A Host Agency With Profit Sharing
by Judy Jacobs |
Chris Parker of Partners of Travel has an interesting business model.
This Fort Myers, Fla.-based company is a host agency for home-based, independent contractors which offers profit sharing to its members.
Parker himself is a more than 20-year veteran of the travel industry who launched his career as a travel agent with a loan from his father to purchase, in 1989, All Aboard Travel, a store-front travel agency.
The reason he founded All Aboard Travel: “It seemed like a good business to get into, but I didn’t realize how difficult it was going to be,” he said. “we were a full service with the bulk of our business leisure, had several locations and struggled to make money.”
New options
Following the early nineties recession, Parker began to explore options to grow the business.
After undertaking several strategies in 1997—including instituting an aggressive incentive plan for his agents and bundling cruises with land, tours, air, and roundtrip motorcoach—Parker grew the agency to about $3.5 million.
He started Partners in Travel [not to be confused with the current Partners of Travel] to maintain a 35% sales growth rate with vendors. In 2004 he sold the agency—including its host agency component—to Carlson Companies.
A new host agency
“I decided to start my own host agency in late 2013 to fill a gap in the industry with a vision to be a family-oriented host agency offering aggressive commission splits and profit sharing,” said Parker.
“We decided to offer profit sharing from the beginning,” said Parker, who is vice president of Partners of Travel. “Because we were entering a market that was very competitive I felt we needed to stand alone from a value standpoint.
“Because our entire business is home based—including all support—we could afford to offer a very aggressive commission split along with generous profit sharing.”
Parker said his host agency is designed for the smaller home-based agent. He calls the agency “perfect for the home-based agent doing $5,000 to $50,000 a year. [But] We also have some that sell well over $500,000 a year.”
“I stayed in touch with the top producers of Partners in Travel, so when I started, I offered everybody a very aggressive six-month free [membership] and 100% commission to give us a try,” Parker explained.
Deals
Parker still offers that deal to producing agents who want to sign on.
After the initial six months, member agents can decide whether they want an 80-20 commission split or a 90-10, which although higher comes with a $50 per month fee.
He offers profit sharing, with 20% of the company’s annual profits distributed among members based on each one’s revenue percentage.
But who are those agents? Right now Parker has 75 agents, about 80% of them Florida. The rest are spread out among other states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, California, New York, and Missouri.
Cruise focus
“We’re really good for home based agencies or agencies who sell a lot of cruises but don’t get the high level commissions,” he said. “With our very high commission rate they’ll probably make more money by booking through us than booking it directly.
Although Parker will accept agents new to the industry, he wants to have a conversation with them first and prefers those with existing clients.
The focus is on cruises, although his agents sell tours as well.
The company also allows its member agents to share space on the groups it books. “I have an agent, for example, in Saratoga, that has a big Princess group leaving May 23 and we allowed other agents to book their clients into his space,” he said.
While there’s not a formal training program, the company will train agents on its platform and do phone consultation. Parker’s wife, Nancy Parker, is a certified coach and offers business training.
Family atmosphere
What sets Partners of Travel apart is the family-oriented atmosphere and the relationships Parker and his two other staff members build with their agents.
“We don’t want people to feel like a number. I give them my cell phone number, and if they have an issue, they can call me anytime,” Parker said.
Parker does the recruiting, Nancy Parker deals with the commission tracking and payments along with technology and training, and a third staff member provides all of the support.
Partners of Travel’s membership in TRAVELSAVERS offers the technology that helps his agents run their businesses.
Additional reporting by Robin Amster
