TRAVEL Counsellors may have discovered the next Judith Chalmers after challenging their agents to become TV presenters.
Last month, Travel Counsellors set its 670 agents the task of compiling a video of their home towns to stand a chance of winning what the homeworking company calls the ‘TC Factor’.
The prize is a two-week TV presenting assignment, in which they get to take their partner to Australia and Tahiti and film the holiday.
Sales director Malcolm Hingley said the task was not sales led, but a fun exercise to keep staff morale high. He said: “We do lots of things that are performance led, but this was to motivate people.”
The footage could also be used as a marketing tool for the company in future, he added.
Ten counsellors were picked to attend a day of filming, run with Qantas Holidays, to test their knowledge of destinations in front of the camera.
In total 70 counsellors entered the competition.
Three finalists were then chosen by judges Qantas Holidays sales executive Aiden Walsh and travel journalists Simon Calder and Alison Rice and announced live on the company’s internal TV station TCTV on Tuesday.
The finalists are Julie Holden from Saddleworth, Paula Brown from Oldham, and Katherine Morrison from Dublin.
They will now jet off to Thailand for a six-day filming trip, with the clips shown at Travel Counsellors’ November conference when a TC Factor winner is selected.
Brown, who filmed the sights of Oldham, said: “I’m in complete shock.”
TC Factor entries (requires Windows Media Player)
