±


clients is crucial to success. She encourages agents to work hard on creating relationships, asking friends to spread the word and focusing on small gestures such as birthday cards and ‘welcome home’ notes. “Sweat the small stuff,” she says. “Customers will remember that for next time.”


STEP FOUR: ANALYSE AND ADAPT After six months to a year, most homeworkers should have settled into a routine while starting to earn commissions and gaining loyal clients. For those on instant commissions, earnings will


start to come in soon after bookings are made. Reeves says: “By six months, agents start to see some customers travelling too, so the income can begin to grow more quickly.” Now is a good time for homeworkers to start making the business their own. Heaton suggests identifying booking patterns or


marketing opportunities. “It’ll still be tough, but the resilience will pay off,” she says. A strategy to generate last-minute and future bookings is wise to maintain income levels as this can be a tricky stage for homeworkers who have prioritised holidays with long lead-in times. “Homeworkers will have put a lot of time into their businesses but may not yet be seeing huge amounts of income,” warns Cookes. Handley-Hughes’ advice is to build customer


relationships. “Understand your customers so that you can adapt marketing and products to suit them,” she adds.


STEP FIVE: LONG-TERM GOALS Repeat bookers and customer referrals are a sure bet to generate income in the long term. Looking after clients through having regular


communication and advice that they cannot get elsewhere is vital. “They will have no reason not to return,” says Witt. Existing customers are also agents’ biggest


advocates. As well as asking customers to give recommendations, Cookes suggests encouraging clients to post positive reviews. Homeworkers should look to further local


relationships through networking or social media and consider investing in professional marketing material or merchandise to promote their business. “Spread your business further,” says Heaton. “Offer


incentives to local firms to book with you and support them in return.”


48 28 OCTOBER 2021 £


Blue Bay Travel suggests its Personal Travel Consultants have a plan for the first three years,


covering both quiet times and peaks


Spread your business further. Offer incentives to local firms to book with you and support them in return


Debbie Mynard Travel expert, Holidaysplease


‘YOU HAVE TO BE DISCIPLINED AND HAVE A STRONG SALES DRIVE’


Q. Why did you become a homeworker during the pandemic?


A. I started in November 2020. My employer, Voyager Travel Direct, had gone into liquidation and my father died in April after contracting Covid. I had redundancy money as well as inheritance, but missed the buzz of travel. Q. How difficult has it been? A. It was a challenge! I’ve had to put everything into it. I didn’t have many customers so I set up appointments for my first day from the enquiry pool [sales leads] at Holidaysplease. They are ‘lookers’ and I had to turn them into ‘bookers’. Q. What was your first sale? A. One of my first bookings was the biggest I’ve ever done, a £17,000 ski booking. In the end, it couldn’t go ahead due to Covid, but the client has since booked with me. It’s not been easy but now there’s more hope. Q. How quickly did you start earning? A.We get half the commission upfront in the month after booking. I took a booking in December 2020 for 12 people going to Mauritius, and was paid half in January and will get the other half this November. Q. What does it take to be a homeworker? A. You have to be disciplined and have a strong sales drive.


travelweekly.co.uk


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