Over 150 franchisees and corporate team members set sail on a seven-day business development cruise
The only event of its kind in the industry and the second in the pioneering series, The Travel Franchise welcomed over 150 franchisees and corporate team members to enjoy “a truly magical experience” aboard Virgin Voyage’s Valiant Lady on a seven-night Seminar at Sea from the 18th to the 25th June.
Designed to accelerate the sales of its Cruise Mastery membership, the The Travel Franchise’s Seminar at Sea included four days of intensive coaching including industry and product knowledge, social media training, as well as personal and business development. The super-sized group also enjoyed the uniqueness of a Virgin Voyages experience.
Since the event, franchisees have been generating enquiries by sharing a new passion for the brand.
“Sales and enquiries have been coming in thick and fast since we got back. We expect this to be our busiest week ever selling Virgin Cruises, looking set to be possibly our biggest week for cruise as a whole,” says Paul Harrison, co-founder of The Travel Franchise and its consumer-facing holiday firm Not Just Travel.
“This is what the winning formula to success looks like,” Paul continues. “Virgin Voyages has pulled out all the stops for us. Every single one of our franchisees are raving about the ship and its unique offer. Preconceptions that this type of cruise isn’t for them have been blown away. You can see the evidence of this not only in their social media posts, but also in the bookings they’ve made before they’ve even got off the ship.”
The training was focused on increasing franchisee’s sales through product knowledge, social media skills, mindset and business strategy. This included sessions by TV presenters, brought onboard to help upskill members with wide range of personal development and confidence-boosting skills.
“Virgin Voyages has surpassed our expectations as hosts in terms of their incredible service, food, social events and generosity,” says The Travel Franchise co-founder, Steve Witt.
“Our agents now know that on a Virgin Voyages cruise you can make the holiday what you want it to be - it can be a relaxing fitness and wellbeing retreat, an incredible multi-centre adventure with fine dining, or a social party that is inclusive to all ages. Franchisees are making bookings onboard as they are using the skills we’ve taught them, as well as demonstrating their new passion for the Virgin brand,” he says.
“We have created a winning formula that results in significant sales success for absolutely everyone involved,” Steve concludes.
Speaking on the success of the seminar, SJ Walker, Director of Sales at Virgin Voyages commented: “We are absolutely thrilled that so many people have been able to enjoy the Seminar at Sea onboard Valiant Lady in the Mediterranean. There’s no better way to be able to sell a product than experiencing it first-hand and this event has been an incredible success.
“We are really proud that we’ve curated a casually luxurious adult-only cruise experience and that we’ve been able to showcase it to such a large group of passionate travel agents. They have loved enjoying so many surprising and delightful moments onboard where everything is inclusive – be it speciality dining, wifi, fitness classes, tips, entertainment, events and activities.
“With our fourth ship on the way later on this year, we have significant growth ambitions and see Not Just Travel and The Travel Franchise playing a big part of that goal considering their own growth plans. As a key trade partner, our relationship has been strengthened, but this is just the beginning,” he says.
To know more about The Travel Franchise, visit the website.
