Take Your Photo Off of Your Business Card

Are you like the 95% of agents in the industry putting your photo on our business card? I have a cautionary tale that might make you think twice about using your photo in your marketing.

Looking to improve your real estate career? I'm here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with Clancy Real Estate, contact me at (518) 861-7016 or Kevin@ClancyRealEstate.com

Today I wanted to talk about your business card. Is your photo on it?

I recently caught a story about a Realtor in Texas who was killed by someone she showed a vacant house to. It was tragic and unfortunate, but it's something we can learn from. 

It turns out that the killer had been looking for agents that he found attractive and found vacant listings that they had. He'd say he was a cash buyer and ask them to show him their vacant property, and this was where he committed his crimes. Before he killed this woman, there were up to 40 agents that he had made feel uncomfortable in some way with this scheme.

So my question to you is this: are you putting your photo on your business card? If so, why? Are you getting more business because your photo is on your business card? Probably not. We're the only industry as a whole where most of us put our photo on our cards, and for the most part, those photos can be 10 or 15 years old!

The upside really isn't there, because you're probably not getting more business because of it. The downside, however, is that you may stick your card up at a diner and have some nutjob, like the one who killed that woman, call you based only on your photo. That's why my agents and I are moving away from using their photo on their cards. 

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You're probably not getting more business from the picture on your card.

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I've become a brand based on advertising that we're doing but using your photo on a card just doesn't make sense. The same goes for ads on places like Zillow and Trulia. In fact, my top agent is making $200,000 a year and her photo isn't anywhere.

The second question I wanted to ask today is what is the biggest thing holding you back in your career? Why aren't you meeting your goals?

I think a major reason that many people share is the fear of rejection. We all want to be liked. We all want to be liked by everyone, but the reality is that no matter what you do, there are going to be clients who don't like you. You're going to deal with rejection.

The sooner you deal with that desire to be liked by everyone and can deal with rejection, the more successful you're going to be. We may be having a ton of success this year, but we've also had failures. We've lost listings that I wanted, but we've also succeeded many times. We focus on our successes, not our failures. 

Is that what's keeping you from door knocking or making 100 prospecting calls a day? Sure, people will hang up on you, tell you no, swear at you, and tell you never to call them again, but many people will also say yes. Those are the people you want to find.

In my office, we do call nights every two weeks. We order pizza and have a lot of fun in the office calling prospects. Sure, we laugh off the rejections, but the person who gets the most rejections and makes the most calls is also my highest-earning agent. He has more rejections, but he also hears 'yes' a lot more. 

There's a great book called Rejection Proof that I highly recommend. If you read this book and can improve how you deal with rejection, I guarantee your career will take off. 

If you're still having problems, I'd love to sit down with you for a cup of coffee and share some ideas and tell you about our team. Give me a call and let's talk soon!