3 days ago
Travel Leaders Network expands Super Agent designation
LAS VEGAS — Travel Leaders Network (TLN) is adding two new categories to its Super Agent designation on its Agent Profiler tool, among other technology updates discussed at its annual Edge conference this week at Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel and Casino.
Agent Profiler is TLN's lead-generation tool for members. There are nearly 20,000 advisor profiles on today. In 2022, TLN added the "Super Agent" designation, awarded to advisors who fill out their profiles with a variety of content, like reviews, specialty bios, maps and photo albums.
Now, two additional categories of Super Agent profiles are coming: Super Agent Gold and Super Agent Diamond.
Advisors can reach those levels based on performance metrics using Agent Profiler, said Stephen McGillivray, chief partner marketing officer at parent company Internova Travel Group. That includes metrics like response rate within 24 hours and booking close rate. The basic Super Agent designation will remain in place.
The new categories will likely go live in July, Lovell said.
Having an elevated Agent Profiler designation puts an advisor higher in the search order, making it more likely a consumer will select their profile and send leads their way.
Leads from the profiles are about flat compared to last year, which saw an all-time high of more than 300,000, McGillivray said.
"We're happy about that, because a lot of the digital space, I've seen traffic numbers drive down," McGillivray said. "We were very happy that we're holding our own in lead flow to the members."
The average cost of a booking that comes through Agent Profiler that an advisor can close is $10,665, according to McGillivray.
The close rate, Lovell said, is a little over 25%.
Continuing CRM integrations
TLN continues its work to become CRM-agnostic, enabling members to work with whichever CRM they prefer and benefit from integration into TLN's systems.
"CRMs are exploding all over the place in our industry," said Cory Voss, TLN's chief information officer. "When I say exploding, I mean lots more options than there ever was before. And we're sensitive to that. We acknowledge that, and we want to make sure that our membership base has the ability to make the choice and work with the CRM that fits their business best."
Traditionally, TLN's systems were integrated with ClientBase and AgentMate, but the consortium has been making moves to be CRM-agnostic, enabling more CRMs to communicate with its systems.
Integration of the VacationCRM is ongoing. Planiteasy, Tess and Tres are coming down the pipe, Voss said.
"There's so many options in the CRM space," he said. "It's an important business decision for an agency to make, and we want to be as accommodating as we possibly can in supporting the decision that they're going to make. And we're going to do that by trying to get as many integrations as we possibly can."
Simplified Sabre GDS rolling out for Canadian members
Getting more advisors to sell air has been a focus of TLN in recent years. Last year, TLN began to roll out SNAP, its co-branded version of Sabre Red Launchpad designed to be a simpler-to-use version of the GDS.
"Air has been ignored for a long time, and it's a huge opportunity," Lindsay Pearlman, TLN's COO, said. "When you think about it, it doesn't make sense that an advisor doesn't book air."
It helps build relationships and loyalty by providing a more complete vacation product, he said. The proof is in the numbers: If an advisor books air for their customer, he said, the cancellation rate drops by 39%.
"There's a stickiness factor," he said. "You're going beyond the transaction piece to providing full service for that customer."
After a year of beta testing in the market, SNAP is now officially rolling out to TLN members in Canada.
