On The Deck: Julie Franklin, national accounts manager for All Leisure Group
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While the news that All Leisure Group would be joining the Association of Cruise Experts wasn’t perhaps the most surprising we’ve ever heard, it was none the less a solid sign that the brand is putting its money behind a push to further trade relations. It is of course not the only piece of news that the firm has released this week. All Leisure, which owns the Hebridean Princess, Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery brands, saw two senior executives resign in the last few days, while the company undergoes a ‘reorganisation process’. The other major change is the appointment of Julie Franklin as national accounts manager. she, along with three trade specialists, will look to further All Leisure’s relationship with the trade in the coming months. However, with such a varied – and niche – product as that owned by the company, where do you begin with the mammoth task of improving such important relations? We spoke to Julie to find out more.
Can you describe to me your role and what that entails?
My title is group national accounts manager and I look after the trade sales team at All Leisure. We’ve got three execs on the road and I look after the major key accounts. That’s my focus, which allows the execs to get out and meet our trade partners, help with sales support and be able to channel their experience into the trade. Agents are a massive part of our business so by me focusing on the big accounts, it means they can be out there on the road.
Why was the decision made by All Leisure to create this new team?
I joined Page & Moy about three years ago and that generated a massive impact on the trade because of the interaction we had but it was predominantly only me going out. When we became All Leisure this time last year, the agency sales team was reformed and restructured. I was a travel agent for twenty years before I joined this role and know how important the trade is. It’s a crucial channel and an area we can grow. We work with the cruise specialists a lot already but it’s the high street travel agent that doesn’t know too much about us that we need to work on. The only way we can do that is to get out and shout about it.
How important is the trade for All Leisure?
It’s incredibly important. By putting a team on the road that is very experienced in travel, cruise and sales it means they can go and bring that side of it to life. They can start consumer events with the trade and really push it forward. We’re a very trade friendly brand – across all of our brands. If you’re not out there then you’re out of sight and out of mind so we will be running training courses in shops getting seen as much as possible.
That sounds like a big task you’ve got ahead. How are you planning on educating the high street agent?
We’ve got a lot of contacts between us and we’ve launched heavily with the 2014 sales. We’re a brand new team and are going to incentivise the trade and have lots of other launches going forward. Any bookings that are made on the Voyages and Swan products on the 2014 itineraries can be entered to win GBP250 worth of cash for instance. There will be fam trips in Portsmouth and we’ve already taken agents up to Scotland to see the Hebridean Princess. So lots going on over the next few months!
Why do you think agents have struggled to get to grips with All Leisure before?
I think a lot of it comes down to understanding and the way around that is education. We’re a very different model to the other cruise brands out there. We’re a small company with small ships that are aimed at passengers that want their culture and historic interest. It’s not about lying in the sun all day on a huge ship. Our trade sales is about 30% so it’s very strong but there is room for growth.
What are the current commission structures?
They will get a minimum of 10% and we have absolutely no plans to cut it in any way, shape or form. We’ll always offer different tacticals whether it’s joint ventures, marketing or events. I believe in a two-way relationship and if an agent wants to work with us we’ll work with them.
Why has All Leisure joined ACE?
We’ve got a new group trade marketing manager, Sarah Weetman, and she is very passionate about ACE. It will help strengthen our relationship with the trade especially given that our brands are relatively nice. It will also give us avenues into other agencies that we probably weren’t as aware of before.
Where would you like to take All Leisure from a trade perspective?
We haven’t any specific growth targets in mind, there isn’t any actual figure but we genuinely believe that we will grow through the trade. We have a lot of brands out there and have some good ideas of how to push those brands out. We now need to give the agents the education they need. Everything we do is to enhance the customer experience and that’s what we’ve got to get across to the agents. We’re excited to get out there now.