My Journey into Relocation and Global Mobility-Client-Directed? More Like Career-Directed to Nowhere! Part 10

Last I left off, I purchased the remaining shares of JER, so now I am the 100 percent owner, and I’m fully committed. Now, it’s time to develop business with the RMCs who outsource destination services.

This should be easy, and why not? They outsource all this stuff anyway. Why not outsource it to someone who has been a partner, someone they have moved, someone who has helped them secure other business elsewhere, and someone experienced who has successfully moved thousands of people?

In 2013, I decided to invest in a booth at the Employee Relocation Conference in San Diego. This was my chance to connect with several prominent RMCs and start building relationships.

The first meeting should have been a slam dunk. I met with the owner of one prominent RMC. He introduced me directly to the person who led vendor management. During the introduction, he told the vendor management person how he admired the road I was taking and how I had been a wonderful partner over the years.

Additionally, this particular supplier had moved me to California. Beyond moving me, I had procurement at Disney open an RFP for this RMC that was officially closed. I also maintained their status as the sole supplier at Walmart.

I had built relationships with several of their salespeople—they moved me from NJ to CA, I used their services at two corporations, and I introduced them to multiple other clients. Naturally, I expected them to offer me some discretionary business.

Not only did they fail to provide any business, but they also contributed to the loss of business that I had been directed to handle!

They either forgot or refused to send JER an initiation. Instead, this initiation went to a competitor. This corporate client insisted we work with a specific local destination services consultant, but the competitor used someone else locally. Let’s just say that this local destination provider had a complete meltdown and contacted a very high-level executive she had helped move to this area.

This high-level employee started questioning mobility, a department she did not control, which caused all sorts of internal issues with the HR head. Long story short, JER was caught in the middle simply because this RMC failed to follow the client’s instructions.

Next, we had the exciting opportunity to partner with a prominent international forwarder. We had been in discussions for months, and an opportunity arose when one of their larger RMC clients inquired if they could handle some destination services for one of their largest customers. We began discussing how JER could be integrated into their operations across all their locations. I was even introduced as part of their team at several social events. However, during a call—by someone who no longer works there—they decided that partnering with JER could potentially hurt their core business, and the idea was shelved.

With the previous opportunity shelved, I decided to visit the RMC where I had worked for several years. I drove up the hill, entered this familiar building, and met with a familiar contact. I assumed we had a productive meeting and asked him what I should do next. He responded, “Stay visible.” Over the years, I probably spent thousands of dollars trying to “stay visible.” Eventually, this contact retired, and we never managed to secure any business.

I approached other RMCs, only to receive the same runaround. One senior executive (and good friend) at an RMC candidly told me I was wasting my time trying to secure business through his company. He bluntly said that both he and several others had recommended JER, but vendor management intentionally avoids working with suppliers that have been referred by their salespeople. This was an internal issue, and he believed they would continue to give me the runaround.

So, my next move was to target the RMCs we already worked with through JER’s customers who directed them to use our services. In these cases, I would ask the RMCs for additional business for their other clients. I reasoned that if one of their customers referred us, surely, we were being referred by a reliable source.

In what could be considered strike four or five—I had lost count—a senior account manager at an RMC told me that being client-directed was the "kiss of death" for a supplier. She explained that RMCs dislike clients directing business as it potentially means no referral revenue. The RMCs want to use their own networks, so being client-directed essentially means being blacklisted.

Ironically, we did have one RMC that gave us all their discretionary business, though we had to basically buy that business. It was there I learned that not all business is good business. This client took up an inordinate amount of time and was by far our least profitable. This RMC made more money referring us destination services than JER made providing the service.

As I navigated these challenges, I learned harsh lessons about the dynamics of the relocation industry, particularly with relocation management companies (RMCs). Despite long-standing relationships with organizations, despite all the business you may have given them in the past, they will ignore you once the business well dries up.

Perhaps the most frustrating experience occurred when I referred business to an RMC and asked for an opportunity on some destination services. The vendor management contact said, “If we get this business (that I referred), we’ll use you for their destination work.”

I explained that I already had that relationship and would secure that business regardless of which RMC was involved. I said I was seeking new opportunities. I later learned from a mutual contact that the RMC person didn’t appreciate my approach of asking for additional business. I’m still puzzled by this, especially after referring them to an RFP with a major client. Another swing and miss!

The mutual friend did tell me that he told this vendor management person that asking for opportunities is a standard business practice. It’s not personal, it’s practical.

At this point, I had to make the choice of developing business directly with the customer—a move that RMCs absolutely hate. The RMC world, along with their largest suppliers, operates in a constant state of paranoia. RMCs fear anyone getting close to their corporate clients. They worry that someone might actually teach those clients something new or disrupt their dependence on the RMC. Their goal is to keep the corporate customer 100% reliant on them.

Big suppliers to RMCs share this paranoia, afraid that contacting a corporate client directly or even being seen with them might cost them their business relationship with the RMC. At industry events, these suppliers won’t even go within 100 feet of a corporate client. Meeting with a corporate customer often feels like a scene from "The Sopranos," requiring obscure locations and secrecy.

For smaller suppliers like JER, there’s often no choice but to reach out to corporate contacts directly. One competitor of mine even admitted that they have an entire staff employed just to apologize to RMCs after contacting corporate clients. Sometimes, you have to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

This approach of working directly with customers proved successful for several years, but something was missing. I love global mobility. I love the internal customers, the relocating employees, and all the people who help support the move. Being an owner, even of a mobility company, kept me away from that hands-on connection I cherished.

As an owner, you spend time on business development, accounting, insurance, employees, landlords, technology, employment issues, and a bunch of other non-mobility-related things. I wanted to spend more time on the day-to-day relocation, so I reached out to some organizations that offered business consultants and fractional CEOs who could guide JER on the ownership side, allowing me to handle actual files.

As I was getting close to choosing one of these companies, the once-shelved opportunity to partner was now possibly coming off the shelf. Stay tuned!