Building your personal brand as an agent can be tricky.
You’re a big part of this equation, but because of how this business model works, your broker is as well. While you do have some control over that part by choosing what broker you work for, that broker can make decisions that are outside of your control, but impact you significantly.
For example, your broker may dramatically change their business model, take a stance on a political or social issue, or even merge with another brokerage — which many agents are now facing following news that Compass is buying Anywhere Real Estate.
This deal, worth about $1.6 billion, makes the combined company worth close to $10 billion, and if approved, will give Compass about 78 percent ownership.
For real estate agents, this deal could mean better tools, more marketing power and stronger referral networks across the country. At the same time, there are risks. Compass will need to blend very different brands like Coldwell Banker and Century 21, which may confuse clients.
Most agents haven’t yet considered the implications they’re likely to face from a personal brand perspective. This is huge because real estate is very much a relationship business, and your personal brand plays a key role.
Clients prefer to work with someone they know, like and trust, but what happens when that agent works for a new brokerage when the time comes for the client to buy or sell a home again?
If you haven’t taken the time to build a trustworthy personal brand, and instead, chose to rely on your broker’s corporate brand, you’re likely to find yourself in a bad position.
As someone who built a successful real estate career, first as an agent and then as a broker, this is something I’ve always placed a tremendous focus on.
So in this article, I’m going to outline some of the things you can do to build a strong brand that will keep you personally at the top of your clients’ minds.
This will help you to maintain your relationships and ensure consistent revenue even if you move to a different broker or your broker is acquired or merges with another.
Here’s how to protect your business during a brokerage merger
Build your personal brand
You should have a website with a domain that matches your own name, filled with useful content, reviews from previous clients, resources and your contact information.
Ideally, it should be integrated with your own CRM so that when someone contacts you, they’re automatically added to your system so you can continue marketing to them. This means added cost and effort, but it creates more authority for you and gives you a valuable asset that enables you to market more effectively.
You also need to consistently publish content on major social media platforms. You should focus more on providing useful information that answers technical questions potential clients may have about real estate and less on promotional content. The idea here is to stay in their newsfeed while providing value to your audience, and in the process, demonstrate your expertise and unique personality.
Communicating with existing clients
Relationships with existing clients can be more fragile leading up to and following a merger or acquisition because people generally don’t like change. If they’ve previously had a good experience, they may be worried that the new leadership will change things in ways they won’t like. And let’s face it — this is a valid concern because when there’s someone new in charge, they typically want to do things differently.
You’ll need to clearly explain how continuing to work with you under the new brand will benefit them specifically, and that they will still receive the same great service from you that they have in the past. You can’t expect them to just assume that or take a simple statement at face value. Especially if you haven’t maintained contact with them since their last transaction.
Generally speaking, the sooner you can start this process, the better. That will give you the runway you need to approach this properly and increase your chances of success. It’s also worth noting that you unfortunately won’t be able to keep all existing clients. That’s just the nature of the beast. But by being strategic and intentional, you can minimize any potential losses here.
Communicating with new clients
This may seem counterintuitive, but communications with new clients, both leading up to and shortly after a merger or acquisition, can be a potential minefield too. That’s because during the process, perceived change can lead to confusion and uncertainty for prospects. Especially if they’ve seen news of the merger.
The key here is to highlight how the new leadership and structure will benefit prospects, and because there isn’t an existing relationship, you don’t have the same concerns that you would with existing clients. It is, however, critical to avoid disparaging the previous or new leadership and structure in any way. So focus purely on the positives and be extremely diplomatic here.
Branding and marketing materials
You need to ensure that you update your branding and marketing materials everywhere possible at exactly the right time. The timing here depends on your broker, and you’ll need to wait until you have a green light to do so, but you need to be ready to flip the switch as soon as you can.
This includes websites — both the one provided by your broker and your own personal brand website, social media profiles, email and ad copy, any marketing templates, bios at any media outlets you may write for and any other marketing materials.
This often takes far longer than most agents expect, and in many cases, there will be numerous assets you’ve forgotten about unless you have a well-structured system, so be sure to perform a deep audit of everything you consistently use as well as a thorough search for your name on Google and Bing.
Here are just some of the things you can do to build a strong personal brand that will keep you personally at the top of your clients’ minds even if your brokerage merges or gets acquired.
Derek Carlson runs Realty ONE Group in Naples, Florida.
