of Affiliation

By George Dooley

New competitive realities for cruise selling travel agents — including pricing and customer satisfaction — make an affiliation with a professional cruise selling organization virtually indispensable for home based independent agents, said Jeff Kivet, founder, chairman and CEO of Cruise Value Center.

Kivet noted that CVC’s decades of experience with cruise selling agents and cruise lines makes clear that “going it alone” is too often a prescription for disaster for too many agents. “The keys to profitability, productivity and professional service lie in affiliation.”

Kivet’s perspective rests not only in his own experience as a cruise selling agent but his experience with CVC, which is targeting $100 million in sales this year and expansion to 300 plus members. CVC is the nation’s #1 family owned cruise-only host agency, he added.

“Agents serious about taking their businesses to a new level of professionalism and profitability clearly benefit from affiliation. CVC, for example, provides technology, marketing support, training and a host of other advantages that no home based agent can match on their own,” Kivet said.

“CVC Affiliates who use our proven techniques to build business and increase profitability have doubled and tripled their sales — a claim supported by the performance of Cruise Value Centers’ 150 affiliated agents,” Kivet added. Since 1992, CVC has enjoyed substantial growth including a $30 million increase in sales in 2004 alone.

“We want CVC to be the first choice of an affiliation for home based cruise selling independent agents,” said Kivet “CVC is more than a traditional consortium. It is at once a host agency for Affiliates, a national consortia and a custom broker of cruises. CVC is not just a buying group.

“We are providing Affiliates with the best, most competitive pricing in the industry, affordable technology and personalized hands on service and support. CVC agent sales range from $150,000 to $1 million-plus.”

Agents need every tool to succeed in a tough, price sensitive market, Kivet said. They also need block cruise space that gives Affiliates real pricing advantages. Another asset is the support of cruise lines, which gives CVC agents a major edge, he added.

A CVC Affiliation offers a number of key advantages, Kivet noted, including CVC’s outstanding professional staff, which support Affiliates 24/7. Another advantage is access to quality cruise product with consumer appeal. as well as group rates.

In addition to high commissions, CVC Affiliates also get complimentary Errors and Omissions insurance, as well as training by CVC’s professional staff. Opportunities for ship visitations and fam trips abound and CVC’s online booking capabilities offer live inventory, said Kivet. Underscoring agents’ use of technology, CVC’s Internet marketing has grown from 5% to 55% of sales in little more than a year, he added.

For more information, contact Anthony Amato, at (800) 231-7447, ext 193, or E-mail aamato@cruisevalue.com.