Advisor Insights: Connecting with Carla Vandenbrink

Not too many agents decide to get into the industry during a pandemic, but that’s exactly what Carla Vandenbrink, of Travel Best Bets did.

In December 2020, she was employed as a social worker with Child and Family Services in Dauphin, Manitoba, a position she held for 17 years. After arranging several cruises for her friends, they suggested she consider a career in travel. Although she had always planned to pursue this path post-retirement, Vandenbrink decided to take the opportunity and transition into the travel industry as a partime job while continuing working for Child and Family Services.

“I embraced it and COVID was full blown,” she told Travel Market Report Canada last week at TMP Vancouver. “I was working from home for my other job, and in between, I could do a little bit of training, and then one night I booked a cruise that started with six people and ended up with twenty, and I just kept going.”

Vandenbrink says she is self-competitive and strives to surpass her sales from the previous month. In several months, she ranked in the top 10 out of almost 500 employees at her agency, and she placed 13th for annual sales out of 250 agents in 2023

Last year, Vandenbrink faced some personal challenges and says in the midst of it all, she lost track of her sales – and didn’t realize her success in 2024 until their team Christmas Zoom party.

“I was still doing sales, but not advertising, and not doing as much as I would normally. I wasn’t keeping track of what I was doing, so I had no idea where I was money wise. Claire (Newell) made a big year end announcement for the Top 20 and I was number 9!”

That’s an impressive achievement, especially considering Vandenbrink lives in a small town of only 8,000 people.  She attributes her success to building successful relationships both with clients and with suppliers. 

She’s even been invited into her clients’ homes for dinner.

“I love it, but I’m also in a really small town of course. A lot of my clients come from boosting Facebook posts, selecting demographics. I have clients now across Canada.”

Vandenbrink also says that it’s her travel industry family that kept her going through a tough time, and stresses how important making those connections are in our industry.

“I missed last year’s TMP Vancouver because of everything that was going on in my life,” she says.  “It was important for me to come to Vancouver because that is where my team is but there are also a lot of agents who I’ve made really strong connections with. They held my hand through last year, even offered to help with some of my bookings. It’s that community that kept me going.”

Vandenbrink’s biggest tip for new advisors is to make those connections with your suppliers.

“You’ve got to make yourself known. You’ve got to go up there and introduce yourself so that you have that connection when you need their support. And you have to treat them with respect. If we don’t have them working behind the scenes for us, our clients are stuck and then we have no clients. We need to work together.”

When we suggest that working in our industry has almost been therapeutic for her, Vandenbrink smiles.

“When you’re out there and you’re making yourself known and you’re doing well, your self-esteem starts to get better and you start to realize you deserve better.

Working in child welfare is a sad job and you take a beating.  But being in this industry and this supportive environment – how can I not feel good about myself?

It’s made me stronger, and now I’m better than I’ve ever been. 

Lookout 2025.”