I must be honest in saying that YTB is a business that’s going to pay you based on your efforts but in the YTB family, you are in business for yourself but you are never ever by yourself. Your sponsor is your first person for support and has a vested interest in your success. You should be able to go to your sponsor for any help and/or to ask any questions and even if he or she does not know the answer, he/she should be able to ask their sponsor and so on but somewhere in your upline, you should have no trouble getting your answers. Besides your direct sponsor and upline, you also have YTB Customer Support to turn to whether or not its a question regarding your travel business or the marketing side of your business. And I must say, their staff is always so friendly and makes you feel so welcomed. Whoever trains them on customer service is doing a fine job because every support person I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking with, the experience has always been pleasing.
You see, its for many reasons why YTB is so unique and believe me when I say that more and more people and companies are recognizing the power of our business and the power of relationship marketing. Businesses are beginning to change the way they’re doing business. Many traditional business operations are beginning to suffer because they’re just not getting it with this whole social movement. That’s why places like MySpace, Facebook, hi5, LinkedIn and others have several hundred thousand members and continue to grow every day. People are more likely to do business based on the referral of someone else, plain and simple.
So YTB took a product in the largest industry – - Travel – - and combined it with the power of relationship marketing and they are changing the way the nation is traveling. Do you remember when they told us that several years later, there would be a computer in every household? Now, as we take a look, most of us have more than one especially if you include PC based phones. Well, if no one has told you, I’m here to tell you… within the next few years, every household will have its own travel website! Period.
So as I was reading my free Agent at Home Magazine for this month (oh, by the way, that’s a perk of being in the travel industry… you get access to free travel trade subscriptions) I came across an add and saw that Expedia has launched a Cruise Ship Center program. This new venture will enable home based agents to have their very own Expedia Cruise Ship Center Franchise. The franchise opportunity will also enable an agent to act as a ‘host agency’ where they can have independent contractors operate under their travel franchise. Wow… It Amazes Me. For many years, Expedia was always the new face of Internet travel spending billions of dollars in advertising hoping that their hard spent dollars would encourage you to book your next trip with them. But wait a minute, along comes YTB and offers the same product at very comparable prices except now, it becomes more personal. More and more people are impressed by the business model because not only will YTB give you a confirmation with your booking, but they’ll also send you a commission check! How cool is that?
When you think of it, the concept is quite like the Coke corporation putting a vending machine in locations across the country. Coke as a corporation, can’t reach everyone in your neighborhood, but the vending machine or the local grocery store can. It’s the same concept – - it’s called distribution. Its because of this distribution why YTB’s travel sales are growing exponentially. We currently have over 140,000 RTA’s (Referring Travel Agents) and everyone they know are booking travel on their sites. Think about it, if your brother has a YTB travel site where you can book the same flight on the same airplane or the same room at the same hotel, (and more than likely even get a better rate), who will you book your trip with – - your brother or Orbitz? Because of that distribution and because of those relationships, more people are booking on YTB Referring Travel Agent websites meaning they’re not booking trips with all the other highly advertised sites.
Well here’s what amazes me. Because of YTB’s brilliant idea, companies like Expedia are expanding into the home-based market as I stated above. Smart move, except…. if you’re interested in their opportunity, get ready to pay $3,995 to get started and then pay a monthly licensing fee of $90. Well, I don’t know about you but I’d much rather save money and pay $449.95 to get started and pay a monthly licensing fee of $49.95 especially if people will be able to book the very same trips! (Actually we can book more trips because the Expedia Cruise Ship Centers opportunity, strictly deals with cruises. Hmm, doesn’t travel also include car rentals, hotel bookings, spa destinations, geesh and I certainly hope they do flights!)
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About the Author: Ktasha Hardge is an Entrepreneur and Tax Professional. She, along with her fiance Marcus McKenzie are YTB Certified RTA’s and Power Team Leader’s who are pursuing goals of financial freedom and time freedom and want to help you do the same through YTB. Compare prices for your next trip at Global Connections Travel.
