Fresh off its 10th anniversary celebrations, The Travel Agent Next Door is looking ahead to the next decade with rewards and resources for its travel advisors being top of mind. In this week’s Take 5, we sit down with CEO and Founder Flemming Friisdahl to discuss how TTAND keeps advisors motivated and what challenges they should watch out for today.
1.TTAND is often recognized and honoured by its top suppliers. Can you tell us about the importance of having strong supplier partnerships, and how you maintain such good relations?
“Travel agents rely heavily on suppliers for their income; without them we do not have product to sell and no money coming in. The same can be said for the supplier, they can sell direct, and many do. However, if you were to ask most suppliers, they prefer to have a buffer between them and the consumer as they are really not travel agents. I believe what TTAND (meaning the support office and our agent partners) does that is key is making sure there is a win-win-win for everyone. The key is respecting each other, and make sure we are all pulling towards a common goal, of more sales, and not asking the supplier to be an ATM machine.”
2. TTAND recently rewarded its top achievers with a trip to South Africa. Why is it important to incentivize your agent members? And how else do you keep them motivated?
“The top performers trip is great, and we are very proud of the agent partners who achieve this goal. However, this trip only represents about 2% of the agent partners and it certainly is something our agent partners want to achieve. I am also making sure we incentivize the other 98% of our partners with higher commission splits, annual partners’ incentives payout and a millionaire program for when an agent achieves over 1.3 million in sales. So it is key to incentivize everyone, and it seems to me that if not for all our agent partners, TTAND would not be here, so they must all be rewarded in some way.”
3. Artificial Intelligence has become a huge trend in travel. What are your thoughts on AI, and how does TTAND meet this growing trend?
“This is an amazing tool and one we will be using with our itinerary program, and other tools we are developing with our IT department. But just as when the internet started and everyone said that travel agents would disappear, I believe this will just become an amazing new tool we will be able to use. Nothing, I believe, will ever be as good as a human agent!”
4. What would you say is TTAND’s most useful tool for agents? In other words, among your suite of agent resources, what would you consider to be your most successful/popular?
“The support office staff, hands down. This is the group of 70 people who make us who we are. Yes, we have amazing IT tools, marketing tools, training and they make your life easier and faster and for sure make you look so professional, but the warmth and support and kindness of the staff is what makes TTAND, TTAND. And this is why I know for certain travel agents will always be needed is because nothing can substitute a kind and caring voice on the other end of the phone or email, that is there to support you!”
5. What are some challenges today that you see for agents? Any advice on how they can overcome them?
“One of the issues is provincial travel requirements, like BC, Quebec and Ontario. These provinces are cracking down more on agents to make sure they are following the law of that specific province. So it is important to partner with an agency that has systems in place to make sure you follow all the rules, from sending the correct information to getting signatures on an insurance waiver, to providing the correct documentation. We have put a lot of energy into creating systems that assist and support these procedures.”
For more information about The Travel Agent Next Door, go to https://thetravelagentnextdoor.ca/.
