The headline of this article is “How will I be able to get customers as a new travel agent?”
It’s one of the most important & frequent questions we get asked by people considering opening their own travel agency from home.
And rightly so.
You should know that, while we love celebrating success stories from our franchisees, there’s nothing stopping you from following in their footsteps.
99% of our travel consultants had never sold a holiday before joining us, so don’t worry if that sounds like you.
You simply need passion, determination and be willing to put the effort into your new business.
After 20+ years in the industry, we know how to guide you step-by-step along the way to finding (and keeping) great customers.
You won’t need to invest thousands in ads to find customers
One thing you should know upfront: This isn’t about spending thousands of pounds on advertising or marketing.
While social & digital media can be important, this isn’t about getting people to visit a website and book their own holiday. Ask yourself – do you really want to compete with companies that are spending millions a year on ads doing that already?
Instead, we teach you exactly how to talk to people (on-and-offline) about their holidays, to find out if they’re the right kind of customer for you.
Plus we give you marketing guidance, support, materials and exclusive offers the public would never see themselves.
We also give you everything else you need to create an amazing travel business for yourself.
Finding the right customers is a huge part of your ongoing training and mentorship
When you join, you’ll have ongoing training & mentorship with a dedicated Partnership Manager, who’s there to help you grow your business.
“I was making my first ever cruise booking and needed help. Partnership Manager Duncan jumped on a call with me inside 5 minutes to get it done.
It’s that level of support that I’m just really, really happy with!”
Faye Ford – Franchisee
We’ll also:
- Support you with marketing material featuring brand ambassador Daley Thompson.
- Help you build your list of contacts using our bespoke Business Management System, Vision.
- Give you a professional personal marketing website that’s fully maintained and updated (including regular articles), without you having to lift a finger.
- Automatically give you access to Partners in Travel, where you can become the official travel agent for companies, charities, clubs, schools and more.
- Teach you how to truly leverage social media – even if you aren’t naturally the most outgoing person.
- Create social media posts, graphics and videos you can simply drop into your own pages.
- Help you build your list of prospective customers, then send them professionally written travel emails to keep them updated on your behalf.
- Supply physical marketing collateral (that supports our Climate Hero initiative), such as cards, brochures, banners, clothing and much more, ready for use when you’re networking or attending events.
- Provide regular training sessions – both virtually and in real-life – all about growing your business.
- Handle the ticketing & back-office admin for you…
- … and this really is just the beginning!
You’ll learn exactly how to get started fast
To begin with, most new franchise owners start by talking with everyone they already know about holidays. Then, once the first bookings are under their belt and they’re feeling confident, they start to expand their reach through networking, events and a more professional, targeted approach to social media.
From there, everyone’s journey is different.
In your first year, it’s all about learning the business and gaining as much momentum as possible. Do well, and you could even have your franchise for free, with our unique Money-Back Challenge.
You don’t have to work at it full-time to achieve your goals though. Doing it part-time just means focusing more on where to put your efforts, with our help.
After that, you set your own targets.
You could also decide the type of holidays you want to focus on, if you want to specialise.
Some people decide to specialise in certain destinations or types of holiday – using their website Landing Pages as a way to bring in extra leads. Some people focus on specific customer profiles, such as luxury enthusiasts. And others really leverage programs like Partners in Travel to expand their customer base dramatically.
The sky’s the limit for your sales
In any given month, our consultants are earning thousands of pounds from holidays they’ve sold.
You could set your targets initially at a lower amount if you want to build up over time. Or you might want to really go for it and make a consistent six-figure income every year.
There’s no one ‘right’ amount to aim for and there’s no single way to get there.
- You might decide to focus on volume. With an average value of over £4,000 in 2022, just 1 booking working (very) part-time each week would bring in over £20,000 annually.
- Or go the opposite way and focus on high-net worth individuals. Franchisee Tracey made a £143,000 booking to Antigua this month for just one customer and his party.
- Group trips are a fantastic way to create not only revenue, but find new customers. Illesh made a £60,000+ group booking for 102 passengers to Turkey in February. After being introduced by the lead passenger (nearly all of them he’d never met before), many of them are now also booking their other holidays with him. It’s all thanks to the great service he offers.
- And finally, you can easily specialise in multiple areas, such as cruising. One cruise booking alone this month has brought travel consultant Kathryn over £90,000 in sales.
Your future customers are out there looking for help
ABTA knows that over 60% of the adult population in the UK jet off on holiday every year.
That’s more than 40 million people who are booking holidays. And research by the Office for National Statistics shows that we take over 93 million holidays a year in total, with many people going away more than once.
But you only need a few hundred repeat customers to create a fabulous lifestyle business for yourself. Just 400 customers, over time, would still be less than 0.001% of holiday makers from the UK.
And with the public moving back to booking through travel professionals for trust and reassurance, it means there’s a tremendous opportunity for you to start your business right now, as the world opens back up.
You bring the passion, we’ll bring the rest
If you:
- Love talking & planning holidays
- Want to give people a great experience
- Are prepared to go the extra mile…
…you’ve already got what it takes to be a great travel consultant.
We’ll help you do everything else to build a great travel business – including helping you find customers.
