When I was looking at the sales figures for the cruise contest, I also took a look at the recruitment figures as well. This does not look to good...well, it looks fine to me, just not too good for YTB. It seems they may have peaked and lost their edge and are on the edge of a downward spiral.
Same contest---106 Days. Top 500 recruiters get a free cruise on the Sensation with Coach. You can see the results here, but here is what I see.
Recruiting has to be way off. First of all, at my meeting, if there were four potential recruits, I would be surprised; and none of them signed up that night.
Back in October, YTB was recruiting 500 new RTAs per day as a company. I have to think it is way down based again on the top performers and the track record that close to 90% of the people in YTB do not sell anything at all.
Of their top performers, the average rep sold 33 websites over a three month period. This is 11 per month. The period yielded 18,506 websites sold over the 106 days--that is only 174 per day. Now I realize that there were other sales during this period from the bottom performers.
But, I have to imagine that recruiting is down. How can one just make that statement? Well, it is a hypothesis for the following reasons:
- Scott and Coach's video all about recruiting and how important it is (not travel)
- The fact that they can no longer use the IATAN card as a lure
- The fact that they can no longer claim to represent several major suppliers
- The fact that they can no longer offer "credentials" when you sign up
- The fact that the "credentials" will now cost $149 and that is not even for a real credential
- The fact that the stock is in the tank. Maybe selling that it is a publicly traded company is not so good an idea
- The fact that there has been a decent amount of bad press on YTB and very little good (YTB releases do not count)
- Any simple investigation will reveal that the Reps and RTAs are all over the map with accusations, statements, promises, opinions, and outright mis-truths
- The fact that a shareholder is poised to file a suit against them
- The fact that nepotism runs rampant in Wood River
- The fact that their CFO is indeed not a Certified Public Accountant
- The fact that the head of their legal team is not an attorney--she just plays one during the week
Now of course, fact does not seem to stand in the way of some Reps, RTAs and Directors (right Proud and EAB?) and it appears that it does not even deter the executives who glean numbers.
So, I will turn it over to the YTB crowd to refute my hypothesis. I am sure there will be standard answers again. I am sure all sorts of numbers will fly without substantiation, but let's discuss it!
John;
ReplyDeleteBoth Rick Ricketts and Juliet St. John were promoted to Level 6 Directors, and Ron Head was promoted to Level 7.
Come to think of it, do you see Jerome Hughs, Spencer Iverson, Tim Dominey, or Peter Jenson?
Probably not.
I have not checked, but knowing how leverage works with our company, I'm willing to bet none of those names are on that list?
If you have 60,000 putting in one per month how many do you have?
Now tell me what that total is if you have 135,000 putting in one per month?
Leverage John…Leverage. ;-P
Sorry, Doug. I still say the suppliers should be freaking at that possibility. The goal of 1.5 million RTAs asking for discounts outweighs any possible market share gain, or the increased aggravation of dealing with poorly trained "agents".
ReplyDeleteLeverage is not good for the industry.
Suppliers, Can you hear me now?
I understand that most Traditional Travel Agents are “freaking out” about that thought. But to say suppliers should as well isn’t wise Ann.
ReplyDeleteYes, you have suppliers like RCCL who simply cut us off, and throw $23 Million in sales overboard.
Some want to promote the perception that nobody loves YTB and other MLM’s, and YTB’s gotten nothing but a bad rap from everyone involved in the industry.
Take a look at what Carnival has done. Vicki Freed was quoted in Modern Agent that YTB sends a ton of business their way. The Pinnacle Awards we’ve been given that last three years in a row support that.
http://www.modernagent.com/Resources/Editorial.aspx?n=32195
(Note: Not a YTB Press Release!)
There would be more of this, but Traditionalist have done an effective job black listing other suppliers who mention YTB in a good light.
I also understand “market share” is a major concern for all of you. You’ve been beat up for years by the airlines going direct, web sites like Travelocity and Orbitz taking market share away to the tune of $40 Billion last year alone with just 4 vendors, and now YTB is doubling our sales from $226 to an estimated $550 Million.
To combat that we have a blog like this; which realistically is nothing more than a watered down version of “Anti-MLM Press Releases”. ;-P
I did some looking at that list…
Mellissa Boston was on the list with 33 Power Team Members. Yet just promoted from Level 2 to Level 3 Director, a growth of 3000 active RTA’s total. Terry Graham just went from Level 1 to Level 2 with only 23 Power Team Sales, but grew his organization overall by 1500 active RTA’s.
Leverage is something that’s good for them, good for suppliers, but not so good for Traditionalists who want to hang on too the way things use to be. I know we want to give the perception that we know all the “facts” here, but realistically, as John so eloquently quoted “not so much”.
Well…I need to finish up my post. I’m celebrating my 3 year anniversary today with YTB! I’m one of the ones who was either too stupid or too stubborn to quit.
You are free to take your pick. ;-P
December, January and February are always slow in MLM - regardless of type. YTB is just fine . . .
ReplyDeleteTom
p.s. Ann - if the suppliers would make sales a requirement to "earn a bonus trip" versus a discounted trip - then all would be well.
ReplyDeleteI spoke to a good friend at Princess Cruises - they could care less about giving away a free cabin if a certain number of cabins were sold in order to earn the "bonus".
And no Ann - the suppliers aren't hearing you now. Do you think they would actually waste their time reading this blog? LOL!
Tom
Interesting...our Princess/Cunard Rep says that they - unlike their sister-line - have no planes, no desire to embrace MLMs and Cardmills.....they're more interested in Agents who are educated, informed and can move market to them.....
ReplyDeleteCarnival (not the entire CCL company) may have determined that a large dollar amount n sales is coming their way, but they quite possibly have not done a cost analysis of that - what is it costing them (in time and treasure) to support that host of uninformed fake agents?
We've never really heard exactly what prompted RCL to take the action they did - could it be possible that they did some sort of cost/benefit study and determined that the sales from these groups - while in great quantity - did not yield enough profit to pay for themselves?
And really Doug, you're doing so much business off of YTB's site - wouldn't you do better with a Host that provides a website to you for marketing but which pays you more on the travel sales? You could concentrate on the travel sales instead of website sales - and believe me, there are plenty out there that have great "leverage" and to whom the Vendors are paying higher commissions than to YTB.
Carnival is like a loss leader for their brand.
ReplyDeleteBob D may be single handedly responsible for taking cruising to the next level in the 90's.
By having an affordable entry level cruise experience - those cruisers will buy again in the future and possibly on a upper end package.
So - say what you want - but Carnival is why cruising is where it is today. I should know - I've been cruisin_man since 1996 . . .
Tom
Yes in fact Carnival is why cruising is where it is and also why so many people realized that there must be alternatives to that mass-market. It doesn't mean Carnival is a great cruise line or that it is the right cruise line for most people. While Carnival has a great repeat rate, it also has created many people who "will never cruise again!" because of their Carnival experience. I'm sure every agent has a couple of those clients - luckily we can overcome the objetions of some of them and get them onto other lines that are better for them.
ReplyDeleteI look at someone like Drew who was selling the crap out of RCL and then got the rug pulled out from under him (fairly or not - at this point it no longer matters). There was a reason he was selling RCL - he knew (still knows) that it is a much better product and he was probably getting a better "yield" out of those sales than he is now from Carnival with it having dropped it's cabin prices into the cellar.
Cruisinman--I had heard that Sept Oct and Nov were the worst for recruitment. I believe you may have even said that, so now it is moving?
ReplyDeleteTRavelpro--when did the RCCL business grow from $13M to $23M that they "threw away"?
Cruisinman...doubtful you have any friends at Princess. Your sources have repeatedly been shown to be bogus, so the cred factor is gone for you. And to be honest, yes the suppliers are reading this blog. I can see from statistics that three major players int he biz (2 cruise) read it daily--well at least someone from within the company. And I have had 15 what I would call major suppliers at least visit once in the last month. So they are here and reading it.
Here's an idea to float out there. In cruising, most of the lines other than Carnival are accepting but not embracing YTB. Carnival is the only one embracing them. For every passenger that sails and has a good time, Carnival now has the wherewithal to go direct to the consumer and completely bypass the agency channel. Carnival will be the first to do it, and if they can leverage (like the use Doug?) the customers of YTB to build their base to sell direct, it is a win for Carnival. Eventually, the rug will be pulled and then YTB, which appears to be placing all eggs in the Carnival basket (well the Shanghai Springs basket too)will be SOL.
John,
ReplyDeleteCM and TM are both just spitting out more fluff. As you have stated everytime they open their mouth it is proven that they are wrong, but they continue to lie. But that is the way of the YTB. Just look at Proud, look at TM, look at CM, these are the representitives of YTB? I guess they are calling that "leverage". Leverage isn't made by pissing off a bunch of suppliers to the point that they pull out. Thats a bad business model.
Doug, what does my profile have to do with anything? A good percent of the people here post under anonymous or nickname. Your profile isn't exactly open and free. More like another recruitment brochure from YTB. So before you start talking smack maybe you should check your own.
I think you have drank way to much kook-aid.
John;
ReplyDeleteYTB $13 Mil
Joystar $10 Mil
My apologies, I know this blog is about “Travel MLM’s” and Joystar clearly is not.
ytbScam;
Click my profile, what do you see?
Click your profile, what do you see?
"The Blogger Profile you requested cannot be displayed. Many Blogger users have not yet elected to publicly share their Profile."
Yet, everyone here knows me by name...and yours would be??? Honestly, you might as well be one of those “anonymous” posters.
Ann,
Thanks for the kind offer, but I’ll pass.
What do I see? Another YTB recruitment is what I see...you might as well be anonymous also. Theres nothing in your profile that says anything different...
ReplyDeleteJust take your about me for example...pretty informative LOL
"TravelPro
Age: 43
Astrological Sign: Aries
Zodiac Year: Dragon
Industry: Marketing
Occupation: Travel Agents / Network Marketers
Location: Hot-Lanta! : Georgia : United States
About Me
YTB Travel Network is 134,000 Agents strong. Join a winning group of Travel and Networking Professionals who share effective ways to sell more travel, market effectively, attract quality people, and how to train those people to capture a bigger piece of our $7 Trillion Dollar Industry. Just Picture It Now!"
Douggy,
ReplyDeleteJust to satisfy your curiousity I have opened up my profile. I have put as much information as you have in yours, minus the recruitment drive like you have. Not sure what that proves? At least I'm registered which you can't say for the majority of the YTBers. Remember if your looking for a date, I'm male, and happily married...so no luck there.
YTBSCAM said...
ReplyDeleteDouggy,
...Remember if your looking for a date, I'm male, and happily married...so no luck there.
OK, now this was really uncalled for. Whether you agree with him or not, Doug is a really nice person, and there is no reason to take it to this kind of level with him, as he has NEVER done so with anyone.
Actually ainsworth you are incorrect. Mr Doug has called me female, and has called me sweat heart....but I didn't see any comments from you about him saying that. Was that called for? Nope. That was a direct reply to his cooing.
ReplyDeleteolescorekeeper
ReplyDeleteJohn, it's your blog, but isn't it about time someone here gets a stern warning about the use of name calling and other rude and abrasive personal attacks?
olescorekeeper,
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you register, since Doug is the referee if the internet. And if you don't it means that you don't matter according to him.
Scorekeeper you are right and I did post a blog item on it.
ReplyDeleteAfter I post this comment, future comments ON THIS POST will not be allowed.
Guys---please stop the name calling---and I am guilty of this as well. Let's stick to the issues and attack the position and the opinion --not the person!