If you aren\u2019t already a member of the Raise the Bar in Real Estate Group on Facebook, you may want to join the 10,000+ real estate professionals who are currently members. Among the random rants about real estate syndication sites, you can actually find some pretty thought-provoking conversations about topical real estate stuff.<\/p>\n
As a result of a conversation with an agent at my brokerage who wanted to put her face on a sign rider, I thought it would be interesting to survey the group and get their input on using personal photos and signage. The question was simply this: Do you believe that a For Sale Sign or Rider should have the agent\u2019s photo on it?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll share my 2 cents on the matter:<\/strong>\u00a0When I moved back to California after living the first decade or so of my adult life on the East Coast, I noticed that it was very common for California agents to have their profile photos on the business cards. Initially, I thought it was a bit hokey. I also noted that most of the agents looked nothing like their business card photos when you actually met them face-to-face (think: glamour shots).<\/p>\n Because of this, I originally decided that the photo on business card was not for me. <\/p>\n Interestingly, in a 2013 comment on Facebook (Raise the Bar in Real Estate), Michael Maher (author of\u00a0The 7 Levels of Communication)<\/em>\u00a0writes,<\/p>\n \u201cAs you grow your business and begin to network nationwide and global-wide, that one photo will allow them to align experience with memory, the \u2018meeting you\u2019 with \u2018the information\u2019 you really want them to have.\u00a0Speaking around the world, I get a lot of cards. When placing a referral, writing a POWER Note, or reviewing who goes into our Referral Book, the photo helps me remember the encounter.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n To that end, I do agree with Maher and later I generated a business card with a photo for situations where I want to people to remember more than just my name.<\/p>\n Truthfully, one of the finest compliments that I ever received was in 2010 when I met a fellow agent who had only seen me online and she told me that I looked just like my photo.<\/strong>\u00a0I was thrilled. My photos online had achieved their goal\u2014making me recognizable in the real world.<\/p>\n Putting your mug on a For Sale Sign or Sign Rider in another matter altogether. Photos have no place on signs and riders (in my opinion). The sign and the rider are there to provide information on how to contact you. They are not about your sweet\u00a0punim<\/em>\u00a0or your sexy logo. It\u2019s about conveying information to sell a home in the most effective way possible. This also means that you should avoid using script and serif fonts. Additionally, you should make the phone number large enough for a quick passerby to see very clearly.<\/p>\n So, when I wrote up that\u00a0thread on Facebook about photos<\/a>, I was thrilled to see that most of the 80+ agents who shared their thoughts agreed with me. But, more interesting was the somewhat scientific data.<\/p>\nThe Finest Compliment<\/h2>\n
Agent Photos on Signs and Riders<\/h2>\n
Scientific Data to Support Branding Without Photos<\/h2>\n