How Can I Access ‘Help for Hire’ and Keep Business Flowing?
A lot of Relocation Directors are struggling with the challenge to cover the volume of work in their department when they have staff out or if they want to take a vacation. Extended vacations, sick, or maternity leaves can go on for a long period of time and can be crippling for those who are left to manage the workflow. Some Directors feel that can’t detach to take a vacation, so they end up working while on paid time off when they should be decompressing.
Many departments are down to the bare bones staff and even though business is down overall, the workload to manage various accounts has increased significantly. And the profit margins continue to diminish as external referral fees and expenses around conferences, membership dues, and certifications continue to increase.
Everything is harder.
Demands have increased regarding referral management even though based on improved technology, they should be decreasing. Each source of business has its own portal and set of metrics and requirements that make the overall management of referrals much more complicated. The variety of types of referrals requires staff to be more highly trained and well-versed in each source and type of business. We have more renters, short-term assignments, customers on hold, affinity programs, and internet leads. These are highly labor intensive and have low financial rewards or low conversion rates. It’s not just broker-to-broker referrals and corporate relocation any longer.
Back in the day, we could shift tasks around and a receptionist could fill in to help out when counseling staff were out. We don’t have receptionists any longer, so that option is gone. We used to have full-time people that did data entry before systems became so easy to use so now each counselor does their own data entry or it is fed through an API into our systems. So while technology has improved in that regard and we each do most of our own admin work, there are no longer admin staff to help with the overflow.
The key is to train them before you need them. Look at your job descriptions and sort through them to determine what can be shifted around to cover some of the counselor’s responsibilities. Keep the staff that are left focused on the high-skill activities like speaking with transferees.
So what can we do? Here are some options to cover counselor roles:
1. Temporary ‘for hire’ counselor. There are people in our industry who are retired or in between jobs who are willing and able to fill in for a counselor for a limited engagement. The hourly cost will be higher than what you pay your existing staff, but they come with knowledge of the sources, systems, and protocol. I really like this option because it allows you to bring in someone with a fresh perspective and as a bonus might offer some advice on how to improve processes. An outsider coming in every now and then can be a healthy exercise. They can typically slot it with only a short amount of training.
When I am aware of these folks who are available, I recommend them, but I am not always in the know. People have asked me to figure out a way to formally orchestrate a pool of ‘for hire’ counselors, but I don’t know how I could monetize it by getting in the middle of it. It would make sense for various brands or networks to source these people and make them available to their members. Their challenge is like mine, they would have to monetize it and control the quality of the work and scheduling which could be extensive. And there is the liability that could come with it if someone doesn’t perform.
2. Virtual Assistants. There are many agents and companies who are using independent VAs to help support a variety of administrative tasks. Some use them behind the scenes for data entry or to manage social media or CRM databases. They can process referral fees, oversee updates, and a myriad of administrative and marketing tasks. They are often located in the Philippines or another foreign country and are tech-savvy and speak great English. And they are very affordable. There are companies who will vet them and train them in real estate for a fee, but you are better off finding one who is already trained in real estate and training them on your specific needs yourself. You will often pay them through the VA company which ensures any payroll compliance. If your company or any of your agents have any VAs, I would investigate if you might ‘buy’ some of their time. They often work for multiple agents and are willing to take on additional responsibilities for a short period.
3. Borrow a body. Explore if there might be an employee in your company in another department that you could access. Maybe marketing has a part-time employee that has a few extra hours they could offer you. Or a freelance transaction coordinator might be looking to pick up some extra hours. They are already familiar with your company and with real estate so that makes them a great candidate. Just make sure you work out with the department they are assigned to how you will cover their salary while they are working for you.
4. White-labeled Relocation Department. There are real estate companies or independent relocation departments out there that act as white-labeled relocation departments for a variety of brokerages. While most of them are pretty busy, you can always check to see if they might help your company on a short-term temporary basis if they have the bandwidth.
5. Use a Temp Agency. There are agencies that specialize in real estate related services. A long time ago, we regularly used temporary workers to help cover some tasks when we had a gap in staffing or a fluctuation in business. And we did a lot of ‘temp to hire’. I found some really good people that way. Now even if a temp was approved, the referral management process has become so complex, by the time the temp is fully trained, the employee returns from their time off. We often don’t have much notice when a leave will begin, so it leaves us scrambling. But if you can find an agency that specializes in real estate related services they may have a candidate who can rise to the occasion. They are costly, but if they don’t work out, it is easy to make a change.
6. Borrow a Counselor. Reach out to a Director who is non-competing and might be able to lend (for a fee) you a Counselor for an hour or two a day to help you stay on top of referrals for a short time. This will be most feasible if they have a relatively large staff. If they use the same systems and have the same network affiliation, it could be an easy fix. Offer some sort of incentive to the Counselor to get them excited about the extra work. They may feel flattered that they were considered qualified enough to fill in for another firm.
7. Create a Consortium. Hire a counselor with another brokerage and share the expense. This is a great long-term solution if you only need part-time help. Creating a consortium with another company can make a lot of financial sense to help you both fulfill your staffing needs for long or short terms. This is a particularly great solution for managing internet leads where little counseling is needed. It works particularly well if you are the same brand and use the same tracking software.
But what about you?
The above offers solutions for when a Counselor is out, but what about when a Relocation Director wants to take an extended vacation or even just a few days off? That becomes more challenging if we have a small department, particularly if it is a one-person operation. If you have staff, but don’t feel they are experienced enough to handle problem resolution or complex situations that may arise, then you might look to me as a solution.
While I don’t want to place referrals, I can be on call for staff or VAs to help with problem resolution and questions as they arise. I often work like this behind the scenes for my clients if they have a gap in staffing. I can act to support the staff and direct them as needed. They may auto-forward emails to me and I determine where they need to go and what needs to happen with them. All I need is some high-level training on your policies and procedures specific to your company. I am well versed in the referral management systems out there and how each of the sources of business operates and their expectations. There is not likely anyone else outside of your department in your own organization that has the expertise to cover for you.
I can assist based on project pricing or an hourly rate depending on what is needed of me and the length of the assignment. What I offer is perspective, I have managed departments of all sizes and have managed hundreds of relocation staff during my time as a Relocation Director. My years of experience have made me excellent at problem resolution. I think I have dealt with pretty much every situation out there at some time or another. I know what it is like to be unable to detach for a break. I was lucky enough as time went on to have a staff that could handle anything in my absence, but there were many years before that when I was always on call.
Take the time owed to you.
We like to think we are invincible and irreplaceable. But the damage of not taking a mental and physical break every now and then will take its toll on us. As they say, “No one ever died of relocation”. The business will be fine without you for a while, but it might cause a whole set of personal problems for us if we don’t detach periodically. Take the time due to you and recharge so you can come back with a fresh perspective. Let me know how I can help.
“I Googled my symptoms. Turns out I just need a vacation.” ~Unknown
