Inspiration

Getting Personal in Estate Agency Marketing

RAT 81 (Rawlings Agency Tip)

Too many agents try too hard to sell during the marketing proposal meeting, forgetting that there is still a place, even face to face with the client, for good personal marketing. We’ll cover several angles on this in future RATs but this week I want to focus on just one – your business card!

Most agents’ business card simply confirms who you are and provides contact details. It is probably much like the two or three others they have from competing agents. They may even forget which agent goes with which card!

Your business card is your one opportunity to support a good first impression and to differentiate yourself. So why not supercharge your card and produce one that carries some meaningful and memorable key messages. Eg how long you have worked in the area, what you specialise in, where you live, what you love about your job, and what your values are, possibly written in the third person to suggest authority. Eg:

Katie Smith has always lived in Derby and is passionate about helping people move in the area. She is well known for her integrity, drive and ability to listen and she consistently delivers impressive results for her delighted clients. Katie is married with two children Jack(8) and Isabel (10) and when she is not helping local clients, Katie can often be found training hard for her marathon runs to raise funds for the Derby Homeless Shelter charity, to whom 5% of all her estate agency fees raised are donated.

The card should be larger than the norm and definitely add a (smiling) photo as this is going to be the most memorable part of all, and will link the message to you and your meeting with the client.

You could even go further and produce a full personal brochure. After all, when most agencies DO roughly the same thing, it’s you as an individual the individual the client effectively appoints – not for what you do, but for who you are.

All a bit American? Maybe. But in a competitive environment you have a choice. Stand out and be remembered for something, or hide behind your comfort blanket and be like all the rest. I know I’d rather be ridiculed by 20% of my target audience in the knowledge that the remaining 80% will at least know who I am, what I stand for, and have some idea of what it would be like to engage my services.

(If you’d like a hand defining your key messages along with some suggestions as to how you can effectively communicate these then please do let me know.)

“Marketing is the platform from which sales happen more readily”

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© Richard Rawlings 2012
Richard Rawlings is the founding director of Estate Agency Insight, which specialises in helping estate agencies harness opportunity through innovative method, marketing, publicity, and training. He can be contacted at or on 0845 838 1354.

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