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Boosting business with the Top 50

In seven weeks, TTG reveals 2017’s Top 50 Travel Agencies. Abra Dunsby asks 2016’s Top 50 how the accolade impacted their business.

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We catch up with some of the TTG Top 50 agencies to discover the myriad ways they marketed their status and the results they achieved

Travel agents up and down the country might have suffered fuzzy heads on April 26 last year after the Top 50 Travel Agencies was announced at a spectacular ceremony at The Vox in Birmingham. Yet despite the celebrations, most were quick to make the most of their prestigious achievement.

In the days that followed last April’s ceremony, agencies that made it on to the definitive TTG Top 50 list were featured in national press, had shout-outs on local radio stations, and welcomed thousands of likes and comments on social media from those who’d heard about their rankings.

We catch up with some of the TTG Top 50 agencies to discover the myriad ways they marketed their status and learn about the results they achieved.


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Championing success

Championing success

After Peakes Travel Elite was named Central and East of England’s Top Agency last year, the team decorated the entire shop window with balloons, put up Top 50 window stickers and created large posters. Shop manager and co-partner Claire Moore also enlisted PR help to gain coverage in both the local press and on local station BBC Radio Shropshire.

“I also made a promise that if we won the Top 50 regional heat, I’d take an advert out in the local paper,” she says. The advert (pictured left), which appeared in the Shropshire Star, thanked customers for their support and celebrated the TTG Top 50 win.

Pictures from the awards ceremony, and of the subsequent agency celebrations, went up on Twitter and Facebook; the agency even changed its Facebook profile picture to reflect the win.

Social media was also used creatively by Polka Dot Travel in Wrexham, which used Facebook as a platform to launch a competition to win a bottle of fizz last November, thanking customers for their support.

Director Helen Johnson says: “We had a huge response, with hundreds of shares and likes, and countless comments congratulating us on being named a Top 50 agency, and wishing us luck for being shortlisted again this year.”

Pushing the message

Pushing the message

Being named Wales’ Top Agency gave Cartwright Travel valuable exposure last year after national news site Wales Online covered the story. Steve Cartwright, managing director, says the TTG Top 50 has become an “integral part of our marketing strategy”, with emails featuring the Top 50 logo going out to its database of customers.

With its then team of three, London-based Travel Designers was the smallest agency to be included in the TTG Top 50 last year, yet despite its diminutive size, the team made a big effort to promote its inclusion in the listings.

The team sent out an initial email blast to its customers telling them the agency had made the TTG Top 50, complete with award pictures. A few weeks later, they made use of the dedicated review page from the
TTG Top 50 brochure by including it in their client newsletter. “We also made badges for the staff to wear, which customers often comment on,” says store manager Nick Harding-McKay.

As well as creating TTG Top 50 newsletters (left), Abbotts Travel, named London’s Top Agency last year, wrote several blog posts about it. The team also included the full-page review that first appeared in the TTG Top 50 brochure on its blog.

Boosting business

Boosting business

Reactions from customers old and new have been overwhelmingly positive for TTG Top 50 Travel Agencies, who were congratulated on social media, by email and with walk-ins to the store.

“Our regulars came in to bring us gifts and cards, and others even offered to send over testimonials,” says Moore at Peakes Travel Elite.

Travel Designers’ Harding-McKay says not only did the win spark customers’ interest, but it also brought the agency integrity. “Clients loved it. It has given us the stamp of approval from our industry peers, which impressed our clients and the local business community.”

As well as bringing business kudos, several agencies saw a rise in new business thanks to the initiative. “We have a new cruise client who used to book with a multiple,” Johnson at Polka Dot Travel in Wrexham says.

 

“They’d seen us on the high street but never come in before. Then their granddaughter saw us talking about the TTG Top 50 on Facebook and spotted our Top 50 advert in the local paper, and suggested coming in to see us.”

Johnson says the client has now booked three cruises with them, which amount to £18,000 worth of business. “It’s great as this is a customer we didn’t have access to before the Top 50,” she explains.

For Top Homeworking Agency, Travel Counsellors, UK sales were up by 13.9% compared with the previous year in the month following the TTG Top 50 win.

The tangible effects of making it into the TTG Top 50 are also evident for the team at Thomas Cook, Dundee City Square, which was one of the top three in the regional category for Scotland last year.

 

“Our customer base has grown since our inclusion, and confidence in my team has been raised in the local market, too,” store manager John Stewart says. “The key measure of success is 20% growth in profit this year. We have never been as busy or successful prior to this achievement.”

Lucrative accolade

 Lucrative accolade

For London’s Travel Designers, the nomination translated into a booking before the agents had even left the awards venue. Travel Designer James Whitaker-Sheppard met someone in the Hilton bar on the evening of the ceremony last year, which resulted in a £10,000 booking to Cancun the following day. In the days that followed, Travel Designers sent an email out to its customer database pointing out the win, which generated further holiday enquiries.

“I’d say around £45,000 worth of sales are directly attributable to the Top 50,” says store manager Harding-McKay. “We have seen an increase in foot flow, and last year was our best year ever. We’ve now expanded to a team of five, and I’d put our expansion partly down to making the Top 50,” he adds.

While being in the TTG Top 50 has provided many businesses with a sales boost, it has also brought added recognition to each team of agents.

“The most rewarding element for me has been the lift the win gave to our staff,” says Tom O’Donohoe, managing director at Strand Travel Worldchoice in Waterford, named the Republic of Ireland’s Top Agency. “They felt it was a sign of achievement for their hard work from both their peers and the travel trade. It has proved invaluable in boosting morale and confidence.”

Abbotts Travel’s Danny Sperling is equally enthusiastic. “Having recognition from TTG about us as an agency has been fantastic. It has been hugely motivating for the staff.”

Harding-McKay also praised the TTG Top 50 for giving all travel agencies an equal chance to shine. “It puts small independents like us alongside bigger branches, which also stand alone to be evaluated, and recognises both, which is fantastic.”

“There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’, so it’s great to have an award that recognises all our hard work collectively.”

 

This year’s Top 50 Travel Agencies event takes place on March 13 at The Vox, Birmingham. Tickets are now on sale here

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