In the real estate industry and the business environment as a whole, how you connect with your clients and potential clients over time is very key. The same way you build brand equity for your organisation is the same way you build brand equity for yourself and your team. You must develop a personal brand for your organisation and team across multiple channels.
You can only develop and sustain your personal brand equity by creating long lasting and positive experiences at every business touch points, both online and off line. In your personal communication and marketing like speaking, writing, dressing, you should endeavor to display a high level of professionalism that will endear you to your clients and your prospects as well. Unknown to many, dressing, writing, and speaking well has a great Return On Investment (ROI) that cannot be quantified in monetary term. When branding is well and consistently applied, clients are likely to patronize you even when you have a higher price tag over your competitors.
Customer brand experience is very important in the real estate profession, and this brand experience you give to your clients starts with you and your team. Brand experience in a very simple definition is your clients’ perception about you and the organization you represent. In the global business environment, companies with very high brand equity equally have team members and professionals that can easily sell their products and services with what they do. This informed the reason why corporate communication and Public Relations departments of good organizations are always saddled with the business of interfacing with their target audience.
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The real estate industry is a very unique industry, and professionals in this clime should be unique as well. Personal branding is a conscious and consistent way of building your reputation in the industry. In the words of the famous American writer, historian, and philosopher, Will James Durrant, we are what we repeatedly do. Excellent, then is not an act, but a habit. Real estate professionals should equally bear in mind that professional ethics is an integral part of personal branding; your communication at every personal and business touch points, including your office ambiance and dressing cum presentations should align with your brand promise to your clients.
As a real estate professional, the immediate and far-reaching benefits of personal branding abounds. Your unique way of presentation and communication will always stand you out. Your logo could be your selling point if well used as your corporate or brand identity. Your dressing as a professional is a very strong communication tool that must be taken very serious. It makes you magnetic and attracts the right opportunities that are far and near. Every powerful personal branding ignites and inspires people and by extension endears them to you.
As a business professional, personal branding statement gives you a quick identity as in the case of some leading corporate giants like Tony Elumelu, known for his red ties, Akinwumi Adesina, known for his bow tie, Godwin Emefiele, known for his green tie just to mention a few of them. These guys have over the years pay attention to their personal branding tone and at the same time projecting the image of their respective organization positively to the World.
The major takeaways here are that personal branding is very possible for both organizations and individuals. It takes time and consistent efforts to build personal branding, and the media should be a unique platform in the execution of both your corporate and personal branding activities.
Tunji Titiloye, a registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer, and Head of Practice at Tunji Titiloye & Partners, writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
