How to build a Profile in the Estate Agency Service Sector
February 18, 2022
I wanted to get some points down on this subject as it is a question that I sometimes get asked – “How did you build your profile in the property / estate agency industry?“. There are no rules and neither surefire ways, no hand book or words of wisdom – You will be required to put in hard effort, take on the chin set backs, meet those who dislike you and be prepared to adapt constantly and accept failure. So, you still ready to give it a go?
An important factor for me, in order to build a profile / name / brand within any industry sector (I have done so in two separate sectors) is to make sure you are memorable – This will generally mean that you have to work outside your comfort zone. Again, I throw challenges out to you at the beginning stages as you will need to have resolve and determination to succeed.
First Steps in building yourself a profile / brand in the estate agency service sector:
- Identify yourself: Decide upon your business, your profile and your brand. It is important you have a name and this could be for example ‘CRM Guru‘ or ‘Block Chain King‘ or simply ‘Christopher Walkey – The Marketing Guru‘. Make sure that none of these titles are already taken and if something close to already has, then research them and consider how you will go up against them and succeed. For brands you can choose a memorable name (I have many spare domains in my portfolio), previously I created ‘TeqDen‘, ‘Property On Video‘ and ‘Property Marketing Group‘. You can also go outside the box as such and select a bizarre memorable name such as names in the industry including Kerfuffle, Yomdel and Zoopla.
- Secure your identity: Make sure you are visible across all online platforms including the main social media channels with as close to your name as possible and a consistent name on each. I also make it a priority that I can secure at least Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with a business name. For example I own www.finelocation.com along with www.facebook.com/finelocation, www.twitter.com/finelocation and www.instagram.com/finelocation
- Check the property networking scene: Once you have all in place to include your business cards in your back pocket then you need to get out there and network. There are countless property events, especially in London, every year from the major shows / awards to more bespoke weekly meeting groups. Today we can extend networking out to Zoom meetings which once again are in abundance and of which many are free to attend.
- Connect with the influencers / decision makers: You need to have a professional profile online, especially on LinkedIn, and from there start to connect with and reach out to key people in the property sector. You will find that there are countless once you start looking, you must make a start on building your community under you. Introduce yourself, do not over sell, look to form synergies over trying to advertise.
- Share your expertise: Look to get yourself a niche in the property sector and within the field you are focusing on. If you can lend your hand to videos and podcasts then start to build a portfolio of these and keep them educational over sales themed – This increases your chances of engagement. If you can, try and produce either a regular release (keep to a set time and day weekly) video update or go live at a set regular time with your video. You might wish to include in this part offering your services for free in order to get feedback or a mention (articles on other websites with links to build your SEO).
- Grow your own community: Outside of your own business profiles and accounts on social media, you should now look to build groups relevant to the sector you are in. Now it will be very difficult to say create and grow a group on Facebook entitled ‘Estate Agency’ though you could consider ‘East Anglian Estate Agency Group’ or ‘#PropTech London’.
- Organise your own events: There is nothing stopping you, especially once you have built your own community online, in creating your own events. This can be a simple small networking evening to a larger exhibition with invited speakers. By organising events you will get further subscribers to you / your brand and holding such events can positively grow your name in the industry.
- Get on board: Once your name is out there and you are good at what you do including owning and managing several large communities both online (social media) and in person (live face to face events) then it is likely you will start to receive invites. These could be invitations to attend and talk at other events, to join online panel discussions, to write articles, appear on radio / TV slots and even join other companies as non executive director or even a share holder. Everyone will want to know you when you are a positive influence within the industry, you need to grab all opportunities with both hands in order to maintain this status as competition will always be just around the corner.
During all this time you of course need to be working on your profits from the service / products you offer. Your level of success here will depend on what level you are hitting the market at ie have you limited marketing budgets, limited time or maybe you have proven things to be a success within another sector or you are coming at things with capital / investment. I tend to write things as per my experiences, I had zero contacts in each sector I entered and very limited budgets.
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