Fuel Your Success With Your Personal Brand
How much time do you spend on your personal brand? You may be asking why, especially if you are an agent working for a large real estate company. A personal brand can play a big role in the success of your business, or can take down a business when you don’t spend time developing it.
Let’s face it, there are a lot of real estate agents out there. Do you want to be another face in the crowd, or do you want to stand out and be a leader? If you answered the latter, here are a few tips on how to develop a strong personal brand.
Define Your Personal Brand
It’s important to understand what I mean by defining your personal brand, or what people say about you when you’re not around. Every time you meet with a client, post something to your social media feed, or answer a call from someone seeking your services, people are deciding whether or not they should put their trust in you. Your personal brand is a combination of who you are as a person, combined with what you tell the world about you. What do you want people to know about you? What do you care about? Who do you look up to and why? What are your values? What makes you a great Realtor??
Why Your Personal Brand Matters
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is that they don’t think they have (or need) a personal brand, especially if they are working for a big box company. Whether you like it or not, you have a brand. It is what others see in you and is what will cause potential clients to do business with you or hire someone else. How many clients do you see yourself getting if they don’t trust, respect, or like you? To succeed in this business, you want to stand out from the crowd and if you don’t define your brand, others will define it for you.
How to Build a Personal Brand
Many (if not most) people don’t really think of themselves as having a personal brand. Therefore, they don’t put much thought into the fact that your brand comes in with you to every client meeting, like a shadow. Until you are aware of your brand you have no way of controlling it. You must be aware and intentional in order to take the steps needed to have an impact on how others see you. Focus on your strengths and work hard at letting others see them because when you do you will begin to see that you are an expert and everyone around you will see it, too.
We live in the social media world, meaning that there is very little that separates our personal life and our work life. When someone wants to know about you, it is very likely that they will type your name in Google, search your website and Facebook page and check out your LinkedIn profile before they ever call your office. If what you say in person is completely different than what you portray online, which person do your potential clients trust?
In order to be successful in your business, you must define your brand because if you don’t, others will define it for you. And then, be true to that brand, even it if means that you turn away potential clients who are not a good fit. Trust me, turning away clients who are not a good fit takes a strong, authentic brand and successful agents recognize the value of clients who align to their personal brand.
Ron Lyons is a Realtor?, who specializes in existing homes and investment properties in North Texas. For more information, please visit www.ronlyonsrealty.com.