Consortium agent reaps focus on top 20% of its clients
FROM LEFT: Beth Speakman and Ryan Speakman, both Got2Go Travel; Alison Holmes; Phil Nuttall, The Travel Village; and Kirsty Rudd and Dawn Morris, both Amigo Travel
Consortium on hunt for more members in 2016
The Co-operative Travel Consortium has welcomed 11 new members this year and “is expecting to see 30% growth in 2016”.
The Midcounties consortium, comprising independent retailers affiliated to the group, now has 37 members, up from 31 in 2014. The most high-profile member to
join this year was Vertical Group’s homeworking agency Your Holiday Booking, which announced in October it was leaving Freedom Travel Group. Consortium head Alison Holmes said sister brands Miss Ellies, Your Holiday Booking and Your Hotel Integration were now its “biggest member”, with total sales in excess of £25 million. The consortium made sales of
£59 million in 2014. So far this year it has turned over £75 million. Holmes said: “With the new members, this will deliver around a 30% increase in turnover for next year and with the current interest that we have in the consortium, we expect to achieve £130 million turnover in 2016-17.”
“We want to grow but we’re after quality not quantity”
Holmes said she was “actively
recruiting” new members and was in talks with other agents in different consortia at the moment. “We want to continue to grow
but at the appropriate pace. We’re after quality not quantity,” she said. “There’s still work to be done on our website and, when it’s updated,
I hope it will attract new members.” In the past year the consortium has set up a steering group, changed its logo and added “Travel” to its name. Holmes pledged to continue to deliver the “best service” and to update tools for members in the coming year. According to a survey carried
out with half of members, 80% were said to be “extremely satisfied” with the consortium. In January, Holmes will spend a
day a week in a member’s agency to “better understand their challenges”.
AT A GLANCE: Midcounties Co-operative Midcounties Co-operative Travel comprises three businesses:
The Midcounties Co-operative
Retail shops: 57
Annual turnover, 2015-16: Combined holidays and foreign exchange expected to reach £165 million
The Co-operative Travel Consortium
Members: 37, with a total of 49 branches
Annual turnover, 2015-16: predicted £90 million
Personal Travel Agents (homeworkers)
Number of homeworkers: 140
Annual turnover, 2015-16: predicted £48 million
Focusing on the highest- spending clients and getting to know their habits has been the key to success for Cheshire- based luxury agent Elite Travel Boutique, a member of the Co-operative Travel Consortium. Managing director Kathryn
Thompson said she follows the Pareto principle – that 80% of profits come from 20% of clients. “We analysed 20% of our
top clients by digging into their background and historical spend,” she said. “It made us more intuitive and we began to know when to approach them about a holiday. We even know their kids’ birthdays so we can suggest trips around that.” Thompson was speaking during a panel debate at the conference, the theme of which was ‘Making a Difference’. She cited one client for whom
Elite Travel had organised £200,000 worth of travel this year across eight bookings. “It’s really paid off and helped me manage where I focus my time,” Thompson added. Also on the panel was Cruise
Village’s Phil Nuttall, who said his agency had been through a “big culture change”, moving away from being price-led to being more customer-focused.
Kathryn Thompson
10 December 2015
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