We rarely use agents as most either want too much money, (if you build commission into the price, you're expensive, if you don't then you give away a large part of your profit) also, many don't know the facts about the area they're trying to sell or just make promises that can't be kept or both. There are some very good agents out there but for every one that knows what they're doing and is honest etc there are about 10 that are worse than useless....... I SHOULD SAY AT THIS POINT THAT MY COMMENTS DO NOT REFER TO ANY FORUM MEMBERS!

An example of how useless they can be is a UK agent who I didn't know from a bar of soap, contacted me a while ago and asked what commission I paid as he had some clients who he had told could hunt with us in RSA for Thompson's and Grant's gazelles...... which only occur in East Africa. - Needless to say, we declined to do business with him. The problem is that all anyone needs to become an agent selling African hunting is a website and the ability to spell the word Africa. It's not at all uncommon for someone to hunt Africa once and then become a so called agent. How can such a person have a knowledge of weather patterns, game area distinctions etc etc etc. - Those type of people are nothing more than a hinderance at best and a bloody danger at worst........ It's especially worrying that there is no way for the client to know whether the company and website etc have been in existance for a week or a decade! - Or to know how much experience the 'agent' has had of Africa and it's hunting etc.

It's the outfitter who pays the agent by way of a commission - usually around 10% - 15% so it's the outfitter who loses out. Whilst it's possible for the agent to add a percentage, it's not usual.......

All that said, if an outfitter can find a good, honest, knowledgeable agent who doesn't BS the prospective client and is willing to work for a reasonable percentage, he or she can bring in a lot of business and be worth their weight in gold...... Now all I need to do is find one that meets that criteria and isn't already representing anyone in the countries I operate in!

Maybe the way to go would be to offer the agent a percentage that increases with the amount of clients sent........