Marijke Davel hits Gold again!

We welcomed Marijke Davel, from Centurion in Pretoria, back to Gold early in May. To be Gold, a Travel Counsellor must achieve an exceptional sales goal. It’s a big target for franchisees to work towards, but many Travel Counsellors reach it.

Marijke was overjoyed when she heard the news, “It’s a wonderful feeling. Often it felt unobtainable, and then finally to reach the finish line, to reach that goal, is something else.”

Describe your journey to achieving Gold.

I lost Gold status after Covid and questioned if I would get there again. I just kept my head down because, in my mind, as long as the bookings keep coming and I can pay the bills, achieving Gold would be the extra layer of caramel (and chocolate, let’s not forget chocolate) on the cake.

What do you love most about being a TC?

The freedom and reward. Sure, we work hard, always trying to improve, but you see results. There is no limit to what we can do or offer our clients and the goals we can set. Our Head Office guys are amazing. How else would I have met them if not joining Travel Counsellors?! Going through Covid also made me see and appreciate the Travel Counsellors family I am part of. It was a tough time to pull through for everyone, but they were there every step of the way, keeping us motivated (even when they were likely to be feeling down and out), assisting us financially when we needed it, and keeping us together.

What are your top 5 tips for achieving business success?

This is a tough quesion, because everyone has different ideas about success.

These are my top tips:

• Being reliable and available to my clients has contributed hugely.
• Building a relationship with my clients – and being relatable.
• Putting in the hours.
• Be positive. A good attitude takes you places.
• Support from family, friends, colleagues, and head office. When these important people understand how we work, it makes, what we do, so much easier. Having them cheer me on, pick me up when I’m running low on “you got this!” and remind me why I love my work and why I work so hard, and celebrating successes with me.