But, what I don't understand is why I did not learn the things I set out to learn. Things such as:
- Why a compensation plan takes 12pages to define.
- How YTB arrived at $226 Million in travel sold for 2006.
- Why so little of the "training" at the annual convention was for travel.
- How nearly 150,000 RTAs can pay in the course of 9 months $79 million dollars in website sales, fees, and training; and receive $9.3 million in return.
- And for those that say I don't get the math, I did not learn how nearly 150,000 people paid in $79 million dollars and only got $64 million in return.
- Why it is a good thing to have your top executives selling off stock.
- Why a 3:1 split was a good deal when two of the three shares are worthless.
- Why employees at YTB could not sell me a cruise on November 9th.
- Why when presented with facts and figures, the argument mysteriously turns to "you don't understand".
- How many RTAs drop out in a month...a year.....
- How long does an RTA continue to pay the fee before canceling.
- How it is a misunderstanding with IATAN and Royal Caribbean.
- How the air gets booked -- through a YTB ARC number or a Travelocity number.
- What exactly the insurance covers that YTB claims covers all of the RTAs.
- The number of RTAs and Reps that actually comply with local business licensing regulations.
- The number of RTAs that comply with the Seller of Travel laws in the states that have them.
- Why there have been no updated RTA earning reports since July 2007. Never mind I know--too embarrassing.
- How a company can offer health insurance and not have the people classified as employees.
- Why all Reps and RTAs are afraid of divulging a ballpark figure of their earnings for fear of the SEC coming down on them.
- Why, out of over 300,000 views of my column, was not one single RTA able to step up to the challenge and prove that they are earning a living selling travel.
- Why people involved in one MLM that did not work for them, seem to gravitate toward another. I smacked my dog in the nose enough times and he knows not to pee on the carpet.
I want to know how much more of this crap we are supposed to endure before they completely ruin an industry. They cannot move to Canada and England fast enough for my tastes.
ReplyDeleteHow the air gets booked -- through a YTB ARC number or a Travelocity number.
ReplyDeleteyep, that's my question too.
YTB isn't moving. YTB is expanding! if you can't take it, then move to Africa!
ReplyDeleteJohn, all these things you say you didn't learn about are easy to learn if you would have opened your mouth at the meeting and asked. instead, you just sat there and waited to see if someoneelse would have asked a question first. I thought you were a leader? Leaders don't wait for things to happen. Leaders make things happen! Leaders ask questions without hesitation so they can have the answers to share.
1. compensation plan... 12 pages
CAN YOU BREAK IT DOWN TO 1 PAGE AND KEEP IT TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE? YTB BREAKS DOWN EACH AND EVERY ASPECT OF THE COMPENSATION PLAN. WHEN YOU BUILD A MODEL CAR, DO YOU WANT THE INSTRUCTIONS IN A NUTSHELL, OR DO YOU PREFER IT STEP BY STEP?
2. CONVENTION IS ABOUT THE COMPANY
TRADE SHOWS ARE ABOUT TRAINING
HOW HARD IS THAT TO FIGURE OUT???
3. YOU ARE FORGETTING THAT YTB HAS GROWN TREMENDOUSLY IN THE PAST YEAR. MANY RTAS WANT TO FULLFILL THEIR TRAINING! MANY CREATED DOWNLNES... MANY HAVE NOT REACHE THAT POINT YET. MANY HAVE SOLD TRAVEL, AND MANY HAVE NOT DONE SO YET. PEOPLE MOVE AT DIFFERENT PACES. NOT ALL RTAs HAVE BEEN IN YTB OF 9 WHOLE MONTHS!
4. STOCK: (for example)WHEN $3 SHARE SPLITS 3:1, YOU GET 3 SHARES = $1 WHEN ONE SHARE INCREASES IN VALUE, AL SHARES INCREAS IN THE SAME VALUE.
5. THE CALL CENTER DOES NOT HANDLE CRUISE BOOKINGS! YES, THEY CAN SELL CERTIFICATES WHICH CAN ONLY BE REDEMED THROUGH AN RTA OR AN RTA's WEBSITE!
6. IT TURNS INTO "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND", BECAUSE... SIMPLY... YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!
7. WHEN AN RTA CANCELS THEIR ACCOUNT, IT IS UP TO THE RTA TO NOTIFY HQ THAT THEY ARE CANCELED! UPON NOTIFICATION, THE BILLING WILL CEASE. IF AN RTA FAILS TO NOTIFY HQ, THEN THEY WILL KEEP BEING BILLED, AND IT'S THE FAULT OF THE RTA... NOT YTB HQ!
8. I NEVER HEARD OF ANY MISUNDERSTANDING ON HOW AIR IS BOOKED WITH RCCL AND IATAN. MAYBE THE PERSON WHO MISUNDERSTOOD WAS SLEEPING DURING THE SEMINAR WHEN IT WAS EXPLAINED.
9. INSURANCE:
HERE'S WHERE YOU SHOUL HAVE SPOKEN UP AND ASKED A QUESTION AT THE MEETING WHEN YOU HAD EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO. INSURANCE COVERS LIFE, HEALTH AND DENTAL FOR SINGLE OR FAMILY.
10.ALL YTB RTAs HAVE TO FILL OUT "SELLER OF TRAVEL FORM, HAVE IT NOTERIZED AND SENT IN TO THE STATE OF RESIDENCE. YTB'S RTA'S HAVE TO COMPLY WITH ALL REGULATIONS SET BY THERI STATE JUST LIKE ANYONE ELSE.
11. YTB INTERNATIONAL ENDS 2007 ON HIGH NOTE
WOOD RIVER, IL, December 20, 2007 -- YTB International, Inc. (OTC PK: YTBLA) ('YTB' or the 'Company'), a leading provider of Internet-based travel booking services for travel agencies and home-based independent representatives in the United States, is calling 2007 its best year ever, and is looking forward to continued success in 2008.
"Thanks to the hard work and commitment of our RTAs, 2007 has been a record-breaking year for YTB. We saw our first consecutive quarters of profitability with record revenue and net income. In addition, we more than doubled the size of our RTA network to more than 135,000 RTAs, reaching every state in the U.S. and Puerto Rico," said Scott Tomer, chief executive officer of YTB International. "We plan to build on this foundation in 2008 by expanding into Canada, offering fantastic tour packages for the Beijing Olympics, and continuing to improve our training programs and transactional systems, as well as many other new initiatives and opportunities."
Some of the company's highlights for the year include the following:
• Increasing total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 by 207.6% to $95.9 million, compared to $31.2 million for the same period last year;
• Being named by Travel Weekly as one of the top eleven leisure travel agencies and one of the 35 largest travel agencies overall for 2006;
• Having YTB International President, J. Kim Sorensen, named by Travel Weekly as one of the 33 most influential people in the travel industry;
• Holding a record-setting cruise "sail-a-thon," booking more than 12,000 passengers in less than 24 hours;
• Rolling out "YTB E-Campus," designed by Dr. Marc Mancini, one of the travel industry's most highly respected speakers, educators and consultants;
• Adding 93 new YTB Sales Directors between January 1, 2007 and December 17, 2007; and,
• Exceeding $225 million in travel sales for 2006 and already more than doubling that figure for 2007.
"This has been a great year for YTB," continued Tomer. "We've put a fantastic team in place from our executive staff to legal and communications partners, and, of course, our representatives in the field, who are really the heart and soul of YTB and the new face of travel on the Internet."
About YTB International
Recognized as the 35th largest seller of travel in the U.S. in 2006 by Travel Weekly, YTB International, Inc. provides Internet-based travel booking services for travel agencies and home-based independent representatives in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. It operates through three subsidiaries: YourTravelBiz.com, Inc., YTB Travel Network, Inc., and REZconnect Technologies, Inc. YourTravelBiz.com division focuses on marketing online travel agencies through a nationwide network of independent business people, known as 'Reps.' YTB Travel Network division establishes and maintains travel vendor relationships, books travel transactions of online travel agents (RTAs, now numbering more than 135,000), collects travel commissions and pays sales commissions. Each RTA sells travel through a personalized Internet-based travel website. The REZconnect Technologies division builds online reservation systems for suppliers within the travel industry. For more information, visit http://www.ytbi.com/investor.
Statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.
# # #
12. WHY DO YOU THINK ALL MLMS ARE SCAMS? THOSE WHO THINK THEY ARE EITHER ARE SKEPTICAL OR GOT INTO ONE THINKING IT WAS A "GET RICH QUICK BY DOING NOTHING THING". JUST LIKE ANY OTHER BUSINESS... YOU MUST WORK IT TO BE SUCCESSFUL! IF YOU WORK IT, IT WORKS FOR YOU. WITH YTB, EVERYONE HAS THE SAME EXACT OPPORTUNITY!
WORK = SUCCESS
NOTHING = FAILURE
NOW YOU LEARNED SOMETHING... I HOPE!
Long post, but doesn't answer the easiest question of all...9 cabins on which cruiseline and which cruise? Cutting and pasting your backoffice page should cover it...
ReplyDeleteThat's agent/client confidentiality.
ReplyDeleteDo you go around telling people where your clients are? I hope not.
Taking you points and offering a rebuttal as to why they are still not answering my questions:
ReplyDelete1. Your car model analogy...you are not building the plan, you are the beneficiary. The question I have is why doers it take 12 pages to explain how someone gets paid? Getting paid is not a complex issue, except for YTB which requires 12 pages to explain. How big is the Coach's comp plan? I bet a LOT shorter
2. Trade shows are for vendors to show their products. Ask anyone that has attended a company convention or annual meeting--they are mostly about training. But then again, most of those companies are in the travel biz. Not YTB!
3. You talk of their growth as if that is a valid reason for the RTAs collectively to lose $69 million dollars. When you are growing, it is reasonable to think that the others might be profiting as well. But I guess it is the early adopters and the upline that makes any money.
4. The stock. Yes, you got three shares, but two of them are non-negotiable and are redeemable at a price for 2:1. So, if you owned 1 share when it split (at $6.00 I believe), you now own 1 share ($6.00) and 2 shares of a different class redeemable for Class A at 2:1. So at this point, each of those shares is worth $3. Fast forward to today. Stock is at $1. You can sell your one share for a buck (but YTB already disclosed that is not likely to happen because of past accounting irregularities and listing on the pinkies) and you can trade in both of your Class B stocks for a single share of Class A and sell it. So now you have value of $2. So, your $6 investment in September (and I hope you did not buy it at $9 or $18)is worth $2. SO, run that past me again about how great of a deal it was..
5. The call center. From what I have heard these are the ONLY people trained in travel in YTB. Why are they not capable of selling a cruise? Who do you call when you have a problem--the call center. So, if they are only capable of selling certificates, aren't you doing an injustice to your clients? But then again, clients cannot get to the call center (unless they read the Cruise Sale ads) and are just left to deal directly with the vendors.
6. IT TURNS INTO "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND", BECAUSE... SIMPLY... YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!
(You honor, I rest my case)
7. OK, so now I get it. If an RTA is too embarassed to admit the system does not work and does not immediately notify YTB, the charges will continue. That is foolish on the RTAs part, but YTB knows that the RTA is inactive and maybe ought to delist them from their rolls. So, if you say you have 160,000 RTAs right now, how many do you REALLY have?
8. The misunderstanding. Listen to your own president. He said that the RCCL and IATAN "issues" were misunderstandings and that YTB would be back in good graces. There was really no misunderstanding. It was complete understanding.
9. Insurance. We were told that there was no insurance needed when you join YTB it was all covered. I am not talking about the piddly RTA insurance. I am talking about this vague concept of "insurance". Is it E&O, what are the limits and coverages? Is it business liability? Is it client insurance? It is all very (purposefully?) vague.
10.Seller of Travel. Most states do not require this--that is why YTB has been so successful in recruiting. I am talking about basic business registration. Business checking accounts, business licenses, home based licenses, and yes SOT licenses if required.
11. Why the recap of the press release? Why not answer the unanswered points? Can you come up with something more than "you don't understand"?
How does your air get booked? YTB number or Travelocity number?
How can YTB claim you are independent on one hand and then offer health insurance as a benefit on the other?
Why has YTB not updated any of the Rep and RTA earning reports since July? Have they earned anything since July?
Why people move from one horrible MLM experience directly into one that is ultimately worse?
I think you are talking in double negatives. You know the answers. You just want to validate the negative. YTB is 2 separate businesses. One is travel. Some folks join to sell travel. They work hard. They learn the business and earn the certifications. They may or may not ever sponsor anyone. The other is a MLM company that sells travel-booking sites. They may never sell any travel. Anyone who understands the MLM concept as it is taught in Colleges like Harvard Business School realizes that it is a perfect engine to bring a product to market.
ReplyDeleteStep back in time to when I joined Amway in the late 70’s. I joined to get a better price on the laundry soap. To this day I love the soap and have someone I buy it from. I understood the MLM side and knew I would never be good at selling. I still understand that the money is there to be made. Human nature shows us that only a few will do the hard work to make the big income figures.
A very few will see the value in both businesses. But I do not see how they would have the energy to build both at the same time. Quite honestly I give them credit for trying.
The MLM folks do not care what they sell. It could be purple toilet paper. The hook in this case is travel. The MLM business model has a strong appeal. It always will. A few jerks will not ruin the travel industry. They are simply an embarrassment to themselves.
Some of us are lucky enough to be working in travel. We love what we do. We are not millionaires. We are normal people who found our niche. I believe that the folks in YTB who joined to sell travel are just like us. They found a way to get started doing something they love.
John, Your business is a pyramid. You are at the top. The agents that work for you will never reach your level they make you richer (unless you are a co-op). So stop calling the kettle black. You have your empire and they have theirs. They are so different that I have trouble comprehending your love of putting them down. Why do you care so much?
OK so my understanding of all this madness is that YTB just wants to provide another on-line booking engine for people who want to book their own travel and should in no way be confused with an actual service business.
ReplyDeleteWould anyone dispute that? Ok
So, the question that I keep asking over and over and over is if someone is serious about providing a service to their clients and making a living in travel, rather than making a living in selling websites, would they stay with YTB?? I understand about the upline and the downline and the pyramid and the kool-aid, but in the long run you could make a whole lot more money if you got to keep 100% of your commissions and had i.c.'s that you were keeping a small percentage of as well.
You guys keep bragging about how big YTB is getting. The bigger YTB gets, the less important you will become. I have worked for small companies, and big ones, and I would never go back to a large corp. again. You'll become nothing but a number. And as little attention as YTB pays to what their reps are doing now, I can't imagine what kind of crap will happen when they go outside the country. I had to take an entire course on neutral units of currency when I was in travel school. I can't imagine there is a single YTBer that will know how to handle an out of the country transaction.
Maybe if YTB operated as two separate businesses we would not have too much to talk about. The issue is that they don't. They promote the perks and discounted travel, and blah blah blah incessantly. Under their program you cannot make a living selling travel. THAT is the hook.
ReplyDeleteThe money to be made (on the Rep and YTB end) is in selling the sites---travel is merely the conduit. As you said it could be purple toilet paper, and to be honest I wish it was.
Which brings me to why do I care so much? Apparently you have never been passionate about something. When you see someone kill a dog after a dogfight does it upset you? Why ruin the dog?
Well, I see YTB as Michael Vick. Doing his darndest to further line his own pockets, without regard to the laws, the ethics, or the morality of his actions.
YTB comes in and because they are able to get a group of people to purchase THEIR OWN travel, they feel entitled to call themselves a travel agent. They feel entitled to all the limited perks and benefits. They feel entitled to thumb their nose at the industry.
If you negotiated a discount and called yourselves a travel club--no problem. If you actually had a core group of people that really sold travel (and I am talking some that can make more than $47 a month), then maybe there would not be an issue.
I do not know the inside scoop on being a jeweler, but I do know that I can buy gold roping wholesale and sell it online. Does this automatically make me a jeweler?
I can buy a repair manual for Bentley Motor Cars (only the Cocaine White ones of course) and read it, but does that make me a certified Bentley mechanic?
I can go online and shuffle stocks at E-Trade. Does that make me a CFP?
See, YOU don't get it. YTB has come in here and is just giving (and likely will continue to give) this industry a bad name. You have f_cking idiots like Earl posting on YouTube. You have imbeciles like Metre spouting off about her stable of Mercedes and Cocaine White Bentleys. You have others making ridiculous claims that they are making over six figures selling travel. It is all smoke and mirrors and bullshit. And what is more disgraceful is that YTB corporate either does not give a rat's ass or (more likely) they are unable to exert any control over their people. Heaven forbid you fire an RTA for being an assclown. Look at the implications--$50 less per month in income, and having to report that an RTA actually left. We cannot have that now can we?
So, yes I do care. Unlike what I have seen from YTB. And believe me, as soon as this crashes and burns--you all will be running like rats off a sinking ship because you have no loyalty. None to the company, none to the industry, and probably none to your family and friends.
And to expound a bit on what John has just said.....why is it that YTB seems to be the main target? Because they are the largest, and their people are the ones making the most noise. It was the YTB members that came here and started their "yah-yahing". If someone from GTI or Traversus did the same, they would be getting the same responses.
ReplyDeleteNo matter the name of the company, MLM's and Travel ARE a bad mix.
John;
ReplyDeleteWanted to set the record straight on the stock split.
You can find this information on our Investors Relations site.
"The Issuer has two classes of common stock, Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock. The two classes of common stock are identical in all respects except as to voting power, as shares of Class A Common Stock are entitled to one-tenth vote per share, and shares of Class B Common Stock, one vote per share, on all matters submitted to a vote of the Issuer's stockholders. Because shares of Class B Common Stock automatically convert into Class A Common Stock on a one-for-one basis upon sale."
I'll see what we can do about getting the rest of your unanswered questions answered in early 2008.
I have a New Years Eve party to attend too.
Here's to getting along in 2008. ;-P
Doug
AKA: TravelPro
JF . . . don't know where you got 160,000 RTAs. YTB is right at 137,000. Naturally, things slow down near and during the Holidays. But they will pick up in a big way during January. And not because of Canada . . . right here in the good old USA.
ReplyDeleteAnd, even though we disagree on many things . . . Happy New Year to you!
I got the 160,000 number from your Director in Florida....
ReplyDeleteYTB has about 160,000 RTAs. That's not that many people. It's only enough to fill 2 football stadiums! A single town has more people living in it! what i am trying to say is that YTB is still on the ground floor level as far as joining goes. EVERYONE has the SAME opportunity! If one enters the business and does what he/she is supposed to do, then he/she will be successful. If he/she does absolutely nothing, then he/she will receive absolutely NOTHING!!!
Well, he is wrong. My numbers are accurate as to the number of active RTAs paying their $49.95 monthly fee. YTB's goal this year had been 152,000, up from 60,500 at the end of 2006.
ReplyDeleteI am naturally pro-YTB, but I will not exaggerate things.
Happy New Year!
It was about the 12th post here
ReplyDeletehttps://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6899555724118794967&postID=8019638364976014640
Out of curiosity, could it be that there are 160,000 RTAs and only the 137,000 are PAYING--since some don't pay when they recruit 6 people?
Signing off for the night. My kids and I have a water taxi to catch for a late night band and a fireworks show at midnight as the crab drops into the pot!
Happy New Year To All!
The call center handles the booking AFTER it is booked. To do an actual booking, a client MUST go through an RTA! How is that NOT sinking into your head??????
ReplyDeleteInsurance... John, you really specify which insurance you are talking about. You're like a customer ina doughnut shop standing 10 feet away from the case telling the person behind the counter,"I want that one!" Well... which one????
Also, about the compensation plan... it is laid out in detail... EVERY ASPECT of it so that it is clearly understandable!!!! People who get into YTB know exactly EVERY aspect of the compensation plan! For God's sake, the car model instructions were just an analogy John!!!
Why can't you understand that??????
BRAVO CHRISTINA!!! She actually understands... and she is not even YTB!!!
The travel trade show known as Funshine East was all about our vendors coming to train us!!! I know, because i was there!!!!! You can't argue that case!!!!!!
As for question 8, it was about booking air with a cruise... not the bump in the road between YTB, IATAN and RCCL. If you meant it that way, you should have worded it that way and not mentioned air... unless you meant to say "aire" instead of "air".
As for the inactive vs. dropping out...
Yes, YTB HQ will know an RTA has been inactive only if an RTA doesn't make the monthly payments, but they won't know if the RTA has dropped out unless the RTA notifies HQ that this is the case. when an RTA is inactive, the RTA's booking engine goes on suspension until payment is caught up. If a YTB RTA or REP says it doesn't work, it's only because they failed to work the business!!!
DO NOTHING = GET NOTHING = FAILURE!
DO A LOT = GET A LOT = SUCCESS!!!
YTB doesn't fail for people! people who do nothing after just joining YTB fail themselves!!!
#11, you just asked for a new press release, so i gave it to you to prove that July wasn't the only one!
now, if Christina understands, then why can't any of you others understand???? I explained all of this as simple as i could. Even my 7 year old neice would understand this! No offense John, but is your mind so full of that "stinkin thinkin" that nothing else could ever penetrate past your ears... or rather... eyes???
How do you think Coca-cola came to the stores? It was marketed! How about the car you drive? It was marketed!
Did you know that auto dealers use marketing tools as well? When a customer buys a car, they becoma a marketer for the dealership. A dealership will pay that previous customer anywhere between $50 and $100 for every single person they tell to shop there and they actually buy a car! This is a form of MLM. I get paid $100 if I get someone else to go to the Lexus dealer and buy a car, the dealer earns a commission, and the customer drives away happy!
The key is "active" and number is indeed 137,000.
ReplyDeleteThe "6 recruits and you don't pay" actually works like this . . . Every RTA pays the $49.95 each month. Even the top money earners in YTB pay $49.95. On the 11th of the month, the computer verifies that the RTA has recruited 6 RTAs personally that are each paying the $49.95. When that is verified, the computer issues a check to the RTA for $49.95.
I will go back to every RTA website leading up to the cruise sale. The instructions were to call YTB at a special toll free number and book your cruise. Mistake or not, one would think that HQ could handle that. I saw a column in TW from Jan 2007 where Coach said that for those that cant book, HQ has a staff of 100 and most are travel agents.
ReplyDeleteThe insurance. I am not being vague. Your presentations are vague. They do not tell you what the insurance actually is. When asked, they say that HQ takes care of it all. Well, HQ does not take care of it all.
Compensation plan. Fine it is laid out in detail, but honestly, most do not understand it. I know this because I have received so many different versions of what the plan is. Even you a=t one point were confused on sales and revenues and if they came from recruiting or travel. Remember? SO, please do not tell me of the simplicity of this document.
Funshine Shows--ok, so it is a parade of vendors showing their wares. Trade show--not training.
I never asked about booking air with a cruise. I said I don't know how an air reservation is booked--is it under a YTB ARC number or a Travelocity ARC number.
In a separate point, I asked exactly how it was a "misunderstanding" (your own President's words) about RCCL and IATAN deeming you a card mill and showing you the door.
So, you have no idea how many RTAs are actively booking travel. Thanks for a straight forward answer. If they are paying $49 a month, they are active--regardless if they book any travel. Cross that one off the list.
I never asked for a new press release. Please read. I asked about a new RTA and Rep earnings report. You know the one that says the average RTA earned $57 last month. If you need a link to July's reports, let me know and I will send them to you.
Regarding your 7 year old niece....did you sell her a site?
And finally on your car dealer comment. I am sure some salespeople and some agencies will offer that. To me it almost smells of desperation. One would think that their product or service might stand on their own merits! Hmmm, imagine that!
Funny, I never thought a Lexus dealer would be desperate to sell cars... LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteActually, the majority of dealerships nationwide do offer this incentive program to their paying customers. you see, a dealership can make as many radio, tv, newspaper and billboard ads they want, but they know the best way to advertise is by word of mouth. A dealer can say all day that thier prices are the best and get very few results. The same dealer can also give an incentive to someone who bought from them for doing some advertising. Let's say that Ainsworth bought a car at a dealer, and you were interested in the same type of car, but was looking at another dealership. Ainsworth called you and told you that he found an awesome deal! You compare and see that he is right! Now where are you going to buy that car... at the dealer you were looking or where Ainsworth bought his? Chances are, you are going to go where he went, and because you bought a car there and told them Ainsworth sent you, he gets paid!
It's quite elementary my dear Watson!
This was just for example, so don't go into a rebuttal stating that you don't even live in the same state... LOL!!!
Again, I state that all of these things you didn't learn is your own fault! You say you went to a meeting, and had the opportunity to ask questions, but your pride wouldn't let you. All my life, if I didn't know something, I asked! John, were you one of the kids who sat in the back of the class praying the teacher wouldn't call on you?
Okay Proud so lets use this car dealership example you have and compare it to YTB. Just because you refer a friend to a dealership to buy a car does that now mean that you are going to call yourself a car salesman? This is something that Real Estate agents do as well, they will offer finders fees. But just because a friend of mine buys a house from a Real Estate agent and I get the finders fee does not mean that I am now gonna call myself a Real Estate Agent.
ReplyDeleteMan, you missed the point entirely!!!
ReplyDeleteDid I sell the car? NO!
Do I sell travel? YES!
Do I have a website? YES!
Do I call the vendors directly? YES!
Do I deal with clients one to one? YES!
This makes me a Referring Travel Agent... and yes, on my business cards, it does say "Refering Travel Agent"!
In the first place, i wasn't even talking about the travel aspect of the business here! I was talking about network marketing in general and how even your corner businesses are doing it! Your head is so full of that "stinkin thinkin" that you can't even tell the difference between the two!
Proud--you refer people to your website to buy travel. The transaction is taken care of by technology--not you.
ReplyDeleteYou refer people to your car dealer to buy a car. The transaction is handled by another person--not you. Are you a RCS?
You refer people to your grocery store to buy food. The transaction is handled by someone else--not you. Are you now a RG?
I know you are handling clients and you are one of the few that can claim that. Most people are not--they are merely referring and they are no more a travel agent (referring or otherwise) than you are a Car Salesman, or a Grocer.
and I still want to know the answer to this question
ReplyDeleteI never asked about booking air with a cruise. I said I don't know how an air reservation is booked--is it under a YTB ARC number or a Travelocity ARC number.