A new opportunity for sales and business development professionals

At Travel Counsellors we offer a unique opportunity for experienced sales and business development managers to take their career in a new direction as self-employed Business Development Travel Counsellors.

The newly-launched franchise is a departure from our traditional model of supporting experienced agents to make bookings.

Corporate Managing Director Kieran Hartwell says:

"The concept of Travel Counsellor business owners working in duos, trios or teams is not new to us, especially within our corporate travel division, however, we’ve formalised the opportunity and extended this further by enabling a new franchise position focussed on sales and business development.”

“There is a wealth of talent in the corporate travel industry who are experts at sourcing solutions to clients’ problems and creating seamless booking and travel experiences, acting as an extension of in-house teams. We want to harness this talent by keeping people in the industry who can be there for their clients and support businesses to get moving again.”

We have had ‘BD TCs’ in the business for 12 months, with the 10 existing BDs bringing in more than £10 million in new accounts since the beginning of 2020.

Michael Copare is one of them, who joined us in September 2020. Michael says:

“Being a business owner, I work in a way that works for me. To be a successful Travel Counsellor you must be self-motivated, willing to face challenges and get back up and go again. This role is about putting in the effort and getting the rewards accordingly. I would advise anyone joining to set your own targets and don’t stop till you achieve them. Having worked in a very targeted, KPI driven environment previously, I have maintained an element of this and reflected that in what I want to achieve in my own business.”

Now, the new franchise model has been formalised and we’re aiming to welcome 20 new Business Development Travel Counsellors in the next year.

Kieran continues:

"The personal service provided by experienced travel managers can only become more valuable as we seek to understand and advise on the latest updates and government announcements on travel, including the impact of the traffic light system and associated testing requirements."

“We firmly believe that the future of business travel will be built around a highly-personalised and trusted concierge-style service, working closely with clients to unravel the complexities we may continue to see in the coming weeks and months.”

In the last 12 months, we’ve welcomed more than 150 new franchise owners from corporate and leisure travel backgrounds, who between them have made upwards of £3.4m in sales.

Five independent travel agencies and micro TMCs have also left the high street or ‘bricks and mortar’ office spaces to run their businesses remotely with us.

If you want to follow in their footsteps, find out more about becoming a Business Development Travel Counsellor by getting in touch with us.