How important is the brand your office represents to your career? How important is your personal brand within that office brand? Since all real estate is personal when it really gets down to it, how important is this brand you represent? I am just asking here for discussions sake. It is clear a brand with a national name and a big national advertising budget is important for immediate recognition, but beyond that how important is that brand to the transaction. It is true that a national brand has systems in place that make transactions easier for their people. “Been there-done that” is a great place to be when going into the competition for a listing, or the signing of a prospect to an exclusive contract, but is it the reason you won the business? Honestly I hear all this anecdotal information about the importance of your brand name, but what is see is that it is the individual person at the point of the sale is the one making the difference.
Systems and structure make every business transaction repeatable. Being able to repeat a process and perfect that process goes a good long distance in making you successful long term. This is why national brands are so important. They have spent the time and money to develop systems that anyone can plug into and be successful with. When I look at the guru names in real estate, I don’t see any of them (those without their name on the name brand) talking about a brand, they talk about the process and procedures that make the individual better. The name brands work to develop good systems so that anyone plugged into them will be better and they do it very well, all of them.
So what makes the individual better? In my opinion it is less about drinking a national brand flavor of kool-aid and everything about learning all you can about the industry and all the brands so that you can make yourself the most successful agent in your area. 
I have nothing against a national brand, in fact, as I have gotten to know them all better through study and meetings, I am impressed with the depth of detail that each national brand (RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, EXIT, Keller Williams, Century 21 and to a much lesser extent Ebby here in Dallas) puts into their training and systems. I think any agent is served well by being part of any of these organizations. I have drunk the EXIT kool-aid and believe it’s flavor provides me the kinds of benefits I was looking for when I started out. I also think that you can also read and study and reinvent your own wheel to use in your specific area and do well. Successful careers in real estate are built on individual efforts and attention to details. Do this well and you will do well. Your attitude and approach makes the difference.
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