Issues & Trends – May 2011
Najar behind radical new twist to home-based agency business model
IRREPRESSIBLE South Australian travel agent Max Najar is behind a new home-based agency concept.
Najar, who founded his Adelaide-based agency, Axis Travel, in 1978 is known nationally for his iconoclastic approach to travel retailing.
He was a pioneer in charging service fees as long ago as 1980 and helped write the AFTA guidelines on this topic. He is author of books, “The Good Oil”, “The Max Factor”, and “Travel Maxims” and a regular on radio talkback shows.
His experience has been used to formulate Agentlink, described as “a new concept in remunerating travel industry retail managers and senior consultants”.
It is being marketed by South Australian travel management and marketing company, the Handzon Company. According to a press statement announcing the launch of the concept: “Max Najar has used his wealth of industry experience, knowledge and contacts to provide input with the advice and assistance of a legal team to devise Australia’s first Contractor Agreement.”
The statement claims that this provides “the perfect balance between engaging the services of a travel person who wants the flexibility of a Travel Manager or Travel Counsellor or a Mobile Travel Agent” with the support of a fully accredited and secure bricks and mortar travel agency.
Najar said: “After having formal and informal discussions with hundreds of part-time, fulltime, commission-only staff … I have established a new Independent Contractor agreement, with final construction and the necessary legal signoffs by Adelaide’s best legal firm.
“Through the Handzon Company, I have copyrighted the name ‘AGENTLINK©’ that will fill in the voids, protect the interests of both the travel agency and the contracted person with pre-set commission levels for both ‘cold’ and ‘hot’ clients and a fair system of utilising in-house office facilities, services, staff under the solid integrity of a travel agency’s accreditations, credentials and buying power.”
He said Agentlink “has been deliberately devised to contract two parties together and works best with mature travel professionals who have a good client following, are able to accept new bookings from the agency they are contracted to work with and wish to have independence of time”.
He claimed this will enable participants to use “their solid intellectual property and industry knowledge towards a new balanced lifestyle”.