Your Stories: Aaron Petty won Young Leisure Agent of the Year at this year’s AAAs

The 20-year-old homeworker says being named Young Leisure Agent of the Year is his proudest moment so far, and explains how Facebook has proved an ‘amazing’ marketing tool

Q. Why did you pursue a career in travel?
A. Joining the industry wasn’t intentional – I was training to be a dancer but snapped my leg aged 15 so had to get a sit-down job. I was so upset because I’d intended to go to London and join a dance school. But when I got injured I looked at alternative careers and was impressed by the Hays Travel apprenticeship scheme. I applied and got in. My family had always booked with Hays so I knew it was a good company and I was excited to work for them. I began with a week’s training and then got straight into a branch in Sunderland. I worked at three different branches before becoming a homeworker and opening my own business during the pandemic, which sounds crazy but worked really well.

Q. Why do you like being a homeworker?
A. I live with my parents and they have fostered three children, so it’s great that I can be around to help out every day. When I worked in a shop, I spent two hours commuting each day and would often end up working really unsociable hours. Homeworking gives me far more sociable hours and flexible working, and means I can be there with the kids and go on more holidays – and work from abroad, which I love. I would absolutely recommend homeworking, it’s the best thing I’ve done and changed my life and my family’s life for the better.

My family had always booked with Hays so I knew it was a good company and I was excited to work for them

Q. What do you specialise in?
A. Cruise is my biggest product. I think a lot of people fear selling it, but cruise is a fantastic product and really exciting to sell. I did my first cruise a year ago on MSC Virtuosa and then went on Silversea Spirit and Norwegian Prima, which has been amazing. A lot of my cruise market is multi-generational families. Cruise appeals to them because you can book it so far in advance, which makes it more affordable because people can spread the cost through direct debits.

I did my first cruise a year ago on MSC Virtuosa and then went on Silversea Spirit and Norwegian Prima, which has been amazing

Q. What would you like to sell more of?
A. I’d love to do more touring – I really need to get myself on a tour so I can learn about the product and get good at selling it. I always want to offer people stuff they can’t get online, so I want to do some tailor-made itineraries around the world for my customers.

Q. What booking trends are you seeing?
A. Forward bookings is the biggest trend right now. People still want to book their holiday but want to make sure they can afford their bills, so are booking further ahead. They have more confidence to book in advance and use a direct debit – at Hays we use direct debit wherever we can. I’m still doing a lot of late bookings though as people get a last-minute week off and want to get away. Surprisingly, I did more bookings in October than the month before, which is unusual. The cost-of-living crisis doesn’t seem to be affecting things too much.

Forward bookings is the biggest trend right now. People still want to book their holiday but want to make sure they can afford their bills

Q. What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career?
A. I’ve faced a lot of ageism, which has been difficult to manage. On the phone, I often get told how young I sound, or when I used to work in a shop I’d get told how young I looked. It can be frustrating because my age shouldn’t matter – I am still good at the job.

I live in the northeast, but my biggest customer lives in Kent, which is amazing

Q. What have been your proudest moments?
A. A really proud moment for me was passing my apprenticeship with a distinction star grade. The main reason I came to Hays Travel was for a good apprenticeship and to pass with the best grade was wonderful. But my proudest moment was being named Young Leisure Agent of the Year at the Agent Achievement Awards – I didn’t expect to win at all.

It was my first award and I was so excited. I still get messages from customers congratulating me, which is so lovely. People are recognising I’m doing well and Young Agent of the Year is such a massive award so I feel honoured. Winning has given me so much confidence to go out and continue working hard and selling well.

My proudest moment was being named Young Leisure Agent of the Year at the Agent Achievement Awards – I didn’t expect to win at all

What is your best marketing tool?

Facebook has been a brilliant tool for me. I’ve grown my page organically to 10,500 followers and it keeps growing every day. Facebook was definitely the key point for my business getting big. I recently put a 16-night P&O Cruises Canaries itinerary on my page – it reached 33,000 people and I took six bookings on it. Similarly, I put a Royal Caribbean trip on and it got 115 comments. I did £30,000 worth of sales across two bookings.

I only advertise offers that I find myself and not ones that come through Hays, because if everyone posts the same offer, Facebook picks it up as spam, so I source every offer I put up myself. That’s why I get so many bookings because it’s just me advertising the one thing. It’s crucial to manipulate the algorithm so you can get your posts at the top of people’s newsfeeds. There is also such beauty in social media because I can sell to anyone in the country, which I would never be able to do if I worked in a shop. I live in the northeast, but my biggest customer lives in Kent, which is amazing.