Fresh off its 10 th 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% .
