Agent strives to ‘create close community’ with new online training series

The founder of Watford-based agency WanderLux Luxury Travel Sarah White has launched an eight-week online training series for agents to learn, exchange ideas and discuss business growth strategies.

The weekly 90-minute Beyond the Booking Mastermind sessions will be open to a total of 15 participants and will incorporate educational talks and peer-to-peer discussion in a “safe space” for idea-sharing. The course will run from December 1 to January 26.

White has been in business for 15 years and in the travel sector for almost four years, and has previously worked for Little Emperors, One Travel Club and InteleTravel. She set up WanderLux Luxury Travel under its current name earlier this year.

She told Aspire: “I’m getting together a group of people who need advice for their business as they haven’t quite nailed it yet. Maybe they’re just starting out as a homeworker, have been part-time for a couple of years and haven’t found their feet enough to go full-time yet, or are full-time agents facing their own problems.”

White said she was inspired to start the series after attending a similar concept during her earlier career in interior design.

Each week will feature a different guest speaker covering topics including mindset, confidence in sales, social media, websites, email marketing, search engine optimisation, travel blogs, artificial intelligence, supplier relationships and client retention.

Speakers featured in the series include sales specialist and coach Johann Stimson, web designer and SEO expert Rebecca Whitmore, AI software founder Sam Lupson and PR and marketing expert Sarah Stephens.

“Everybody has to bring a question [to the session] every week, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be on the topic the speaker is going to be talking on – it could be anything they’re struggling with that week,” White said.

She added: “Being a travel agent can be quite a lonely place. There are some online communities where you can ask questions, but they’re not places you can vent. There are lots of supplier events, but they’re not designed for non-supplier-related business questions.

“I want to make a community where people can be vulnerable and have their personal questions answered.”

White – who has a background in business coaching – labelled the Mastermind series a “pilot” and said she plans to implement regular monthly sessions next year addressing other common concerns such as finance, accounting and how to scale a business. Personal coaching and mentoring sessions will also be available.

She said: “I’m creating something that people can dip into and create that close community where you don’t need to talk all the time, but you still get that sense of support from people who are experiencing the same things as you.”

The package of eight Beyond the Booking sessions costs £200 to attend, with limited spaces remaining.