I will not allow my staff to promote themselves individually. I will only allow them to market and promote the office. Period.
When I discuss online marketing with Principals of Real Estate agencies, some business owners say they will not allow their staff to push their own names online. They will not allow their staff to become a brand within their brand.
I completely understand. When someone starts a business, it’s their vision, it’s their dream. They risk everything and they put everything on the line to make their dream a reality and they want to give the business 100%. They want their staff to give their business 100%.
I totally understand this way of thinking. I have been the Managing Director and Principal at a number of Real Estate offices and I have had many staff. I was exactly the same. I was dead set against staff engaging in any kind of self-promotion. I wanted everyone to focus on the office name and the office brand.
My thinking has changed as times have changed. Customer behavior has changed.
I want to give another perspective to this situation. I want to turn things upside down and look at things in a different way.
How CAN staff members who promote themselves individually be good for
- the principal of a Real Estate Agency
- the staff members and
- good for the office?
You will soon see the situation can be a win-win.
We all know that the online world is where our customers are. We know that a high percentage of our customers search Google to try to get to know someone more intimately before they engage them. People want to know people.
For this reason, staff need to have an online profile.
Let’s discuss 2 ways that an online profile can be organised.
The First Way – The Office Initiative
The principal can organise staff members to build their profiles through the company website. The office can have dedicated pages to promote their staff. No, I’m not talking about a one paragraph introduction on the ‘about us’ page. These days this is totally inefficient. The profile has to be for ease of explaining, equivalent to a resume – It needs to have an outline of their experience and then content to substantiate the claims. I recommend that staff also have access to their own blog pages that they can add content to. Staff members will be given strategies to use, whereby they can easily promote themselves and the office. The office could set up social media pages for the salesperson to hand over to the salesperson to manage. Eg Youtube, Facebook, Twitter etc.
Who owns the content?
If the office organises the profiles, there would be agreements between the office and staff members that the profile pages would remain the intellectual property of the office. Should the staff member leave employment under this structure, the office would simply delete their pages. If the office sets up social media pages for the staff member to manage and hand to the salesperson, the office would make it clear that the pages remain their intellectual property. Should the staff member leave, these pages could be transferred to someone else to manage. This way the office still has control of the content and what the staff members display. The owner of the business maintains control.
The Second Way – Staff Initiative
The second way that staff members can promote themselves, is through their own efforts and generally at their own cost. (Or buy negotiation within the office). I find when it is done this way, that is when the staff member is the one driving it, they have more incentive to learn and to promote themselves.
Generally, if the staff member pays to have these pages set up, they will own them. If they leave the office, they will keep them. The office may not like this arrangement, as they could lose some control over what’s displayed on the site.
The office needs to know that they really can’t stop someone having their own website in their own name, they can’t fight it. They can however stop them using the office logos.
If the staff member is organising their own website, if they want to use the office logos, they should seek permission from the principal. If the office is not comfortable having the logo on the pages, the staff member would then purely promote their own name and own phone numbers.
If the office does not want their logos displayed, for fear of damaging their brand, the office could still allow staff member to have links to the office website. For example if a salesperson has a tab on their personal website that says “My listings” then when the user clicks on the page, they are diverted to the salespersons listings on the company website.
What are the Benefits
What are the benefits to a principal with regards to their staff being active online –
Staff promoting themselves – If the office has 5 staff members, there are 5 more people helping to promote your office and your name.
Google – When you are creating fresh content on a website, it helps with your Google ranking. Google loves fresh content. You have your staff pushing your name.
Online Leads – When staff are getting online leads, you both win with new listings and sales.
Staff Retention – When staff members have a big online presence tied to your company name and their profile is working for them, they may think twice about leaving the office to go somewhere else. Focusing on staff retention is paramount in a small business.
Conversion of business through trust – In this day and age, you don’t have to have met someone in person to trust them, to feel like you know them and to like them. That’s the power of the internet. Do not underestimate the power. People can like you, know you and trust you without ever meeting you.
Links going to your page. When your staff members put links to your office website, Google loves it.
Some principals are dead-set against allowing their staff to promote themselves. Have you found this? What are your thoughts?
Lisa B. helps real estate agents to build their business online.
Prepare – Position – Profile – Promote – Profit
It’s easy when you know how.
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