/ 28 June 2013

Bringing corporate level benefits to small business

Andrew Stark
Andrew Stark

Flight Centre South Africa's corporate traveller brand is on target to double its annual turnover to R1-billion and 4% market share in 2013. Its exceptional growth is based on giving its more than a thousand SME clients top-value service at low rates on monthly accounts without interest.

The average yearly SME spend on business travel is over R350 000, says general manager Andrew Stark, which is a substantial outlay in their annual budgets on a Top Five line item. Corporate traveller's expertise is in showing how that expenditure can be offset by added-value services and cost savings.

"Our motto is 'Bring an expert on board'," he says. "Our corporate traveller service is customised to each client's needs but it's not expensive. We do it more efficiently for less cost.

The client company employs senior staff to manage its travel needs but if we do it for them, why have such staff? End of the day we are an agent available without contract to do the job at far less cost than they can do it themselves.

"We normally save between 5% to 25% for the client. For example, advance bookings are cheaper, which means savings on the company's expenditure. Streamlining their spend and consolidating their suppliers can also result in considerable savings."

Added value is significant when choosing a supplier in the corporate travel market. The free corporate traveller service includes analysing their spend and consolidating the clients' suppliers. They might be able to take advantage of corporate traveller's own global rates.

Some don't qualify
Stark says: "A number of our SME clients don't qualify for the negotiated deals that our FCm clients enjoy; they will be booking what's available in terms of rates.

"Under the corporate traveller brand they would benefit from the agreements we hold through our connections with the Flight Centre global company. We would be acting on their behalf.

"Travel policies and traveller safety are priorities we look at carefully for our SME clients," he adds. "Our review includes the benefits of travel insurance, and whether it's taken out annually or trip by trip – because there are savings to be made there too.

"The major advantage to small to medium-sized clients using corporate traveller is that the brand comes without contracts.

"They get all of the corporate traveller support systems on a month-by-month arrangement, interest free."

Leadership changes for Flight Centre brands
Flight Centre has announced some changes within its senior leadership team that will come into effect on July 1.

After three years of record growth within its corporate brands, general manager of corporate traveller and FCm, Andrew Stark, will be taking over as general manager of Flight Centre's retail brands, incorporating 116 red & white shops, seven FCBT shops, six Student Flight shops and four Cruiseabout shops.

Stark has been mandated to aggressively grow customer loyalty, shops numbers, staff numbers and overall sales for the coming years.

He joined Flight Centre in 2005 as general manager for product before moving to New Zealand in 2008 to take on the same role in Flight Centre's Auckland office. In 2010, he returned to South Africa to lead Flight Centre South Africa's two corporate brands.

His replacement is Eric Sakawsky, who joined Flight Centre South Africa in 2012 as general manager of marketing after relocating from their Canada office.

Sakawsky began his career with Flight Centre Canada in 2004, achieving success within their retail brands.

Within the marketing team Michelle Jolley will be taking over as marketing manager for Flight Centre, while Nicky Potgieter moves into the position of marketing manager for corporate traveller and FCm.

Tailored to travel needs of large companies
FCm Travel Solutions complements its partner Corporate Traveller brand by being tailored to the business travel needs of large multi-national companies.

FCm's global reach is a key selling point because clients can deal with the same travel management company wherever they are located around the world. The brand is currently located in 75 countries internationally. The key benefits that FCm brings to the table in 2013 include:
• Global presence in more than 75 countries;
• Dedicated local team of experienced professionals;
• Access to global contracts that enable negotiated deals with suppliers on behalf of its clients;
• Dedicated account managers supervising the client's business travel to recommend solutions to improve efficiency and save costs;
• An online booking tool is made available to clients on request for a nominal extra fee. This programme will search, compare, book and fulfill a client's procurement arc — getting sign-off from the relevant line managers to confirm the booking;
• Global reporting, so that clients can view one report detailing all travel from their various offices around the world;
• Bill back arrangements for clients during their trips; and
• Free after-hours service and airline failure protection.

The FCm brand in South Africa operates with a highly specialised team of experts. They focus on working with clients to design programmes to suit clients' accounts. Travel security and tracker notifications are among the extra services available. FCm Travel Solutions was named the World's Top Travel Management Company in the 2011 and 2012 World Travel Awards.

"To be recognised at a regional and global level by this award demonstrates that across our worldwide network, the FCm business shares the same award-winning DNA," said FCm general manager Andrew Stark.

"As a valued client of FCm you can expect the same level of service excellence wherever you do business with us. Service consistency across our network is a priority for our travel and account management teams and ensures that companies with multinational operations can rely on us for expert and reliable travel management service at all levels of their operation."

This article has been paid for by Flight Centre. Contents and images were supplied and/or approved by Flight Centre.