Flemming Friisdahl, The Travel Agent Next Door

We asked The Travel Agent Next Door Founder, Flemming Friisdahl, for his predictions for the continued growth of the home-based agent phenomenon.

Why have so many agents chosen to go home based?

“Travel agents who work in a storefront today often make between $25,000 to $40,000 and yet those agents can be bringing in well over $100,000 in commission. Those agents often feel that they should be getting a larger share of their earnings.

“Plus, many storefront location agents have to work flex hours, and this can be hard on their personal lives.

“Going home-based allows more flexibility in the time you spend at work versus being free to enjoy your life. You will not work less, however you will work the hours that best suit your lifestyle.

“Most agents want to sell what they want to sell, and often in a storefront the owner makes the decision on what should be sold and determines things like service fees for a client who is buying a net air ticket with a cruise. Being independent allows you to decide what you sell and how much you charge your clients.”

What will happen to small storefront locations?

“We are already seeing storefront locations either going home-based or working with a host agency that does all the back end functions for them such as TICO registration, insurances, accounting, marketing and websites, to just mention a few. This trend will continue in the future and probably escalate. The consortiums just cannot do for small agencies what a host agency can do.

“You are also already seeing a lot more flexibility in branding and this will continue. Traditionally you had to be branded the same as the host agency. Now many home-based agents are using their own branding – again, allowing them more freedom to show the customer what they have to offer. So if you only do cruises, you would want a brand name that says this about you.”

What about attracting new talent to the industry?

“Despite rumours to the contrary, we continue to see many new people becoming travel agents in the home-based sector. It is often a second, third or even fourth career choice. These people are generally 40 and up and don’t want to go work in an office anymore. They want to work from home and being a travel agent allows them to do so.”

Networking key to home based agent success

“Travel agents are a bit like real estate agents. It is all about your network and circle of influence and this is not something you normally have working in an office, but what you do have in your community. So it is all about getting out from behind your desk and getting to know your customers and becoming known yourself.”