Some people arrive at The Travel Franchise having never worked in travel. Leanne arrived having seen how the other options stack up, which makes her verdict one worth listening to.
Leanne knows this industry from the inside. She started in travel when she left school, then went off and did other things, a spell in the NHS, raising her daughters, and setting up a construction business with her family that she still helps run 16 years later. But travel has a way of pulling people back. As she puts it, once you have got the bug, you cannot get rid of it.
So a little while ago she decided to return to the industry she loved, and her experience since is one that anyone comparing travel companies should hear.
Two companies in, and still not the right fit
Leanne did not come straight to us. She started with another travel company first, and in her words it lasted a matter of weeks.
“There was no training at all, really. It was just printouts and reading through stuff. Their systems are awful, and it’s American-based, so if you try to get hold of anyone apart from your upline, you’re struggling all the time. And I wasn’t keen on the networking side of things. That wasn’t for me.”
The model at that first company was not really about building a travel business. It leaned heavily on recruiting other people beneath you, which was never what Leanne wanted. She simply wanted to book holidays and look after clients.
So she moved to a second company. It was better, but still not right. There were plenty of training modules to work through, but nothing structured, nothing live, and the systems and support still fell short of what she needed. Over the summer, her confidence dipped, her bookings slowed, and she found herself asking a simple question. Surely there is a better setup than this.
Why she chose The Travel Franchise
Leanne had actually looked at The Travel Franchise first, right at the very beginning, before either of the other two. The only thing that held her back was the investment, and the worry that she might not find the customers to justify it.
Having now tried the alternatives, she came back with a completely different perspective.
“I contacted The Travel Franchise before, but because of the outlay, I thought I didn’t want to risk it in case I don’t get custom. Then I came back to you thinking, actually, I think I could make it work. I just liked the support. I liked the marketing side of things. Since doing the training and seeing the systems, I think it’s going to work much better for me.”
The difference in training, she says, was night and day.
“The structure of your training was completely different. With the others, there was no real training, or modules you just worked through on your own. This was live, nine to five on Zoom, where you had to sit and watch, listen and interact. I picked up so much this week, even though I’ve been in the industry before. Lots of ideas, lots of tips I can take moving forward. And I really like the systems you work with.”
Trained one week, booked the next
Leanne finished her training last week, and she already has her first booking confirmed.
Because she had let her existing clients know she was moving, one of them was messaging her before she had even finished, ready to go the moment Leanne could book for her.
“She was literally just waiting for me to be able to book it for her.”
That first booking is a lovely one. An eight-night Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Legend, with three nights in Miami first, flying out just before Christmas. What makes it even better is that the client had not even considered a cruise until Leanne suggested it.
“She said no, she wasn’t keen on the idea. Then two days later she messaged me and said, Leanne, scrap that, my friend’s just been on the Legend and said it’s unbelievable. So we’re going to give it a go.”
A good travel consultant opens a door the client would never have opened for themselves, and that is exactly what Leanne did on her very first booking.
What she would tell anyone on the fence
Having done this with more than one company, and having spent years in and out of the industry, Leanne’s advice is invaluable.
“I would just say give it a go. Knowing what I know now, if I’d done this in the first place, I wouldn’t be sitting here starting again. I honestly wouldn’t tell anyone to think twice about starting with The Travel Franchise. It puts you on the right path straight away.”
Her other piece of advice, learned the hard way earlier in her journey, is about knowing your worth from day one.
“Start as you mean to go on. Be really confident about what you’re selling, who you are and what you bring. When I first started I was discounting all the time just to get the bookings, but then when those clients need your help later, you’ve got nothing left in it because you’ve done so many favours. Know your worth.”
From someone who has seen both sides
Leanne noticed the difference quickly, but from the outside these opportunities can look alike. Line them up properly and the truth is plain. No other travel franchise gives you anywhere near what you get here.
- A unique Money-Back Challenge. We are so certain you can succeed that we will give every penny of your franchise fee back when you hit a set sales target.
- More travel and training than anyone else. Your classroom is a five-star resort in Mauritius, Japan, Dubai, Mexico or Florida, on luxury training retreats abroad led by people who have built extraordinary businesses themselves. And the learning never stops, with constant online training, live sessions and webinars you can tap into whenever you need them.
- Unrivalled buying power.The moment you join, the buying power of one of Britain’s biggest travel groups is yours, over 450 suppliers and 30 key trade partners. An agent working alone simply cannot compete.
- The biggest support team in the industry. More than 90 head office staff back your business, alongside a dedicated Business Consultant and specialist operations, trade, marketing, customer service and cruise teams. No other franchise supports its consultants at this level, and it shows in how fast ours grow.
- Your own cruise and luxury experts. Two of the most lucrative corners of travel, cruise and luxury, each have a dedicated department here, with specialist training and support to match. So whether a client wants a world cruise or a private villa in the Maldives, you have genuine expertise behind you from the start.
- Technology worth a fortune, yours for free. You run everything through Vision, our own custom CRM, with the free NJT Smart AI tool handling the time-consuming jobs and the TProfile quoting tool turning enquiries into polished quotes that win bookings. Most independent agents could never access or afford tools like these.
- Proof no one else can claim. We have been named the best lifestyle franchise in the world two years running, and our consultants regularly win national industry awards within their first few years, despite most joining with no travel background at all.
Everything here would take years and a small fortune to build alone. With us, it is handed to you on day one, so the only thing left to focus on is your business.
