We are seeing so much amazing growth in our business! This also means we have thousands of new Reps who are selling our product and who may not know or fully understand our rules. So here are the top four compliance mistakes I see Reps making EVERY DAY – make sure you aren’t one of them!
1) Not Focusing on Selling Travel for Income!
You should ALWAYS sell the income opportunity! This means talk about earning money (commissions) by booking travel for others. You shouldn't tell new Agents to book their own travel in order to save their own money. Please do not even MENTION that "some people join just to book their own travel." That is simply not what we sell and it's a violation of policy - we sell a Travel BUSINESS.
2) Talking About SAVING on Travel
Do you like to talk about how much $$$ an ITA purchase could save someone on their own personal travel? It's NOT ALLOWED! Don't talk about Agent Rates, Discounts or Perks when selling the ITA. This does not only apply to our company. All travel agents are supposed to refrain from mentioning any types of agent perks, discounts, or benefits. ITAs should ONLY talk about rates they can SELL to their customers. Reps should NEVER mention any special rate or discount for ITAs. Selling this way is a violation of both PlanNet Marketing policies and InteleTravel policies. I wrote a blog article about this as it seems to be a point of confusion for many. Check it out here: https://www.plannetnow.com/compliance-corner-8
3) Talking about being an Travel Agent and Selling ITAs
Travel Agents DO NOT Sell ITAs! ONLY PlanNet Marketing Reps can sell ITAs. InteleTravel Agents sell travel bookings. Reps NEVER train ITAs. Training for ITAs must always come from InteleTravel and their Ambassadors. This is a very important topic - I recently wrote a blog about it, check it out here: https://www.plannetnow.com/compliance-corner-21. In addition, never mix selling ITAs with selling travel, or anything else - at all. The Rep business should always be separate!
4) Piquing Interest with Vendor Names
Don't use Vendor names to sell the ITA! When selling the ITA - you should not mention vendor or property names (ex. Marriott, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Tui, etc.) Agents talk about vendors whose products they sell. Reps don't do that - we say things like, "You can sell EVERYTHING Travel - you will be so impressed with all the partners our host agency is working with and your customers will be excited to book with you!" These companies only allow the use of their names to sell their own products - not to sell the ITA, which is our product. Some Reps also like to talk about "licensing" as a Travel Agent. Paying for an ITA does not “get you your license.” All affiliations are under InteleTravel, ITAs do not get their own license. IATA should not be mentioned at all, as IATA is a trade group, and does not provide licensing to travel agents. The ABTA / ATOL is not in the ITA's name, it is in InteleTravel’s. Reps should say the host agency is a member of ABTA, and ATOL is covered through the host's suppliers.
Help us to Protect the PlanNet and keep our business running with integrity.
-- Policies and Procedures are located in your Virtual Office in the Information Center (go to Resources, then Policies and Procedures).
~Amanda Restivo, VP, Compliance -- arestivo@plannetmarketing.com