Initially battered during the pandemic, the division has finally turned a corner this year as agent numbers have gone up by 40% to just under 200. 

“Homeworking numbers dropped during Covid when people left the business, so the recovery has been a big challenge,” chief executive Peter Healey said. “Now we’re back up to just under 200 [but] our objective for the year is 250.”

According to Leslie, who founded the group with Healey 30 years ago, the secret behind the division’s post-pandemic growth is Vertical’s back office team. 

“They’re very loyal and very engaged with all our homeworkers,” she said. “With new homeworkers we have a great onboarding system and all of our management and support staff are there 24/7 for our homeworkers.”

Marketing is also a very important part of the group’s offer to agents, as Vertical runs all email and social media marketing campaigns for their members.

“Anybody who joins us is in a fairly unique situation where they can work with us to build their business even from quite a low level,” Healey added.

To attract new members and to keep the existing ones happy, the travel group has launched several recruitment campaigns as well as new products. 

These include Vertical Systems’ booking download software, which enables agents to have all the details of a booking – including costs and commission – at hand. 

“We care about their customers just as much as they do, we care about their business just as much as they do,” added Leslie. “And we want their business to work.”