There are many benefits to becoming a home based agent including earning a greater share of commission and enjoying a better work/life balance. But a recent nationwide survey of home based agents also revealed that agents are saving a huge amount of time that they used to spend on admin duties when they worked in an agency or a call center.
It appears that most host agencies are doing a great job of taking away a lot of the regular admin duties that every agent has to deal with.
Admin work for an agent can include many things including accounting, ticketing, regulatory reporting, financial reporting, chasing commissions, internal reporting, It can also include marketing. All of this takes away from the agent actually spending time with clients and selling travel!
When asked "How much administrative time have you saved by joining your host agency?" almost 50% said they have saved time on administrative duties since joining their host agency, with 15% reporting they have saved over 50% of their time and 32% saying they have saved over 20% of the time that they used to spend on admin work.
The survey asked: "Does your host agency provide you with any of the following: Accounting support? Back office support? Saving time and money? The agents responded:
- 74% receive Accounting Support
- 75% receive back office support
- 89% Save time and money
Another benefit of being supported by a host agency is that the host agency takes care of registrations to ensure that agents are meeting all of the regulatory requirements in their Province, and also provides membership in other associations such as ACTA, CLIA and others. This also saves agents time and money.
Asked whether they have as many opportunities to go on fam trips or attend an annual conference, 70.75% said they had fam trip opportunities and 55% said their host agency holds an annual conference.
The nationwide survey of home based agents was conducted during the month of January 2018 and was funded by The Travel Agent Next Door and conducted by an independent research company.
***This is part of a series of articles by travel industry veteran Jill Wykes about the home based agent and host agency trend that is changing how travel is sold in Canada. The articles are sponsored by The Travel Agent Next Door.
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