Vikki Morvant, CRP, is a relocation specialist in the New Orleans area who started out as a traditional agent 10 years ago. Building relationships from scratch with relocation companies that are in charge of transfering the employees of large employers in her area has paid off to the point that she can now conduct her business virtually.

"You have to build up the reputation so that these out of town companies can rely on you," advises Morvant. The way to do that, she says, is to supply them with as much information as possible, something most agents typically don't do with their sellers. "One of the biggest complaints that people have about agents is that after you sign the listing contract, you don't hear anything from the agent for weeks," explains Morvant. "Relocation companies won't put up with that. They want constant updates on what is being done to sell this home."

Morvant knows how to leverage the Internet to communicate with transferees, HR managers, pre-sale and relocation companies quickly and easily. Using a small tool belt, including contact management software (Prep,) an email management program (Eudora Pro,) a digital camera (Sony Mavica,) photo processing software (Photoshare,) and a free Web-based email program (Hotmail,) Morvant has learned to work smarter, not harder.

When a pre-sale company dispatches Morvant to interview with the transferee, she knows she is going to be competing against one or two other agents. While she's making her presentation, she maximizes her time, taking interior photos of the home with her digital camera, which she uploads to her computer to send by email to the pre-sale company, or to the HR manager who gave her the lead. The company can immediately begin evaluating (with Morvant's recommendations,) what it will take to market the home within the relocation time frame- usually 60 days. After that, the home may be turned over to a relocation company for management and sale, which makes the transfer costs go up for the client company making the employee transfer.

All are highly motivated by the deadline. If the pre-marketing company doesn't get the house sold, they look badly and they don't get any bonuses. As a commission-only salesperson, Morvant simply doesn't get paid.

When she finds out whether she has the listing, Morvant immediately photographs the outside of the home, and stitches the photos together for presentation using her Photoshare software, which allows a 360 degree viewpoint complete with a voiceover. She then instantly posts the photos to her Web site. She makes notes of all her activities into her contact management software and than copies the notes in an email to the relocation counselor. She has the house completely listed in the MLS and on all the major listings sites within three days or less. As the home is shown, she gets feedback on the home - is it too dark, is it overpriced, does it need repair, and helps the owner take appropriate actions.

The email aspect is one small detail in her personal organization that sets her apart from other agents, she's told by many relocation counselors. "All of my broker price opinions are done by email," says Morvant. "It is amazing that you have a word document form and you can fill in the fields, and yet there are still agents out there who are trying to hand-write in these tiny little spaces, and fax it off! The relocation counselors can't even read them."

Most relocation counselors are so happy with her detailed communications that they don't require her to fill out their company relocation update forms.

When Morvant has documents to send, she again uses the don't fax-a-fax-of-a-fax rule. "I use all the cool tools like HotSend so at least on my end, I can scan the documents, and send my seller in Houston something that they can download, that arrives clean and easy to read. They can sign it and fax it back. I even teach them how to use Hotsend if they've got a few minutes so they can learn to scan the document back in and send it back to me."

Morvant makes it look easy, but what if you are wanting to break into the relocaton market. What should you do?

It's not really possible to go totally virtual at first, believes Morvant, because you have to establish the relationships that will give you repeat referral business.

"I earned the CRP designation (Certified Relocation Professional) by the Employee Relocation Council," says Morvant. "That gets me a lot of business." Editor's note: The ERC is among the best online tools for relocation. Not only are most of the major client companies members, so are the pre-sale and third-party companies. The ERC boasts over 11,000 members and includes a job-hunting database where you can apply for jobs.

Where do you find relocation leads? According to Morvant, the best place to start is with the HR managers and relocation counselors that serve the employers in your area. "Cut your teeth on small companies that let their own HR manager handle the transfer," advises Morvant. "Then, as you learn the language, etc, move on to the actual relocation companies that handle the move for the HR managers. They are found in the ERC directory."

How do you get in the door? "The best way is to have someone who knows you request you when they are being transferred," admits Morvant. "You have to tell your clients, if you get transferred please request me."

Most companies do allow the employee to request an agent of their choice, particularly one with an ongoing relationship. If you perform well, and stay in touch with the relocation counselor at Acme Oil Comanpay, and they transfer hundreds of employees, you might get asked to go out on a transferee interview.

You can also try introducing yourself through the tools that you would be using to update the relocation company or HR manager. But an electronic presentation could be misconstrued without a pre-arranged appointment.

Morvant cautions that despite your best efforts, you could get turned down because the company already has prior relationships with other agents, but it's worth a try, because agents sometimes fail to perform, or transfer themselves. Spots open up because nothing, even in the relocation industry, stays the same.