Running a successful brokerage brings challenges especially as your agent forces starts to get larger and larger. Your brand may be doing well enough to expand, but it is important to remember that as your brand grows, so does the amount of support you need to provide to your sales team. There are several efforts you can make to successfully support a growing force of agents and we went into detail about five of the best practices.
1. Run an assessment of your brand.
Before you can utilize the branding tools necessary to support a growing force of agents, you need to first assess your current brand consistency. The consistency of your brand has a powerful impact on what people think. In a study conducted by LucidPress, it was found that consistent brand presentation across all platforms increases revenue by up to 23%.
You should ask yourself questions such as:
• How do our clients view our brand?
• How do our competitors and other business people view our brand?
In the same study by LucidPress, 90% of marketers agree that it is important to present their brands consistently in all the places people might encounter them, but less than half are actually doing so. Maintaining brand consistency includes having a consistent and compelling voice behind your social media, copy, website design, email marketing, etc.
Being aware of your current brand consistency is an important part of supporting a growing force of agents because when your brand is viewed in a positive light, this is reflected upon your whole team allowing them to achieve greater success.
2. Support with content.
As a marketer, one of the roles you must assume as your agent force grows is content generator. This means creating and distributing branded content to your team of agents ranging from company newsletters to targeted email content. Additionally, this involves adding or developing content resources such as a blog, company social media, company website, and any direct marketing in such a way that reflects your brand and agents in a positive way.
With that said, the quality and variety of the content sent to your agents for their use can really impact the amount of support available to them. For example, sending weekly content updates is not enough if you're sending unexciting newsletters with low-quality images. In order to support a growing team, you need to invest in quality content. This could mean investing in a photographer/videographer, writing a company eBook, or utilizing design software such as those within the Adobe Suite.
In Animoto's annual report, The State of Social Video 2017: Marketing in a Video First World, it's reported that 64% of consumers purchase after watching branded social video content. This shows that keeping up with content trends such as video marketing is important for generating leads for your agents.
Below is a list of additional tips when supporting your agents through content:
• Routinely create and distribute a variety of branded content for your agents to use.
• Make your content calendar accessible to all agents.
• Discuss your content schedule in your monthly marketing and sales meetings.
3. Become a source of knowledge.
While sending branded content is important, your agents would also benefit from being sent a variety of outsourced content.
• Informational content
You can become a valuable source of knowledge for your agents by providing them with a variety of informative resources. Update your agents on latest marketing trends by sending them eBooks to download that are relevant to them as salespeople. Send social media best practices and news about upcoming networking or philanthropy events. This type of internal informative content will provide your growing agent force with the support they need.
• Promotional content
Outsourced content can also be sent to your agents for them to then send to their clients or post on their social media. A couple of examples this type of outsourced content would be an article about a new park opening nearby or the development of a new neighborhood.
4. Invest in marketing automation.
Two important statistics about marketing automation (Found from Hubspot):
• Companies that automate lead management see a 10% or more bump in revenue in 6-9 months
• Businesses who nurture leads make 50% more sales at a cost 33% less than non-nurtured prospects
Marketing automation strategically nurtures leads that are worth your time and the time of your sales team by segmenting contact lists into groups that are interested in your emails (click on links, reply, subscribe, etc.) and strategically marketing to those groups throughout different stages of lead nurture process. Additionally, it avoids sending too many emails to uninterested contacts so they do not become annoyed, unsubscribe or develop an unfavorable image of your brand. Overall, this practice generates better quality leads for your growing force of agents.
For more information about marketing automation, visit our blog post Getting Started with Marketing Automation.
5. Create relationships.
Building positive personal and business relationships with influential figures in your community will benefit your agents by associating them with a trustworthy brand. Turning you and your brand into a recognized face/name in your community requires actions such as philanthropic events, b2b networking, and general support and interest for local organizations.
Achieving positive brand image starts with your personal image. Nurturing this aspect of your growing business will prove beneficial to your agents because not only will you be setting a good example, but you'll also be providing them with a solid foundation for building relationships and generating more clientele.