The Power of Personal Branding.

There's so much confusion as to what personal branding even means.

Some imagine it to mean reputation. It's not that.

Some, that it is simply greater visibility. Not that, either.

Some, that it is a substitute for corporate brand, when the agent is self-employed.  Nope!

It's not reputation because reputation is backward-looking and based on other people's perception and experience. Personal Branding is self-determined and future-based.

It's not greater visibility because all that does is turn the agent into a micro-celebrity. No more trusted than any other agent - simply more recognized.

Self-employed? That's how you do the work; the one-stop solution, but it's not who you are.

Personal branding is something that sets an agent apart in what is a negative reputation sector. Something that says to a potential client " I'm not like other agencies and this is why".

When we drill down into what that difference is, there's very little that will actually set an agent apart from others.

"Better service" will not. Every agency claims to offer better service.

"Better marketing" is easily replicated. Whatever tools are used, whether it be drones, 3D floor-plans,  cinematic video, whatever, any agent that wants to do similar, can do similar.

"More added value" is the nonsense talked by some agency trainers that imagine the more features and benefits on offer, the more "value" that is added, the more likely the conversion. Stack the kool, as they say, stateside. Add platitudes such as "more passionate, more professional, and more available" and what we get is a template for the perfected & polished agent - but it's not the basis for a personal brand.

The power of personal branding is that it will repudiate any association with the stereotype that is an estate agent.

Agencies aren't trusted for how well they do what they do. No matter their attempts to rely on 5 star reviews. No matter how many "awards" they display. They're still simply just another estate agency" - better than many, but still deserving of prudence.

Moving away from that stereotype requires both transparency and vulnerability - an anathema to most agencies. But it is transparency and vulnerability that are the foundations of personal brand.

Character, above competence. Someone who can be trusted because of who they are, not because of how well they do what they do.

"Our passion comes from who we are, not what we sell."  - Simon Sinek.

When an agent is prepared to embrace transparency, it demonstrates a certain courage to potential clients.

Here's somebody who isn't afraid to say what needs to be said. Somebody who isn't embarrassed to charge what they are worth. Somebody who has made mistakes in the past and learnt from them. Somebody who has certain values , some of which might mean we have no affinity. Someone who believes it is always more than a simple transaction.

When so much is written about the sharp, underhand practice of a few, it tarnishes the reputation of the whole. Only personal brand will challenge that perception.

I'm not arguing against the traditional, transactional way of conducting business. Nearly a million homeowners go through with it every year. I'm arguing for it to change. For it to become less of a numbers game.  Less of a competition to convince and convert. Less of a leap of faith.

When some estate agencies set the bar so low, yet are permitted to make any sort of wild claim to gain an instruction, the issue becomes finding a way to challenge this mediocrity.

Personal Brand allows the potential client to choose, rather than having to compare. A choice, a judgement, made upon character. Rather than a comparison made, often, without full disclosure.

It's a mistake to believe that people know all the facts before they decide. Or that they are capable of fully understanding what they have just been told. The agents that were "confident they won the instruction", only to be later told the bad news, weren't rejected because of who they are. They were rejected because they would not say.

They would not say and, therefore, they were simply another agent. Hustling their worth.

Personal brand isn't for everyone. In fact, it's for the very few.

For those with the courage to be themselves.

Here's the thing, though; when you do stand out for being different, that's when you get noticed. That's when your social media posts are no longer about reach, about how many, but about who.

No longer about attention, but about engagement. Who is the perfect fit? Who will make a better client? Who is prepared to pay me what I am worth? Who trusts?

Those few, will "rock the boat", safe in the knowledge that they are the ones with a life-jacket. They are the survivors.

There's a sense of power in having the freedom to say what one believes.

The Transformative Power of The Brand Called You.

Thanks, as always, for reading this far. If I have hit a nerve, the first step is an easy one.

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The Power of Personal Branding.

Chris.

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