Travel Counsellors has launched two innovative programmes to help support its agents’ children during the school holidays and exam time. The company has devised a dedicated support scheme named ‘TC Teens’ to reduce the stress experienced by many teenagers during their school work and examinations, helping them to achieve their full academic potential. At the same time, the TC Kids scheme helps to keep younger children entertained during the school holidays while Travel Counsellor mums and dads balance their work and home commitments.
Travel Counsellors has worked with motivational guru Mike Finnigan and his company i2i to create the informative TC Teens scheme, recording a series of videos with Mike featuring tips and advice for teens on how to build their confidence, stay positive and achieve their goals, as well as practical advice on how to mentally prepare for exams and combat nerves.
“We are very excited about being able to provide this level of support for our Travel Counsellors and their children during what can be a very challenging and stressful period for the whole family,” says Bernie Whelan, Business Development Executive, Travel Counsellors Ireland. “As around 75% of our agents have children, we felt it was so important to be able to encompass the support we provide for not just our agents but also for their families, as we consider them to be part of the company too. We focus very heavily on the holistic support we provide to our Travel Counsellors and I feel that is what makes us a special company to belong to.”
TC Teens
The motivational video recordings are broadcast through the company’s dedicated webcast system, TCTV. Currently the company is supporting eight Irish agents’ teenagers who will be completing their Junior Cert and Leaving Cert exams, including Junior Cert student 16-year-old Robert, son of Wicklow-based Travel Counsellor Dee Evans.
Dee comments: “Robert absolutely loves the fact that he can tune into TC Teens. He thinks Mike is truly inspirational and appreciates the fact that he is motivating teenagers to feel confident and have a ‘can do’ attitude. Robert is feeling really positive and ready for the task ahead.
“I think this is such an amazing and important thing to offer us and to have our children involved in company initiatives is amazing. It makes me feel proud that Travel Counsellors have taken the time to support our children in this way.”
TC Kids
Meanwhile, the TC Kids scheme is focusing on entertaining younger children during the Easter break, and features fun-packed activity programmes to keep Travel Counsellors’ young children happy and busy during the holidays.
“During the Easter break we have a host of special Easter-themed activities to keep the kids amused,” says Malcolm Hingley, Sales Director. “Over 200 children aged 1-16 years from our international family of agents, including those from Ireland, South Africa and Australia, signed up to take part, freeing up mum and dad’s time to concentrate on their customers.”
The activities include puzzles, word searches, designing their own Easter cards and creating special Easter recipes, with the ultimate competition to design their own Easter egg. The company also hosts dedicated TCTV shows for TC Kids, where they can hear from Malcolm, aka ‘Uncle Malcolm’, and Business Development Executive Victoria Trundle (Auntie Vicky), and hear about the latest competitions and activities, as well as being able to communicate with the TV show hosts by instant messaging or emailing in their comments and questions.
The Easter programme follows the success of last year’s summer TC Kids scheme, which resulted in a worldwide increase in Travel Counsellors’ sales by over 20% on the previous year.
