I run a successful Relocation Department. Why am I not well respected in my Company?
While many relocation departments and their leaders are adored by their companies, this isn’t always the case. We may not get the respect we deserve for many reasons. Here are a few I have observed and experienced:
The Relocation Director has not taken the time to educate their broker-owner on what running a productive department entails. Getting requests for expenses approved is much easier if they understand how that expense will lead to business.
The RD has not worked with the entire agent population to help them understand how corporate relocation works, so when a preferred agent situation arises, that agent is upset that they have to pay a referral fee.
The RD is inflexible and has the ‘my way or the highway’ attitude, creating an adversarial environment.
The relocation staff is not always kind and understanding with the agents.
If the department is not a profit center or revenue and profits are down, the broker-owner may feel like it is a drain on resources.
Leadership staff feels relocation is necessary but doesn’t really understand or support it.
Branch Managers feel like relocation transactions take money from their branch dollar.
Branch Managers are concerned that some branches are favored over others for referrals.
Branch Managers are angry when the RD won’t add every new agent to the relocation team.
Other company department heads perceive that you get more resources since your department is a profit center and are often uncooperative or unsupportive.
The agents feel like they are adversaries with relocation and that relocation is ‘taking’ something from them.
The general agent population is jealous and angry that some agents get all of the business.
Agents claim they want to be on the team but are unwilling to meet the requirements to be eligible.
The relocation team agents feel the pressure of a lot of paperwork and constant evaluation and are angry if they are removed from the team for underperforming.
The team agents don’t feel as if the business is rotated fairly among the relocation team.
I could go on. But for the most part, it comes down to two things. Education and Communication.
Respect has to be earned. And that means going above and beyond to make people listen to us and align with us. It’s easy for leadership just to assume we have it handled. But if they don’t fundamentally understand the business and what it takes to secure and keep it, then if things go sideways, we can’t count on them to be in our court. We have to not only work on our personal branding externally, it is just as important to focus on our branding internally within our own company.
It means painstakingly getting the attention of those who are at the top to get them to support us no matter what. It doesn’t happen in one 20-minute meeting. We have to systematically communicate with them in the language they understand with examples that resonate with them. We tend to speak in our relo language because we are too close to it. Instead, speak broker-owner talk. What matters to them and why?
When they ask questions, resist the urge to say, ‘That’s just how it is.’ There is a reason why we do everything. Position it so they can relate and make sense of it. Support comes from the top; getting others to support and respect you is much easier if you have unconditional support there.
Here are 10 tips to improve how you are perceived and create the partnerships you need:
Be transparent. Nothing makes people more suspicious than coming across as if we are hiding something. Explain how referral fee money is divided up. Talk about how hard it is to capture and retain the RMC business, which is why we use a tight agent team.
Generate reports from your referral tracking software for the leadership team so they know what you are generating for each branch and agent and the overall contribution to the company. Don’t forget to talk about the ancillary business that is generated because of your referrals.
Create resource materials to help walk various groups through relocation-specific processes. Put them on the intranet or wherever you house documents for the managers and agents. Some of my favorites are ‘What happens when a customer becomes a Transferee’ and ‘What it takes to be a relocation agent’.
Think about how you might be more flexible. By being flexible, we show the company that we understand that some situations are very hard. It may mean losing money on a deal now and then.
Work with your staff to be more empathetic. It’s really hard being an agent, particularly right now.
Get on the agenda in the Manager’s meeting to discuss hot relocation topics. Don’t drone on about outgoing referral goals or things that they care nothing about. Talk about why these things are important to them. Outgoing referrals are important because they feed our network and generate business back to the company. Relocation is important because it helps move the local economy along and makes us a good corporate partner. Talk bigger picture and less about the mundane day-to-day processes. Discuss the overall effects that the pandemic, remote work, and the current state of the economy have had on relocation opportunities. Let them know what you are doing to combat the drop in referrals.
Sit down with every branch manager to build rapport and discuss the business in general and in their branch. It’s hard for them to get mad if we have a relationship with them and they like us. Earn their trust so they are less likely to jump to conclusions when something comes up.
Offer to help in areas that are outside of your general job description and support other departments when you can. For example, help to set up and tear down at an agent event. Meet with department heads to explain what you do, why you might need their support, and how it benefits the company overall.
Voluntarily offer up budget cuts. Nothing makes a broker happier than when they know we are minding the budget.
Establish yourself as the subject matter expert on the business lines you are responsible for in your company. Talk about your achievements, committees, awards, certifications, conference attendance, and why all of those things are important and contribute to why the company receives the business. Securing and retaining business is hard. Make sure they know that.
Sometimes we forget to educate on what goes on behind the scenes to make our department run like clockwork. Don’t let yourself be taken for granted.
“When you demand respect, you will be shown respect. But that’s usually all it is, a show. When you earn respect, you will receive true respect.” ~ Unknown
