Here at Vision, we see a growing trend of independent agency owners joining us to restructure their business. Many owners have been in the industry for many years, and love it – and their clients – but are simply fed up with the paperwork that running an agency entails.

Chances are, a gregarious and sales-oriented individual is not happiest handling IT headaches, payroll administration, association membership enrollments and accounting issues.

Does this sound like you?

If so, here’s a checklist of what you should look for if you are thinking of getting out of the bureaucracy business and back into doing what you love to do best:

1) Make a shopping list so you are truly aware of what you need from a host agency. What would be the ideal fit for you?

2) Look at the preferred supplier mix. Does that new host agency feature the suppliers you already deal with and need to keep on your side? Do they have the right leisure and corporate agreements for you? And the right affiliations such as Virtuoso or CLIA?

3) Does the agency provide the marketing tools which will help you use your time effectively? Perhaps you specialize in motorcoach groups and the host agency’s marketing thrust is the cruise market. Not a good fit for you.

4) Accounting: what will be involved in switching – will your back end system talk to theirs or is there a compatibility issue?

5) And down the road: Many small agency owners come to a host as part of their retirement strategy. How many years to you want to keep working? Three? Five? And then what is your best-case scenario for your staff and your clients?

Working your way through your checklist may take some time. But it may be a very shrewd few hours which will prepare you, and your business, for this significant, exciting change.

Are you a home-based agent?

This article appears in Sphere, Travelweek’s monthly e-newsletter for home-based agents.

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