Management
Issue No. 49 - October/November 2009
Phil’s branding secret: it’s personal
Real estate sales achiever, Philip Harris, is a strong believer in personal profile as a key ingredient to business success. Phil, 28, has been with Toop & Toop for four years; he sells seven properties a month. He was the Real Estate Institute of SA’s Salesperson of the Year in 2008 and won the Society of Auctioneers & Appraisers Golden Gavel Award in 2007.
“Personal branding in real estate is absolutely everything,” Phil says. “Especially here in Adelaide, with most companies being of the franchise model, it’s very easy to get lost in the wash. It’s more important than ever to have great personal branding in your target market, making sure you stand out from the crowd.”
Building a personal brand is not advertising, but a performance exercise.
“If you were to ask most real estate agents how to build a personal brand, most would probably suggest traditional things such as letterbox drops, billboards, personal ads in the paper, as well as various other forms of corporate collateral,” Phil says.
“While I’ve certainly done those things - and I’m not saying there’s not a place for that - I’ve always put my focus and energy into different areas.
“For me it’s always been one telephone call, one conversation, one person at a time. Every time I interact with someone I ask myself, has that person gone away feeling they are better off, from a real estate perspective, because they have met me?
“Another critical thing in developing a personal brand is you have to be exceptionally good at what you do, because business creates business.
“I’ve always been a training fanatic - attending all the seminars, reading all the books and seeking out those whom I aspire to be like. The more training I’ve done, the more success I’ve had, which has led me to win numerous awards, such as the 2008 REISA Salesperson of the Year and the 2007 Golden Gavel. Awards have certainly helped me to leverage a personal...
