President's Message
In late February, we had a little tussle with a leading travel trade newspaper.

The Home-Based Agent’s # 1 Goal? RESPECT!
By OSSN President & Founder Gary M. Fee

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What bothered us, actually, was the language used in the article.

Many of you who have belonged to OSSN for a long time remember the early days of outside sales agents. When our new distribution channel began growing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we endured lots of criticism from many travel publications that ran front-page articles and cover stories questioning our dedication, our skills, and even our ethics.

”Those people just want fam trips.”
“They’re not serious about closing sales.”
“It’s not professional to sell travel from your kitchen table.”

For a long, long time, OSSN and its members were home-based when being home-based wasn’t cool.

Since those days, though, we have come a long, long way.

Today, surveys show more and more home-based travel retailers entering the marketplace. OSSN itself has grown to more than 7,000 members! And, more suppliers nowadays have hired marketing executives who focus exclusively on the home-based channel, and they’re building Web sites and offering online tools designed especially for us.

As an example, take a look at the upcoming Home Based Agent Show in Charlotte, N.C., on April 12-14. More than 250 suppliers have purchased exhibit booths and will send several representatives apiece to staff those booths. Some suppliers have committed many thousands of dollars for additional sponsorships, including a few meals for the agents in attendance. If anyone truly feels home-based agents aren’t a promising source of sales, then these suppliers must be completely crazy to invest the kind of money they’re spending at this single show!

Here’s the truth: Home-based agents are here to stay. We’ve worked hard to improve our selling and marketing skills. We’re available to our clients, and we try to give them the best possible customer service. Along with fair pay, we ask only one thing in return: respect.

Frankly speaking, we’re tired of asking for it, and wishing for it, and letting things slide when some people in the industry don’t return the respect we give them. That’s why I wrote a response to the recent “Hells Angels” and “grains of sand” column -- and, I will continue speaking out whenever I see OSSN agents and other home-based travel sellers taken for granted or treated without the respect we have earned the hard way (by closing sales).

As you build your business this year, remember that we home-based agents must continue earning that respect, though. As Aretha Franklin sang, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” also includes “TCB” -- “Taking Care of Business.” As long as we represent growing sales and profits for travel suppliers, the smart ones will show us the proper respect in droves. All day, every day, make sure you’re running your business and serving your clients in a way that’s deserving of that respect!

Gary M. Fee is founder and president of the Outside Sales Support Network (OSSN), North America's largest trade organization focusing exclusively on home-based travel sellers. OSSN serves more than 7,000 professional travel agents with 68 chapters around the United States.

(Photo credit: OSSN/Gary Fee)