$100 Million in Sales, 3,000 Agents & Growing Fast
by Harvey Chipkin /In little more than a decade, a Jacksonville, Fla., firm has transformed itself from a mid-sized leisure travel agency to a hosted network of more than 3,000 at-home agents with annual sales of more than $100 million.
According to Chad Burt, co-owner of Cruises & Tours Unlimited, the formula lies in low administrative costs, a strong technology platform and superior training for agents.
And while the firm’s website, iwantacruise.com, offers a “low price guarantee,” Burt said its strategy – and success – are based on providing value, not discount prices. The company’s hosted agency site is: OutsideAgents.com.
Better value, higher commissions
“Low price is somewhat of a misnomer. Our goal isn’t to find the cheapest product for a client but rather the best overall value, ” he told Travel Market Report.
By up-selling and recommending commissionable add-ons, agents net higher profits while giving clients a better experience, he said.
Burt, whose background is in IT and marketing, joined his partner and cousin Steve Muraca in the family business 11 years ago. Travel Market Report spoke with Burt about the company’s rapid growth.
What is your business model and strategy?
Burt: We sell about 55% land, 45% cruise; the land portion runs the gamut from tours to all-inclusive to many other products.
We do not consider ourselves discounters. We consider ourselves value adders.
We know that price is important to clients and that they are always shopping for deals online. The low price might get people in the door but we take it from there to give them the best-value vacation.
You claim to beat other agencies on price. How can you do that?
Burt: We aggressively leverage our enormous buying power in conjunction with group rates, contract rates, consolidator rates and value-added products such as shore excursions and travel insurance to guarantee the best overall value to the client.
It’s actually best value that we promise. If we have to throw in a $50 shore excursion to satisfy the client we will, because we know we will able to sell other value-added products and services that more than make up for it.
The fact that cruise prices are low can be used to our advantage. The client will come in with a deal for a very cheap inside cabin and we’ll sell them an outside cabin.
Then our agent suggests a pre-hotel stay so the client is relaxed when they depart. Then the agent recommends commissionable shore excursions from third parties using our automated marketing system.
Finally the agent uses automated social marketing tools to let the client brag about their upcoming trip.
We teach agents not to leave anything on the table.
What are the costs in running your type of agency?
Burt: The main costs involve training and technology.
Jacksonville is a low-cost environment. We have only 14 full-time employees and several contractors. We maintain a contingent of four inside agents who help support our outside agents.
We built all our technology tools in a cloud-based open-sourced environment so we do not need to pay IT people. We are nearly completely paperless inside our office.
What distinguishes you from your competitors?
Burt: We think we’re ahead of the game in training and technology. We’re streaming nearly 1,000 hours per month of on-demand training.
In terms of technology, we have tools like My Booking Genie, which is a group manager and promotion tool that allows agents to create an online flyer and send it to group members who in turn can publish in on social media.
We have a number of agent website options, and agents can choose which one fits their model and economics. Even the most basic site includes a live booking engine.
How did you build a network of 3,000 hosted agents?
Burt: We started building the home-based agent network 11 years ago. When the recession came we had many applications from real estate agents, career- switchers and other qualified people.
We were a totally free network, then at some point we created a $39 fee just to make sure folks were serious. It was partly by being free or in effect free. But you should know that we have also eliminated more than 8,000 agents over the years because they had no activity over a six-month period.