With more and more homeworking businesses entering the fray, or existing agencies adding homeworking divisions, the debate around how much training a person needs before they can sell travel with confidence is becoming increasingly nuanced.
Some agencies will target headcount to raise revenue through joining fees, while others will take on more resource to boost their bottom line by making more bookings. Some will do both.
GoCruise & Travel, part of the Fred Olsen Travel, wants to raise its profile as a cruise specialist franchiser, but at its own pace. Around 85% of GoCruise & Travel’s business is cruise.
However, Colin Martin-Weekes, who has been recently promoted from General Manager to Head of Franchise, stresses franchisees can sell any type of holiday they like.
“Our 20-year heritage allows us to showcase a unique, trusted proposition for building a business together, with great rewards for all,” he tells TTG.
Martin-Weekes has taken on seven “complete novices” with no travel experience this year – with each requiring around three months’ training.
This year, 17 new members have joined GoCruise & Travel, while the number of franchisees hitting £1 million in sales has doubled – one has achieved more than £2 million. It’s all very impressive given 2024 is Martin-Weekes’ first year leading GoCruise & Travel.
“It’s about finding agents who are the right fit for us – our size is a credit to us,” Martin-Weekes explains. He outlines how he has changed recruitment and support structures over the past year.
"We’re not trying to recruit hundreds – it’s quality over quantity,” he says, before adding: “We’re not like some of our competitors.”
Martin-Weekes estimates he has turned away five people wanting to join GoCruise & Travel this year. Generally, he says, it is “the fit”. “They may have the passion, but they don’t have the vibe...”
The business did, though, have to root out a few bad apples during the pandemic. “We had issues with agents taking customer cash and not booking the holidays,” he admits.
Martin-Weekes reveals he wanted the General Manager role so much that he started forming ideas about the recruitment, training and sales processes at GoCruise & Travel years before stepping up from his former Franchise Manager role. “Over the past year, I’ve been dropping in these plans across the business,” he says.
Before taking anyone on, Martin-Weekes runs “Discovery Day” events at which the GoCruise & Travel leadership team tries to connect with potential franchisees.
GoCruise & Travel also offers “Day in the Life” style sessions, where people can ask existing franchisees questions about their businesses. “We don’t want to waste people’s time,” says Martin-Weekes. “The process takes a few weeks.”
GoCruise & Travel currently has 65 franchisees in the UK. To find tomorrow’s travel agents, Martin-Weekes attends events across the country for servicemen and women looking to change career.
He is also signed up with Didteach, an online platform dedicated to helping teachers switch jobs.
“Of this year’s new franchisees, we got seven from military or teaching events,” Martin-Weekes reveals. He attended a careers fair for military personnel in Cardiff to try to find more franchisees in Wales.
“A lot of people came up to me,” he says. “It’s all about finding different opportunities.” Next, he wants to recruit franchisees at events aimed at carers and nurses.
More than 100 franchise members and business partners attended GoCruise & Travel’s two-day conference in Coventry where Martin-Weekes and his team vowed 2025 would be "the year of the franchise".
Martin-Weekes outlined plans for a new franchise service centre which will provide members with more business and administration support as well as a new support package for the 2025 peak booking period.
Members can find out about the latest supplier commercial deals via the centre, and improve their health and wellbeing as they work from home. Plus, to encourage business growth, members on the centre can share stories and ideas across the internal network.
So as the sun sets on 2024, what other plans does Martin-Weeks have for the year ahead? “I’d like to recruit 10 more franchisees,” he says. “I want to make sure we come across in the right way. I’ve wanted this role for some time, and it’s been brilliant to have been able to shape it.”
