A new homeworking firm hopes to employ hundreds of experienced travel professionals to work on outsourced contracts.
Travel Solutions Network (TSN) has been founded by Garry and Lindsey Winterburn, who have a background in outsourcing and connecting business partners through their roles at Kognitive Corporation and as co-founders of CTS Outsourcing Solutions and Tolle Fuga Group.
Industry entrepreneur Steve Endacott, who has stakes in companies including eco (Electric Car Organisation), Working at Home Solutions, Canny App and The Content Gym, has invested in TSN and becomes chairman.
The company is looking to bring experienced travel professionals who were forced to find work in different sectors during Covid-19 back to the industry.
It will provide homeworking travel experts calls from travel companies it signs outsourcing contracts with and aims to build its own client base. It said it has already secured several deals.
Chief executive Garry Winterburn said: “We are seeing a major surge in holiday demand for summer 2022 that many businesses are not geared-up to cope with after having been forced to take wholesale cost cutting actions during Covid.
“TSN has been set up to provide either outsourced call overflow or in some cases create a flexible full call centre and customer service operation using experienced travel homeworkers to relaunch mothballed brands.”
Chief operating officer Lindsey Winterburn, who is recruiting homeworkers, added: “Most holiday commissions post-Covid can only be released from trust funds on the customers’ return from holiday, creating a six-month or longer wait for booking fees to be paid to agents.
“TSN’s outsourcing work is mainly paid on booking, giving our homeworkers steady call flow and immediate income while they build their own customer base. At the same time, it provides our outsource partners with a highly experienced team of travel professionals. We think this flexible call mix, coupled with some of the best commission deals in the sector, will be vital to attracting travel experts back to the industry as homeworkers.”
TSN also aims to create ‘shop hubs’ for homeworkers to work from should they wish, allowing the brand to be established on high streets and form “localised collaborative working practices”.
Lindsey Winterburn said: “All homeworkers want to handle their own sales leads but are often looking for administrative support. We will be operating a professional administrative support function with a personalised team who understand the importance of providing a world class, customer focused service to valued customers.
“While ‘remote first’ is key, it is also imperative that each homeworker has the required support, training and regular interaction with their local and central team at every step of their journey.”
TSN will offer each homeworker their own online bookable consumer site and the option to incorporate video conferencing into their sales process.
Endacott said: “The modern homeworker takes access to booking systems, Atol bonding and merchant clearing as givens and wants a technology offering that stands out.
“Nobody wants to move away from phone calls or home visits, but video conferencing does offer major positives when presenting holiday options back to the customers, and most importantly allows agents to see a customer’s reaction and adjust the pitch, accordingly, often boosting conversion levels”.
TSN intends to create a directory for homeworker destination expertise that it can advertise centrally, allowing homeworkers to extend their sales networks nationally.
Garry Winterburn said: “Customers want to return to travel experts offering a personalised service. However, they also want the convenience of shopping from their own homes now that they also work from home.
“It’s important we match the right customers to the right expertise, on a national basis, and don’t waste our homeworkers’ destination expertise by only allowing them to service their local community.”
TSN also plans to offer homeworkers optional non-travel work in the lead up to Christmas period, to boost incomes in the traditionally weaker period for holiday sales.