As a real estate agent you represent yourself as well as the company that employs you. You are the person who is challenged with facing client after client day in and day out. You help find the right property for their needs. You have a logo on your business card representing the company for which you sell real estate, so you should present your personal brand in a positive way so all your clients can perceive you positively.
You are probably working diligently at branding yourself with trustworthy insights at open houses you host and with friendly conversations with potential buyers. However, there is always more to do.
You need to properly manage your personal brand and create a special approach and branding that is unique to you and your personal name.
You Need to Know Yourself
You can’t portray the image you want to exhibit if you don’t know exactly who you are or what that image is in reality. You need to take a little while to sit down, jot down all the qualities that you want to embody and take note of the qualities that you don’t want to affiliate with you.
Consider the qualities that you already own and exhibit then use them as your strengths. Make clear the traits that you want to have, then decide how you will work on including them in your personality and attitude. You want to develop a list of qualities that serve as your edge. You want to have distinguishing, recognisable traits to set you apart from your competitors.
Create Your Own Values
While many companies have core values to determine the personalities of their brands, you need to follow that example to develop your own set of solid principles. Are you punctual? Do you keep current in regards to market trends? After you have decided which values you want to make yours and emphasise, don’t keep them a secret but use them to advertise. Let your clients know your strengths and how your personal brand can be defined. Clients will then have concrete evidence of what you can offer them.
Be Consistent!
After you have defined yourself and determined who you want to be, you need to stick to that image. If you have promised punctuality, deliver that and be on time. If you don’t show up on time one day and fail to meet expectations, admit to it and apologise. Apologise when you don’t provide stellar service and acknowledge mistakes. Clients are usually more understanding when you take responsibility for a mishap and take full responsibility instead of giving them an excuse.
Guard and Maintain Online Accounts
Social media isn’t just for your friends anymore, you need to act with the realisation that any of your potential clients can see your photos and posts, and everything is permanent. Even when you delete something, odds are it is still out there somewhere because someone has seen it or shared it.
When using social media, be professional. Only show posts that you deem appropriate in a professional setting so you can protect your image. Set your Facebook privacy settings so all friends’ posts require your approval before they can be seen by the public so you can control any content viewed in connection with your name. Even consider creating a separate professional Facebook page, so you can focus on posts that are relevant to your business. Consider posting current events, open houses and helpful articles. Perhaps the real estate company has helpful resources you may want to share, such as real estate blog posts to mortgage calculators.
Things like videos and blogs can be a great way to provide valuable and important information to the market place, raising your credibility as well as building your profile and personal brand. Giving you even more content to share to your social networks, that can be on shared by your audience, which in turn can grow your following organically.
Be Receptive to Feedback
Remember everyone makes mistakes, but you can strive to be better by looking for areas where you can improve . Feedback is an invaluable tool that will help you address your weaknesses. You can ask how you are performing as a real estate consultant, depending on the situation and who you are asking. Feel free to ask your peers how you are perceived out in the field.
You could even email a questionnaire to your clients after you have helped them or ask for a testimonial, but always ask permission to do so first. Also it is important to embrace feedback systems on social media and not to ignore complaints, as these are visible to the public. With the right strategy in place you can avoid bad online reviews and open the gates to positive and rewarding feedback.
Now is the time to start developing your brand and growing your business.
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