5 transferrable skills every Travel Counsellor needs

If you’re thinking of changing careers but aren’t sure whether your skillset will be applicable to being a Travel Counsellor, we hope that this blog will put your mind at ease. Our dedicated Travel Academy programme is designed for people who’ve never worked in the travel industry before but want to turn their passion for seeing the world into an exciting new business venture.

We’ll give you all the training you need to succeed, but there are plenty of transferrable skills that will stand you in good stead for running your own travel franchise with us. Here are just some of the skills that every good Travel Counsellor needs.

1. Being a clear communicator

When you’re dealing with customers, suppliers, fellow franchisees, and Support Hub colleagues daily, your communication skills need to be on point. Whether you’re communicating over the phone, by email, or in-person, you need to be able to communicate with confidence, friendliness, and clarity.

A big part of this is also being an engaged and active listener. This is crucial when you’re learning about what your customers need and want, and also to find out enough about them to be able to recommend destinations or experiences that they perhaps wouldn’t have thought of themselves.

2. Research and planning

If your current role requires you to undertake lots of desktop research, then this will set you up nicely for joining our community. As a Travel Counsellor, a lot of your time will be spent researching and planning the perfect trips for your customers – from finding the right hotel in the right destination, to excursions that will make their holidays even more memorable.

Depending on how well-travelled you are yourself, it may take someone coming through our Travel Academy time to get familiar with the world - not to mention our almost endless choice of suppliers and product options available in Phenix, our in-house booking platform. Don’t let that put you off though. With our expert training and supportive community, you’ll never be far from a helping hand if you need some help crafting an itinerary that exceeds your customers’ expectations.

3. Time management

As a self-employed franchisee, you’ll need to be able to manage your time effectively. You have complete control over your working day in terms of your hours, so long as they’re suitable for your customers and you’re committed to your franchise on a full-time basis. There’s a lot to juggle, from completing your initial training and managing enquiries to putting together quotes and networking. You’ll need to be good at prioritising your workload and staying on top of your to-do list.

It's also worth mentioning that the travel industry also sees busier times in terms of volumes of enquiries – such as the post-Christmas ‘peaks’, as well as the ‘lates’ market over the summer months. During these periods, it’s more important than ever to ensure you’re working as efficiently and as productively as possible.

4. Marketing

Although we’ll give you extensive social media training and ready-made assets to post on your platforms, if you’ve come from a marketing role, or have done bits of marketing in the past, this experience is something you can draw on as a Travel Counsellor.

Our model is all about growing your business organically, largely through social media. So, if you’re a whizz on TikTok or can put together an Instagram reel in no time, you’ll find it easier to market your business. Social media isn’t the only way that you can grow your business – you can also send e-cards to your customers, write and promote blogs, attend events, or even look at sponsorship opportunities in your local community, so any cross-channel marketing experience you have will be hugely valuable.

5. Customer service

Here at Travel Counsellors, we pride ourselves on providing exceptional service – so we need you to share these values and be committed to going above and beyond for your customers. From replying to a query promptly to supporting them if they have an issue while travelling, as a Travel Counsellor, your customers need to be your priority. After all, a great experience is what leads to referrals – which is what our model is all about.

You don’t have to have necessarily worked in a typical call centre environment to have gained customer service experience. You might work in a customer-facing role (such as retail or hospitality), be responsible for looking after clients, or be used to managing stakeholders across a business.

Are you ready to embark on an exciting new journey where you can put your existing skills into practice? If you’ve got a genuine passion for travel and an entrepreneurial drive, we’d love to welcome you into our growing community of over 2,000 Travel Counsellors. Get in touch for more information about our Travel Academy programme.