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I was having coffee with one of my regular real estate agent clients when an off-hand comment she made really caught my attention.
“You know,” she said. “Most properties sell themselves.”
This idea took me by surprise. You see, I have been writing all her property listings for more than 12 months. Considering she has been coming to me to craft copy specifically designed to sell her properties, I felt a little confused.
If properties sell themselves, I thought, why is she paying me to write her property listings? As a real estate copywriter, am I adding value to the sales process? Or am I barking up the wrong tree here?
Professional crisis aside, this seemingly innocuous comment provided an important catalyst for me to re-examine the value I offer real estate agents.
So I started asking questions, and the answers I found completely transformed the way I approach my job.
I learned that it’s not selling properties that keeps agents up at night. Rather, the real pain point for agents is attracting and maintaining a continuous flow of vendors.
It’s simple. No vendors equals no sales; no sales equals no commissions.
So still the question remained, if it’s not the sale that is the point of stress, what value does my sales copy actually offer?
The answer, to my surprise, was more about attracting vendors than buyers.
I discovered that the most successful agents understand that it’s difficult to differentiate themselves from their competitors based solely on their sales record. They need more.
This is where personal branding comes into play. Your personal brand affords you the opportunity to make a statement about who you are as a professional and what you offer above and beyond the next agent.
Your personal brand, I learned, is on show everywhere. It’s expressed on your LinkedIn profile. It’s communicated on your website. It’s in the tweets you publish. It’s even in the way you dress; the way you talk; the way you carry yourself.
Your personal brand is also reflected in the sales material you present to the market, and your listings are a key part of this.
Your listings copy offers an opportunity to not only sell your properties to buyers, but also to sell yourself to potential vendors who are watching closely, and judging your performance.
Listings that have been thrown together between phone calls have something to say about your professional standards. A bare-bones list of bullet points, poorly structured sentences, or even embarrassing mistakes (my current favourite is ‘souring ceilings’) erodes the value of your personal brand.
Poor listings are a signal to potential vendors that you won’t take the sale of their property seriously. And they’re on display everywhere – online, in print, and even in your shopfront display.
However, well-written, details-focused, mistake-free listings trumpet your professionalism and contribute to building a credible personal brand that vendors can trust.
And don’t fool yourself. When vendors are looking to place their most valuable asset in the hands of an agent, your professional standards speak volumes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shane Conroy
Shane Conroy is an experienced freelance journalist and real estate copywriter. He is the founder of www.realestatecopywritingonline.com and writes professional property listings for real estate agents around Australia.
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