LAS VEGAS — Ensemble president Michael Johnson, while onstage during the consortium’s Horizons 2023 event, showed the audience a photo of his 6-year-old daughter.
Johnson wasn’t gunning for oohs and ahs. With the photo, he shared a statistic from Travel Weekly’s upcoming Travel Industry Survey: It takes around 11 years for most travel advisors to achieve an income of $60,000 or more.
Taking that “shocking” fact into consideration, he said, if he started selling travel today, his daughter “would be driving a car and applying to college before I earned a decent wage. That is insane.”
Indeed, the Travel Industry Survey — of which Ensemble members got a preview ahead of its Nov. 20 publication — found that for many, the road to financial success can be long.
Eighty percent of respondents who are in business for two years or less reported an annual income of less than $25,000. The number of respondents in that lowest income bracket decreases as experience level rises: By the time advisors have been in business for six to 10 years, around one-third earn income of $50,000 or more. At 11 to 20 years of experience, 53% of advisors reported income of $50,000 or more, and 38% reported income of $75,000 or greater.
“When you think about what we do, helping people maximize their time, there’s tremendous value in that,” Johnson said in an interview.
Still, he said, while “there is no silver bullet” to increase advisor income more quickly and better match that value, Ensemble is trying. Johnson said he believes the solution lies in a mix of training and technology.
The consortium has been investing in its Universe of Ensemble training platform, and in the past year it introduced the Ensemble Training Academy, which is focused on new-to-industry advisors. At the same time, its proprietary booking platform, ADX, streamlines how advisors book travel, including air. Ensemble said that helps advisors, especially newer ones, accelerate sales.
Johnson said Ensemble also helps advisors find financial success more quickly through the “community and the connection that we’re fostering.” For instance, an Ensemble member who recently opened her first brick-and-mortar agency had to negotiate a lease for the first time. She reached out to another member, technically a competitor, who helped her.
“That organic mentoring, that networking, we also think has a tremendous amount of value,” Johnson said, be it for advisors new to the industry or for those expanding their business.
Two keys: technology and full-time work
For new advisors with host agency Travel Edge Network, an Ensemble member, it takes two to three years to earn higher incomes, said senior vice president Nadiya Makarenko, faster than most based on Travel Weekly’s survey. She attributed that success in large part to technology.
Almost all Travel Edge Network advisors use ADX (Makarenko estimated 10% still use Sabre). While Travel Edge Network has its own training modules, some that are built by a human trainer using artificial intelligence, it also uses Ensemble-provided training.
Makarenko pointed to another factor that helps increase compensation: its focus on the premium and luxury segments, which carry higher price points and therefore higher commissions.
In addition to tracking advisor income and experience level, Travel Weekly’s Travel Industry Survey also found that professional dedication matters. Those who work as travel advisors full-time were more likely to earn a higher income than part-timers, something Travel Edge Network has seen in practice.
“Once they feel that this income replaces their full-time job, they just skyrocket when it comes to their sales,” Makarenko said.
Jeff Oestreich, president of host agency Goldrush Getaways in Citrus Heights, Calif., is leaning on Ensemble tools to help his advisors make money faster, such as training and preferred-supplier relationships. The Travel Industry Survey found that the most important service provided by preferred suppliers is higher commission.
“I think our partnership with Ensemble is going to bring that timeframe down,” he said. “And we’re developing programs, as well, as far as providing leads to our ICs to help them.”
Goldrush didn’t have a consortium relationship prior to joining Ensemble in 2016. Formerly a member-owned co-operative, Ensemble was purchased by Navigatr (No. 16 on Travel Weekly’s 2023 Power List) last year. Travel Edge Network is also under the Navigatr umbrella.
Ensemble’s main goal in its second year under Navigatr is growth in three key areas: member sales, member engagement and the number of members.
Johnson said sales volume is growing and more members are engaging with revamped marketing and education programs. In the last 60 days, a new business development team officially started bringing on new members.
“We’ve got a very, very healthy pipeline, so we’re highly encouraged,” Johnson said. “I think people are realizing that there’s a new energy.”
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