SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 24

Fostering Reciprocal
Relationships
with Corporate Partners
By Kenzel Hill, Virginia Commonwealth University
I hope many of you had the opportunity to attend SEAHO 2024 in Charleston and if it was your first time you
had the opportunity to interact with many of SEAHO's Corporate Partners. If you didn't this year, that's okay;
there will be plenty of opportunities at Campus Home. Live!, state conferences in the fall, and in Huntsville
for SEAHO 2025. At any conference, you want to take away connections with new colleagues and form new
friendships. Usually that is done with delegates from other colleges and universities, but I would challenge
you to foster a connection with a Corporate Partner.
My colleague Jenna Jeslis (NC State) wrote an article in the previous SEAHO Report on Exposing the
Misconceptions of Connecting with Corporate Partners. If you did not have the opportunity to read it, what
are you waiting for? Go back to the last SEAHO Report, read it, then come back here. This article expands
on her efforts where myths and preconceived notions of working with Corporate Partners are dispelled. In
this article, I further that conversation and show how housing professionals can establish relationships with
Corporate Partners to meet the needs for live-in staff and educate each other.
Some people may think that relationships with Corporate Partners are transactional relationships, that
a Corporate Partner has a product or service and you need a product or service, but relationships with
Corporate Partners can go beyond that. I had the opportunity to speak with Terri Gray of CORT to learn
more about how she has fostered and worked with many housing professionals to provide not just furniture
services but how she has continued to contribute to our profession through service and education. Here are a
few takeaways from our conversation and things to consider the next time you walk into the exhibit hall of a
conference and how you can educate yourself and a Corporate Partner.
1.
Introduce yourself and share where you work and what you do at your institution.
Maybe you think because you are not a Senior Housing Officer or person that makes major purchasing
or financial decisions that it does not really matter to a Corporate Partner that you are an entry level
professional or graduate student. Let me dispel that notion. Many Corporate Partners know that the
conference is full of first-time attendees and a diverse set of professionals. They want to get to know who
you are and where you work. They may have the opportunity to connect you with their local or regional staff
member or ask you for feedback if you already use their services. They want to know their audience and start
building a relationship with you, because today's Hall Director is tomorrow's Director of Housing.
2.
Share what are some of the trends and issues you are seeing on your campus.
As a housing professional, especially if you are an entry-level professional, you are the one closest to your
students. You know what they want and see on the ground level the latest trends that are occurring on
college campuses. We know that higher education is always changing, and Corporate Partners want to
know what those changes are. With the recent changes and shortages in campus housing, Terri shared that
being able to work with schools to make use of growth opportunities, both temporary accommodations and
permanent housing, can help schools focus on the student experience.
24

SEAHO Report - Spring 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Spring 2024