees. The employees will then go about their routine and keep you updated by posting comments, accomplishments, and feedback throughout the process.

To the side, it may also be worthwhile to look into project collaboration tools while you’re at it. Many of the big project management tools include some form of collaboration service. Keep an eye out for the ability to hold conference calls, screen share, and easily transfer files between the parties.

A tight control over your team will keep the business running smoothly. Tools like these are the backbone for efficiency especially when you’re not in office.

3. Automation

If your operation is small and you feel that your lack of physical presence will disrupt the business operation then you should consider tools for automation.

Before you dig too deep into automation you must first understand that it’s not a simple flip of the switch. You should commit to automation as a whole. Doing the heavy lifting now will allow you to keep it automation in place when you return from the business trip.

Certain tasks in your business will greatly benefit from automation. Examples are: email marketing, invoicing, and training. There are a few tasks you may want to keep control over but streamline them so they take less time.

Here are a few ways to automate the business while you’re away:

· Use built-in auto-responders in email marketing services (Aweber, Mailchimp, etc) to send marketing messages to prospects. Use these same features to respond to customer inquiries and direct these individuals to online resources.

· For content marketing efforts you can schedule your posts if you’re using popular CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla. A steady stream of content will keep your website fresh and drive in long-tail search.

· HootSuite is a remarkable tool for automatically updating social profiles like Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, and others. You could schedule months at a time if you really wanted.

· Dropbox has features which will allow you to make automatic backups of your files.

· Expedite support tickets by using tools like ZenDesk so less time is spent on the phone and away from important tasks.

Find your balance between automation and routine. You’ll open a great deal of time to focus on your important business trip without the snags.