Most of us bought a house before we were agents, right? I remember going with my mom to look at my first house. We got an agent and she was fantastic! She took us to see properties that were in our price range, had what we asked for, and we found a house that day, wrote the offer, and bought it. Now, after all said and done, she handed us her card, before we got back in my mom's car to return to the hotel. I couldn't stop looking at it! Who on earth was THIS woman? She was about 25 years younger than the woman we'd just met with. We rode around with her for hours, and I sat in the back of the car staring at the folds in the back of her neck (you couldn't expect an 18 year old to focus on the task at hand... not the whole time!). I couldn't imagine that the 35 year old in this picture had neck folds like the ones I had counted over and over in my head on the ride from house to house. So, being a thinking person, I said to myself that she had to be using this picture for one of several reasons:
- She is still on her first 1000 business cards from 1971.
- She ordered 50,000 cards in 1971.
- She was too busy to take another picture - no free time in the last 20 years.
- She used a lot of night cream before the photo was taken, then abruptly stopped.
- I didn't have on my glasses - I hated wearing my glasses.
- She had her younger sister pose for the picture since she was so busy selling real estate.
- The picture was taken with one of those special cameras from the Twilight Zone. If it was used to take MY picture, it would actually resemble an in-utero sonogram photo.
Well, I soon forgot about it, until I moved in, and started getting mail from her with more pictures... calendars for the fridge, CMA's, etc. I put the magnets on the fridge, and when people came by and I saw them looking at it, I felt obligated to say, "She looks nothing like that."
Fast forward many moons to when I got my license. Things are not always what they seem. I took the picture you see on my profile just 3 years ago. Seems pretty recent for an adult photo, right? I mean, we are not in grade school! We don't need to take pictures every year! We don't change that much, do we? First of all - I went to my local camera shop to take that picture. It is a passport photo. No professional studio, turn your head this way, tilt this way, lean that way. Secondly, I have on sweatpants and flip flops on the bottom. Do I still look like this? It has only been 3 years right? Well, since that photo, I have gotten married, had 2 kids, and moved. Big life changes can equal BIG physical changes. I don't have my picture on cards anymore (the reason is another article all together) but I do have them on some flyers. At an open house, a visitor said - "wow, what a gorgeous picture! Um, is that you?" I wanted to... well, I don't know what I wanted to do!
I have been thinking of updating the photo, but I am used to the," wow" reaction that this picture gets! I don't want an average or below average reaction. I am spoiled! So I continue to decieve the public.
I don't know why other agents don't update their photo after 10+ years. Sometimes, it is just amusing! I see photos of agents that I know and see often, and when I see their photo in the Buyer's Journal with their ad, I have to chuckle to myself. You can only fool the customer until you meet them. We put pictures on our stuff for different reasons, but most times, people see your photo and for whatever reason, they want to work with the person they see in the picture. Are we being deceitful by presenting our better selves from yesteryear, or are we really just deceiving ourselves? Who is the picture REALLY for? I welcome your comments...
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