Are You a Villain or a Hero?

I am a big fan of Donald Miller, a very successful author of several best-selling business books, public speaker and coach. He has a theory about most movie plots that he compares to various scenarios in life. Every story has a character arc and he points out that there is almost always a hero, a villain, a victim and a guide. Some people morph from one to the other in the story at various times as well as in real life. A character (hero) has a problem (villain) and meets a guide who has a plan to save the victim, and calls the character to action, which helps the character avoid disaster.

While this theory could fit almost any situation we face on a daily basis in relocation, today I want to apply this model to Relocation Directors and their role in their real estate company and the relationship they have with their agents. What persona in the plot we take on may be based on the relationship we have at a critical moment with the other person.

If a referral comes in requesting a specific agent who knows zero about the relocation process and the implications of not following the predetermined processes, we are often seen as the villain when we approach the agent. We are perceived as sticking our noses in a transaction that is theirs. In turn, we may see the agent as the villain, kicking and screaming about referral fees and refusing to cooperate. We have to be focused on managing the conflict and deescalating a situation that can quickly get out of hand.  But the character in the plot we all have to keep in mind is the transferee who can be the victim and the corporation if everything isn’t handled smoothly behind the scenes.

Bullying gets you nowhere

While it might feel right at the moment to bully the agent into performance, our best bet is to be the guide. Real estate agents think they understand relocation and the mobility process. I am going to go out on a limb and say that 95% of non-relocation team agents do not truly understand all of the mechanics involved in the relocation process. And we often try to speak to them as if they do. As long as we always keep that in our mind we can to shift from being the villain to being the guide, patiently working on behalf of the transferee, the relocation company and the corporation. We have to attempt to gain the agent’s trust as the expert by setting expectations, goals and establishing accountability to guide them through the process as a team. The real estate agents are as much our customer as our actual customers are.

There is nothing that ticks off a real estate agent more that telling them a client they have had for 10 years and sold multiple properties for, now has a listing with a referral fee attached after they have already had a listing appointment and been nurturing the relationship for years. We can’t blame them. They don’t care about how it affects our relocation department. They care about their client and their paycheck. So stop talking about how if a referral fee isn’t paid or the metrics aren’t met, it might affect your company’s standing for future business. If they aren’t a beneficiary of that business, it is meaningless to them and may only inflame them further.

The key is from the very first conversation with the affected agent to calmly tell them we are their ally and we are a team who will guide them through the process to ensure the transferee gets their benefits. The conversation should start like this, ‘when a client becomes a transferee…..’. We have to shift their thinking and get them to be calm enough to listen to an explanation of the process. We have to empathize, not just tell them ‘this is the way it is’ but using terms like ‘I understand how hard this is’.

It's a team effort

Some of the key guides in this process are your branch managers and  leadership. It is important that they understand what is happening when a requested agent situation takes place. If you can educate them before the situation arises, then they will recall the information when the agent comes unhinged and runs to them for back up. If the manager truly understands what is happening, then they can work as an ally and a guide with you to help diffuse the situation. I encourage there to be regular discussion and materials distributed to leadership that explains the process. There is nothing worse that trying to help someone understand this complex situation than when it is done in the hysteria of the moment.

Creating a team of people who will help the agent understand the importance of compliance on behalf of their client will take the pressure off of the relocation department and will help deescalate the conflict. You have now created a team of guides who will support and help the agent throughout the transaction. That team understands the implications of losing a large source of referrals. There is no disputing the referral fee due to the source, but creating a special scenario of how any additional upcharge fees are collected by the company is advised for these referrals. It’s like throwing gasoline on an already blazing fire to try and financially benefit from these referrals like we do for unattached referrals as a department.

Is the money worth it?

I am keenly aware that requested agent referrals are a LOT of work. Managing an often uncooperative agent who has no idea what is happening can be painful and time consuming. But the damage they can do with other agents and the negative feelings they may vocalize are not worth whatever perceived exorbitant fee is being tacked on for our service. I am not suggesting to manage them for free, but special pricing should be considered.

In the ideal scenario, corporations and RMC’s would stop allowing their transferees to request agents who have no understanding of the process and are not keen to cooperate, particularly on listings. If they really understood how hard it is to manage these scenarios at the broker level, I would hope they would discourage the process. But that genie is out of the bottle and there is no getting it back in. So every Relocation Department should take a look at how many requested agent scenarios they have on average per year and determine if the damage that is created by an unhappy agent can be managed in such a way to cause less harm to the relocation and agent relationship in the long run.

By being the agent’s guide and their ally, we will ultimately emerge as the hero in this situation.

“When we position our customer as the hero and ourselves as the guide, we will be recognized as a trusted resource to help them overcome their challenges. Positioning the customer as the hero in the story is more than just good manners; it’s also good business.” ~ Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen