Blog

We are conditioned our entire lives to focus on achieving tasks. Clicking off that to-do list or learning random facts for a test in school. We ‘task’ our way through life. But once we are done with our tasks, have we really moved the needle?

In an effort to save on manpower, some sources use auto-routing to ‘match’ the customer with the best agent according to the algorithms of skills and performance. We get little information on the referral when it is sent over. Many customers don’t want to talk on the phone, so no counseling call takes place. They don’t read their benefits package. It’s hard to get the best agents on the team. So, what can we do as service providers to go above and beyond to really service the transferring family, so they have a great experience?

This is no time for the status quo. It’s time to strip away the mantra ‘but that’s how we have always done it’ and replace it with ‘why not give this a shot?’. If the leaders of relocation divisions aren’t out seeking new sources of business, more and more broker-owners are going to question why they need someone at a Director level when a low-level coordinator with AI and a strong referral management system could handle it.

Having work friends is important. But how those work friends can impact your work is more important. Being in relocation can be lonely in a company. Having a Ya Ya sisterhood or brotherhood with other department heads provides a support circle that can offer great dividends.

The Los Angeles area experienced a disaster in January of such a magnitude that is still hard to fathom. While I live an hour away from the fires, I heard the pain of the devastation through the voices my many friends who were affected. The thin layer of ash was a constant reminder from the north. I have asked my friend, Fran Flanagan, to recount her experience the day of the fires and how they are still dealing with the aftermath.