It’s all about the 'three Ws' at TTAND

The 'three Ws' – win-win-win – that’s the mantra behind The Travel Agent Next Door’s (TTAND) vision. “We need to make sure it’s a win for [our preferred suppliers], a win for [our agents], which will make it a win for us,” said Flemming Friisdahl, TTAND’s founder, at the organization’s annual open house event held last night (Oct. 26) in downtown Toronto.

And 2016 has definitely been a winning year for TTAND, growing its sales from about $18-19 million last year, to approximately $34-35 million this year – an almost 100% increase year over year.

Having successfully launched the ‘Subject Matter Expert’ or ‘SME’ program earlier this year, and as it prepares to launch a brand new website in the next couple of weeks, and a new lead generation program following soon thereafter, the goal for 2017 is to become the 2nd largest home-based agency in Canada.

To achieve that, according to Friisdahl, it’s all about communication: “Travel agents need to know what we’re doing. If they are going to give up what they’re doing, jump ship from another company, join us… we want them to know that they’re with a company that’s growing, that’s winning, that’s successful and that’s on the right path.”

For those considering making the change to TTAND, “The home-based business is the right place to be, and it is the part of the business that will continue to grow,” said Friisdahl. “And we’re going to continue to work hard to make sure we do that.”

TTAND will finish the year with 19 head office staff, close to 245 primary home-based agents and 115 associate agents. It has also announced that it will be holding its 2017 conference next April on board the Norwegian Escape.

For more information, visit thetravelagentnextdoor.ca.