JL Travel & Cruises
You will be with the right team when you join us. We are here to help you not only make the right decision but to support you in building your own team of Travel Pros.
We have a proven system that will blow the doors off anything else that is out there and we will teach you to use it to take your business to amazing heights.
We feel that it is just as important to join the right group of people as it is the right business so give us a call or email us. We will personally get your questions answered to your satisfaction without the hype and non-sense you typically get from others.
And remember, even if you are not interested in becoming a Travel Pro, you can save money next time you travel by booking your travel through us.
We are here and ready when you are...
Ask anyone at YTB what its biggest challenges are right now, and one of the answers is likely to be "growth." That's a great problem to have and every department is literally bursting at the seams. Currently at about $7 trillion per year worldwide, the travel industry that YTB serves is thought to be the world's largest and fastest-growing business with even more growth on the horizon. YTB is experiencing its own reflection of this expansion trend. Upon moving to a new location last year, the management found almost immediately that it still needed more space, so it leased the top floor of another building across the street. Now that space is now officially standing room only, as well.
YTB has increased its corporate staff from fewer than 30 employees in 2004 to more than 100 today. These are the people who work behind the scenes to support the work of its ever-growing sales force and, according to company projections, about 250 are expected to be on the corporate team by the end of 2007, and as many as 750 by 2009.
What's fueling this growth? It could be the company's leadership philosophy of giving rock-solid support to those on the front lines-in this case, YTB's referring travel agents (RTAs) and reps. After all, one of YTB's core values is to compensate those in the field in direct proportion to their efforts, with no income limits. Other company values include its vision for the future and the commitment to deliver an outstanding product, so YTB will be around for generations to come.
Take It from the Top
Executive Team
J. Lloyd (Coach) Tomer, Founder, Chairman of the Board, Coach
During a successful career in business and sales, Lloyd was called to the ministry in the small town of Benton, IL. Of the 44 people who attended that first service on Easter Sunday, 14 were family and friends who came with him. A few years later at the dedication of the new church, over 2000 people were in attendance. In 1980, the year after the death of his wife and ministry partner, Lloyd found himself unemployed with a $10,200 income for the year. In January 1981 he found a company that said if he would build a team to sell their products, they would compensate him in direct proportion to the results. The company was A.L. Williams (now known as Primerica Financial Services) and they kept their promise. 21 years and over $10,000,000 in earnings later, he had an organization that had developed over 250,000 customers. But best of all, his direct reps were all financially independent. Once he accomplished his goals, he sold that business to his son Frank and retired. But he soon discovered he missed the role of Coach and Mentor. In June 2002 JLT committed to lead the YTB team to the heights he knew it could attain. He’s now mentoring a new group of leaders that he knows will set the standards for excellence and compensation for its leaders in the referral marketing industry. It has been said if you want to become a millionaire, find one who will mentor you and do exactly what they tell you to do. JLT is willing to be your mentor. This is unheard of in the industry!
Scott Tomer, Founder, CEO
Scott was JLT’s first recruit in A.L. Williams and was given the responsibility of field support and training. The JLT Group grew to over 2 Billion in annual Life Insurance sales and had over 250,000 active customers at the time the business was sold. Scott became a National Sales Director before leaving the company in 1992 to become a Certified Financial Planner.
He and his father have worked together on many projects and YTB is no different. Their goal is to use what they learned at A.L. Williams and build a great company, one that delivers for 3 groups. First of all the product must be a great value for the customer. Next comes the sales force. They must be compensated in direct proportion to their efforts with NO LIMITS on their INCOMES. And lastly, the company must be profitable so it can deliver the product to the customer and pay the residual income to the sales force. YourTravelBiz.com can only be called a great company when we have stood the test of time and are still delivering for the customer and the sales force 25 years from now.
And that is Scott’s job. To protect the company so it will be here for you and your family for generations to come. After all, our name says it all. This is “YOUR” Travel Biz.com.
Kim Sorensen, Founder, President YTB Travel Network
Kim had an extensive business background before joining the JLT Group in 1981. He had owned businesses and managed a multi-million dollar complex across from the state capital in Springfield, IL. Kim became a Sr. Vice President with A. L. Williams before making a decision that would benefit both JLT and him.
In 1990, he moved to the St. Louis area to help Lloyd with whatever was needed to grow the business. Kim designed and implemented many programs that are still being used today. He was the one behind the scenes making sure everything went smoothly. Kim is the definition of “Team Player”.
Kim’s fingerprints are everywhere at YTB. The Business site, Marketing Materials, Operations and the Travel Company have benefited from his leadership. He is also the one who first saw the awesome potential of combining Internet Travel and Referral Marketing with the benefits of being an RTA. His vision helped turn the dream of yourTravelBiz.com into a reality.
Andrew F. Cauthen, Chief Operating Officer
When asked what he sees as the primary role of the management team, YTB's Chief Operating Officer Andy Cauthen says, "Our No. 1 objective is to support our valued RTAs. And we do it with the fi nest team of trained, courteous and professional support staff ever assembled."
Cauthen joined YTB in November 2004 as COO with a background in executive management, corporate operations, administration, marketing and sales. He has served as president and CEO of two major ($1 billion+ asset based) companies, and has had P&L responsibility for a $200 million budget and 2,000 employees. He is recognized for his ability to organize the efforts of others and motivate employees to achieve at unusually high levels.
Andy credits "Coach" J. Lloyd Tomer, Scott Tomer and J. Kim Sorensen for fostering the philosophy at YTB of unparalleled customer service to the field sales force. That philosophy is deeply embedded in the executive team of John D. Clagg, Eric D. Smith, Ted Lindauer, Sandy Pippins and Andy, as well as Director of Operations Duane Vancil and the entire RTA and rep support management team.
John D. Clagg, Chief Financial Officer
John D. Clagg's 23-year career includes plenty of corporate-level experience in financial and strategic planning, merger and acquisition transactions, financial and treasury management and financial forecasting with several St. Louis-area companies such as Arthur Andersen & Co., Sisters of Mercy Health System and Ascension Health.
Since joining YTB 2and a half years ago, he admits it's a little painful for the self-styled "bean counter" to sign $1 million bonus checks, but reasons, "It is payment to someone who earned it by working long and hard to make their dreams come true. The ability to offer such bonuses means the company and the individual are doing well-and that's what it's all about.
"We work for the sales force," Clagg notes. "When the employees here receive their weekly paychecks, the envelopes have their names and the statement 'This check is provided to you by 40,000 happy RTAs.' We update the RTA number each week, but it's a constant reminder of where our paychecks come from."
Eric D. Smith, Chief Information Officer
As the keeper of YTB's massive IT infrastructure that includes more than 100 headquarters employees, more than 40,000 RTAs plus more than 70,000 personalized replicated Web sites, Eric D. Smith has a big job that's only gotten bigger since coming on board the company in 2001. The YTB home office has gained about 60 employees just this year, which would be enough to keep most IT departments hopping.
"We've tripled our server capacities and doubled our bandwidth," he says. "And, of course, we're always tending to the routine maintenance of just keeping the computers running."
Currently, he and his team are catching their breath after launching a huge project to internalize the marketing system, which handles everything from RTA sign-ups to commission payments to reps. "Millions of lines of code went into this project, and it has been a huge success," Smith says.
Smith says that before making any IT-related decision, he always tries to put himself into the reps' shoes. "We try to take their point of view to determine the best tools that will help them run their businesses effectively. I don't come from a network marketing background, but Coach and Scott have instilled a strong vision in us that we have ingrained in our brains-think about the field first," he says.
"We're going to keep releasing new features one after another for as long as we can to knock their socks off," Smith says. "If Coach, Scott and Kim can think of it, we can make it happen on a technology side."
Ted Lindauer, Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel
As a member of the Arizona and several federal bars, Ted Lindauer has had a long and distinguished legal career that includes representation of many network marketing and direct selling clients since 1968. He has been doing business with the Tomers and J. Kim Sorensen since YTB began operations in 2001.
His department participates in the creation of and reviews all materials and Web site content published by YTB, its reps and RTAs. "Many of the associates create their own materials, which they submit to us," he says. "We help make sure what they are doing is appropriate and legal. The materials awaiting approval arrive by the hundreds all the time. Though it is a painstaking process, we have a good-sized staff, so it goes very quickly-our turnaround time is within 72 hours."
Lindauer's team is also standing by to help solve the legal and operational challenges of the RTAs and reps, and he says most of their time is spent assisting the field force. "Our primary responsibility is working with the RTAs and reps," he says.
Sandy Pippins, Vice President of Corporate Administration
Sandy Pippins, a former district manager for H&R Block, is proud to say that she was the fi rst person hired at YTB in 2001, and likens her role that first year to that of a Girl Friday. "Everything that needed to be done, I did," she says. Along with Sorensen's daughter, Shelly Coppersmith, she took on data entry, answering and returning phone calls, creating credentials and booking travel. That was in addition to paying and tracking all commissions and tending to the company's accounting needs.
Five years later, she's happy to have left those accounting duties behind. "The company has grown so much that now there is a department of nine people doing what I did," she says. Now, Pippins handles and monitors the national certified referring travel agent meetings and other special events such as Coach's Birthday Bash. She also works with the convention committee.
"I'm lucky to work very closely with Coach, Kim and Scott on a daily basis, as well as directors and key leaders in the field every day," Pippins says. "It has been so rewarding to see where the company is at this point. This has been one of the most exciting adventures I have ever experienced in my life.
"We never lose sight of whom runs this company," she says. "It is the reps-the people out in the field make everything happen, and without them we would not be here." The YTB management team is unified in one vision-commitment and support to its RTAs and reps. Cauthen says, "It's all about people, and YTB is fortunate to have the right ones in positions of responsibility to manage and supervise the support systems for the incredible growth we are experiencing."