Long before anyone actually makes the decision to becoming a licensed real estate agent they’ll be made aware of the fact that real estate is an extremely competitive business. One of the persisting realities in this business is that there are going to be far more realtors in any region than the standard level of business will allow for a satisfactory measure of success for each of them.
This is never going to change, and what a new realtor needs to accept – and ideally embrace – is that it’s going to be a tough go to get clients in the beginning. The good news is that if you are a skilled and dedicated professional you will very likely begin to make a name for yourself, and attracting new clients will eventually become easier. When that happens you’ll be enjoying what it’s like to have some ‘steam’ to your real estate business, but it certainly takes some time to get to that point.
Now what we’ll do next is share an age-old maxim that is as true today as it’s ever been..
‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression”
And in real estate that first impression is often pretty much everything. You need to have an excellent real estate agent profile, and another solid move is to make use of an online real estate lead generation system like the one we have here at Real Estate Leads. It takes the power of the Internet and harnesses it to put you more directly in touch with people who need the services of a realtor. That will give you the chance to sway them to become your clients before other realtors have a chance to do the same.
But today let’s look at what goes into creating the best real estate agent profile possible. It’s not difficult, and you’ll very likely see what it does for you in a very short period of time.
Put in Genuine Effort
Real estate agent profiles should be crafted with care and consideration. After all, you’re marketing yourself, so you want to put your best foot forward anywhere you have the opportunity to connect with a potential client.
As you might imagine, the very first focal point a prospective client is going to focus on is the photo you have of yourself. So that’s going to be number one on our list here.
-
Pick the Right Photo
We’ll start here by saying that making sure you have a good photo of yourself as a realtor doesn’t mean having to update your headshot every six months. However, if you’re using an image that looks more like your high school yearbook photo than something taken in the last couple of years, then you are going to have to get new photos taken and choose them best among them.
What you need to do is avoid headshots where you’re rigid, impersonal, and serving as little more than a human logo for your real estate business. Remember that people want to connect with a professional who’s both a realtor AND a genuine person.
The best way to do this is pay a professional photographer to take a series of headshots for you. A LOT of them. These professionals will have the means of making you be relaxed and appearing personable in your photos, and that’s really so important.
Be willing to pay a professional photographer what they’re worth, because this photo is going to go a LONG way to your success as a realtor. That’s the plain truth of it, and it really is the best possible advice we can give you.
2. Clarify Educational Credentials
Perhaps you’ve seen a real estate profile that looks like this –
James P. Harrimon — MBA, ePro, ABR, CRS, CRE, CIPS, GRI, CPM, SRS.
How does that read to you? Does it make you any more impressed or trusting in this person as a professional. Surely there’s something to it, but what exactly?
Now educational attainments ARE important — but you need to present them in a manner that’s understandable and digestible for prospective clients who may have no idea what all those acronyms mean.
The better choice is to choose a few that you feel are most relevant and then both spell them out in full and provide some detail. As an example, rather than ‘ABR’ write out “I am an Accredited Buyer’s Representative, and I’ve spent 200 hours in the last two years training, learning and refining my craft so I’m able to serve my clients better and be more naturally receptive to their buyer prerogatives and wishes.
Another good idea is linking to pages that explain what you learned in those designation classes.
3. Define your USP
A Realtor’s USP — Unique Selling Proposition — is what sets them apart in the sea of similarly qualified and equally opportunistic realtors who are after the same slices of the pie. It’s quite likely that there are a lot of real estate agents in your market, and they’re after that limited supply of buyers and sellers in the same way you are. What makes you different from all of them?
Now to be fair this is not something that’s easy to define. However, a good USP – if it’s well communicated but still in a straightforward manner – will go a long way in helping a consumer understand and visualize what you can do for them.
Many realtors will come up with their USP and then bounce it off their wife or husband or other family members to get feedback and / or constructive criticism on it. And some will even get the same type of feedback from a professional acquaintance who ‘has a way with words’, as the expression goes.
4. Be Mindful to not use too much ‘Agent-Speak’
Real Estate professionals definitely have their own ‘lingo’. And while some of it is okay, using too much of it and / or pairing it with too much bravado isn’t going to be beneficial in your agent profile.
One of the things that’s important to remember here is that prospective clients will usually be more swayed by more general but genuine expressions of sincerity rather than claims of your superiority in the business.
So rather than including words and terms that you see and use every day it’s better to take a step back and look at your real estate agent profile from the perspective of a consumer. Spell out abbreviations. Define industry-specific terms — or better yet, just avoid them. Don’t make it so that potential customers must try and translate your agent speak into terms they understand.
5. Avoid the Hard Sell
This part is very much related to the one above, and is part of the overall theme where you want to keep it very simple and human-interest / sincerity oriented in your delivery.
Think of your real estate profile as your biography. It’s a place for someone to learn about you, how you work, and what you can do for them. While it is true that you are using it to market yourself, it’s also important to not make it an overt advertisement. Rather than being a benefit, taking a hard-sell approach with your profile might cast you as as an agent who sees only numbers and new clients as a means to getting a new commission cheque.
In conclusion, we’ll state the plain truth in that real estate is still a very personal, face-to-face business, and your profile may well be your one and only chance to truly impress.
Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you exclusively as the only realtor that’s signed up to serve that region of any city or town in Canada. It’s an excellent way to supercharge your client prospecting efforts, and pairing it with a well-crafted agent profile may go a long way in allowing you to hit the ground running with your new career in real estate!
