“I’m not a natural salesman and I couldn’t sell something I don’t believe in,” he says. “Until the Asia brochure [three years ago], I had personally visited every hotel we feature, and handpicked the photos and wrote the copy in the brochures myself.”
For If Only customers, this attention to detail manifests itself in the plush leather wallets and personalised itineraries that are sent out on every booking. “These are the kind of services we offer that some of the big boys don’t, and that agents don’t generally expect nowadays,” he says.
Maguire monitors sales performance all day long. He shows me a dashboard on his iPad that updates every 10 minutes.
“It’s hugely addictive; it actually affects my mood,” he tells me.
Sales this year have certainly given him reason to be cheerful: business was up 19% in January and 30% in February. In fact, If Only has only ever had one year in its history in which it didn’t grow, due to the impact of currency fluctuations.
But it’s not just the fancy wallets that keep agents loyal. Maguire also points to the destination expertise of the reservation department, which is divided into four teams and never switches.
“I simply don’t see how you can sell the whole world and still offer the same service,” he explains.
The fact that If Only’s booking system is only semi-automated has also slowed things down.
“There are advantages to being partly manual: our reservations team know the contracts with our hotel partners inside out, so they can spot opportunities to save customers money by flying on a different date for example, but the minus is that it takes longer,” he explains.
It is with a certain amount of reluctance, then, that If Only is poised to launch its first bookable website. The new site, which should be live by autumn, is intended for simple point-to-point bookings, freeing up the reservations team for more complicated enquiries, and enabling them to quote more quickly.
Having invested several hundred thousand in the site, Maguire needs it to pay for itself.
“We hope we can increase sales by at least 20%,” he predicts.
The prospect of a bookable website might raise alarm bells for agents, but Maguire is adamant it will not be consumer-facing.
If Only has sold direct in the past, but for the past five years he has not marketed directly in any way.
It is not a sentimental decision – but one based on simple economics.
“When you sell through the trade, you only pay for results,” he points out. “I could throw every penny I have at search engine optimisation and press advertising with no guarantee of success.”
He’s confident that good agents have a bright future, too. “Strong, quality agents will continue to not only exist but to flourish,” he says. “Particularly in long-haul, the further people are travelling, the more they want a safety net”.
However, he suggests that certain agents don’t help themselves by selling operators that have their own retail divisions. “Kuoni is opening stores around the country yet agents are still selling Kuoni – it staggers me,” he exclaims. “The words ‘Turkeys’, ‘voting’ and ‘Christmas’ come to mind.”
“I’m not a natural salesman and I couldn’t sell something I don’t believe in,” he says. “Until the Asia brochure [three years ago], I had personally visited every hotel we feature, and handpicked the photos and wrote the copy in the brochures myself.”
A taxing issue
Its membership of the MoneyCard loyalty programme, where suppliers offer cash incentives on which they’ve pre-paid the tax and NI contributions, has also endeared If Only to agents.
Maguire warns many agents are currently “running the gauntlet” by earning shopping vouchers and not paying the necessary tax. “I firmly believe the tax man is going to come knocking at the agents’ door. It’s tantamount to being salary, as far as the taxman is concerned.”
And it is with some reluctance that he offers cash incentives at all.
“There is an inherent weakness if we have to give this level of inducements. How can counter staff say they are solely looking after the interests of the client?” he asks.
“But all my competitors are doing it, and so I am complicit in it,” he confesses. “Giving a £100 reward actually costs us more like £144; it’s a huge commitment but it means everybody is safe.”
If Only is further demonstrating its commitment to agents this year by offering a massive 170 fam trip places. Those fam trips are likely to include If Only’s soon-to-launch new destinations: Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.
And in Maguire’s characteristically detailed approach, this new brochure will be an extensive 200-plus pages.
He’s currently recruiting for new sales consultants with the appropriate product knowledge, and a series of roadshow events in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham will introduce the programme to agents later this year.
Since selling his legal practice, Maguire may no longer have clients’ clouds hanging over his head, but the travel industry is not without its own storm-clouds on the horizon, including the threat of terrorism.
“I worry about things out of my control. In the travel industry, it doesn’t matter how hard we work or how passionate we are, the carpet can suddenly be pulled out from under us by an incident.”
The forthcoming EU referendum is also cause for concern: “My gut feeling is that the referendum will be bad for business, like the Scottish referendum was. I don’t think for one second we will vote to leave the EU, but if we did, it would give the Scottish National Party another chance for a Scottish referendum. Both concern me.”
As unsettling as such external factors might be, one thing’s for sure: with a new bookable site, ambitious product expansion and even greater support for its travel agent partners, If Only will be in a stronger position than ever to weather them.
