Agency lays down home foundations

Agency lays down home foundations
By admin


Travellers Choice is laying down foundations for its members to work from home if they want to leave the stresses of a shop-front location.

Chief executive Christian Hunter stressed the network was not looking to build a home-based arm of Travellers Choice, or recruit home-based agents, although that plan had been mooted before by his predecessor, Gary Allomes.

But he told Travel Today it was providing the option for agents to remain within the group if members “wanted to transition their business from a shop location to home”.

Hunter admitted he was mindful that increasing numbers of agents from across the industry may examine the benefits of a home operation.

“We’ve got very few members who have actually done that but certainly it’s something in our thinking that could potentially happen into the future,” he said. “It has the potential to grow over time.”

Those who have shifted from shop to home “run very successful agencies”, he added.

“It’s about the sales that agent can deliver and whether they operate from a home or shopping centre makes no difference,” Hunter continued.

Without a physical location, becoming more online and digital savvy was a likelihood in order to capture business, he added.

“It’s just another way of doing the same business,” Hunter said.

Meanwhile, the retail leader said it would step up efforts to drive web traffic through improved search engine optimization over the next 12 months, and to convert visits into sales leads.

More than 40 Travellers Choice members now have an individually branded or co-branded website live or in development.

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