9 technology tools provided by TTAND that support my business

Technology can be a huge headache for people who are not skilled at the many online tools needed to grow your business as a home based agent, or growing agency.  Working from home and having an online business, requires support.  The Travel Agent Next Door provides technology tools to market your business to the public, receive ongoing training and product information, and easily share billing information about the trips you book to ensure you get paid.   You can access this information from anywhere, whether that be from home, a coffee shop, or on a beach, as long as you have good Wifi and a computer.









Here are 9 technology tools you can expect from The Travel Agent Next Door.

1. Training Portal

On joining TTAND you are given extensive training so you can provide expert service to your clients.  You are given a login to a portal that leads you through a series of modules to train you on the history of the travel industry as well as information about various destinations and styles of travel.  Once this is completed, all agents are then prepared for the intensive week long in-class training that follows at TTAND's head office in Toronto.

2. Extranet

The Extranet is a resource portal available to all agents, filled with useful information on suppliers, industry news, ongoing training, upcoming webinars, and supplier events, as well as marketing resources and important company updates.  This portal centralizes and makes sense of the vast amount of information needed to run a business from home, keep you connected no matter where you are in the world, and stay up to date with resources as they are made available.

3. Booking Engines

Each airline and larger suppliers have their own booking engines, as well as consolidators who group together multiple brands under one umbrella for easier search capabilities. To build these relationships as an independent agent would take years, and only when you were able to grow your client database to a significant size. TTAND provides these preferred relationships and booking tools so that a new agent can hit the ground running with their business.

4. CRM

ClientLinq is a client relationship management software tool (CRM) where the agent records the customers' personal information and marketing preferences, as well as all the trips they have taken.  It allows the agent to efficiently manage the relationship, stay up to date with their clients' history and keep organized with upcoming trips.

5. Accounting

In the ClientLinq system, each agent is able to record all the necessary trip costs, commissions and service fees for their clients so that commissions paid out by suppliers, and any money owed to you, can be issued to the correct agent, a feat of accounting mastery which is a mystery to most agents.

6. Website

All agents are issued with a robust website built on a wordpress style site, complete with built in landing pages, supplier offers and trip information, that are updated for you.  The site, however, is customizable if you are a niche agent and want to put specific content that relates closely to your offerings.  You can create pages that are specific to your style of travel and the suppliers you prefer to work with.  Training is available to help you navigate building a website if you need assistance.

7. Email Marketing

Email marketing is key to the success of any agent. Being able to stay top of mind with customers who are considering their options, so that when they are ready to make a decision, they contact you to help them with their travel plans. The Travel Agent Next Door sends out regular emails to your clients based on their travel style preferences you allocate in their profile in the CRM system.

 
8. Lead Generation

Websites are often no more than a calling card. The TTAND website given to each agent contains an additional lead generation tool to help you follow up with people who come to your website.  Each page has a call to action to the customer to input contact information.  Once entered, you are notified either via email or through the back end dashboard, so that you can follow up with them and help them with their enquiry, and ultimately get the booking.

9. Metrics

Tracking how people are coming to your website or respond to your digital marketing efforts is essential to the success of any digital marketing strategy.  Along with the website, email marketing and any other social media campaigns you create for your business, you are able to track the traffic that you drive to your website, and see where it comes from.  Digital marketing can get expensive quickly so it's helpful to know where your customers are coming from and how well each of your various marketing campaigns are doing so you can optimize your strategy.

For more information about The Travel Agent Next Door please visit www.thetravelagentnextdoor.com

How I found The Travel Agent Next Door

I made the decision to be an independent consultant so that I could be my own boss and have the flexibility I wanted to be available for my family. Having had a business in the UK earlier in my career, I knew the work and dedication it took to be a business owner.  I also knew that the right support system was critical to my success.

As I was researching my options I found out early on that launching a travel consulting business in Ontario came with restrictions due to TICO ensuring that businesses followed strict guidelines that protected consumers.   I could either work for someone else for three years to gain the requisite experience necessary to register an independent business in Ontario, or work with a host agency who was already TICO registered and gain the freedom I was looking for to be able to work from home.

There is a lot of information out there about being an independent travel consultant and lots of host agencies explaining why they are the best.  I found a great site, Host Agency Reviews, created by a great lady, Stephanie Lee, who I have now met, where you can see reviews from members of each of the host agencies, as well as articles on what to look for when choosing an agency.

ACTA also lists host agencies and TTAND was 2nd on the list.   It was important to me to that the host agency I worked for understand the TICO regulations and so wanted to work with a Canadian host agency.  The Travel Agent Next Door had their head office in Toronto and I liked that I had a local office I could gain access to, and meet face to face if I needed to.

The Travel Agent Next Door has been in business since 2014 and as a start up I immediately felt akin to how they operate, having worked in this environment for years. Their article in TravelWeek as they launched clearly showed they were dedicated to their customers, the agent.  I knew this dedication and their size would allow them to be more dynamic and flexible in their approach.   I contacted them and received an almost immediate response.  Definitely a good sign.  I also contacted a few other agencies with varying success, with some not responding at all, which of course is the worst sign, to one or two contacting me a week after and then being consistently slow to respond to follow up questions.

I spoke with Rhonda Stanley, one of the founding partners of The Travel Agent Next Door, who very patiently walked me through how host agencies work and what The Travel Agent Next Door offered.  As I was not quite ready to sign up, as I was looking at my other options, Rhonda patiently allowed me to ask a myriad of questions over the course of 3 months before joining up.  I knew that whatever challenges I faced I would be met with patience and a caring attitude.  I knew The Travel Agent Next Door was the host agency for me to build a successful adventure travel business and the freedom I was looking for.

For more information about The Travel Agent Next Door please visit www.thetravelagentnextdoor.com