Personal Branding for Real Estate Agents: Using the Right Slogan to Distinguish You from the Competition

Fauchon fashion eclairs,note Mona Lisa eclair above!

As a luxury real estate marketing professional one very important way to distinguish you from the competition is with a great slogan. Here is an example of a luxury food brand that gave itself a facelift and a terrific slogan that turned the company around.

Fauchon is a luxury food shop whose flagship store in Paris was founded in 1886 by Auguste Fauchon. In 2003, faced with severe competition and debt from rapid expansion, Fauchon hired a new CEO, Isabelle Capron, who had an extensive background in public relations and marketing. Ms. Capron embarked on a two-prong strategy: focus on the traditional strengths of the brand, and innovate by finding a new way to position the brand in the minds of luxury consumers.

Capron’s Strategy:

1.  Maintain tradition by continuing their famous annual éclair exhibit that honors the celebrated fashion shows in Paris

2.  Redesign the stores to look like an haute couture boutique, rather than a food emporium. Go international-export the essence of Paris (high fashion and culinary extravagance). Create an avant garde slogan: “Paris On Your Lips!” reverberates the affluent French lifestyle to its core.

Fauchon now places ads in fashion magazines and on billboards above their stores that are eye catching, ads that are very edgy. For example, one ad shows a table setting with a silver face, hot pink lips with a fork and knife on each side of the lips. The Fauchon website features the Eiffel Tower with lips for the base of the tower. The subtle reference to haute couture as the undisputed arbiter of taste and relevance distinguishes Fauchon as the experts in the luxury food arena throughout the world.

By 2007, Fauchon opened the largest retail store in Beijing. Voila! The public perception of Fauchon took an about face; the turn-around was complete! And, people, like us, are buzzing about “Paris on Your Lips”, one of the best slogans we have ever heard. Why? Because, with this slogan they have staked claim to Paris itself—Faucon “owns” Paris, its place of origin.

How can you stake claim of your marketplace and distinguish yourself from your competition with the right slogan?

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Personal Branding for Real Estate Agents: Maintaining Your Consistency & Traditions

One of the keys for success in personal branding for real estate agents is keeping your brand consistent. This is especially true for luxury real estate marketing professionals who have been in the business for some time. You can update your technology and even refresh your look, but there is much to be said about tradition and the brand equity it can build.

Take See’s Candies, founded in 1921 and purchased in 1972 by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. The company's distinctive white stores are ubiquitous in nearly every U.S. state west of the Mississippi River. See's also offers its product in select markets in kiosks at malls, airports and other shopping centers.

See’s optimizes consistency and tradition. And, you always get a free sample of their candy when you buy something. Mary See’s picture is still in every store.

If you have been in business for some time, don’t change the fundamentals of your brand. Instead, capitalize on them and stay consistent. Tradition is a strong competitive advantage.

How can you maintain your traditions stay consistent and build personal brand equity?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Internationalize Your Practice “Overnight”

One of the most frequently asked questions by luxury real estate marketing professionals today is: “how can I gain more exposure of my listings to buyers outside of my immediate marketplace?” Agents who work in second home markets, especially vacation destinations, are asking the additional question: “how can I reach more international buyers?” We discovered a very exciting answer that not only can help you attract more qualified buyers, but also can help you stretch your marketing dollars: Proxio, the international MLS and global referral network.

Proxio has a singularly focused mission: to make it easier for you generate more referral income. Proxio empowers you to simultaneously promote yourself and your listings to referring agents in neighboring towns or across the globe. You can enter a listing in one of seven languages and it can be searched or sent to clients in any other language. Proxio can also provide a search engine on your personal or company website so your entire local IDX/MLS feed can be displayed in multiple languages for consumers. In short, Proxio makes it possible for you to expand your market reach and internationalize your practice overnight!

One of the reasons that Proxio is growing so fast is that entire MLSs, associations and prominent real estate groups are enrolling all their members at once. For example, Proxio recently added the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing and the Realtor Association of Miami Dade County as new Proxio groups. This alone added more than 10,000 new agents to those who were already participating in 50 states and over 60 countries.

Plus, Proxio is getting the attention of the media and industry pundits. Stefan Swanepoel has cited Proxio as a key player in internationalizing the real estate industry in his 2009 Trends Report. Bernice Ross, real estate coach, speaker and columnist at Inman News, featured Janet Case, Proxio’s CEO, at her recent AFIRE (Awesome Females in Real Estate) conference in Savannah, Georgia and in her most recent column.

Basic Membership is free on Proxio. Standard Membership, which allows you to share your listings in multiple languages and build your personal global referral network, is only $79 dollars per year (that is about $6.50 per month). You can also gain more visibility by upgrading your account so that your listings and your personal profile are displayed on top of property and agent search results. The cost for upgrading is very reasonable and well worth it.

To learn more about Proxio visit www.proxio.com. And join our new Language of Luxury Group on Proxio!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Exemplary Client Service

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, developing ways to provide exemplary client/customer service should be a continuing pursuit. Providing great service in ways that differentiate you from your competition is the best of both worlds.

On our drive back to our headquarters in Santa Barbara, California from Los Angeles International Airport last week we stopped in Century City for dinner at Gulfstream, in the Westfield Mall. From our perspective as commercial real estate brokers (we were broker/owners of a commercial real estate firm in Beverly Hills), this is, by far, the most exciting upscale shopping mall in California. They really set the tone for exemplary client/customer service.

The Westfield Group is an Australian company and the largest property group in the world by equity market capitalization. This multinational company owns and operates shopping centers in Australia, United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Century City is a highly trafficked, densely populated area, adjacent to Beverly Hills. Parking places here are at a premium and parking can be extremely expensive especially in the office buildings. The Westfield shopping center has emerged as a hub and meeting place for LA’s Westside population for movies, dining and shopping. Ease of finding parking here is mission critical. With retail tenants paying very high rental rates, Westfield must deliver extensive foot traffic, both at night and during the day.

Prior to Westfield’s ownership of the center parking was particularly difficult. Frustrated shoppers would often leave the center without being able to find a parking place. This could easily deter them from returning at peak hours of the day. Valet parking is an option, but an expensive one.

Westfield minimized the stress of finding a parking space with a very simple, yet extremely effective use of technology. When you enter the parking garage, you can easily scan the spaces that all have light sensors indicating if a given space is occupied. A red light indicates an occupied space, a green light indicates a vacant space and a blue light indicates a vacant handicapped space. Now, that convenience not only represents exemplary, distinguishable customer service, but assures more walking traffic for tenants (Westfield’s’ ultimate customer)!

How can you demonstrate exemplary client/customer service in your luxury real estate marketing practice?

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Real Estate Agent Personal Brand: Learning from American Idol Part 14

This is part fourteen of our blog series entitled: Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning form American Idol. It is a fun and easy way to learn the principles of personal branding. You do not have to be an Idol fan to enjoy!

Reclaiming Your Brand Signal

As a luxury real estate marketing professional have you ever experienced the feeling when you are right on your personal brand signal? Have you ever experienced the discord of being “off-key”?

Lil Rounds has been struggling for the past three weeks on American Idol. She has a major talent and a unique style. But, she has lost tract of her distinctive sound. you”. Last week, she sang/imitated Tina Turner's signature song, "What's Love Got to Do With It?" Here's what the judges had to say: Simon told Lil "It's literally like we have lost you". The new judge, Kara said, “We still haven't seen you leap from a singer to an artist”.

Now, this is not a bad thing! Sometimes you need to experience the discomfort of being off signal to more clearly define who you are and what you stand for. As long as Lil doesn’t implode and uses this to hone her brand signal instead, she will re-emerge and have a personal triumph.

Obviously, her fans are rooting for her to reclaim her brand signal. She was in the bottom three last week which meant she is in danger, but she survived. Judge Randy says, “You are a mad talent”.

Personal branding for real estate agents is not just about getting a new look or a new website. It is all about finding your authentic brand signal and projecting, broadcasting your singular signal to your ideal clients. It is about accelerating the speed of trust in new business relationships. It is also about articulating your distinct brand signal in such a way that you make it easy for another to talk about you to others. Facilitating word-of-mouth advertising is essential!

If you find yourself, lost and “singing off-key” and not being “on-signal” realize that at the root of this is trying too hard to please other people, the judges in your life. Define who your ideal client is. Realize that your ideal clients, just like Lil’s fans, are rooting for you to be your authentic self, at ease with yourself. Hone your signal by sensing the difference in how you feel when you are on or off-signal then leap from agent to super-star agent!

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Personal Branding for Real Estate Agents: Differentiate Yourself in a Nanosecond

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is absolutely essential to sharply differentiate your brand of doing business from that of your closest competitors. When you are in a listing presentation, you must let your prospective client know, in a nano-second, how you are distinct from the other agents they may be interviewing.

A new airline, Virgin American, which launched in December 2007, demonstrates the power of brand differentiation in the fiercely competitive regional California market.

In this market the choice is between:

1. Alaskan, 2. United, 3. Jet Blue, 4. Southwest,5. Virgin America

Last week we visited a client in San Francisco for a half-day meeting which required that we fly up and return on the same day. Since there are no direct flights from our headquarters in Santa Barbara we drove to Los Angeles to catch a 6:30 am flight to SFO (returning at 3:30 in the afternoon). For this trip we chose Virgin America airlines over our favorite, Southwest. The price was virtually the same but the in-flight experience was completely different.

From the moment we walked into the plane we experienced Virgin’s unique selling proposition:

1. the cabin featured mood lighting and mood music

2. an in-flight entertainment console with a touch screen, located above the seat-back table

3. multiple emails before and after the flight to establish a loyal relationship

The novelty was striking but was it enough to get us to come back? No! Flight time between L.A. and S.F. is only about 45 in-air minutes. Entertainment and mood enhancement is not our thing. Our inbox does not need more mail from vendors.

But, Virgin America did an outstanding job differentiating itself in an overcrowded market. Those who resonate with their differentiators will definitely gravitate to them and will most likely stay loyal if they keep up their good service.

Southwest will win our business back next time. We prefer what makes them different:

1. no penalties for changing reservations

2. a much easier online reservation and check-in system

Think of your closest competitor! How can you differentiate yourself in a nano-second as a luxury real estate marketing professional?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Happy Easter -Twice

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is helpful to understand multiple cultures and ethnic holidays. Your friends and clients will appreciate you for it. For, example, did you know there are two Easters?

Many people will be celebrating Easter this Sunday (April 12^th), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted calendar. The computation for the Easter date is based on the cycle of the moon. It can fall on 35 possible dates between late March and late April.

The revised Julian calendar is used for holiday celebrations by Eastern/Oriental Orthodox Christians. In accordance to this calendar, Easter must fall after Passover. Christ celebrated Passover prior to his crucifixion. So Easter must fall after Passover (April 9). The Eastern Orthodox Easter this year is on April 19^th.

Faberge Egg, Easter Surpise for Tsarina Maria FyodoroEaster is one of the most important religious and secular holidays for this sect of Christianity. Children are given large chocolate eggs or bunnies filled with toys and candies. Special breads are baked with colored eggs. In Greece Leg of lamb is roasted slowly over a spit basted with lemon, garlic and oregano.

The Russians make a special sweet bread (kulich) baked in coffee cans, and a pyramid shaped cheesecake (Cheese Paska) embossed with the letters XB, the Russian abbreviation for “Christ has risen“. Some families bring kulich to church for the midnight service to have it blessed, and to share after the service. The service includes a procession circling the church three times. Then the priest declares, “Christ has risen”, and the congregation responds, “Indeed he has!” Then everyone disperses home or to friends' homes to feast till the wee hours of the morning. The next day, people start all over again visiting friends and comparing the buffet and delicious offerings.

We celebrate it all! There are wonderful traditions in all religious feasts! These rituals get us to slow down and contemplate the wisdom and truths that are common to all of us. It is the celebration of the human spirit, and springtime when everything is born anew, nature’s resurrection. Happy Easter (twice), Happy Passover and Happy Spring!

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Luxury Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Know What is At Stake

 Photo by UCLA 90024

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is crucial to understand what is at stake by seizing the market leadership role and being the first to come to mind when potential clients (or referral sources) think of the best agent for the job. The difference between the “top of mind” agent and the next few is significant.

You want to be the Google of your marketplace. Google comes to mind first as the search brand of choice three times more often than its closest competitor, Yahoo. That’s how much business is at stake for the market leader.

This Saturday we spoke to an MBA class at UCLA (Anderson School of Management) about creating a personal brand in the workplace and just what is at stake in this context. These are dedicated students who are also juggling full time management jobs, and families. A number of them drive several hours from different areas of the Los Angeles Basin. Others drive in from the San Diego area, and several fly in from San Francisco, just to attend classes.

These committed students want to be the leaders in their corporate communities. They want to be first to come to mind for a promotion, a new job, or a new project. To accomplish this they have to clearly define who they are and what they stand for so that, in a nanosecond, the decision makers do not hesitate to choose them over their competition.

What is often at stake is a 20-25% increase in salary, opportunities for more satisfaction on the job, as well as experience which can be valuable when they decide to change jobs or companies. Like luxury real estate marketing professionals, they have to Stand Out from the other candidates who are competing for the same position. They have begun to Stand Out by enrolling in a 2-3 year MBA program, giving up some of their leisure time.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, you must know what is at stake if you want to Stand Out. The competition is always ready to take up the slack you are leaving behind. If you want to be the market leader in your community and get the lion’s share of the business, you have to keep up with the latest developments in real estate. The common excuse, “I do not have time” just does not hold up. Take a page from these MBA students: Stay focused on what is at stake and catch your competition off-guard!

Do you know what is at stake?

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Real Estate Agent Personal Brand: Learning from American Idol Part 13 (B)

DIAL IN TO YOUR UNIQUE BRAND SIGNAL

This is part thirteen (B) of our blog series entitled: Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning form American Idol. It is a fun and easy way to learn the principles of personal branding. You do not have to be an Idol fan to enjoy!

Perhaps the biggest challenge for luxury real estate marketing professionals, when it comes to personal branding, is consistently maintaining your true brand signal. It requires factoring out what other people think about you. Marketing is matching the needs and expectations of your target market. But, dialing into your own original signal and staying true to it without imitating others can be a daunting task. You must strike a balance between giving people what they want and expect and delivering that in your own inimitable way. Playing it safe by conforming to what has been tried and already accepted can become a trap if approval of others is what you are seeking. Pleasing yourself is all important. Imitation is a copout.

For the past two weeks, Lil Rounds has not been on her brand signal. You can almost hear the static in her voice. Simon said, “This was, to me, you singing to stay in the competition with a safe song”. In earlier weeks, Lil was an original. Once you have heard her clear, pure signal it is not difficult to sense when she is off signal. Sometimes, though you just have to get off signal to clearly know how to dial back in. It is a matter of fine tuning. This applies in all forms of branding. In the case of American Idol, the contestants get instant feedback from the judges.

But, you can be master the personal branding “dial-in” process yourself without outside judges. Just become sensitive to the way you feel when you are on your true signal and recognize how you feel when you are off signal. Being spot on signal feels great. Everything else does not feel as good.

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Real Estate Agent Personal Brand: Learning from American Idol Part 13 (A)

This is part thirteen of our blog series entitled: Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning form American Idol. It is a fun and easy way to learn the principles of personal branding. You do not have to be an Idol fan to enjoy!

How to Discover Your Unique Signal, Imitation vs Artistic Interpretation

Artistic Interpretattion of floral arrangement

In luxury real estate marketing the tried and true fundamentals still work. For example , rapidly returning phone calls and emails, staying in touch with your data base, remembering birthdays, giving great closing gifts will always help to build a successful practice. But, what is your personal interpretation of these fundamentals, your personal brand, your own brand signal, (your own artistic flair) for executing the basics?

The performances on last night’s American Idol show revealed that some of the contestants were in search of their authentic signal. One of the ways you can hone in on your signal is trying out someone else’s. This is what Anoup did by imitating Usher’s performance. Because it was an imitation, it came across to the judges as a “wannabee” performance, rather than an interpretation of the same song. Imitation is known as the sincerest form of flattery. Interpretation is taking the established form and pushing it in new dimensions that are uniquely your own. This was evident in Kris’ performance of “Ain’t No Sunshine, When She Is Gone!” A 30 year old song became new again.

How can you interpret the fundamentals in a new way that makes you stand out?

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Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning from American Idol Part 12

This is part twelve of our blog series entitled: Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning form American Idol. It is a fun and easy way to learn the principles of personal branding. You do not have to be an Idol fan to enjoy!

Tapping Into Your Inner Voice

This week, Allison Iraheta sang “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” which brought rave reviews from the judges. She found her voice, found her brand signal and connected to the core of her being. What is particularly remarkable about Alison is that she is only 16 years old. In this performance, according to one of the judges, Alison tapped so deeply into her inner voice, her unique brand signal, it was, “from God, you cannot teach that!”

Once you find your unique wavelength, once you tap into your inner voice, you cannot go back to the same old way of doing things without a feeling of angst. Your talent grows; your performance gets better and better. You cannot accept anything less.

This also applies to those in luxury real estate marketing who seek to gain or sustain market leadership. The pursuit of market leadership may seem on the outside like acquiring the lion’s share of market share. But, it is actually the quest for tapping into your inner voice. True market leaders compete only with themselves. They constantly keep reaching for their best and look to improve no matter what the circumstances are. They like the leading edge, they constantly explore it. They don’t let themselves be swayed by events of the day. They mind their own business. They consistently stay on their brand signal.

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Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning from American Idol Part 11

This is part eleven of our blog series entitled: Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning form American Idol. It is a fun and easy way to learn the principles of personal branding. You do not have to be an Idol fan to enjoy!

A Moment of Transformation

Last night’s American Idol featured some stellar performances. Several of the contestants found their brand signal. Their voices and their performances were authentic –matching their talent and their innate artistic style. When you hear it you know it. The judges referred to it as having a “moment”.

In sports, the term most often associated with this is “being in the zone”. It is a time when what seemed unattainable manifests. It is a time when everything clicks. It is when a real estate deal falls into place and all parties are aligned. It is when you are in the flow of life.

On Adam Lambert’s performance, Simon remarked,” tonight you have become a star”. His performance moved Smokey Robinson, this week’s mentor and songwriter (“Tracks of My Tears”) to give him a standing ovation. This was Adam’s transformational moment.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, have you had your transformational moment?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Stretching Your Marketing $$$, Part 2

This is a series in response to one of the most asked question in real estate at the moment, “How do I stretch my marketing dollars?”

Be Prepared For Business: Don’t Invite People if Your Shop is a Mess

Is your website like the "Little Shop of Horrors"? Many luxury real estate professionals are spending money on pay-per-click advertising and Search Engine Optimization to help drive traffic to their sites. However, their web sites are not customer/user friendly. It’s like shopkeepers advertising to invite people into an uninviting messy store.

Instead of being focused on the clients’ primary need, which is usually to search for homes, many web sites confuse the visitor by running news feeds, weather reports, etc. With the popularity of videos, they often clutter their home pages with distractiing features of local attractions.

Many of these “bells and whistles” are a turn-off. Have you ever visited a site where someone walks across the home page and starts talking at you? This may have been novel the first time you saw it, but once the novelty wears off it is downright annoying and often horribly done. In fact, it can be a deterrent for repeat visits which is the whole purpose of having a website that is a resource, not a special effect show. Instead of a 'sticky' site that encourages visitors to hang out, it becomes a slippery site, where customers want to slip out the back.

Furthermore, if the type is so tiny that you need a magnifying glass to read it, even if you are blessed with 20/20 vision, you can expect a no-show if you invite someone to return to your site. Like walking out of a store in a shopping mall, we can immediately click away, and look at the more user-friendly competitor site. Your marketing dollars may have brought business to the door. But, will the customer walk in and stay? Or, have you just wasted your money? If you are going to pay for your web site to be optimized, make sure you reap the benefits of a clean, tasteful site!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Stretching Your Marketing Dollars. Part 1

This is a series in response to one of the most asked question in real estate at the moment, “How do I stretch my marketing dollars?”

Co-market with Others

Do what the big brands do. Think outside the proverbial box of advertising in magazines and on online. Do something that involves creating relationships with individuals and groups. For instance, at the Santa Barbara Saturday Farmer’s market, Toyota of Santa Barbara introduced its Venza model. They recruited the local chefs to come up with sampling delights based on the market’s ingredients. Toyota gave away potted herbs to anyone visiting their display. They also had a $50 gift for individuals who wanted to test drive the car.

Who benefited? Toyota, the farmers and other purveyors, the chefs promoted their restaurants and theToyota Venza throngs of locals and tourists who frequent the Saturday market—they all benefited. Everyone came away with a good impression and a wonderful experience.

An agent could have easily participated in this event by supporting a part of this event with a clever giveaway. This is promotion at its best, MAKING YOURSELF WELL KNOWN AND WELL THOUGHT OF.

How can you co-market with someone or some company in your marketplace?

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Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning from American Idol Part 10

This is part ten of our blog series entitled: Real Estate Agent Personal Branding: Learning form American Idol. It is a fun and easy way to learn the principles of personal branding. You do not have to be an Idol fan to enjoy!

Liken Your Personal Brand to What is Already Known

When you introduce a new brand it helps to liken your personal brand to what is already known. The American Idol voters picked the top ten they would want to see on tour this summer. Each of the contestants has a distinct personality and musical style. You can even hear the judges liken members of the new "touring company" to particular musical stars. After Matt's first audition, Simon compared hime to Elliot Yamin. This week Matt was compared to Justin Timberlake and Michael Buble and Lil Rounds was compared to to Mary J. Blige. They are labeling and branding the contestants to help the voters pigeonhole them in a particular genre. As such they are positioning the contestants in the minds of the listeners.

It is easy to communicate using known commodities such as labels. The process of understanding and promoting quickens. A line from a Robert Altman’s film, The Player illustrates the point humorously. A screenwriter is hawking a new movie and describes it as a Bruce Willis film, "Ghost meets The Manchurian Candidate."

Here is an example that can apply to real estate practice: If you are launching your new blog that features local restaurant reviews you might want to call yourself ”the Ruth Reichl of [your town’s name]”. Ruth Reichl was a famous food editor for the Los Angeles Times and is now the editor in chief for Gourmet magazine. The purpose of personal branding is to create your own label. You are telling people how you want to be perceived.

How can you liken your personal brand to something or someone your target market already knows?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Minding Your Store

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, it is important to respond to leads, emails, and phone calls as soon as possible. Here is an example of what can happen, when no one responds.

Cosmetics and beauty products are one of the largest profit centers in a department store. That is why they are positioned in front of the store as you enter. Have you ever noticed what happens when a customer is looking for products at an unattended cosmetic counter?

At unattended counters, customers are often approached by a salesperson from another counter, representing another brand, but wanting to help. When the customer is unsure about the particular product line that they first inquired about, the opportunity to switch is heightened. If the salesperson is charming, engaging and knowledgeable, the customer can easily be persuaded to switch brands, based purely on attentiveness.

The bottom line here is that an unattended counter can cost sizable sales. The lack of attention, alone, can be enough to make customers switch. 

In luxury real estate, when a potential buyer or seller is looking for answers on the internet, they want an answer ASAP. The person who responds first and is knowledgeable will get the lead and eventually the sale. That is why RAPID RESPONSE on the web and on the phone is very, very important. Even if they are not ready to buy or sell, potential clients will be impressed by this, and remember you.

Don’t let your marketing dollars benefit someone else. Follow up on everyone you bring to your "counter". Your assistant can take care of the initial responses and determine the ones with whom you should talk or personally respond to by email.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Continuing Your Education in Luxury

We often get asked how to break into the Luxury Market, and the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing is an excellent resource for learning and understanding the fine points of the market. Given the exponential growth of information in the real estate market, it is great to have the Institute as a trusted advisor help you sift through the mountains of data.

Over the last several days we have had the privilege and the honor of presenting webinars on personal branding and marketing strategies to the members of the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing. The Institute is the premier independent authority in the training and certification of real estate agents working in the luxury market and has trained over 9,000 agents worldwide.

Laurie Moore Moore, the company’s CEO, graciously hosted and moderated the events. Laurie was chosen by The Real Estate Intelligence Report as one of the ten people having the most impact on the residential real estate business in the past 25 years.

We highly recommend that you investigate their training and certification program. As an independent organization, their membership is open to all luxury home and estate agents, regardless of firm.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Wear Blue for St. Patrick’s Day

The Chicago River turned green for St. Patrick's Day

If you want to be historically correct, you should Know that Blue is the color to wear on March 17^th. The Irish Presidential standard is dark blue and gold. Dark blue and gold are considered the original colors of Ireland.

St. Patrick used to illustrate The Holy Trinity with a shamrock (a three leaved plant.) The wearing of the green originally referred to wearing a shamrock on one’s clothing. The change to green happened around the mid 1700’s inspired some say by Irish nationalism or loyalty to the Catholic faith, or the abundant green foliage associated with the beauty of Ireland.

The wonderful aspect of March 17^th is that everyone is happy to join in the celebration. Being Irish is not a requirement. The willingness to have a good time is. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: The Luxury of Time

When you own your own business as in a real estate practice, it is so easy to work long hours and become entrenched in finding more ways to put in long hours. It is important to replenish your personal reserves, take time out to be with friends, enjoy life and the surroundings in which we live.

We have recently been putting in long hours completing several projects. A few weeks ago a dear friend invited us for dinner at Brophy Brothers Restaurant at the Santa Barbara Harbor. She explained that on March 10^th, the moon would be rising over the mountains, and insisted that we see it from a particular corner on the terrace. She even brought her camera so she could capture this soulful event.

It was wonderful sitting outside watching the moon rise with friends. This is one of the many luxuries of life that doesn’t require a financial war chest. All it requires is imagination and appreciation, which is, after all, an abundant resource we all possess, if we just tap it.

Find something special to do with friends and take time out! You will have more energy as a result.

What will you do with your time out?

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials: Making the Proper Commitment to Your Business Today

There has never been a better time for luxury real estate marketing professionals to increase their market share than right now. While your competition is like a deer in headlights, stunned by indecision and immobilized, this is the best time to strategize and stay in front of prospective buyers and sellers.

In his debut video blog, Rick Goodwin, the publisher of Unique Homes and UniqueHomes.com,advises Realtors about the mindset needed to survive in today's real estate market. Rick says, "those who make the proper commitment to their business today, will be positioned to reap the benefits when the market recovers".

Check out Rick's video. It will just take a minute, a "Unique Minute". It is well worth your time!

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