An Interview with the Incomparable Jo Lay
Jo Lay retired on June 1st 2020 from Relocation after an illustrious career that spanned 32 years and four companies… first in Dallas and then in Chicago serving a multi-state region. I have been lucky enough to know her and work with her for most of those years. Since we didn’t get to give her a proper goodbye by gathering together to celebrate her, I couldn’t resist letting her tell us a few more stories about her journey in Relocation. Her contributions to our industry will remain a force for many years to come.
Q. Tell me a little about how you ended up in Relocation and why you stayed in it.
A. I was working as an HR & Marketing manager for oil & gas magazines in Dallas in the mid 80’s. I managed the graphic art department, consisting of eight graphic artists. Apple came out with the Macintosh and desktop publishing was born. I was one of five of the first publishing companies to buy a Mac in Dallas. My Art Director said, “You are crazy, we will never layout magazines on a computer. You have to have artists cut and paste type and layout out the magazine manually.” I told her the world was changing and we needed to change with it. I had a graphic art background and I learned the desktop publishing software myself and bought my own Macintosh and created ‘Jo’s Layout’. I then got contracts from the local Chambers of Commerce to publish their directories. I hired PTA moms to sell the ads and then stayed up all night designing the directories. In 1988, I met Jim Fite, President of Judge Fite Realtors, a long time WERC member who needed to hire a new Relocation Director. He asked me if I would be interested in interviewing for the job. I said, “what is a Relocation Director?” He said, “well you are an HR Director and that would be your target market within a corporation and you understand their needs. And you know how to sell and market, so all you need is to learn real estate and attend WERC to understand corporate relocation”. And with that, my new career was born. One that I quickly became passionate about! Jim and I crossing paths was truly one of the best ‘God Wink’s’ in my life!
Q. What did you like the most about working in the Relocation industry?
A. I loved that I could help employees and families during one of the most stressful times of their lives and that I could help HR Directors do a better job of not only hiring the right talent for their companies, but also keeping that talent by helping them make the best choices when moving into a new area. I always told recruiters, “You sell the job, let me sell Dallas and the features of living in this area”. Later when I moved to Chicago, I loved doing the same service for that wonderful city. I also loved that this industry had advanced training when I studied and achieved my CRP in ‘93, then went onto my SCRP and SGMS. Having the opportunity to present at conferences was the best education opportunity ever. I loved researching facts and working with fellow panelists to share what's new.
During my career, my favorite call was getting that ‘911’ call from a corporate client who needed me to make a presentation to 500 families in four days! That is when working with the best relocation team and having the best online and printed tools ready immediately is a must! Corporations have to keep a headquarters relocation or large division move, or an acquisition a big secret up until the last minute. So when it is ‘go time’, a broker's relocation department must be ready! That is when experience matters! The same goes with having experienced, trained relocation agents ready for large group events. Preparation is key, and it is expensive and time consuming. Not all brokers can make that investment into their departments.
Q. What is the craziest thing that ever happened with a Relocation referral?
A. These two happened in Texas.
One was an empty corporate inventory listing that had a swimming pool. The showing agent (not ours thank goodness) left the gate open to the pasture next door. The horse who was being boarded next door came through the open gate, fell into the pool and drowned. No one discovered the poor thing for 5 days. Use your imagination on what that horse looked like after five days in a pool, that was an expensive mess to recover from. But recover we did, and we sold the house quickly after that.
The other craziness was a transferee coming into Ft. Worth from Alaska decided he would save his employer money by not shipping his five foot Boa Constrictor. He simply fed the big snake, he knew he would sleep the entire flight and then wrapped him around his waist under his coat. Clearly, this happened during the 80’s before 9/11 without the added security where you had to take your coat off. Can you imagine sitting next to that guy if the snake decided to wake up and take a peek out of his coat!? Talk about ‘Snakes on a Plane’!
Q. What was the most challenging thing about our industry?
A. Because real estate agents are independent contractors, having the right agents fully trained to understand all the procedures and reasons the IRS created the 11 Key Elements to make a relocation a nontaxable event, can be a challenge. Every time a corporate client or RMC allows transferees to pick an agent who is not trained, we all have to do two times the work. These requested agents think the seller or buyer is theirs, and do not want relocation to be involved and for sure do not want to pay any referral fee. Never a fun conversation!
Q. What was one of the most challenging periods of your career?
A. During the 90’s acquisition craze and the creation of mega brokers. One thing I remember telling Relocation Directors who just found out their company was purchased and they were no longer ‘in charge’ of their relocation department…I always advised them to calm down and look at the new opportunities this might create for them. Many jumped ship way too soon, and they missed out on opportunities as the industry changed. Just before I retired, it was Zillow, new discount broker models and more. I think I retired at just the right time.
Q. What do you miss most about Relocation?
A. The wonderful people! We are so blessed to work in such a caring and sharing industry. WERC, RDC and our various networks are so important to training new and experienced relocation directors and staff. The bonus to my career is that I made many of these industry folks my friends. So when I can travel again, they better get ready because I’m coming to visit! I miss the conferences and face to face networking that COVID-19 changed overnight. I don’t think those days will come back in the same way. I think it is important that we have the meetings, but let’s face it, we really had too many that cost brokers sooooo much money. With Zoom, we will never go back, but we can still do a great job of promoting our company and our brand.
Q. What changes would you like to see in our industry?
A. In a dream world:
No requested agents who are not trained. No Lump Sums. No online broker models who diminish the value of what agents do for their customers. I wish we could have kept Relocation like it was in the beginning, in the ‘good old days’ -- before high referral fees. But like I said, that is dreaming. If I was training a young me, I would say, “stop looking in the past and focus on the bright future.” Create your own future.
Q. What advice would you give people who are just entering the Relocation business?
A. Always look to the new ways of doing things, increasing efficiencies, look to what the consumer wants and make sure they get that service from YOU, not your competitor. Just like I told my Art Director in the 80’s, the Macintosh Desktop Publishing was going to replace all art departments in the publishing industry, real estate has changed more in the last year than it has in the past 10 years. Staying on top of the technology is key to all successes. This is a consumer driven world now, not agent driven. Make sure you and your broker are planning correctly. Full Service Brings Full Benefits!
Q. I don’t want to make it sound like you are dying or anything, but….. how do you want to be remembered in our industry?
A. Well with COVID-19, we have all learned in the last twelve months that tomorrow is not promised! We’ve learned that you can change and work from home as successfully as you ever did working in an office. So, I’m glad I’m retired and leaving all the new and exciting relocation changes to the likes of Elizabeth McGrath at Baird and Warner and other RDC members who will reinvent this wonderful industry. I hope to be remembered as someone who loved her work and made a difference in many transferees lives.
“Put your big girls panties on and deal with it.” ~ Jo Lay, favorite quote when faced with a challenging situation
Elizabeth McGrath (left) and Jo Lay