How Often Do You Find Yourself Saying: "I Wish I Knew How To Start A Cruise Travel Business"
Guess what? it's EASIER THAN YOU THINK, it can be done in just a few days .... and you can get "2 brothers" to help you
Once upon a
time, I was watching my "host agency
radar screen", looking for a US-based Travel Host
Agency that was worth
recommending to my readers, when I came across the
following ad on TravelWeekly
magazine:
The message on
the ad was SOOOOOO in tune with my
"specialize
or fail"
philosophy, that I HAD
TO learn more about this company.
I started by visiting their website ( cruisebrothers.com ),
and I was pleased to find:
A nice, clean, functional, user-frienfly and
"customer-oriented" site design
Great content: cruises, cruises, cruises and more cruises!
The next day, I was on the phone with Steve Gelfuso, The Cruise
Brother's owner and president, and with Jimmy Kolenda, the
Director of Business Development.
In my several conversations with them I learned that:
The "Cruise
Brothers" are actually "real" brothers;-)
The family-owned business has been around since 1972
( That's over 35 years of experience as cruise brokers!)
Their success is due, to a great extent, to their well-trained international
network of expert cruise agents (Independent Agents)
I continued
"interviewing" Steve and Jimmy during a few phone calls, and ......
...... I decided that I was going to let
this "well-kept secret" out of the bag
So here it is:
Ladies and gentlemen, if you live in the United States, if you want to start your own home based travel
agency business, AND if you're interested in the marvellous world of Cruising, then
joining "The Cruise Brothers" is the easiest, most economical and
effective way to start your career as a Cruise Travel Agent.
Why?
Well, I'll give you more details in a moment, but here are a few top
reasons:
The Cruise
Brothers is amongst the TOP
15 cruise brokers in North America, which tells you that
the company is focused on SELLING CRUISES, and not just in "signing up"
lots of agents.
The fact that they're amongst the top cruise brokers means
that YOU will be very
competitive because the company is able to offer you great
commission levels while offering great prices to your clients.
You
will have access to "cruise-booking technology" that is
so easy to use, that you can literally start selling
cruises and earning commissions in a matter of days.
Then, I checked out what many existing CruiseBrothers.com agents had to
say about their
host agency, and here's what I found:
In May of 1999
I called and made an appointment for an interview at Cruise Brothers
and met with Steven Gelfuso their owner. I received the information I
was seeking about Cruise Brothers.
What a great advantage it has been being able work at home in CT. My
fellow employees were eager to help with my bookings and any questions
I had when making reservations.
I have found
that Steven Gelfuso was available and gave me great support in
my ideas. I joined the local Chamber of Commerce in CT, where
I now am a member of the Board of Director and Chairman of the Retail
Committee.
I
love seeking out Groups that I have booked cruises for. The
Groups I have always been proud to have put together are, Fife
& Drum Corps from Connecticut, New York and New Jersey that I
arranged for to perform with the Bermuda Regiment Band in Bermuda and
also a performance in Nassau, Bahamas where I worked with the Bahamas
Board of Tourism People to People program.
Our Customer
Service Department has always been available to help with any situation
that might come up that I needed advice about.
I have had a
wonderful experience working with the Cruise Brothers and as I look
back I wish it hadn't taken me as long to find them. I would definitely
recommend this program to anyone! - Sal
Chiaramonte
___________________________________________
I've always
enjoyed helping people plan their vacations and I knew I would love to
be a travel agent.
But, I chose to be a stay-at-home mom. When I found out I
could do both I was ecstatic!
CruisingFree.com
has provided me with my own website to make bookings on, an
excellent support team, AND they take care of all the
paperwork. Best of all, I can do it from home. -
Karla
DiIorio
_____________________________________
After cruising
quite a few times, my husband and I thought selling cruise vacations
was a great idea. After searching on the Internet, we came across
"cruisingfree.com". After many questions and conversations
with Jimmy Kolenda, we decided to become home cruise agents.
During the last couple of months the support team at Cruise
Brothers have been helpful and supportive. We are happy we decided to
go with Cruise Brothers. - Helen Coletti
______________________________________
I
love being able to refer people to my website – where they
are able to search until they find the cruise they are looking for. The
best part is, if they find something they like they can book online
right away. It’s so simple! Of course if they need help they
can always call. - Cindy Clark
_________________________________
I shopped
around for a host agency and really read all of the fine print
– with CruisingFree.com there are no hidden costs and monthly
fees, just the start up fee of $299 and a $99 yearly renewal. I just
paid my $299 and was set up in a matter of days. I made it back with my first
booking – now that’s incredible! Thank
you CruisingFree.com! - John Moore
___________________________________
When I signed
up I wasn’t sure what to expect, I am retired and love to
travel but know nothing about selling travel.
The support I
have received is second to none, if I have a question I always
get a professional and courteous answer! Mandi has been great - she
goes above and beyond to help me. The weekly sales meetings are in
depth and informative and I have referred many of my retired friends to
sign up too! - Rosemary Kelloway
__________________________________________
CruisingFree.Com
is a great opportunity. To actually work at home and make
money is fantastic. I joined cruisingfree.com a few months
ago, and I have already booked a group cruise.
The Cruise
Brothers' support group is great in answering any questions and you get
your answers right away. Having your own web site is a plus -
you can research and price any cruise available as well as
book your clients right on your site. Just hand out your
business cards and tell everyone you know that you are a
Cruise Specialist and before you know it, you will be
booking cruises too. The best part of it, is that you never
feel like your working because it is actually fun to book
cruises.
Give it a try! - Brenda Beauregard
________________________________________
The
CruisingFree.com program is working great for me! It is
wonderful to have the website for people to browse and book on
their own; but it is great for me when I do the bookings, because it is
accurate and complete, so when you get to the end of the
process, everything is there. When you quote a price, you
know it is a total price and can pass it on to the customer with
confidence.
The support from the office is top-notch; Davis is
a great help to the associate agents; answering all questions and
assisting with any problems. I'm enjoying this new venture and know I
will have continued success with such a good program. - Rhonda
Salvatore
So far so good, right? But,
I'm sure you have tons of
questions
... and here are the answers:
If your question is not answered here, e-mail
Steven Gelfuso
and he'll be happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Q:
How much for this
business opportunity?
A: There is
a one time fee of $299.00 that gets you into our Cruise Brothers Club
as an official CruiseBrothers.com Associate Agent.
Other than
that there is only a yearly renewal fee of $99.00.
Once you've been accepted as a CruiseBrothers.com
Associate Agent,
you will receive Business Cards and an official Cruise Brothers Shirt.
You do have to check in your state to see if you need a
license
(Call your State Department of Business Regulations. There may be a
small annual business registration fee.).
Note:
You are not buying
a franchise. You are an independent contractor fully supported by the
CruiseBrothers.com. We will send you a 1099 form for all of the money
you
make.
As a CruiseBrothers.com Associate Agent
you will
earn from 50% of the commission on each sale you make online. ( i.e.
an average commission on a cabin is $350.00. The Associate Agent will
receive $175.00 and Cruise Brothers will receive $175.00, this
example is based on a 50% commission rate.)
As
a CruiseBrothers.com
Associate Agent, you make contact with relatives, friends,
associates, social or church groups - anyone - and sign up (take
reservations for) people who
want to cruise. For each new cruiser who signs up (books a
cruise), you receive a
commission. The
CruiseBrothers.com does all the rest, including:
Paperwork: Invoices, payments, tickets, mailing tickets to
customers,
flight arrangements, scheduling, etc...
Plus,
you will receive a $100 bonus for referring others to sign up to
become a CruisingFree.com Sales Representative and you will also
receive 10% of the commission on all of the sales your active
referred CruiseBrothers.com Associate Agents make
online. (ie.
Average commission on a cabin is $350. The CruiseBrothers.com
Associate Agent you refer receives: $175, your share is $35, and
Cruise Brothers’ share is $140).
A: As a
CruiseBrothers.com Associate Agent, we recognize
that our
business success is predicated on you becoming successful and that is
why we have created a site dedicated to increasing your business with
a wealth of information that has become successful for us over the
past 35 years as well as for your client to see the value of their
product.
As a CruiseBrothers.com Associate Agent, we'll show
you how
and will help you with these proven methods. Actually, lots of your
friends and acquaintances may already be taking cruises and they
aren't buying from you because they don't know you
can help them.
Q: I
live so far away, will it work? (The Cruise Brothers company is based
in Cranston, Rhode Island, USA - Please, note that
they have agents throughout both, the USA and
Canada)
A: Distance and
geography do not affect sales or doing efficient business. In fact,
most of our customers prefer to book over the phone and
online.
You
will have your own personal website and your customers
can book their
cruise online from virtually anywhere. And remember, you are using
800 numbers for Cruise Line and CruiseBrothers.com calls. In most
cases, you can obtain pricing from the cruise lines via the
internet.
A: A quiet,
comfortable workspace, a computer with internet access and a
telephone is all you need. As your job requires you to provide
professional travel services to clients, your workspace should be
free from distractions so that you can concentrate on providing the
best possible service to your clients. Clients should not have to
listen to children playing or crying in the background, dogs barking,
birds chirping, or any other non-work environment sounds.
We recommend a
high-speed internet connection for your computer (it's not absolutely
required, but it will make things easier (and faster!) for you. In
order to help ensure compatibility over the internet, the latest
version of Microsoft Internet Explorer is recommended for all web
access.
If your computer is an Apple Macintosh, you will also need a
Windows emulator program (like Virtual PC), as one of our software
programs does require Windows to work. In addition, we strongly
recommend that you invest is some type of anti-virus software for
your computer.
We'll
provide you with all
the other tools you'll need!
Q:
Why work with the CruiseBrothers.com? Why not do it myself?
A:
CruiseBrothers.com is one of the most recognizable names in the
cruise business. Some people think of the Blues Brothers, others tell
us it's the sailor outfits, and still others have seen our television
commercials where Steve gets hit with a bucket of water. One thing is
for sure, our logo sells cruises.
Save Time
and Effort- Start-up fees, forms, and costs could be thousands of
dollars.
The time to learn and develop the contacts would take you many
months.
Earn More
Commissions
- Alone, you would be working on
much lower commission level. When
you share with us, you
get the highest commissions in the industry.
Ease
of doing
business - Become an expert, know what you're
doing. As part
of the largest cruise vacation agencies in the country,
CruiseBrothers.com Associates are respected by the Cruise Lines. You
will do business faster, do more deals and you will do higher volume.
You get knowledge and personal back-up. YOU are on a TEAM!
No
need for
secretaries, receptionists, and the like-
We do it
for you. Our professional support staff is Second To None.
We take
care of all the invoicing, paperwork, etc., all in the name of making
you more profitable selling cruise travel.
Access
To Special
Discounted Rates On Most Major Cruise lines - The
cruise
lines give the CruiseBrothers.com special rates such that their sales
force can pass these on to consumers. These rates in most cases can't
be beat by anyone in the industry and thus, the consumer is more
likely to buy from a CruiseBrothers.com Associate than other agencies
just on the cost factor alone.
Great
Support
- Communication is the single most failing point of other Associate
programs. Not the CruiseBrothers.com, though. The Cruise Brothers
utilize information processing technology to distribute information
to its Associates via the internet. Every CruiseBrothers.com
Associate Agent is assigned an Inside Agent to help answer
any
questions, either by phone or e-mail. We Want You To Sell. So it's in
our best interest to help you do so. And so, we don't leave you out
in the cold.
Connections
With
The Cruise Lines - Our relationship with the
Cruise Lines
allows us many advantages over other agencies. When we need specific
accommodations, last minute changes, or any other special requests,
the cruise lines are more than willing to spend the time with us and
get it done whereas if it were another agency, they might just say,
"It's simply just too late to make any changes." In fact,
we even have special phone numbers (set aside solely for top
producers) that we are assigned for just such cases.
Travel
at Reduced
Rates and
Cruise For Free-
As a productive
associate,
you'll be eligible to travel at reduced rates. Also, as a group
leader, you'll even have the opportunity to Cruise For Free. This is
a program exclusive to the CruiseBrothers.com and is funded and
supported by the Cruise Brothers for their top producing
associates.
Q:
How soon can I go on a free or reduced fare cruise?
A:
That depends.
As soon as you get a group and go as their cruise
leader, you can go for free. Reduced rate cruises are offered by the
cruise lines to agents and associates based on their ability to
provide bookings, so the more you book, the better your chances of
qualifying for these special fares!
After collecting and
reviewing your information we will call you back and let you know
about becoming a CruiseBrothers.com Sales Representative.
Not
everyone will be accepted. As a family business, we are
committed to
our family of associates. We are committed to helping our associates
make money, enjoy traveling and having FUN.
Once
you've been
accepted into the program, you will receive a Welcome Aboard e-mail
containing all the information they need to start booking.
When I was talking to Steve and Jimmy ( from CruiseBrothers.com ), I
mentioned that I was going to feature their company on my website because it
receives lots of visitors from the US ...
..... then, I asked them if there was a 'little something' they might want
to offer those who learned about them through this site:
They said YES and "The Cruise Brothers" have agreed to give my readers and
subscribers a $50.00
discount off the registration fee .... as long you provide
"the code": "PowerCruise3000" ----
They told me they'd do this for a limited time
only .....
