Strike the Right Tone when Establishing your Relocation Culture

I was in a fast food restaurant awhile back and there was a parent who was screaming at their child who was misbehaving and the child just ignored the parent. The parent continued to shout and the child continued to misbehave. The reason? The child had desensitized to the shouting and they knew there would be no meaningful consequences for the actions, but more shouting. This parent had chosen to use a specific tone with their child, and the child had chosen to be tone deaf.

A parent that speaks softly, but with authority and has consequences tied to the warnings are usually much more effective and it’s better for everyone involved, including bystanders. Helping them understand why their actions are a problem can go a long way in avoiding the behavior in the future. It’s a more respectful parent child relationship. It’s not so much what you say, but how you say it.

This made me think about the relocation department and relocation agent team relationship. I have known Relocation Directors who choose to take a very strong tone with their team. Lots of threats that clearly establish who’s boss. I don’t really understand it. Relocation departments can’t do their job without the agents. The quality of the agents on the team and their desire to please all parties determines the success of the department.

A lot of the tone of the relationship that ultimately translates into the culture of the relocation department is established in the written materials that are distributed to the teams and delivered as trainings and procedural guidelines. There always seems to be a lot of ‘you can never ….’ or ‘if you do/don’t this you will come off of the team’, but it is often without an explanation of why they should or shouldn’t do something in a relocation transaction.

Real estate agents understand consequences. They help people with what may be the largest and most complex transaction of their lives. It a heavy burden to bear which is why they have insurance and continuing education and branch managers and inhouse attorneys as a safety net and resource.

But helping agents on the team and those who aren’t on the team, better understand the complex nature of a relocation, gets them to buy into why the transactions have to be handled in a very specific manner with big referral fees attached. A relocation transaction, particularly the listing, is an enigma to agents who don’t know the ‘why’ behind all of the processes that must be strictly followed. It’s not ok to say ‘that’s just the way it is’. That’s certainly easier, but it doesn’t help them buy into the uniqueness that they may never experience again if they never do another relocation deal in their career. They also need to understand how referral fees work and where the money goes and for what. Having a document ready to go in layman’s terms can go a long way to helping them begin to understand the why.

There is a theme for all of the procedural directions around how relocation clients are handled…..get to a successful closing with everyone happy and compliant. The tone is manner in which you get them there. When writing directives to real estate team agents, remember how valuable they are in the process and how on a regular basis they make us all look good. It’s a team effort.

The messaging should be inclusive and educational. After all, you are the subject matter expert, there is no one better to educate them so they understand it from their perspective, not yours. Put yourself if their shoes and remember back when you first starting learning about the relocation process.

It should be a collaboration where they are so invested in the overall success of the department they would never consider leaving your company or doing anything to let anyone down. The department culture should never have that feeling of them against us. It’s not healthy or sustainable.

Broker owners are struggling on a daily basis with agent retention issues. Being a department that strikes a tone of collaboration with the agents, whether they are on the relocation team or not, is a gift to your broker and will go a long way when you need support from your leadership in the future.

“It’s like spicy food—sometimes you have to tone it down so everyone can enjoy it.” ~ Babyface, singer, songwriter and record producer