The Cost of Attending (or not Attending) Industry Events
As Covid is becoming further away in the rearview mirror, for the most part, business is getting back to usual. But should it? The good news is that Covid has changed some ways that we do business forever. Remote work, Zoom meetings instead of phone calls, and more flexible work schedules. Those are here to stay.
I was hoping that relocation management companies would consider scaling back on the annual get-togethers after a hiatus during Covid, but that didn’t happen. While I completely understand the desire to meet with the supply chain in person and acknowledge those who have exceeded expectations, it can be quite a strain on brokers to attend all of them, particularly for the smaller brokerages. There are residual benefits that include educational forums, meeting the RMC staff in person, and networking opportunities that are valuable to every broker. Don’t forget the endless social media opportunities to show off awards and images of you with key industry players.
When to say ‘no’
Not only is it expensive to attend all of the various meetings with travel and food expenses, hotel, and registration, it is the time out of the office that can be most difficult. What happens is smaller brokers have to make hard calls. If they are lucky enough to be invited to all of the various gatherings out there, which ones do they attend? Does it mean foregoing the Relocation Director’s Council and Worldwide ERC conferences for fear that our competitors will be at the RMC meetings and we might lose some standing? And how does a one-person shop cover its business while attending nonstop back-to-back meetings?
The larger brokers are typically structured in a way that the VP or Relocation Director doesn’t actually handle referrals on a daily basis. I was one of those for years. My responsibilities included marketing (which included attending various meetings and conferences), strategic growth, program development and execution, budget management, staff oversight, and managing other revenue-generating programs for the company. I had a big budget and a lot of staff and we did a ton of referrals. So it was no problem for me to be out of the office for long stretches.
Smaller broker representatives don’t have that luxury. They need to look at the volume received from the source and determine whether their brokerage and their market could generate more. Some smaller markets are only going to have so many opportunities. So if they are getting all that the source can offer for their market area, should they go to ensure they maintain their position?
With increased referral fees, annual membership fees, training expenses, and some charging transaction fees, at what point is that source no longer a profitable partnership? The challenge is that someone is always right behind us trying to take the business away. It often comes down to the fact that you are obvious by your absence if you don’t attend. Relationships are what make our industry tick.
It is so important for all enterprises to take a look annually at each source of business and meeting.
How many referral opportunities did we receive from that specific source?
How many closings?
How many lost opportunities and why were they lost?
How many fee-based services were there?
What is the revenue generated from referrals and fee-based opportunities? What was the profit?
Do we think we could increase the number of referrals received or improve the conversion rate?
Did attending previous meetings increase our opportunities or give us access to a new source of referrals or resources?
Try to assign a value to the educational information you received from the meeting. How did that information move you forward as a person and a department?
And what were the total expenses in referral fees paid out, membership fees, transaction fees, training fees, conference registration, and travel expenses? Did we actually come out ahead?
Does it make more sense to put some of that energy and expense towards developing local affinity or corporate business development programs?
Once we have this information in hand, we can strategically lay out a plan for all events for the next year. Some people who run departments as a service center may determine that having signs in yards and helping clients move into their market is enough to merit the expenses and lack of profit. They just want their agents to be happy by delivering referrals to them and hopefully expand their market share. I have trouble with that model. It’s all fine and good until budget cuts are needed. And when a broker-owner looks at your department as an expense, they often don’t see those less obvious benefits you bring to the table.
Then evaluate:
Weigh the pros and cons of attending and of not attending.
Have a strategic plan to use all of the educational information you have gathered to grow your business.
Follow up with every person you met to maximize the encounter.
Determining the value of industry events
While I love the Relocation Director’s Council and I think there is no better source of best practices and education for a Relocation Director, attending two meetings a year can also be a financial strain since RDC may or may not be considered a source of revenue. As long as you use the intelligence you gather there to create or enhance services to generate revenue, then is it worth it. The benefit of networking is incredibly valuable when you follow up to reinforce those relationships.
We also have regional industry councils that meet several times a year. Those can be quite valuable if we have a lot of local corporate business and RMC representatives who attend that can drive business to us. And there are national network meetings and brand conferences to consider where we gather with our affiliates to share ideas and celebrate winners. Again, it comes down to determining the return on the investment of attending.
Many Relocation Directors say that attending the WERC conference does not bring them value any longer based on the great expense to attend. Sadly, I understand that feeling. The sessions are heavily slanted to the corporate audience and even the supplier sessions rarely include information meaningful to the broker members. While it is important for suppliers to hear the challenges of the corporations and other providers, what is happening globally is less important to those who solely provide domestic services.
It was apparent that many of the relocation management companies are feeling the same way about attending WERC, but I suspect their decisions are also driven by expense management. There were only six RMC exhibitors in Las Vegas, but several representatives were present in the hotel that week for meetings or parties but didn’t register or exhibit. But I will save my comments about that for another blog post.
As we forge ahead in this uncertain market, maybe it’s time to reevaluate how we use our budget instead of just jumping back into the old patterns of ‘spending and attending’. If your company gives you an unlimited expense account and attending all of these events brings you joy, keep at it. We all suffer from a bit of FOMO and there is something to be said for top-of-mind awareness that comes from visibility.
Each decision about every event should be made thoughtfully for your own company. But be prepared that someone in your leadership may want you to justify the expenses along the way. All broker-owners are going to take a hard look at every penny spent in 2023. Having candid discussions with sources of business and your leadership and studying the ROI on all the travel and conference expenses will ensure you and your department are around for the long haul.
“What is the ROI of your Mum? You can’t put a value on a relationship.” ~ Gary Vaynerchuk, commonly known as Gary Vee, is a Belarusian-American entrepreneur, author, speaker, and Internet personality.
