We’re refunding Richard and Ian their £14,995 Elite franchise fee! Why? Because they absolutely crushed our Money Back Challenge, hitting their target commission in under eight months — well ahead of the 12-month deadline!
We’re the only franchise offering unique incentive, and it really motivates people like Ian and Richard to go above and beyond! Watch the video to find out their response!
Based near Wrexham in North Wales, the couple launched their business in May 2024 and sold over £85,000 pounds worth of holidays in just eight weeks despite never having worked in travel before.
Like many of our consultants, they have passion for travel, plenty of transferable skills having a combined 40 years in hospitality and just needed our expert support and training. We provide everything from experienced trainers, to business development managers and free mentorship retreats abroad.
Says Ian: “We joined because we wanted to do something we were really passionate about and when Richard and I looked at what we could do in travel with no previous experience Google brought up Not Just Travel as the company which takes on people who don’t have any experience in travel at all because their training’s so good.”
It didn’t take Ian and Richard long to invest.
“We compared Not Just Travel with other franchises and they just kept coming out head and shoulders above everybody else. So we did our homework and jumped!”
The guys found our five-day virtual training tough but enjoyable.
“It was intensive, but because we could do it at home at least there was no travel involved. It was really good fun and interactive – every day was different with different Business Development Managers (BDMs) training us but I admit by Friday dinner time, I needed a glass of rose!”
Richard and Ian took their first booking within a week with some help from their BDM (everyone gets allocated a personal BDM for support).
Like many of our franchisees, Ian and Richard were worrying before training that they’d have to be ‘world experts’ but during training the penny dropped…
“It suddenly hit home that our suppliers are the true experts and because we’ve got so many you can go to different ones for different parts of the world. The suppliers will feed you with information and you just get to know these things over the years.”
Ian looks back and laughs at the time he wasted worrying…
“So all those weeks before training going to bed at night with the Atlas! We didn’t need to do that!”
Most of our franchisees continue to learn while they earn. We offer free supplier webinars during the week, typically based around a product, destination or resort.
“They’re great because you can just hop on but if the phone does ring and it’s a customer, you can just catch up on it whenever you like because it’s recorded. Every day’s a school day!”
They’ve also tapped into our Cruise Division, becoming experts in one of the most profitable areas of travel. Plus, they’ll be joining our Seminar at Sea this June for a sailing around the stunning Norwegian Fjords. We’ll have top industry experts onboard, hosting seminars on various cruise lines and sharing insider tips on booking the perfect cruise..
Although the couple say they sometimes get quiet periods they’ve been busy since Boxing Day – the start of the ‘peak’ holiday booking period and have secured some big bookings including a £30,000 family trip to the Maldives.
Most of their business has been through word of mouth and Facebook – without a penny spent on marketing!
“We’d met a lot of people through our hospitality days and we’re friends with them on social media, so we were able to dip into that pool of contacts.”They also asked customers to spread the word.
“Every booking we had, we asked clients to put something on their socials to say: We’ve just booked with Ian and Richard from Tailormade Escapes!”
They’ve also found our holiday deals app and free customer quote tool (worth £1,000 a year) really useful in finding customers and converting bookings.
“The WOW Travel app is something that NJT have created and can be downloaded for free by customers using an agent’s specific number so that it’s personalised. It’s essentially just full of exclusive offers. It’s a really good way of getting customers.”
“And the new quote tool saves time and makes us look even more professional.”
While some consultants invest in a franchise in their spare time to raise some extra cash or top up a pension, Ian and Richard have big plans for their business.
“We want to get to the top, to reach a million pound turnover a year.”
So are the couple glad they joined?
“Yes! Sometimes you can look at a product and its marketing and think, ‘What’s it really like?’ Well, it is what it says on the tin…The training and support is amazing!”
And while Ian says it’s hard work, he says they both enjoy it.
“I don’t want to be corny, but if you work in an area you’re passionate about it doesn’t feel like work. Looking into people’s holidays, talking about holidays every day, well there’s a lot worse jobs out there!”
