TTAND team: Founder & director Flemming Friisdahl, vice president of talent development Rhonda Stanley, and vice president of travel agent services Penny Martin.
TTAND founder & director Flemming Friisdahl; ACV general manager of sales for Western Canada Marigold Frontuna; TTAND vice president of talent development Rhonda Stanley; and AC regional sales manager for BC Edna Ray.
Afra Davis, BDM for BC at TravelBrands with Bruce Lidberg, director of sales for Western Canada at TravelBrands.
Tricia Kentel and Bruno Munoz, business development representatives at Transat.
Emily Spadafora, WestJet & WestJet Vacations BDM for BC & Yukon with Colin Price, strategic account manager at Royal Caribbean International.
When Flemming Friisdahl talks travel, people listen. And when Flemming Friisdahl talks sales, people can’t help but listen.
Which explains why 41 prestigious suppliers were glued to his every word during the founder & director of The Travel Agent Next Door’s presentation at Vancouver Airport’s Westin Wall Centre this week.
Friisdahl gave suppliers an in depth look at the latest innovations at TTAND and revealed how the travel agency services network – which boasts 400-plus ‘primary’ agent members and 300-plus ‘associate’ agent members – produces 80% of its sales through its preferred and approved suppliers.
“TTAND is a company that’s driven to do one thing: To help the people who want to sell travel become the best at selling travel by giving them the most tools, the most marketing, the most commission and the most support – to help them achieve their dreams of being a travel professional,” Friisdahl told Openjaw.
He went on to highlight the importance of TTAND’s relationships with its preferred and approved suppliers.
“The suppliers are a big part of our success as travel professionals. As I joke sometimes – they’re not an ATM – they’re not just people who give you money! They’re our business partners, just like the travel agents. The supplier is equally as important to us as our travel agent partners.”
But it’s not all about the suppliers. It’s a win-win relationship that reaps benefits for the travel agents too: “One of the reasons we came out West is because we’ve created four regions in Canada at TTAND,” added Friisdahl. “We’re the only host agency in Canada that has four regions.
“Why is that beneficial? Because the reps are all paid on their sales going up in their region. By making sure that we’re in this region, the local BDMs will give our agents more attention that any other host agency, because they’re going to benefit from that relationship.”
Vickie Sam Paget Western Correspondent
Hailing from the UK, Vickie Sam Paget is a travel and tourism storyteller located in Vancouver, BC. When she’s not on the road, creating engaging travel content or gazing at the North Shore Mountains, you can usually find her curled up with a good book or sipping a pint of the good stuff in her local Irish bar.
