Whether to spend the money and go in person or get on the phone. If you are like me you may have been torn at times over this decision. Sometimes it is easy to decide if a face to face meeting is best or simply a phone call if the trade off is an hour or two versus a couple of minutes. Other times it might mean a $10,000 one week trip to the other side of the world. Juggling when to be at a meeting in person can be critical to the business. Even after as much preparation as can be done in advance, like many things 1/3 of the time I think "Wow, am I glad I decided to do that in person - another third is up for grabs and the last third is "Wow, what a colossal waste of time and money."

Depending on the size of your firm this can apply to internal and external meetings. So the question is, when there is a significant cost involved, "When should you incur the expense of a face to face meeting with remote staff or remote Customers?" Like you I have made trips that in hindsight could have been avoided and at other times kicked myself for not going. Not everything can be foretold but in this time of cost consciousness it would be nice to eliminate calamities that can be avoided. Some of this is a personal choice. Do you feel your communications are not optimal on the phone and you need to see the 'whites of their eyes'?

While the following could apply to travel for anyone in your organization we will use your personal involvement as the example. Here are some guidelines that I propose. Spend the money and make the trip if:

External customers:

• The expense is justified by a current qualified revenue opportunity and your presence will truly enhance your opportunity.
• You have reason to believe your competition is out performing you in Executive relationship building, the deficit is material and you need to catch up.
• The customer account is large enough on an ongoing basis that you must keep the relationship current and fresh.
• Negotiations will be of a nature that you trust only yourself to engage and decide on concessions that may have to be made from your perspective or the customer's in real-time.
• You need a first hand reading of the situation (internal or external - current situation or ongoing relationship). (Anecdote - I inherited a VP Sales once and I had a feeling that all was not right - I went on a customer tour with him to DC where he spent a lot of his time although he lived in California. From that trip I discovered that as a hobby he was an exec in a DC based Conspiracy Organization and later that he was in a relationship with the wife of one of our DC customers - he didn't last past the end of the trip).

Remote offices or employees:

• You have assumed an acting role for some function in a remote office and you have to show up to assure the local team you are on the job - example: apart from being CEO you are acting VP Sales for a subsidiary.
• You are trouble shooting some problem you have identified and want an up close look before a decision is made - say to expand, contract or audit performance.
• You have a new employee(s) that you need to get on the same page and it would be better for you to be there than them come to your office.
• You want to support the efforts of the local office, show the colors and help them succeed on a quasi-regular basis.
• You are launching a major new initiative/program and need their complete understanding and commitment.
• You get that cold feeling that you have not been there for some time and you need to get a level of comfort back into your relationship with the office/remote employee.

Other:

• You are in a large company and for political purposes you need to go in person to the remote location. You do not want to get a reputation as a desk jockey who never sees the customers or be the only one in the meeting that hasn't had a face-to-face with the client/remote office.

All of these guidelines are prefaced by the decision you have made that this economically sound.

Last advice is this - when in doubt spend the money if the consequences of something going wrong and costing more is in play. When in doubt take action. There is no good answer for a board member or senior manager who asks "Why did you not get personally involved."

You can quell your guilt a little if you can find additional tasks (customers, events, employee reviews, etc.) to accomplish on the trip but they should not be the reason. There needs to be a compelling reason or judgment for the expense.

Now your comments and suggestions please.