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There has been a tremendous amount of talk in the media over the last few years about how small businesses cannot access business credit (loans, lines of credit, working capital advances or business credit cards).In fact, several small business associations claim that 41 percent of small businesses cannot access business credit or business capital.I say they are wrong. What they are actually saying is that they cannot access business credit on the terms they want or in the form they desire.Clearly, getting a business loan in 2004 through early 2008 was a lot easier than it is now. But, what really happened was that business loan underwriting standards where drop or lessened – allowing individuals and business owners, many of who should not have gotten credit in the first place, to obtain risky loans – loans that were not repaid and could have never been repaid; very similar to what mortgage banks and mortgage brokers did with home loans.They underwrote risky loans just to collect origination and processing fees then sold those loans off to investors (again collecting additional fees) – holding no risk in the end. What this did was put a lot of unnecessary toxic business credit in the market – loans that should not have ever been made.Think about it this way. Let’s say that on a scale of 1 to 10 based on a loan difficulty – with 1 being the easiest option of obtaining a business loan. Prior to 2004 – business loans had a number of about 5. They were not easy to get or hard to get. Banks just followed standard loan underwriting protocols. Thus, those who should get business loans did and those who shouldn’t – didn’t. At that time, underwriting was based on costs of funds and risk of repayment.But, when congress open the secondary market for these loans (just like they did for secondary home mortgage loans with Fannie and Freddie) – banks realized that they could quickly collect underwriting fees then pass off those loans without assuming any risk. Based on this (just like with the housing market) – they lowered their underwriting standards (why not as they had no risk – it was all up side for them). Thus, the difficulty number for business loans dropped from 5 all the way to 1 (where anyone could get a business loan regardless if they qualified or not).Therefore, for years, business owners were able to quickly and easily get business capital if they were willing to pay the bank’s or lender’s fees.Now that the market collapsed, the difficulty number for business loans has once again returned to its normal position of 5 – making them not easy or hard to get.The 41 percent who claim that they cannot access business credit today are the ones who should not have gotten credit in the first place.The bottom line is that business loans are not hard to get – they were just really easy to get a few years ago and have now resorted back to where they should be on the difficulty scale.To obtain a business loan today – you must first understand why your business needs outside capital (it has to be for growth – anything else is wasted money) and then understand how your business, as it stands, can leverage itself to obtain those funds – there are as many ways to obtain business capital [out] as there are request and each one is no harder than it should be.To obtain a business loan today – you must first understand why your business needs outside capital (it has to be for growth – anything else is wasted money) and then understand how your business, as it stands, can leverage itself to obtain those funds – there are as many ways to obtain business capital as there are request and each one is no harder than it should be.

Finding Finance Online Help is possible if you need help in dealing with money troubles or other financial difficulties. You can find a great deal of financial help for your household finances, online loan applications and even applying for a personal loan online with online finance help sites, without paying the cost of high fees.Dealing with financial planning is not something most of us enjoy, particularly if there is not so much coming in to actually plan with. However, it is necessary to properly manage our personal finances otherwise it could be too late once a downturn or emergency hits us.Most of us turn to credit and bank institutions to help us through, which can compound the problems. Seeking out help from online financial help sites, blogs and services is a good  place to start to discover valuable ideas to consolidate debts in order to lessen your payments or how to manage your tight budget as well as how to bring in some extra money from other sources.If you want to seek out free finance online help websites you will be surprised to find you can organize your household finances and personal money issues for wealth building without paying a cent. It has never been easier to get help online and there are a ton of tools and articles that can help guide you to success.The type of help you can expect to find with online finance sites will come in the from informative articles on managing your personal loan online, household budgeting, free personal accounting software downloads, to advice on debt consolidation, refinancing and getting financial aid, household finances and online loan applications. You’ll even find budgeting spreadsheets as well as free software to download as well.Let us cover a few of the best online help services for managing your personal finances:•    First is YouTube. There are plenty of resourceful people giving so much advice and how tools on all sorts of money issues.•    Second is the Mint.com. It is a completely free website to help with personal finances, budgeting and expense tracking that includes a number of helpful tools and suggestions for reducing your expenses and tracking you’re spending.•    And of course there is always Google Search: This search engine contains millions of sites that give a wealth of information on just about anything from experts covering on topics from investing in gold to bad credit repair.The benefits of getting online financial help means you don’t have to sit through presentations, waste your gas, pay for parking, or worst, waste your time and money, getting the wrong type of advice.Improving your personal finances is a lifelong and rewarding journey. With all the completely free personal finance online help resources available today you can take hold of your financial life back from your creditors.

Acquiring an online finance degree is one of the most flexible and lucrative option for becoming a professional. If you haven’t acquired your degree yet due to time constraints or other binding problems, taking an online course will give you the flexibility to balance your work or family life with gaining an education. Choosing just any degree would probably not be the best move, but choosing a finance degree is a safer bet than a degree in the humanities.Flexibility is one of the greatest components of attaining a degree online. Unlike in high school, you’ll have the freedom to decide on your own time. Not only that, but there’s no longer any authority figures hovering over you, treating you as if some child. This will allow you to become more independent and become better at time management. It also allows the opportunity to still be socially active since you can plan around your social activities. Do you hang out with friends during the afternoon, maybe in the evening? You can easily create a schedule that will leave those time frames open.With a finance degree so many options become open to you, from becoming a financial consultant to a manager. It’ll give you the skills and knowledge that will help you excel in your chosen career after graduation. Not only that, but this is one field that can withstand a recession; a recession may even boost job opportunities. With so many financial woes that require financing and consultation during a recession, there should be plenty of job opportunities. Gaining an online finance degree will allow you to acquire those jobs.Gaining knowledge in finance will not only help you acquire clients or land a job, it will allow you to better evaluate your own finances. The practical skills you gain through an online degree, along with involvement with your professors, you’ll be capable of better understanding the financial market and how to use it to your advantage. This will also empower you in ways you may not have imagined. In this society, despite how horrible it may be, those lacking a degree have fewer options and are less regarded as their degree-holding counterparts. By gaining a degree, online or not, you gain more power to use the current social system to your advantage.Of course, an online degree is no easy getaway. There will be work assigned, texts to read, and exams to take. But let me ask you this, is that really any harder than the problems you’ve dealt with in life? For those who are currently working a minimum wage job, perhaps even two, those hours spent on studying probably wont compare to the feelings of tiredness you’ll feel after finishing a job. Assignments probably wont be as hectic as handling a family. There’s so many other barriers that you have already overcome, gaining a degree shouldn’t be seen as any more difficult to overcome. At the end of your school work load, after you finally gain that finance degree, all those efforts in studying will be sure to show. You’ll be able to get a higher paying job, spend less hours working, and in effect, more time doing what you want.For those who are already have a career, but wish to change, getting an online finance degree is a great option for maintaining your current job while learning a new field. Taking an online course, especially due to its flexibility, will take a lesser toll on your work. You’ll still be able to maintain the same hours of work which means no negative impact on your pay. Getting this degree also means that you’ll have time to create a safety net for yourself so that when you try and establish yourself in the field, you’re less likely to become stressed out.For many who are unsatisfied with your work environment or earnings, a degree in finances is a great solution. By attaining this degree, you have a variety of jobs to choose. For instance, by becoming a financial consultant, you’ll be able to choose your own clients and determine your own environment. Not only that, but there’s a lot of money to be made in this field. So no matter whether this degree will be your first or if you just want to change career paths, attaining a degree in finances is one of the best options available. This is especially the case for those who can’t disregard their current obligations and are in great need of flexibility.

There are lots of people who are struggling hard to get success in online business.However, not everyone gets success in this process. They can get success only by proper methods of growing and expending the online business.Bloggers are doing the hard work to grow their business online. However, most of the efforts they make do not yield success. There are many reasons for this. There are some people who might give up their quest. It does not mean that you cannot get success in your goals. You can, but only with proper efforts. There are many things that you need to know and to do. The very first thing that you need is the establishment of your brand. This is extremely important that you should establish the brand properly. Brand shows your potential. There are many ways to establish your brand online and offline. You have to create a logo of your company. This is really important. You should create a good logo for the establishment of your business. Another thing that you need to establish your brand is to create nice business cards. You should also get Google Voice Number to secure your own name as a phone number. This will help you achieve heights in online business.Another thing that you need is to establish good online brand. This is done by creating a blog. Blogs are extremely helpful for publishing your business online. There are many methods to start blogging. WordPress is one of the easy methods that can help you create blogs easily. Once you are done with creating a blog, you should concentrate on setting up of Outposts. You have created the blog, but you do not have readers. Outposts will help you reach out to people and make connections. There are many methods that you can use for this. Facebook is the best think that can help you with the promotion of your blog.When you are done with the outposts, you have to concentrate on generating a marketing list. This will make your business lot easier. You can start newsletters, create eBooks and host seminars too.To get success in online business, you need to concentrate on everything. You have to pay equal attention to online and offline business. Above all, your efforts are needed that can deliver you true success. Get started with your online business, but make sure you get it right!

So, you were caught in unaware with bad debt. It happens. No, no, you haven’t caught the bad debt disorder yet. There are bright chances that you won’t need any ‘specific’ action to deal with bad debt. Bad debt personal loans will take care of that.The phrase ‘bad debt personal loans’ is self explanatory. It means that you are looking for personal loans for a particular situation that is bad debt. Bad debt is a credit rating term which means that your credit is damaged. Late payments, skipping payments, exceeding credit card limit, county court judgments, declaring bankruptcy – all can result in bad debt. Bad debt can indicate difficulty in getting personal loans. However, under no circumstances it can prevent you from getting a personal loan. When you make a mistake on your credit card or monthly loan payment, the loan agency or the financial company labels you as bad debt. This goes along with you and you are perceived as a credit risk when borrowing personal loans.First of all get a copy of your credit report from any of the three credit reporting agencies – Experian, Trans Union, Equifax. Study the credit report before you apply for Bad debt personal loans and try finding out the snags in the credit report. Any inaccurate information should be corrected by contacting the credit reporting agency. Try to repair as many of them before applying for bad debt personal loans. Bad debt problems can only be amended over a period of time.Some simple credit repair steps can be followed before applying for bad debt personal loans. Pay all your pending bills and start making payments on time. Close any unused accounts. Even small steps can considerably improve credit. Be ready to prove that you can repay your bad debt personal loan. If your half of the monthly payment is already spent in paying for previous debts, the lender might be wondering how you will be paying your bad debt personal loan.Bad debt due to late payments can be considerably improved over time. If your bill or loan payment has been 30 days late, it will be reported as 30 day late in your credit report. Same is true for 60, 90,120 day late payments. The later the payments are the more unfavorable will be your bad debt situation.Credit score from 500-550 would mean you have bad debt and therefore are eligible for bad debt personal loans. Bad debt personal loans can answer for money requirements ranging from £5,000 to £75,000. You might be required to make a down payment which can be anywhere between 10-20%.Every bad debt situation is unique and no single plan can work for all the circumstances. If you know your credit score, you will be better informed about the interest rates, you are getting for credit score. This will prevent you from getting duped by loan lenders. Different loan lenders offer different terms for bad debt personal loans. Researching will lead you to better interest rates.Bad debt in accounting means expense. So it does in loan borrowing and implies higher interest. It is useless saying that you can get low interest rates for bad debt personal loans. However, it will help you a lot, if you understand that ‘comparative’ low interest rates are possible for bad debt personal loans. A lender is eager to offer personal loan to someone with bad debt for he has a reason to put his money at risk. The reason is high interest rates. The loan lender might draw a line with how much risk he is ready to take while providing bad debt personal loan. This means that a history of multiple defaults and severely injured debt condition might be refused bad debt personal loans.Bad debt personal loans can be used for any purpose. However, if you have few unpaid debts, you can use them for debt consolidation. Bad debt personal loans for debt consolidation, significantly reduces interest rates and monthly payments. You can reduce your debt at lesser cost. Bad debt personal loans can be used for the purpose of education, holiday, home improvement, automobile etc. Bad debt personal loans, you can’t afford is like being sucked down a financial whirlpool. Be honest while reporting bad debt. This will favour your bad debt personal loan application.You think there are not many buyers for bad debt when applying for personal loans. Try selling bad debt and you will find that you are not only getting desirable rates but bad debt personal loans you were specifically looking for. Bad debt personal loans are great surviving pill until, you can apply for good credit.

Americans love cars. It is one of the reasons why America is amongst the world’s top car-owning countries. Every year, Americans spend several thousand dollars on auto loan payments. If you are looking forward to buying a car, make sure that you follow S.M.A.R.T. tips. The tips will help you save money and ensure that you do not opt for exorbitant auto loans.Follow the S.M.A.R.T. Tips and Save MoneyWhen car buyers have to make a decision about auto loans, logic takes a backseat and emotions become a controlling factor. It is the reason why car buyers say yes to financially harmful auto loans. To save yourself from the possibility of a financial damage, you must follow the tips.S – SpecificThe car is a huge asset. So, it is essential that you understand your requirements before buying a car. It is important that you have a specific image of the type of the car that you want. It will help you stay away from an impulse purchase. Consider the list of following factors because it will help you in choosing your perfect car:1. Total number of passengers2. Gearbox – Automatic or manual gearbox?3. Cargo capacity4. Vehicle performance5. Driving conditions6. Gas mileage7. Safety features8. Technological features9. Parking spaceM – MoneyRemember that even if you opt for an auto loan, you will need to make a down payment of at least 10 percent of the total price of the car. Down payment is beneficial because it helps in reducing the loan amount. If you do not have money for down payment, do not worry. You can trade-in your old car and ask the dealer to deduct its value from the price of the new car.A – Affordable Selecting a specific car will be of no use to you if you cannot afford to buy it. Remember that car expenses are not limited to down payment. You will have to pay money for monthly loan payments, fuel charges as well as maintenance expenses. A general rule is to allocate no more than 20 percent of your total monthly income for car-related expenses. Keep this rule in mind and choose an auto loan that does not exceed your budget.R – Reliable There was a time when car buyers applied for an auto loan with the local bank only. Today, there are several ways of obtaining an auto loan. You can apply with a bank, a credit union, or an online auto financing company.No matter what option you choose, you must ensure that the lender is a reliable one. If you opt for an online auto financing company, check the website’s security certificate. If the website doesn’t have one, stay away from it and save yourself from a potential identity theft.T – Time Car buyers are afraid of rate shopping because they believe that multiple credit inquiries will damage their credit score. But, do not refrain from rate shopping instead, finish it within 30 days. Why?A time-bound search for an auto loan will ensure that you do not harm your credit score. FICO does not consider inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. So, if you are able to get a loan within 30 days, it won’t affect your score. This span of time can change to 14 days if the lender uses older versions of FICO and can increase to 45 days if the lender uses the newest formula.Car buying is one of the most expensive purchases that Americans make. If you do not pay attention to your auto loan, you can make the worst financial mistake of your life. So, avoid making a bad decision and follow the S.M.A.R.T. tips.

Working with a lead generation company has given me interesting insight into both real estate leads and agents. I dealt with both ends: the consumer and the agents themselves, and my job was to make them both happy. Yeah right. Easier said than done.The consumer side is easy – real estate leads want a home value, they want information on the market, they want a real estate agent and we get them that. The real estate agents? Well that’s another story – they pretty much wanted everything under the sun when it comes to real estate leads. They wanted to be handed people ready to list their homes with them asap, with no work involved on the agent’s part. They want listings, not real estate leads.Well, if I could provide that consistently, all the time, I’d either have a multi-million dollar company, or I’d be doing real estate full time myself. Get this through your heads agents: there is no magic service out there that will hand you listings for a low fee. Instead, these services provide you with real estate leads and it is YOUR job to turn them into clients. Got that? Real estate leads + you = clients!YOU went to the classes, YOU studied up on sales and marketing techniques and YOU printed up all kinds of trinkets with your name and logo on them for your real estate leads. Ergo, YOU must convince your real estate leads to work with you. And if you’re not converting them, maybe you need to take a look at your own methods, rather than immediately blame the source of the real estate leads.By now, I’ve probably heard every excuse under the sun as to why online real estate leads are bad or bogus. And that’s all it is, an excuse, a cop out to make you feel better about not being able to turn your real estate leads into listings. That being said, here are the top 5 cop-outs I’ve heard over the years about following up with real estate leads and my responses to them.1. I’m a new agent and no one wants to use a new agent.Well, how do they know you’re a new agent? Did you announce it the second you spoke with your real estate leads? You don’t need to tell all your real estate leads that you’re new. If they ask, tell them, and be honest, but don’t just volunteer the information. And how to you know “no one” wants to use a new agent – sounds like a gross generalization to me. You won’t know until you get out there and try – convince your real estate leads that to be new means you’re cutting edge, the best thing out there right now, show them what an expert you’ve become, even if you’re new to the business. Just TRY to convert them. Assuming from the start your real estate leads won’t want to use you because you’re new doesn’t even give you a chance.2. Some real estate leads are on the Do Not Call Registry.So? There’s no such thing as a Do Not Knock list. If your real estate leads are on the DNC Registry and you feel THAT uncomfortable risking a call, you should have your butt in the car, directions in your hand and preparing yourself mentally for your introduction once you knock at their door. And actually, as per the basic rules of the Do Not Call Registry, if a consumer on the lists makes an inquiry (which is what online real estate leads are!), you can contact them for up to 3 months after the inquiry. So you’ve got 3 months to get them on the phone, after that, there’s still always that door! Don’t use the DNC as a cop-out method with real estate leads. It’s a flimsy excuse.3. It’s unprofessional to go knock on someone’s door.This is the line I usually got after suggesting stopping by the property. My thing is, who said so? Who told you it is unprofessional to go visit your real estate leads’ homes and drop off the information they requested? That is a matter of opinion and as long as your real estate leads don’t think it’s unprofessional, you’re good. And by showing initiative and going out of your way to meet your real estate leads, you may have just earned a client for life.4. These real estate leads are too far from my area, or it’s in a very bad part of town.This is probably my favorite cop out, because it just sounds ridiculous to me. If your real estate leads are too far, why did you sign up for that area? Or, if you are getting some real estate leads out of your area, how far? Most of the time, agents complain about having to drive 30 minutes away. To me, 30 minutes of my time is DEFINITELY worth the fat commission check I could get. And if some real estate leads are too far, haven’t you EVER heard of a REFERRAL COMMISSION? Find an great agent in the lead’s area and send it on over. That way you’ll still get a portion of the commission AND you’ve saved 30 precious minutes of your time.When real estate leads are in a bad part of town, it usually means it’s a very low-value home and is located in either a ghetto or backwater somewhere. It pisses me off when real estate agents say that the home isn’t worth their time. Guess what buddy? When you got your license, you gained knowledge that others don’t have, but will need at some point. You should be willing and open to share this with your real estate leads, no matter what the economic status of their home and income is. If you don’t want to help them, no one can force you, but you are a BAD agent if you’re not at least willing to find someone who will your real estate leads.5. If they wanted to be contacted, they would have given all their correct contact information.This is a tough one, because on one level I do agree with this SOMEWHAT. Real estate leads who give a good name, number, address and email seems to be more approachable than real estate leads that have fake names, or fake numbers, etc. But again, this statement is really a matter of opinion. You have NO idea what’s going through the consumer’s head when they filled out their information. Maybe they’re not technologically savvy and thought if they put their phone number over the Web, everybody would get it. Maybe they mistyped something. Maybe they don’t want to be hassled daily by telemarketer calls but DO still want the information. Until you actually touch base with your real estate leads, you have no idea where their head is at. What would hurt worse, getting a phone slammed in your ear, or missing out on a $15,000 commission because you THOUGHT they didn’t need anything since they gave a wrong phone number?These 5 objections are really just cop-outs and excuses in disguise for not following up with your real estate leads. And pretty flimsy ones at that. If these are your objections to your real estate leads, you need to stop sitting around thinking up objections and just get out there and GO. Start contacting those real estate leads, start making phone calls and sending postcards. You may not convert them all, but I guarantee if you put your all into following up with every single one of your real estate leads no matter what objections you may have, you will see a HUGE increase in your conversion rate. You just have to get in there and TRY.

The current market is back in the doldrums and when the property market is falling, past experience tells us it’s a great time to bag a bargain and buy a house at a discount that you are unlikely to get in the coming years. Here’s a step by step guide on how to buy a property by haggling down the price.1. Get your finances sorted!The key success to securing a bargain property is to be able to buy quickly. This means you need to have either cash or as good as cash with a hefty deposit and a lender that is capable of making funds available in a few weeks, rather than the normal six weeks they take.2. Find a legal company which can exchange quicklyThe legals for buying and selling a home can take months. Much of this is down to poor conveyancing companies. So if you want to bag a bargain, it’s vital to ensure you work with a legal company that can work to tight deadlines and isn’t reliant on one person to do the work, in case they go sick or on holiday.3. Understand where to get property bargainsProperty bargains are secured when people are desperate to sell. There are lots of reasons why someone might sell a property at a bargain price which include:-(a) The three ‘D’s -Death, Divorce and DebtSadly things happen in life to homeowners that force them to have to sell their property at less than it’s worth. If someone dies, a partner might need to sell up as they can’t afford the property anymore or they need to move nearer to friends and family. If a couple aren’t getting on and divorce is the only option, not everyone can afford to stay in their family home, particularly with so many families having two working parents. Debt is a rough thing, particularly in these difficult times, so when it really bites, selling up and releasing the equity is sometimes the only option.(b) RepossessionFor a property to be repossessed, the procedure takes sometime – it can be six months or more. If the owner has been to court they will often be given/be advised to try to sell the property themselves to get the best price they can rather than have the property taken off them and sold on incurring increased fees for doing so by the lender. This can be a great source of bargains, but can be like finding a needle in a haystack, unless you are happy to hang around the courts. They are either sold through agents, to ‘quick sale’ companies or via local auctions.(c) Chain falls throughIf someone has sold their property and made an offer on another one, then their buyer pulls out, this can cause a chain to breakdown unless another buyer can be found at short notice, so a great time to be able to offer less than the property originally sold for – as long as you can move within a matter of weeks to replace the previous buyer.(d) New Build PropertiesDevelopers run businesses and businesses have targets to achieve. So at the end of the year, or even the half year, the sale of one property might mean bonuses all round for the developer’s staff. This is when dropping a property’s price is worthwhile. As is selling off the ‘last two’ properties to free up expensive site sales offices and staff.(e) Half and Half HomesAt the moment, buyers are making offers on properties which are either pristine and ready to move into or a wreck which needs a lot of work (new kitchen and bathroom, re-decorating). Half and half homes which are partly pristine and partly a wreck therefore just aren’t selling, so after a long time waiting for a buyer, vendor’s are more likely to drop their price. These properties can take a while to secure at a bargain though, as it often takes vendors more than six months to realise they aren’t going to get the price they had hoped.(f) Properties needing substantial workMany people want to do a up a property, but that doesn’t really mean they want to get their hands dirty. Most ‘do-er uppers’ are really looking for somewhere they can move into then upgrade the decoration and put in a new kitchen and bathroom. The real bargains come when a property needs gutting – or already has been, if it’s been fire damaged, wrecked by previous owners. So less buyers trying to compete to buy these properties means you are more likely to ‘bag a bargain’.(g) Properties with ‘undesirable’ neighboursMost properties are sold when they sit next to another property or overlook lots of beautiful countryside. Those though that have a pylon in the back garden, front onto a busy road (although less so in city centres), next to schools, or a dilapidated property, tend to sell for a lot less than those in a better location. In a falling market these are the toughest properties to shift, so you can make pretty low offers and if the vendors can still move on, your offer may well get accepted.So if you want to haggle to bag a bargain in the property market, it’s essential to sort out your finances, sign up a proactive legal company and find properties where vendors are likely to be ‘motivated sellers’ and let you have the property for less than they would when the property market is buoyant.

This is rightly named as the age of traveler-centricity and with the evolution of the new era of personalized travel; it is leading to research and development of a host of new so-called intelligent services. The command-and-control perspectives of traveling have changed a lot from the past and the focus has shifted more on the traveler and the productivity of each trip. It has become essential to maintain that the travelers have the greatest return on investment on each trip. New generations of young employees and managers, who have been growing up and dwelling in a digital age, are moving up the ranks as travelers. It has become essential to recognize the need for greater flexibility acknowledging that the employees who travel on corporate trips also consider a percentage of their trip to be a leisure outlet. With increasing globalization and rise in companies sending their staff overseas to network and connect with their offshore prospects/customers/suppliers, corporate travel is a highly profitable tourism segment. Before we talk about how tourism companies can better cater to business travelers, let us first look at why they prefer to use specialized corporate agencies over traditional agentsWhy do businesses use Corporate Travel Agencies?This might be the most basic question for a travel agency as to why they need to use agencies specializing in corporate travel when there are plenty of regular travel agents in the market. Here is the importance of corporate travel agencies who have online systems which allow business travelers access to their complete itinerary.The following information is at the fingertips of the CTAs:-

full business itinerary details

up-to-date tracking details of flights (including delays or rescheduling)

transparent details about additional costs such as baggage fees or in-flight fees

travel alerts, if any, in the destined area

complete and up-to-date details about the visa procurement policies and identification required

currency requirement and conversion rates
What do corporate clients expect from Corporate Travel Agencies?Negotiated FaresThe Corporate Agencies tend to have tie-ups with hotels, car rentals, flights etc. giving them access to lower fares which can be used only by the frequent business travelers. Discounted prices are not the only advantage though as they also offer flight upgrades, room upgrades, and VIP check-in lines as required.In-depth information about the travel industryCorporate travel agents have access to many travel resources and most importantly, quickly, than any other leisure travel agent. Additional information helps to make the business trips convenient and comfortable.Changes in ItineraryWhen an airline ticket needs to get rescheduled or cancelled, chances are the airline or the online service provider will charge lofty fees. When booking with a corporate travel agent, most of the times schedule changes can be done at zero or minimal extra charges.Viable emergency contactsIt is important for the business travelers to reach the correct person at the need of trouble. Corporate travel agents have the experience and professionalism to relieve stress for both the traveler and the company.What you need to consider as corporate travel increases?Business Travel Barometer reported that corporate travel is witnessing an accelerated growth. However, when poorly managed, it may be no longer an advantage to companies and may, in fact become a burden. There are some factors which the corporations and CTAs must consider to get the best out of the time spent traveling.Adopting a travel policyThe corporate must define a travel policy which is applicable to and respected by travelers at all levels. This policy should be used to establish the standards which will help to track the improvement of business travel. It will eventually help to reduce the costs of the entire package.Do not limit the traveler’s autonomyThe management is responsible for budgeting the travel policy which helps to improve cost management however, it is also essential to give a degree of autonomy to the traveler. The policy should be flexible enough to allow the employee to adapt the trip as per the situation.Traveler’s security should be a major concernBusiness travelers need to have security in place. The company needs to stick to its definition of standards to ensure the employee’s integrity. The CTAs should have reliable partners (travel insurance, airlines, hotel chains etc.).Mobility and automationTo optimize time and ease the processes, the administration of management platforms should have automated processes. This means they should adopt mobile solutions where search options, travel alerts, ticket reservations etc. can be accessed quickly, easily and on the go.Corporate Travel Trends in 2016Corporate travel trends tend to change regularly. 2016 has also not been any different and the travel management companies (TMCs) and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) are quite focused to provide steady if not strong axis all over. A growing MICE sector, investments in mobile and big data and enhanced focus on duty of care are some of their areas of focus.Rising pricesThe consolidated buzzword among global suppliers, airfares, hotel rates etc. is the rising fares. It is sometimes the move of the suppliers to generate discounts which encourage travel if there is a strong decline in demand. A positive 2016 world economy has been bringing an increase in air fares of a few percentage points, hotels are expected to see 4%-6% rise in average global rates and the competition will remain moderate in the car rental services.Duty of careRisk management is one of the major points of emphasis for corporations. Corporate customers are allowing new policies and improved technologies to monitor employees’ location in case of an emergency, especially when they are travelling to foreign destinations. For instance, Concur Risk Messaging helps to identify the travelers moving around in the world and alerts them with alternate travel arrangement as and when needed.Focusing on MICEMeetings industry is a major growing sector and the corporate travel trend is developing on it. The corporate travel agencies should better start aligning the various meeting procurement methodologies with its transient travel sourcing. One of the ways could be to broaden the variety of meeting services by incorporating incentive trips within it.Investing in technologyA sharper focus on increasing value and becoming more traveler-centric can be done by bringing in mobile friendly technologies. Mobile and big data are definitely the two most significant technological investments which any corporate travel agency must focus to make their platform more appealing.Business travel analysis after BrexitFollowing Brexit, ACTE and CAPA shared their speculations. According to them, the greatest short-term effects on the travel industry will come from the weakening of the pound against other world currencies. Greeley Koch, executive director for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives said that the business travel industry will trend on currency fluctuations; with some companies taking advantage of the weaker pound and traveling more, while others may withhold business travel until world markets find their own level.Impact of terrorism on corporate travelersTravel policy makers and administrators need to be guided by rising terrorism scare. For executives and staff undertaking travel on behalf of businesses, the travel agents and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) should prove the reassurance for their safety through the travel policies. It is more than likely that the surveys conducted over corporate travelers reflect the general concern of the global business travelers about the spate of terrorism. However, there is no denying the fact that terrorist threat is changing the patterns of business travel. The key impact of this is to keep in mind that the companies providing travel services for business travelers need to enhance their focus on security and the associated risks in delivering the services to corporate clients. According to a recent finding, travel managers have higher estimation of their policy’s effectiveness in addressing risk compared to skeptical business travelers.ConcludingAlthough the corporate travel sector has continued to progress, there are a plethora of challenges faced by the industry. A rapidly changing consumer market, the emergence of new business models, the impact of technology, man-made and natural crises are some of the fulcrum points that need to be considered before planning corporate trips.

This is rightly named as the age of traveler-centricity and with the evolution of the new era of personalized travel; it is leading to research and development of a host of new so-called intelligent services. The command-and-control perspectives of traveling have changed a lot from the past and the focus has shifted more on the traveler and the productivity of each trip. It has become essential to maintain that the travelers have the greatest return on investment on each trip. New generations of young employees and managers, who have been growing up and dwelling in a digital age, are moving up the ranks as travelers. It has become essential to recognize the need for greater flexibility acknowledging that the employees who travel on corporate trips also consider a percentage of their trip to be a leisure outlet. With increasing globalization and rise in companies sending their staff overseas to network and connect with their offshore prospects/customers/suppliers, corporate travel is a highly profitable tourism segment. Before we talk about how tourism companies can better cater to business travelers, let us first look at why they prefer to use specialized corporate agencies over traditional agentsWhy do businesses use Corporate Travel Agencies?This might be the most basic question for a travel agency as to why they need to use agencies specializing in corporate travel when there are plenty of regular travel agents in the market. Here is the importance of corporate travel agencies who have online systems which allow business travelers access to their complete itinerary.The following information is at the fingertips of the CTAs:-

full business itinerary details

up-to-date tracking details of flights (including delays or rescheduling)

transparent details about additional costs such as baggage fees or in-flight fees

travel alerts, if any, in the destined area

complete and up-to-date details about the visa procurement policies and identification required

currency requirement and conversion rates
What do corporate clients expect from Corporate Travel Agencies?Negotiated FaresThe Corporate Agencies tend to have tie-ups with hotels, car rentals, flights etc. giving them access to lower fares which can be used only by the frequent business travelers. Discounted prices are not the only advantage though as they also offer flight upgrades, room upgrades, and VIP check-in lines as required.In-depth information about the travel industryCorporate travel agents have access to many travel resources and most importantly, quickly, than any other leisure travel agent. Additional information helps to make the business trips convenient and comfortable.Changes in ItineraryWhen an airline ticket needs to get rescheduled or cancelled, chances are the airline or the online service provider will charge lofty fees. When booking with a corporate travel agent, most of the times schedule changes can be done at zero or minimal extra charges.Viable emergency contactsIt is important for the business travelers to reach the correct person at the need of trouble. Corporate travel agents have the experience and professionalism to relieve stress for both the traveler and the company.What you need to consider as corporate travel increases?Business Travel Barometer reported that corporate travel is witnessing an accelerated growth. However, when poorly managed, it may be no longer an advantage to companies and may, in fact become a burden. There are some factors which the corporations and CTAs must consider to get the best out of the time spent traveling.Adopting a travel policyThe corporate must define a travel policy which is applicable to and respected by travelers at all levels. This policy should be used to establish the standards which will help to track the improvement of business travel. It will eventually help to reduce the costs of the entire package.Do not limit the traveler’s autonomyThe management is responsible for budgeting the travel policy which helps to improve cost management however, it is also essential to give a degree of autonomy to the traveler. The policy should be flexible enough to allow the employee to adapt the trip as per the situation.Traveler’s security should be a major concernBusiness travelers need to have security in place. The company needs to stick to its definition of standards to ensure the employee’s integrity. The CTAs should have reliable partners (travel insurance, airlines, hotel chains etc.).Mobility and automationTo optimize time and ease the processes, the administration of management platforms should have automated processes. This means they should adopt mobile solutions where search options, travel alerts, ticket reservations etc. can be accessed quickly, easily and on the go.Corporate Travel Trends in 2016Corporate travel trends tend to change regularly. 2016 has also not been any different and the travel management companies (TMCs) and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) are quite focused to provide steady if not strong axis all over. A growing MICE sector, investments in mobile and big data and enhanced focus on duty of care are some of their areas of focus.Rising pricesThe consolidated buzzword among global suppliers, airfares, hotel rates etc. is the rising fares. It is sometimes the move of the suppliers to generate discounts which encourage travel if there is a strong decline in demand. A positive 2016 world economy has been bringing an increase in air fares of a few percentage points, hotels are expected to see 4%-6% rise in average global rates and the competition will remain moderate in the car rental services.Duty of careRisk management is one of the major points of emphasis for corporations. Corporate customers are allowing new policies and improved technologies to monitor employees’ location in case of an emergency, especially when they are travelling to foreign destinations. For instance, Concur Risk Messaging helps to identify the travelers moving around in the world and alerts them with alternate travel arrangement as and when needed.Focusing on MICEMeetings industry is a major growing sector and the corporate travel trend is developing on it. The corporate travel agencies should better start aligning the various meeting procurement methodologies with its transient travel sourcing. One of the ways could be to broaden the variety of meeting services by incorporating incentive trips within it.Investing in technologyA sharper focus on increasing value and becoming more traveler-centric can be done by bringing in mobile friendly technologies. Mobile and big data are definitely the two most significant technological investments which any corporate travel agency must focus to make their platform more appealing.Business travel analysis after BrexitFollowing Brexit, ACTE and CAPA shared their speculations. According to them, the greatest short-term effects on the travel industry will come from the weakening of the pound against other world currencies. Greeley Koch, executive director for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives said that the business travel industry will trend on currency fluctuations; with some companies taking advantage of the weaker pound and traveling more, while others may withhold business travel until world markets find their own level.Impact of terrorism on corporate travelersTravel policy makers and administrators need to be guided by rising terrorism scare. For executives and staff undertaking travel on behalf of businesses, the travel agents and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) should prove the reassurance for their safety through the travel policies. It is more than likely that the surveys conducted over corporate travelers reflect the general concern of the global business travelers about the spate of terrorism. However, there is no denying the fact that terrorist threat is changing the patterns of business travel. The key impact of this is to keep in mind that the companies providing travel services for business travelers need to enhance their focus on security and the associated risks in delivering the services to corporate clients. According to a recent finding, travel managers have higher estimation of their policy’s effectiveness in addressing risk compared to skeptical business travelers.ConcludingAlthough the corporate travel sector has continued to progress, there are a plethora of challenges faced by the industry. A rapidly changing consumer market, the emergence of new business models, the impact of technology, man-made and natural crises are some of the fulcrum points that need to be considered before planning corporate trips.