A homeworking agency set up during Covid now has more than 200 agents on its books – and says it is on track to have at least 300 by the end of this year.
Janine Loves Travel, part of JLT Group, has turned over £1.7 million in sales so far in 2024. Last year it obtained its own Atol as part of Protected Trust Services (PTS).
The agency was set up by Janine Marshall after her previous business Matcha Now, which sold Japanese green tea through retailers including Harrods, was forced to close as a result of the pandemic.
Marshall originally joined InteleTravel during the pandemic after being referred by a friend but later switched to PTS.
“I was very new to travel and it was a door into the industry,” she said. “I started reaching out to people and made my own connections and built the business that way.
“I fell in love with travel at a time that was quite dark for me and it brought me out of that hole.”
More than half the self-employed agents working for JLT Group have been recruited this year. Agents can earn a split of up to 80% commission.
Marshall, who has an eight-strong management team, said the group had created a “friendly community” of full and part-time agents through organic growth. The homeworkers recruited are a mix of second jobbers, such as NHS workers, as well as agents with travel experience.
“People can do a few hours and make sales, while others do it full‑time,” she said, adding: “We have a former barrister and people on maternity leave who are going through training so they don’t have to go back to a 9-to‑5 job.”
The “steady flow” of new recruits have to pass 12 training modules to join the agency.
“If numbers keep growing as they are, I’d say we will have at least 300 agents by the end of the year. We definitely want to grow and we have a core team in place to support that,” she said.
The agency has recently begun using TProfile’s quote-building software, which Marshall said had “taken the business to another level in terms of what we offer our members” and increased conversions by “bringing holidays to life”.
Sales rose by more than 70% in the first month of using TProfile, she added, with 105 JLT Group agents currently using the software.