Become a Home Based Travel Agent

Well…it’s been a year of change due to the economy although, I am happy to say that we are looking real good for 2010.

We are always evaluating how we can make our program better and more efficient. We recently announced our new website that is included in the cost of our program, we will be launching Client Base+ in the next few months and we will be offering an airline booking tool for our non-GDS agents.

This year our focus is on setting goals. We are helping our agents to set goals and meet those goals. At our conference this year we asked everyone to set three goals. They could set them with the suppliers or UTC staff. At the end of the conference everyone had an index card filled with goals they were going to go home and get to work on. Some were just getting a website and others were getting a group together or booking a preferred supplier they hadn’t previously worked with.

That is easy. I think we have the best support staff in the industry. Everyday they strive to go above and beyond the call of duty by answering agent emails within 30 minutes, and answering all calls as they come in and making sure any issues are handled immediately. More often than not they are working late to ensure everyone is taken care of before they go home.

You offer training and mentoring to your members new to travel… do you offer training to the experienced agents in your program?

We offer ongoing training and mentoring to not just our new agents but to any agent that needs help with marketing and business development.

In addition to the new programs we are adding, all of our agents have access to State-of-the art technology with our enhanced AgentRC platform. All of UTC’s tools are accessible from AgentRC along with updates on training and education opportunities and all commission reports. We offer Amadeus, Sabre and Apollo and we provide 1st level supports o there are no GDS support fees. For Non-GDS agents we offer a simple invoicing tool.

UNIGLOBE Travel Center has placed strong focus on marketing and development in 2010.

We are working very closely with our suppliers on training our agents on the supplier marketing tools and the use of co-op funds. We continue to promote the benefits of the Vacation.com Engagement program and MarketEase. We also offer training on both programs to help our agents utilize these tools to their fullest.

Riding the wave of changes and adjusting as needed. Fortunately, I think this is where we excel after all we have had a lot of practice. The last ten years has been all about change and challenges. I think this has made us better and stronger. Looking back, our programs have come along way and hosting as a whole has come a long way in the last ten years.

Joanie Ogg CTC MCC
Joanie Ogg Marketing Group
Editor

Joanie Ogg is a thirty-five year veteran of the travel industry and has been involved with the independent contractor evolution since 1988. She is the principal of Joanie Ogg Marketing Group, which specializes in consulting and speaking on the topic of Home-Based Travel. She also provides marketing and sales for wide variety of products under the umbrella HomeBasedTravelAgent.com.

A demonstrated industry leader, Joanie most recently served as the President of the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA) and TravelSellers. She and her husband Tom acquired NACTA in 1996 and sold it to The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) in 2000. Joanie’s tenure in the travel industry includes owning and operating one of the first successful host agency models. She has owned and operated several storefront travel agencies (both commercial and leisure), as well as a Hawaii wholesale tour company.

Her decades of success have garnered her numerous accolades over the years. Her accomplishments have been recognized by receipt of two Lifetime Achievement Awards from major trade groups, being named as one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in Travel” by Travel Agent magazine on several occasions, voted as “Travel Agent of the Year” by the readers of Travel Trade magazine, and has been recognized by many other industry organizations throughout her tenure in the industry. In 2008 Joanie Ogg was inducted into the CLIA Hall of Fame, an honor held by some of the most influential executives in the travel industry.

Joanie is a Master Cruise Counselor (MCC) and a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC). Joanie has co-authored two popular travel industry books for cruise specialists and home-based travel agents and has authored hundreds of travel trade articles. She has inspired tens of thousands of travel agents attending her presentations at trade events, cruise seminars, international trade gatherings and numerous local educational venues throughout the United States. With a time-honored background and forward-looking vision, she is often featured as a speaker at many of the travel industry’s major conferences and events. Joanie’s speaking talents are widely sought as a travel industry emcee by the most recognized travel organizations. She has emceed such events as Cruise-A-Thons, ASTA’s CruiseFest, The Trade Show, The Travel Institute Forum and all of NACTA’s National and International Conferences.


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