Ensemble's Cristie Newell & Lindsay Pearlman
Studying hard at Ensemble Extraordinary event in YTO!
Backroom with the Ensemble team
What does Lindsay Pearlman like most about being
Co-President of the Ensemble Travel Group? Signing cheques. “It's the most
gratifying part of our cooperative structure. All profits go back to the member
owners. And for 2014, the cheques were the biggest they've ever been."
At the recent regional Ensemble Extraordinary training day
in Toronto, I asked Lindsay and Business Development
Director, Cristie Newell, how they account for the fattened cash
registers.
According to Lindsay, “Members were very focused on selling preferreds this last year. A lot of our initiatives supported shifting dollars
to sales which would yield the best earnings. And it paid off in a big way. The
cheques were twice as high as the previous year. When owners see their efforts
translate directly into their bank account, that's pretty motivating."
Cristie noted that last year's operational restructure which
created a North American department focused solely on training meant that a lot
more agents received coaching. And the BDM's could in turn focus on helping
build sales.
“Our biggest problem is we don't
tend to blow our horn enough. We are running a fantastic organization that is
growing yearly. Last year we added 40 new members and our attrition is
only at 3% - mainly due to retirement."
It's the 4th year Ensemble has hosted an
Extraordinary event with training from partners who offer experiential travel
opportunities and they've been sold out in most cities. The total attendance
has been 450 agents. “These niche suppliers offer the opportunity for higher
margin specialty product which also helps create loyalty. It helps the agent
remain relevant to their customer," says Newell.
