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Special Report: ‘Welcome to travel’s Millionaires’ Retreat’

Fast-expanding homeworking agency The Travel Franchise told Lucy Huxley how treating its new recruits to an inspirational training course gets results.

When I first heard about The Travel Franchise’s ‘Millionaires’ Retreat’, I assumed it was a trip for the top-performing members who had turned over a million pounds worth of travel sales in a year.

In fact, it’s part of the introduction package for every new member.

Each ‘Retreat’ is a week-long training course, and so far they have been held in six countries.

The latest one was held in a luxury villa in Marbella, while another this year will take place at Club Med’s Opio en Provence resort in the South of France.

Franchise director Paul Harrison said every new member attends a week’s training on the south coast as soon as they join.

“That’s to teach them the basics of travel and to get their phone to start ringing,” he said.

“About two months after that we take them on the Millionaires’ Retreat and we see a total transformation – not just in the results but also in the agents as individuals.

Lightbulb moment

“Many of them have the initial training, go home, forget stuff, start to struggle and become demoralised. The Retreat gives them the ‘lightbulb moment’.

We inspire them with motivational speakers and seven-figure earners, plus they also learn from the other 40-50 members on the retreat.”

Harrison cites Walsall-based Sandie Lehal as a prime example.

“She joined us in December and started off making £800 a month. She then came on the retreat and the next month she made £7,500,” he said.

“She had the same family and friends, but she had stopped moaning, stopped wallowing, stopped waiting for it to happen – and made it happen.”

He claims four out of every five franchise members who attend the retreat go from making less than £1,000 a month to more than £4,000 a month after their return.

Once members start to regularly earn substantial commissions, they get an invite to an ‘Elite Experience’, which Harrison describes as “a fam trip on steroids”.

These have taken place in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the next one will be a nine-day trip to Mauritius staying in a Beachcomber property.

Agents can speak to Harrison, who previously ran home-based direct sales companies, and they are also assigned to one of 11 personal travel coaches who are the most successful franchise members in the company.

Commission split

Harrison said the business works on a split commission basis.

The agent keeps 70% and the rest covers the franchise’s consortium fees and 11 personal coaches, who mentor agents in their allotted group and get a clip of the commission.

The Travel Franchise now has 430 members, only five of whom had ever worked in travel before joining.

The group is part of Not Just Travel, which started out as a shop in Bournemouth in Dorset, owned by agent Steve Witt.

Harrison and Witt joined forces and the group is now the fastest‑growing member of the Hays Independence Group, according to Harrison.

Hays Travel managing director John Hays is on Not Just Travel’s advisory board, and in May the group unveiled former Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson as its ambassador.

Harrison hopes Hays will help shape the strategic direction and growth of the company, while Thompson will help raise its profile.

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