Brand your brokerage

Consider a firm that promotes itself as part of the technological vanguard. Management decides to provide all agents with handheld computers, yet months later, half of them don’t use the PDAs, while most of the others don’t operate them adeptly. The brand is falling down.

This example illustrates one of the great branding challenges owners and managers face. Unlike a salesperson branding himself, you do not have absolute control over all communications and contacts with your business. One key to shaping and promoting your brand, then, is to make sure the agents in your office are a good fit, understand the brand, and buy in to your culture. And while you don’t want to stand over an agent’s shoulder, it is your job to make sure salespeople are "doing it the <name of your company> way." (See Frankel’s Ubiquitous Branding Test in the main article.)

Also, although agents will use many of their own marketing materials, it’s a good idea to create and supply a family of coordinated marketing tools. "You should require sales associates to use certain materials," suggests Kim T. Gordon. "You’re reinforcing your brand every time someone sees them."

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