Archaeology in Real Estate - Richmond Hill Homes
Archaeology in Real Estate - Richmond Hill Homes. Real Estate Agents can be an eclectic group. After all, we're in constant friendly competition with our piers for good notoriety in our communities and areas of business.
It is this good natured competition that causes some agents to try to distinguish themselves from the crowd. I see it every day in print advertising. We distinguish ourselves by specializing in certain classifications of Buyers or Sellers. Agents call themselves the "Luxury Home Specialist" or the "Beach Front Specialist". I've seen "Rural Land Specialist", "Rental Condo Specialist" and "First-Time Home Buyers Specialist". You can get a designation for any of these classifications and then add it to your business card. Does it make you a better agent? Maybe, I mean you do have to take a class to get the classifications. Continuing education is a cornerstone of our growth as agents. Will continuing ed. alone be enough to carry a new agent? I've seen several print ads featuring newer agents with so many capital letters after their name it looks like a new language, and the same goes for seasoned agents.
I also see quite often, too often actually, agents who refuse to update their picture. It's 2013... if your picture is in black and white or technicolor, you should update the photo! In a thousand years, there will be an archaeologist who unearths my business card or more likely my personalized yard sign (sadly I know the home in front of which the discovery will be found... still unsold). He will study it, carbon date it and determine it to be about a thousand years old. However, in the here and now, carbon dating isn't necessary because it says on YOUR card, " Selling (fill in the blank city) since 1963". And the picture shows you with a bee hive hairdo and spectacles that look like the front end of a 1959 Pontiac Bonneville! Get a new picture! All that image relays to a potential client is that you may have sold a house to Lyndon Johnson! (Cue the Jurassic Park theme song!)
Sadly, some agents have taken this advice for granted and had their picture professionally taken by a photographer. Photographers are an eclectic group as well. Most pride themselves on being current with technology. Sometimes they are a little too proud of their technological abilities. Don't let a photographer OVER-touch up your photo! You don't look like Angelina Jolie! It's a big let down for a potential customer to see your photo-shopped image in a real estate magazine, form an image of you in their mind, and when they meet you they get "Bea Arthur". The bottom line is: you lose credibility when you fake it.
Shouldn't we all strive to distinguish ourselves by our track record as opposed to our photo or slogan? Shouldn't our list of personal referrals speak volumes and not our list of specializations? The reality is we have to toot our own horn as no one else will. And we have to find a way to set ourselves apart from the crowd lest we be lumped in with the status quo.
I'm looking for that "happy medium" I suppose. I hope to never be the agent with the thirty year old photograph on my business card and I hope none of my yard signs have to be carbon dated by an archaeologist. Heck, the picture on my business card is only seven years old! That's NEW in terms of Real Estate Agent photos. Archaeology in Real Estate - Richmond Hill Homes.
Mark A Douglas, Realtor
Archaeology in Real Estate - Richmond Hill Homes. Real Estate Agents can be an eclectic group. After all, we're in constant friendly competition with our piers for good notoriety in our communities and areas of business.
It is this good natured competition that causes some agents to try to distinguish themselves from the crowd. I see it every day in print advertising. We distinguish ourselves by specializing in certain classifications of Buyers or Sellers. Agents call themselves the "Luxury Home Specialist" or the "Beach Front Specialist". I've seen "Rural Land Specialist", "Rental Condo Specialist" and "First-Time Home Buyers Specialist". You can get a designation for any of these classifications and then add it to your business card. Does it make you a better agent? Maybe, I mean you do have to take a class to get the classifications. Continuing education is a cornerstone of our growth as agents. Will continuing ed. alone be enough to carry a new agent? I've seen several print ads featuring newer agents with so many capital letters after their name it looks like a new language, and the same goes for seasoned agents.
I also see quite often, too often actually, agents who refuse to update their picture. It's 2013... if your picture is in black and white or technicolor, you should update the photo! In a thousand years, there will be an archaeologist who unearths my business card or more likely my personalized yard sign (sadly I know the home in front of which the discovery will be found... still unsold). He will study it, carbon date it and determine it to be about a thousand years old. However, in the here and now, carbon dating isn't necessary because it says on YOUR card, " Selling (fill in the blank city) since 1963". And the picture shows you with a bee hive hairdo and spectacles that look like the front end of a 1959 Pontiac Bonneville! Get a new picture! All that image relays to a potential client is that you may have sold a house to Lyndon Johnson! (Cue the Jurassic Park theme song!)
Sadly, some agents have taken this advice for granted and had their picture professionally taken by a photographer. Photographers are an eclectic group as well. Most pride themselves on being current with technology. Sometimes they are a little too proud of their technological abilities. Don't let a photographer OVER-touch up your photo! You don't look like Angelina Jolie! It's a big let down for a potential customer to see your photo-shopped image in a real estate magazine, form an image of you in their mind, and when they meet you they get "Bea Arthur". The bottom line is: you lose credibility when you fake it.
Shouldn't we all strive to distinguish ourselves by our track record as opposed to our photo or slogan? Shouldn't our list of personal referrals speak volumes and not our list of specializations? The reality is we have to toot our own horn as no one else will. And we have to find a way to set ourselves apart from the crowd lest we be lumped in with the status quo.
I'm looking for that "happy medium" I suppose. I hope to never be the agent with the thirty year old photograph on my business card and I hope none of my yard signs have to be carbon dated by an archaeologist. Heck, the picture on my business card is only seven years old! That's NEW in terms of Real Estate Agent photos. Archaeology in Real Estate - Richmond Hill Homes.
Mark A Douglas, Realtor
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