Relocation Consultant

Relocating to a new city, town or even country is a challenging and traumatic time for anyone. To make their move a little smoother individuals or companies often enlist the services of a relocation consultant. A relocation consultant is a specialist in all the difficult moving questions that one might face; which area to live in, which school to send children to, which retirement home to choose for parents and which house suits a families needs. If you know your area well, enjoy showing it off to others and can put together a moving plan to suit any family then this exciting work at home business with its low start-up cost and excellent earnings potential is for you.

Before The Start-Up – Let’s Not Get Ahead Of Ourselves

No formal qualifications are need here, just a particular set of skills and local knowledge. You’ll need to have excellent communication skills and enjoy working with people, you’ll also need to have some experience in the real estate market and have an in depth knowledge of your area and everything it has to offer, from schools to recreation and employment.

The Start-Up

There are two options you’ll need to consider before getting started. Either you can setup your own independent consulting business or you can become a consultant for an existing relocation company. The choice really depends on your priorities, goals and time frame in which you would like to pursue this business. If you do decide that taking a job with an existing consulting firm is the right thing to do, look around before making a decision. Start by searching the Internet for relocation companies in your area, do plenty of comparative research on each before deciding which ones to apply to.

If you would like to start an independent consultancy you’ll need to begin by first setting up your home office. You’ll need a workspace, desk, computer, Internet connection, cell phone, fax machine and printer. Once you have decided on a name and logo for your consultancy, you’ll need to print some basic business stationary such as business cards, letterheads and an invoice and receipt template.

Hourly rates vary between $25 and $35 (USD) per hour. Setup various package options that you can advertise over and above your standard hourly rate.

Making It Work

While you’ll undoubtedly find individual clients in need of relocation advice, the most work is to be found in the corporate world. Companies that either transfer staff between offices or head hunt for staff from other cities or countries, often hire a relocation consultant to make the move for their new staff member easier. Spend time marketing your services to smaller companies that might require your services, but don’t have the budget to hire their own in house consultant.

Marketing

Market your services offline using advertising in local business publications and direct mail to companies who could potentially use your services. Market your services online by having a website developed, along with details of your services, be sure to add client testimonials and free relocation advice to your website. Market your website by running a pay per click campaign with a service such as Google Adwords. If you’ve never run a pay per click campaign before its recommended you do some reading before getting started. Perry Marshall has an excellent introductory book to get you started. Pay per click advertising can be targeted at a small geographical area, making it highly affordable for small start-ups.

Don’t Forget

You’ll likely do plenty of driving in the course of your day, whether it be to do research on an area or meet with a client. Don’t forget to account for this and other hidden expenses such as entertaining clients.