Making the Agent and Transferee Relocation Love Connection
While venture capital backed entities are trying desperately to find the magic bullet to make a real estate transactions easy (good luck with that), many firms are using AI and various forms of technology to deliver leads to agents in an automated way. Anything to make the complicated process simpler is welcomed. That’s all fine for searching options and for delivering internet leads, but does it have its place in relocation?
For anyone that has worked in relocation for longer than five minutes, we know that it is a highly personal business. A family or individual is being asked to uproot their lives and move to a strange place, sometimes even a new country, for a job. When you really think about it, it’s a miracle anyone actually accepts the offer. But humans are resilient and adventurous and aspirational and that’s why we do it.
When we separate the actual relocation from the real estate side of it, we are talking about two very different things. Finding a place to live is obviously really important, as well as selling the current home. That is really the least of the worries in a relocation in today’s market. For the most part, housing is readily available in most places and getting the information on the options available is all over the internet. Well priced listings sell in most communities in short time periods. It’s really about finding a place that is home.
Even though, thankfully, many of the steps that go into a relocation have become more automated, it is still a business where people typically want and need guidance. They want to understand their options. They want to get the vibe of a prospective neighborhoods. They want a local expert that will provide empathy and clarity to a very stressful process. They need someone who will listen to their worries about uprooting their lives, no matter how seemingly trivial.
Most real estate company relocation departments know their relocation agent teams well. They have worked with them for years, they know the agent’s expertise, whether it be a specific market knowledge or they may have helpful personal experience, such as having a special needs child. Families are complicated today. We have kids and grandparents and animals that make the move. Some of those involved in the move may not fit into the cookie cutter expectation of that role. That’s where a knowledgeable relocation agent comes in. But you can’t get to that knowledgeable agent without someone making that match.
When information on a family is delivered to a relocation department, the counselor will mentally roll through their team agents to figure out the best match. They may also seek advice from a branch manager. While our software systems will remind us of the expertise of various agents, it is still typically a gut feeling which agent is the best for that family. There are just some things a system program just can’t do. That is why I am always bothered when a source of business requests to use one agent for an entire corporate account. One agent can’t possibly be a match for the various personalities of many different types of families. Rotating the delivery of referrals on a list of agents is not going to end well either.
Throughout my years running a relocation department, I can recall countless stories and testimonials from families thanking us for finding the perfect agent to assist them. It wasn’t by accident. My counselors knew the agent’s expertise and their track record and their personalities. Relocation in a real estate firm is a local business, that should be run by people who know how to read their audience and make that lasting love connection. Making the right match will deliver to that family an agent who will help find a place to call home.
