How to Build Your Dream Team

Benefits of leading and building your sales team of Consultants as an Expedia Cruises Franchise Owner

When prospective new owners are researching our franchise opportunity, we often get asked “What does it take to be successful as an Expedia Cruises franchise owner?” We always respond in the same way: Build and support a large, high performing team of Vacation Consultants. Our more than 260 retail travel agency locations serving communities across North America create a network of more than 6,500 Vacation Consultants dedicated to navigating spectacular vacation experiences for their customers.

All Expedia Cruises Consultants are recruited as independent contractors paid by commission only. That means there are no salaries to pay and your overhead costs for the business are very low. So, the larger and more successful your team is, the more profitable your business will be.

We know how important recruiting a sales team is to the success of your business. That’s why we’re continuously investing in resources to help you make the Consultant opportunity as easy and appealing as possible.

Why Join Your Team?

There are plenty of great reasons people will want to join your team as a Vacation Consultant, including our fantastic culture and increasingly positive data surfacing in the industry about the growing demand for travel consulting services. Research from Cruise Lines International Association shows that 70% of all cruisers tend to book through a traditional travel agent. The proof is in the numbers, in September we reached a record 6,500 Vacation Consultants in total across all of our retail travel agency locations!

Plus, as part of the Expedia network, your Consultants will benefit from instant brand recognition and credibility that comes with being part of the largest travel company in the world. Expedia’s global buying power for non-cruise product allows them to sell a full range of vacation options, all at Expedia prices.

We’ve also negotiated some of the highest agent commission rates in the industry because of our sales volume and reputation. Not only do top-tier commissions make the prospect of joining your team more attractive, they also impact your bottom line since your earnings are based on your Consultant’s commissions.

On average our franchise owners open their doors with at least 15 Consultants and recruit approximately one more each month thereafter. An ideal Consultant has an entrepreneurial mindset, enjoys building relationships and loves planning dream vacations. Consistently growing and coaching your team is essential to maintaining a healthy, profitable business.

Dedicated Recruitment Resources to Support You

When you invest in an Expedia Cruises franchise, you can count on a robust 100+ corporate support team to help you grow a profitable business, including a dedicated team focused on helping you with the recruitment and onboarding of Consultants. This valuable resource provides tools and training to help you make it easy to develop your most valuable asset: Your sales team.

Custom Recruitment Marketing Tools & Website

Once you become a franchise owner, we’ll provide you with your own custom recruitment website that will help you attract the right sales people and help them learn about our Vacation Consultant opportunity through a series of easy to follow videos like the one below.

Our comprehensive recruitment marketing strategy also includes a wide range of print and online marketing tools and customizable templates to help our franchise owners grow a team of passionate, enthusiastic consultants. From newspaper ads, flyers and brochures to web banners, email campaigns and in-store merchandising, we’ve got all recruitment marketing needs covered!

Our recruitment marketing team also executes national recruitment advertising on our franchise owner’s behalf with leads that come directly to you.

Recruitment Lead Management System

Once you have a prospective recruit, CruiseDesk® – our proprietary recruitment lead management system – will allow you to track and engage with candidates through the process from their first inquiry to the day they join your team. Since recruiting a sales team is an ongoing and essential activity for our franchise owners, having this system provides them with a quick snapshot of who is where in the recruitment process and which follow up activities are required at any given time.

In the same way that your Consultant can set reminders to follow up with their clients, you’ll be able to set reminders for yourself to follow up with your Consultant leads about the opportunity to join your team.

Recruitment Events

One of our most successful recruitment strategies is our recruitment events we call Discovery Nights. Discovery Nights are an opportunity for our franchise owners to meet recruitment prospects in person and provide a live presentation of the opportunity in their franchise location.

In addition to hearing the presentation, prospects get to see the office environment, meet the owner and some of their team members and have the opportunity to schedule a personal interview in order to take the next step.

We provide our franchise owners with all of the marketing and training to advertise and lead a Discovery Night in their location including tools to help them get attendees excited about the opportunity to join their team such as a customizable presentation, professional videos and printed recruitment collateral.

Award Winning Consultant Training

Once a Vacation Consultant joins your team, our online International Cruise Academy and award winning Navigators Approach sales training sets them up for success! This in-depth training develops their knowledge, skills and sales behaviors to deliver a spectacular vacation experience for each and every customer.

Keeping your large team engaged and high performing will be essential to your success too, which is why we also provide a kit of tools to help you coach and mentor your Consultants on an ongoing basis. Our Navigators Club recognition program is a huge part of what motivates our Consultants to take their sales to the next level, while our team meeting presentations are carefully crafted by the corporate support team to help you deliver an engaging, exciting and informative presentation to your Consultants each month.  We also host Consultant training events in cities all across North America called Navigator Rallies which deliver product, sales and serving training to your Consultants.

Learn More

At Expedia Cruises, we are committed to helping our franchise owners become best in class leaders who can build a strong team and become the go-to cruise experts in their local community.

For in-depth details about our franchise opportunity, download our free franchise report. You can also learn more through this six step overview of our travel agency franchise opportunity here.