Ask An Advisor: How Am I Supposed to Find Decent ICs to Help My Agency?

This is the fourth edition of TMR’s Ask an Advisor series, a regular column where a team of travel advisors tackles questions from others in the industry. All questions from this series have been submitted by TMR readers and vetted by the TMR editorial team. The fourth question comes from an advisor who is struggling to find help for her agency amidst the highest period of travel demand a lot in the industry have ever seen.

Dear Ask-an-Advisor,  

I know I’m in the same situation as so many others, and I know it’s a good problem to have, but my business has really grown so much the last few years! I’m well past my pre-COVID numbers and I’m already far past the point of having to turn business away simply because I don’t have the time or the energy to take on new clients.

I know this won’t last forever, but I do think it will last for some time and I don’t want to keep turning down high-quality business. I need help at my agency but I have been having such a hard time finding ICs to come aboard to help me. I’ve been looking and considering anyone who has travel experience and now I’m doing the same with people who have never worked in the industry.

It’s getting to the point where I feel like I’m losing business because of the time I’ve spent looking for ICs! Any advice in finding quality help?

Richard “Rick” Carlson, Cruise Planners
Dear Fellow Agent, It is great to see that your business is growing and that we can all put the loss of business during COVID in the rearview mirror and look forward!  Having too much business is really a blessing when you think about it.  But, as Kenny Rodgers once said, “You have to know when to hold them and know when to fold them!”  This applies to your business as well. Think of it as prioritizing the best leads and passing on the smaller, less profitable ones. Maybe to another agent just starting out in your company.

Turning down “new” business sometimes happens when you are not able to properly service existing clients. Your first responsibility is to make sure your current clients are served and that your service is exceptional. As you already know, this is important to you for their future business.

My approach is to always return a call to a new inquiry within six hours but think of this as triage. Thoroughly question them to find out what they have in mind, if they are experienced travelers, what research they’ve already done, what their travel style seems to be, and how soon do they need information from you. See if they are willing to give you a few days to get back to them or to sit down and meet if they are local. Buy yourself some time and try to determine who you want to spend your time on. We all know who we want for a new client, and who is going to be less profitable but just as time-consuming. Be sure to get their contact information (I like to email a Guest Information Form first to gather all of their passenger information first.   

Tell them when you think that you can get some information back to them or that you are not able to take on new clients at this time. How often do we hear a doctor or dentist is not taking on any new patients? This is the time to evaluate what your niche is and focus on that.

I would also suggest you evaluate how are you spending your time. If you could remove one thing you do on a regular basis, could you still service new clients? For example, maybe you could hire a part-time administrative assistant to help with back-office items such as data entry, filing, processing payments, entering flight information, printing, and sending out travel confirmations. You can quickly review anything before it is sent out to a client. I would be lost without assistance from my office assistant! 

Now where can you find an office assistant? Maybe contact a local community college to see if they have a hospitality and tourism program or an administrative assistant program. What a great way to help a student get hands-on experience and training from an experienced agent. If you are looking for marketing help, maybe see if you can get an intern to help with social media or marketing.  Another thought is some the online recruitment sites. Stay-at-home parents are sometimes looking for a few hours of work, right there in your neighborhood.

In closing, continue to take great care of your existing clients first and carefully screen any new calls that come in!

A proud agent of Cruise Planners now for 23 years. Member of the Millionaires Club and recipient of numerous awards for sales achievement, Richard “Rick” Carlson always has believed in helping others and offering insight and suggestions for improvement so others can build their business. 

Kyle Stewart, Director, Scott & Thomas Travel Personalized
Congratulations on your bustling business! This is a real conundrum and one that I have faced at my own agency. The good news is that you can be a little more selective at the moment and weed out shopping customers over those who are in it for the long haul. This can be done several ways, but the easiest is to set up a form email response that thanks them for reaching out, lets them know there’s a lot that goes into building their perfect trip, and that following two proposals, a deposit of $150 is required which will go toward whatever trip they select. Some will recoil at this but in our experience, the best customers don’t have any intention of shopping and don’t mind paying a deposit if it comes to a third revision.

The next element is harder. Recruiting is always a challenge but now it’s particularly difficult. The best answer is to hire more than you need, train them, and let the cream rise to the top. However, just finding interested talent can be a challenge.

From what you’ve said, you may need to tweak both where you’re looking, and the message you send.

Personally, I look in online communities for talent. You might consider a Facebook group, Quora, or Reddit for existing ICs that aren’t experiencing the same kind of lead flow as you are. Consider for a moment a host agency IC that’s been in the business for a year. It’s true, you won’t be able to compete with the commission percentages that they are making now, and I don’t suggest you try. That said, that IC is paying a monthly fee, doing all of their own marketing and it may not be going well.

By indicating that you’re looking for ICs that have some experience and that you have more leads than you can handle, you will attract some in the business that are tired of doing the marketing and just want to book trips. Some will also do the math and realize they are much further ahead by joining your team than doing it themselves, even if the percentage is lower.

It’s a tough environment for those who want to hire and I empathize with your struggle. However, if I was an IC still working a day job and trying to make my travel agency dreams come true at night, I would consider a compelling case that moved me from where I am to where I want to be.

Kyle Stewart holds several roles within the travel, miles, and points world. He is a Partnership Manager for BoardingArea.com (and the Freddie Awards), a writer at LiveAndLetsFly.com, and a freelance writer for several publications. He is also the Director of Scott & Thomas Travel Personalized. 

Annie Jones, Owner & Luxury Travel Advisor, Telos Travel
First, let me congratulate you on your growing business! To have an influx of clients is definitely a nice position to be in. The question I would ask you is if you need additional ICs or if you’re more in need of a coordinator to assist you with back-office tasks like making bookings, building itineraries, and processing new client intakes.

Bringing on a coordinator would help you free up time to take on more clients! Or if you’re not looking to grow your personal client base and would rather have advisors within your network to pass those vetted leads to, building a team of ICs under you would be the logical choice. In either case, if you’re not having luck with the usual routes like traditional job postings on Indeed or LinkedIn, I’d suggest aiming for referrals within the industry.

Most of us, once in the industry never want to leave it, but there are plenty of people who move around within the industry to different careers. I know many people who started out on the supplier side and have since moved over to become advisors and vice versa. As travel advisors we have a huge network of supplier partners. If you’re looking to expand your team, mention this during your meetings or at trade shows. Our networks are vast and you never know who might be looking to make a change. Getting a referral from someone in the industry helps ensure they have a base of knowledge to build on.

 Annie Jones created Telos Travel in 2021 to share her deep passion for sustainable luxury adventure travel with clients. Telos is an affiliate of Avenue Two Travel, is based in the Greater Philadelphia Area and works with clients and partners all over the world.