The move follows the creation of a trade-focused role, sales service and communications manager, which has been taken on by Kate Wooldridge, who has been with the line since 2004.
Speaking to TTG, Wooldridge said her key focus was to “strengthen ties with the trade and boost trade engagement and support”.
She added: “Our key focus in 2017 will be on educationals, incentives and relationships. We have expanded our sales team, expanded our trade support team and we’re going to be increasing our activity – for example, with our training days and educational trips.
“The biggest issue for Fred Olsen is perception [about us as a line and our ships] – we want to educate agents to overcome this.”
The line will hold 15 training days this year, with 140 agents already having signed up for places within two days of the dates being released. It will also offer around 10 fam trips.
The training days offer one-on-one product training and sales tips from senior members of the Fred Olsen trade support team, as well as presentations and tours.
Neil Herbert, head of sales, said he hoped to increase this further in the next few years. “I want to double the number of educationals we do and increase the number of training days.
“We want to increase the amount of business we do through the trade – we want to increase business overall and the trade is key to that.”
Herbert said the rest of the line’s fleet would undergo extensive refurbishment after Black Watch received a multimillion-pound revamp in November.
The refurbishment included an overhaul of the cabins and several of the public areas.
- Agents wanting to attend an onboard training day should email cruise.sales@fredolsen.co.uk
