While selling and planning travel are more than enough for a fulfilling career, some advisors find their passion in mentoring others. That’s how Epperly Travel was originally founded: Lindsey’s love for planning was second only to her love for helping other advisors, leading her to build a team of both assistants and independent contractors. It’s also why Epperly Travel is unique at fostering teams. With the concept being relatively newer to the travel industry, we saw a need for specific support, business acumen, and community focused around the team model.
Since building teams is in our DNA, it’s a topic we’re passionate about guiding advisors on, should it be part of their career dreams. We strongly encourage teams to be built after several years in the industry, as well as a specific sales goal, so that advisors are in a position to better mentor and equip others on their team. Whether it’s scaling via the employee-based model of assistants or by way of a team of independent contractors, if you love both sales and mentoring others, the team-based advisor model might be right for you.
If this is something you’re pursuing or one day want to pursue, we’ve got our top tips for successfully building a team of travel advisors below!
1) ORGANIZE YOUR BOOK OF BUSINESS BEFORE HIRING
Don’t forget: you’ll still have an entire book of business while building your team! Whether it’s creating systems or hiring an assistant, make sure your clients are taken care of so you can devote the time and effort to see your team succeed.
2) DETERMINE YOUR DIFFERENTIATOR
The more you define what your leadership, your brand, and your mission bring to the table, the more you’ll stand apart from the crowd and attract the best fitting team members.
3) MAKE A PLAN FOR TRAINING AND MENTORING
Just because the industry lacks a clear-cut path to success doesn’t mean your team has to face the same challenges. A combination of training and mentoring makes for the savviest advisors. Want to work smarter not harder? Use an established training platform, like EntreTravel, so you can pour your heart into what your team needs from you the most: mentorship.
4) FIND YOUR TRIBE
Even if you have a business plan, building and fostering a team will inevitably take more time and pose more hurdles than you anticipated. It helps to have a community that can relate, swap best practices, and act as a sounding board. Find others with similar goals, no matter where they are in building their team, and stick together.
5) HONE YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS & SHIFT YOUR MINDSET
When an advisor jumps from solopreneur to team leader, we often see moments of an identity crisis — not to mention imposter syndrome rearing its ugly head. Be prepared for this by investing in yourself as a leader – read all the books, listen to all the podcasts, and interview all the mentors you have in your rolodex.
Interested in learning more? See our tips below or shoot us a message from the careers page to share more about your business goals and one of our team members will be in touch!
