Real Estate Sales Professional Branding - How to Establish the Brand that is YOU!

You are more than your brokerage brand. How do you want to be perceived by the public? Who are your buyer personas of today and tomorrow and is your brand in line with these personas?

The real estate sales profession in itself has a brand. You are a regulated professional that can be trusted to assist the public in what is for most the biggest purchase of their life. If you work for a brokerage you also benefit from their branding and people will identify with this when meeting you. The types of communities the brokerage serves, the types of property they specialize in, their brand identity should be easily identifiable, but it largely depends on the investment that your brokerage has made in their own branding.

Then there is the brand that is you? The ‘Me Inc.’ brand as was wittingly referred to in a recent Fast Company article http://www.fastcompany.com/28905/brand-called-you on the topic.

The brand that is you is important and could make or break your success in real estate. What is unique about you? What makes you competitive? Why should a prospect deal with you over someone else? Sure, you may know who you are: professional, honest, hardworking – but how do you show everyone else this?

When thinking about developing the brand that is you and breathing your brand into all of your marketing communications and daily endeavours, you may first want to think about who your target is. Many real estate sales professionals go after the masses – but honing in on target markets and ensuring that your brand is consistent with those you are targeting will make you much more successful.

When thinking about the brand that is you and narrowing down which types of customers present the most opportunity to you, consider using a method widely published by HubSpot which is to develop your buyer personas. This is an exercise where you can eventually categorize your prospects into personas, segment them and then determine what aspects of the brand that is you will speak to your buyer personas.

A good starting point to develop buyer personas, would be looking at your business (clients) from the previous year. Make a column for each persona and then ask yourself:

1.      What is their demographic information?

2.      What is their job and level of seniority?

3.      What does a day in their life look like?

4.      What are their pain points?

5.      What problem do you help them to solve?

6.      What do they value most? What are their goals?

7.      Where do they go for information?

8.      What customer experience are they looking for when seeking out your products or services?

9.      What are their most common objections to your product or service?

The answers to these questions will help you to craft your messaging to appeal to the segments of the market that you want to penetrate most. Just like the brand that is you, everything from your website to your marketing materials to the way you serve clients should speak to your targeted buyer personas. The two are quite intertwined - nailing down your branding and your buyer personas is crucial.

Just remember that the brand that is you is not just the logo on your business card - it is the type of properties you specialize in, the area you serve, your social presence. It is your online presence, it is the car you drive, the clothes you wear, who is in your network, where you like to have lunch, the technology you use and more. The brand that is you requires thought because it is how you will be reputed and largely determines how you are perceived by the public.

For more information about a new mobile app for real estate sales professionals that can help you get more brand exposure please visit www.myvimo.ca.

Time is Money! 5 Ways to Use ViMO to Save Your Precious Time!

So you have probably heard some of the buzz about Teranet’s exciting new real estate app, ViMO. One of the major benefits of ViMO (Virtual Mobile Office) is that you can do almost everything you can do from the office, on the go. The time and expense savings of not having to go back and forth from your office is undeniable - not to mention the fact that making the most out of every appointment will reduce the number of overall appointments and result in more closed deals. Here are some highlights about how ViMO helps you save your precious time. 

·           Socially (digitally) connect to prospects, clients, colleagues, suppliers and more…

·           Add and promote your listings

·           Research property information like sales history, comparable sales, property information, etc…

·           Access vital demographics information about a community, such as who lives there, what is located there, what amenities are available, etc…

·           Electronically sign listing agreements, offers and other legal documents – electronically and right on your iPad

With ViMO you will literally become a digital powerhouse, doing more in much less time. To learn more about how you can save your precious time using ViMO please visit www.myvimo.ca.

Top Things People Want to Know About a Neighbourhood – Even if They Don’t Come Out and Tell You

When serving a client who wants to buy a home, the more details you gather such as where and in what type of property they want to live, the faster you can match them with their dream home. As much as the right property, for the right price matters, a neighbourhood can make or break a deal. 

The obvious things people want to know about a neighbourhood:

 

·           What schools are located in the area and in what proximity to the property?

·           What transit is available, where are the closest highways, trains, buses, etc.?

·           What is in close proximity to the property – is it near something unsightly?

·           Where are parks and amenities like grocery stores and shopping?

What about the other things people want to know about a neighbourhood that rank in the top deciding factors when buying home? Who lives in the area? Certain characteristics can be vital to those searching for a particular neighbourhood. For example: 

·           What is the age of families in the area?

·           What is the average income of families in the area?

·           What is the proportion of renters vs. homeowners?

Many people want to live amongst people who are like them, at the same stage in life and family.

 

HGTV put out a really great list of things you can ask your client in an interview to suss out the bottom line:

·      Does your client have children or plan to soon? This will make information about schools, parks and community centres very important to your client.

·      How far is your client willing to commute? Do they have a vehicle or do they want to be able to walk or take transit to amenities?

·      What ‘feel’ of community do they like – more historic structures (aged neighbourhoods) or newer homes?

·      What is missing in their current community?

We thought we would add to the list: 

·      What does your client do for a living?

·      What activities does your client enjoy?

·      What were the characteristics of the community your client was raised in and do they want the same in their community?

·         What is your client’s planned long term use of the property? Do they plan to rent it in the future?

·         The goods, the bads and the uglys: what are your client’s pet peeves (noise, traffic, neighbours in close proximity, etc…)?

Once you think you know as much as possible you will be in a position to generate a demographics report to review different neighbourhoods with them that you have researched and are suitable based on their needs.

 

Getting to really know your client will help you find them the right home, for the right price, in the right neighbourhood.

For more information about how to generate and present neighbourhood demographics information to your clients on-the-go please visit www.myvimo.ca.

Follow ViMO and you could win!

If you are following ViMO on Twitter, Facebook or our new LinkedIn Showcase page on October 15^th – you will be entered to win a prize.

On October 15^th we will be entering all of those who are either following our page on Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn in a draw to win an iPad mini. Also, those who have participated in our games, answering questions correctly up until October 15^th will be entered to win. If you are following all of the pages and have answered game questions correctly you will receive 1 entry for each presence you are following and 1 entry for each game to which you have answered a question correctly.

Here are the pages you can follow to participate in our contest:

·        Facebook: www.facebook.com/myvimo

·        LinkedIn Showcase page: http://www.linkedin.com/company/vimo---virtual-mobile-office

·        Twitter: www.twitter.com/myvimo

As always if you are interested in more information about ViMO you can also contact the ViMO sales team at 1 855 999 8466, by email at vimo.customersupport@teranet.ca or visit www.myvimo.ca.