Own your own travel agency pitch: Too good to be true?

A fanatical representative of YTB (YourTravelBiz.com) read my blog and figured that I was a perfect recruit. She has been aggressively trying to sell me on the virtues of becoming an YTB travel agent.

“It’s a gold mine! All you have to do is direct people to your personalized web site and have them book their travel. The money will start flowing in. Better yet recruit them to be referring travel agents (RTA) for you and you’ll make even more! Tell your friends, relatives and anyone you run into that you’re a travel agent. Give them your business card and you are on your way to free travel and mega bucks!” she explained.

She figured she had me hooked so the pitch continued “Your initial investment is only $449.95 to set up an “online travel agency” then it’s a low monthly fee of $49.95 to maintain the website. What could be easier?” she asked.

“You can earn up to 20% of the commission on the products that you sell!” as she continued her well rehearsed scripted sales pitch. Trying to close the sale she beamed “Don’t forget about free cruises, tropical vacations and the bonuses for recruiting new RTAs!”

Admittedly this was a very enticing offer for the normal person someone who has no idea about the workings of the travel agency business. But having owned my own agency and being in the business of teaching about the travel industry I was not awed by her presentations. Actually I was awed that any sane person would buy into this classic pyramid pitch. But then there are plenty of infomercials promising great riches with a minimal investment of time and money so yes there is a forest of gullible investors ripe to be plucked.

I was amazed that she didn’t add “It’s only 2 easy payments of $224.975 and if you give me your credit card today you’ll receive an 110 day around the world cruise (valued at $154,458.95) free. “

Some quick mental math arrived at the sum of $1000.00 as the annual investments. With the average agency commission level at 10 % I would have to generate annual sales over $50, 000.00. This is a pretty hefty amount to sell even for an experienced agent with a following so I passed on the deal.

I explained that I was not interested in YTB as I was aware of other outside sales programs available without a fee. Free! Yes you can affiliate yourself with an accredited host agency without paying a dime and still split the commissions. These folks actually want you to sell travel and reap the rewards. They do not want to become a recruiter and look for RTA prospects.

Thank goodness for caller id as she continued to call my office for a couple of weeks before finally taking the hint that I was not YTB material.

PS: Sure you can make money & earn free/reduced rate travel as an outside agent legitimately and without spending a fortune. I’ll touch on this concept in a later piece.