p38-39 knowledge feature nov28 v2 24/11/08 15:49 Page 39
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agency skills knowledge
nd share tips
e
urge to jump ship, but I think that if the
two agencies are open with each other and
see it as a learning experience, then there’s
nothing to worry about.
s
I’d certainly encourage other agents to
do something similar. Even if you only
come away with the minutest thing from
the experience, there’s always something
to learn.
LINDSAY SALVINI.
Co-owner, Home & Away Travel/
White Rose Cruise Club,
Queensbury, Bradford
Home & Away Travel was set up 18 years
ago in Queensbury, and moved “across the
road” to new premises four years ago. It
also trades as White Rose Club, and cruise
sales now account for 25-30% of its annual
turnover. It has limited walk-in business, and
tends to specialise in tailor-made and long- Lindsay gives Tony a hand restocking his offers cards
haul product in addition to cruise. It has a
basic web presence through Advantage’s site. and that was a great help. Tony is a fantastic
currency and insurance seller, and this was
Lindsay: Our Advantage regional an area where we learned a great deal.
representative was contacted by While we don’t sell much currency, we
Tony and then suggested that realised that we did need to advertise the
we would be a good choice for fact that customers can get it through us.
Agent Swap. But insurance was a real eye-opener, as we
We had an initial meeting had tended to give it away and see it as a
and then spent time in each loss-leader rather than a profit-maker. Now
other’s agency, and it was a we are going to go for FSA accreditation and
fantastic way to review how we try to build that part of business.
are doing business and what we One of the pleasing aspects was the
can learn from other agencies. reassurance we received that we were on
I have always attended events such track with our marketing activities.
as the Advantage conference to try Marketing and PR can be a real pain as
and pick up ideas, so it was great to do a small independent, but we really felt we
it on a one-to-one basis with another were doing everything we could on that
agent. Being in a small village as we front.
are, you can get very blinkered and
think that your way is the only The future
way, and this experience gave us It was a fantastic experience for our staff
a chance to challenge that. and I would fully recommend it. If people
are worried about sharing secrets with
Lessons competitors, then they could always arrange
Tony’s office has a lot more passing trade, swaps with agents in different towns.
and we felt that all his staff were more I really don’t think there are any negatives
switched on commercially than we were. about it. It was very beneficial and I’d like to
They were able to point out incentives think it will become an annual thing with
and offers we were completely oblivious to, Tony and any other agent who is interested.
28.11.2008 39
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