Looking to be your own boss, work your own hours, travel the world and book incredible holidays, just like Ben, one of our newest franchisees?
Ben trained just four weeks ago and has just taken his biggest booking so far – an £8,500 holiday to the Bahamas.
“It’s incredibly exciting. You get a bit nervous in the first 3-4 weeks but you’ve got your business development manager (BDM) to help you and mine, Aaron, has been fantastic. If I have any questions (and I’ve had a lot!) I Whatsapp him, he tells me the answer and off I go.”
We give every consultant access to their own personal business development manager, a resource that is included in your package and one that new recruits find invaluable. With the best ratio-to-consultants in the industry, this is one of the things that made Ben choose us as a partner.
Ben’s Bahamas booking wasn’t his first.
“My partner and I have made bookings to Turkey, Spain, France, and a few to the UK. I am very pleased with the way the first four weeks have gone.”
Like many of our franchisees our trainers prep new recruits advising them on how to get warm leads ready for when they finish training. Some make their first booking the very next day kickstarting their business from day one.
So how has Ben found his customers and how can you, too?
“We’ve not paid for any advertisements, it’s just been through people we know, friends and family.”
“In some of the videos you watch before you join, the company’s co-founder, Paul, says to count the people you know. You may think that’s 15, 20, maybe 30 people but you know hundreds. That particular customer who booked the Bahamas holiday is someone that rented us a cottage at Christmas time. They saw our social media post, messaged us and that was it! Hopefully they will be a returning customer.”
Ben is understandably optimistic. We find most of our consultants achieve a repeat booking rate of over 60 per cent and as each person, on average, books around 2.5 holidays a year, one customer can bring in a lot of business.
Like 98 per cent of our franchisees, Ben has never worked as a travel consultant before, but he does have plenty of crossover skills that he brings to the job.
As a bit of an adrenaline junkie, not only has Ben travelled the world skiing, mountaineering, canyoning, rock climbing, caving, quad biking and kayaking, he has also owned several businesses.
“I joined the forces when I was 17 and served for six years all over the world. I owned my own personal training and boot camp business but after being diagnosed with arthritis in both hips I sold the business and began working in the childcare industry offering after school and holiday care helping children engage with the great outdoors.”
Although Ben says the business does very well, he works incredibly hard and it prevents him from travelling and having any work/life balance.
“I’m up at 6am, finish at 6pm, then I’ve got five dogs, alpacas and a lot of other other animals to look after so I don’t start eating tea til about 9pm!”
It was on a recent trip to Scotland in a motorhome that made him decide to change his life.
“I spent three weeks touring the highlands in a motorhome and I just thought: ‘wouldn’t it be lovely if i didn’t have to go home, if I could stay on the road, if I could work from my laptop?’ It snowballed from there.”
Ben stumbled upon The Travel Franchise on the internet and had conversations with two of our competitors.
“But it was The Travel Franchise that I felt I could resonate most with and what they had to offer in terms of support was second to none.”
Ben opted for our most popular Elite package and was particularly attracted by the support and the higher commission it offered – the best in the industry.
So what did he think of our training?
“Fabulous, it was informative, Dave (our head trainer) was amazing and really makes you sit up and listen. It’s obviously condensed in order to fit into one week, and you’ve got to go out and find things out for yourself and learn on the job, but you’ve always got your BDM as a backup.”
Like many of our new consultants, Ben is starting part time then plans to go full time within six months when his business has grown enough to support him. He also plans to reach £1m in sales by the end of year two and are BDMs are on hand to help him reach his goals. But most of all he’s looking forward to flexibility.
“The main reason for the change is to work towards the dream goal of total flexibility in my working life, to do more travelling and being able to work at the same time.”
So after four weeks would he recommend us to others?
“It’s an incredible opportunity. If there are people out there who feel stuck in a rut or they want to spend more time at home, go for it. It’s a fantastic company with a fantastic support system in place. I’d recommend anyone give it a go. There’s nothing to lose and a lot to gain.”
