SSP. Shameless. Self. Promotion. Hands down the most uncomfortable aspect of real estate for me. For someone as extroverted and seemingly confident as I am, who enjoys public speaking and marketing, you'd think I could self-promote without breaking a sweat. But that's definitely not the case.
As my Facebook friends can attest, I am regularly posting links to my real estate blog, pictures of my listings, status updates mentioning my team. And I feel SOO gross doing it. Seriously I prefer more of a subtle ninja marketing technique. But ninja marketing doesn't work in real estate, and I have kiddos to feed and roots to touch-up. Ain't no time to be a ninja.
When you are an agent, whether it's with Prudential, Keller Williams, Century 21, etc, no one is going to promote YOU -- the individual agent-- except YOU. And you will quickly understand why I spam the shit out of you on the interwebs at every opportunity. Who do you think is gonna send you leads? Your broker of record? Other agents? Santa?
The first obstacle you've gotta tackle is that your friends and family will not think of you as an agent when you first start. They will think of you as their child, a teacher/waiter/IT support tech/scientist....whatever you were before you got into real estate. You might laugh but I'll offer two true stories as proof. My mom's co-worker told her she wanted to sell her house, and asked if she knew a good realtor. She was half-joking...she remembered I was a realtor and was just sorta waiting for my mom to say "Why yes, my daughter is an agent". Instead my mom forgot that her only child, who talks about real estate ad nauseam, was not working for a builder anymore and said no. Her co-worker, perplexed and unsure if maybe she'd misremembered, went home and googled, and found another agent. My mom recounted this story to me still not realizing her mistake. I kept counting to 3, willing my arm to stay glued to my side so as to not, well, bitch-slap my mother. That brain fart just cost me a potential $6,000 commission. Ouch. THEN my step-grandfather decided to sell his house. He had always insisted realtors were "crooks" and he would never ever use one. So imagine my surprise as I drove past his house and saw a Re/Max sign in his front yard. I honestly almost barfed on my steering wheel. My face got hot, I broke out in a cold sweat and I started to cry. I mean really?? My own family didn't even use me to list their home? How humiliating!!! He said he "forgot". He forgot that I had my own real estate team, and I guess forgot that I had been selling houses for four years, and I guess forgot I had two babies to feed all on my own. Hmm. I had to chalk it up to his age, brush it off, and move on undeterred. But it is still awkward whenever I see him.
You can laugh, but all of these things will happen to you when you first get started. You are your own marketing department, PR rep, advertising campaign, etc. What did I have to blame these two mishaps on? I had to blame them on myself for letting my own family forget what it is I do for a living. Go ahead and be embarrassed to self-promote, go ahead and be shy, laid back and all zen about letting it 'come to you'. Perhaps you'll make enough to keep you in the business. Perhaps you won't. But you're definitely not going to have abundance until you get over it and spread the word.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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Sarah - I know how that feels. I sold local advertising for TV and radio for three years. Everywhere I went and everyone I met wasa potential client. You are silly not to sell yourself and your service if given the opportunity. As you well know, I post up a link to every new post I make on my blog and it goes out to 600 of my closest friends. I think the key to striking a good balance is taking a genuine interest in what everyone else is doing as well. If you really care and engage in what others are rying to do as well, you will feel less grimy pushing your own agendas. Keep up the good work!
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