Your Seller's Ambassador
01.29.08

Many times, I return from a business trip with one or two room keys still in my wallet. This past week proved no exception, as an Embassy Suites door card followed me home. This time, though, I had kept it on purpose. I liked the chain's slogan, imprinted on the face: "Everything for a Reason®."

[This online article explains why the Hilton subsidiary chose this phrase to define and market their approach to hospitality.]

Advertising—especially auction advertising—should be based on that mantra, too. Misdirected strategies can kill brand perception; but the more intentional and vetted your branding is, the more likely your brand identity is to gain recognition, acceptance, and preference.

I get asked regularly why I design things the way I do or use the media biplane productions recommends. I don't mind answering those questions, because I've usually answered those questions for myself in the past.

Back in my college design classes, every design project was subjected to public review. I had to be ready to explain to the teacher and my peers why I chose certain elements and their placement. And, "because I just liked how it looked," (as heard from the C students) didn't cut it. Why were the lines where they were? Why were they that thick or curvy or colored? Why this picture, and why there? What is the intended mood of the font(s)?

We took a 2-credit class on font choice and lettering, another one including line significance and shapes. We had to turn in a project with 6 or 8 varying stripes of black paper on white—that's it—and explain the significance of their juxtaposition and composition. By the end of that year, we could segregate which fonts work for coffee shops or senior citizen organizations, snow board makers or laundry detergent. Our professors wanted us to arrive in corporate America presentations being able to answer all the questions posed us.

Your clients expect the same from you. They're giving you a portion of their proceeds for your expertise, not just your time and exertion—especially in the realm of marketing.

• So, why do you use the media you use? Is it because that's where your competition is (a valid reason), where your seller goes for information or where they want their advertising dollar to go (also valid reasons), or because you've polled bidders and know that is where your target market connects with you?
• What do your proposals say about you before a word is read—and what do you want them to say?
• When do you use stock photos? How 'bout professional or aerial photography?
• How do you do you showcase someone's individual property in a multi-property sale?
• Which web sites do you use? When? Why?
• Why and when do you use an ad agency's help?
• What's different between your advertising and that of your competitor(s)?
• How much description do you place in your ads, your direct mail pieces, and internet? Is it the same information in each? why or why not?

These are just good starter questions. I hope you're asking them (and more) and able to answer them. If not, know that your competitor's ability to answer them might make the difference in your commissions this year. They do in mine.

Taking It Personally

One of the most challenging biblical mandates, for me, was written by Saint/Apostle Peter. He said, "but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always [being] ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence."

As a Christ-follower, I need to be able to explain why I live my life the way I do—a life that should be wrapped around the destination and hope of heaven. This requires that I be living with that influence, that goal. That's not always easy in Best Buy, when I've got some "free" money—or at a stop light, when a minimum-wage kid in a lowered Asian car thinks he's got something on my German-engineered Cooper S.

The path to heaven should be growing more consuming; heaven's intentions should be engulfing my will.

That's not a cake walk. It's not popular. And that's exactly why we need to communicate our Christian lifestyles in terms of hope and gentleness—and not religious legalism and its hypocrisy. Thankfully, as that love springs more and more intrinsic, it's easier to relay the reason for our joy to those searching for it.

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