[nabentre] my host agency in Travel Weekly today see below

[cheryl echevarria]

If anyone would like to get into the travel business I have been doing very 
well for my first year.

More than one secret to Montrose Travel's success
By: Donna Tunney
July 19, 2010
It's been 15 years since Montrose Travel, a retail and host agency based in 
Montrose, Calif., launched its first travel award redemption program, 
providing fulfillment services to one credit union. Today the agency, having 
created its own redemption technology, handles fulfillment for major banks 
and many more credit unions.

In addition to bookings from those customers, who redeem their travel points 
through the agency, Montrose (No. 49 on Travel Weekly's 2010 Power List) 
gets a lot of new business in the form of repeat clients who have brought 
their leisure business to the firm even when they aren't redeeming bank or 
credit union reward points.

According to Joe McClure, president and co-owner, "We get a strong 
percentage of repeat business. Further, we provide [our own] double, triple 
and in some cases quadruple points to provide an incentive for fulfillment 
clients to purchase [other] travel."

In fact, he said, one in five redemption fulfillment customers subsequently 
calls the agency for a traditional transaction.

It's one of the bright spots in this agency's business model, along with 
fiscally responsible financial practices that have enabled it to grow its 
sales volume, even at the height of the recession.

After recently receiving TravelAge West's Trendsetter Award for Best 
Recession Survival Story or Strategy at the publication's 2010 Wave Awards 
(TravelAge is a sister publication to Travel Weekly), McClure and agency 
co-owners Julie McClure and Andi McClure-Mysza revealed some interesting 
information about how they weathered the economic storm.

Back in 2008, as the economy started to tank, they talked about cutting 
costs and meeting revenue challenges.

Rather than "jeopardizing their future by decreasing the number of 
employees," a statement from the company says, they cut salaries by 10% 
across the board, and by 100% for the three owners. At the same time, they 
challenged their staff to achieve greater sales.

"We created an army of selling machines and set daily goals and posted daily 
achievements," said Joe McClure. "Every single employee, whether on the 
front lines or behind the scenes, had individual requirements to drive leads 
for new business into the company."

They began actively cross-promoting within their sister divisions. In tandem 
with an aggressive marketing campaign, which featured 75,000 direct-mail 
pieces and more than a half-million marketing emails, the agency's Web 
traffic rose by 43% over the prior year, and its sales volume grew by 13% in 
new leisure and corporate business. That translated to $3.3 million in new 
business. Within 90 days, all salary cuts had been restored.

Montrose's host agency division reports $115 million in annual gross sales. 
It's an agency to keep watching.

The biggest compliment you can pay me is to recommend my services!

Cheryl Echevarria
Independent Travel Consultant
C10-10646

http://Echevarriatravel.com
1-866-580-5574

Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10