Atlanta-based travel agency Epperly Travel has announced the hiring of managing director Cassie McMillion Deifik in tandem with the expansion of its hosting program.
Deifik’s 20 years in the travel industry on both the supplier (The Ritz-Carlton) and advisor (Travel Edge) side will add value to Epperly Travel’s expanded hosting program, the agency said in a press announcement. Deifik’s role is to guide advisors as they navigate the hurdles faced by independent contractors (ICs).
“The hosting program is innovative in how it works one-on-one with each advisor’s goals,” Deifik said. “We’re solving the problems that advisors face at each stage in their career: Building a book as a new-to-industry IC, getting over the plateau of $1 million in sales and building out teams to scale their business effectively. It’s what I wish I would have had as an agent.”
Epperly Travel’s existing virtual culture was built with remote ICs in mind, allowing them to pivot quickly when the pandemic struck. As burnout and feelings of isolation in ICs is directly correlated to a lack of community, Epperly redoubled its goal to support and foster its remote team’s culture. The agency maintained all employees at full-time to ensure the existing IC team was well equipped to navigate the pandemic, in addition to serving the future needs of their advisors.
Lindsey Epperly, founder and CEO, said in the announcement that the goal of bringing Deifik onboard was "to create a structure that would allow advisors to reap the upside of their potential." The old way of hosting will not suffice for the business-minded advisors who have had the grit to survive COVID’s effects on the industry. Not to mention, the need for a strong support system and community is more critical now than ever. Having been an IC in search of community, Cassie has firsthand experience of what would have been helpful to support her. This has given her a drive to ignite change, which pairs perfectly with Epperly Travel’s vision to modernize the traditional host model.”
Geared toward entrepreneurial advisors, Epperly Travel’s hosting program provides business development, community and an “Upside Commission Structure” to better support an advisor’s return on invested time. The commission model is both competitive for advisors new to the industry and supportive of those growing, allowing advisors to achieve higher rewards from their volume.
Visit www.epperlytravel.com.
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