Today I got a postcard from an agent who's relatively new to the business. It appears that she studied a number of other agent's biographies and "about me" pages to figure out what to write about herself, because she copied at least part of the description word for word. I'd seen it many times before, so could not resist the thought of Googling it.
Here's a snippet of what she copied: (agent name) "joins a group of distinguished real estate professionals who are all part of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced marketing firm".
One prominent real estate brokerage in Silicon Valley is probably responsible for actually authoring this powerful phrase, because initially those words could be found on virtually every bio of agents within that company. Now, though, if you take the phrase and Google it, it shows up across many firms. Just now when I used quotation marks and plugged this in to Google, it came back with 1030 exact responses. Now we're talking boilerplate.
And that's the funny part. The language is "distinguished", but if there are 1029 others with the exact same description, it's not distinguished. It's a "me too". It's ironic.
It is not easy to write a bio about oneself. The public wants to know why it should chose you, or even chose to speak with you. The public wants to know how you are different from everyone else. Given that many consumers rely heavily on the internet in searching for their homes, and sometimes their agents too, it is very helpful to distinguish oneself with an authentically unique (non copied) bio.
Rule # 1: When you write your agent bio or promo pieces, find your own way of expressing why you have strengths that should be factored in favorably. When you have a boilerplate method of listing your assets, you undermine your own uniqueness, not just in the eyes of Google, but more importantly, in the eyes of your would-be prospects.
How Do You Write Your Agent Bio? Put Your Best Foot Forward & Write Something Unique (Lose the Boilerplate!)
51 comments • Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES • August 13 2008 05:30PMComments
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Ok, got your point and it is well taken! Thanks for the tip and for seeing the other side of the coin...
V-e-r-y Carefully. . . :)
Mary, You make an excellent point. I find it very difficult to write a bio but I hope I have written them so the consumers understand how I practice and what I do that will want them to call me. I have seen the same phrases over and over in all businesses and try to stay away from that.
Good advice, be yourself it is all regurtated by the consumers when they read this stuff anyway.
It's the little things that many times can make the greatest difference. Differentiation Selling was drilled into me from an early point in my career, and continues to have it's application now with establishing a viable Internet presence. Good stuff, Mary!...
I like your points here. I think it is important to take some time with this. I thought maybe have someone interview you with actual questions people might like to know about you. write your responses down and include them. you could even use the q/a format in your bio.
just a thought!
That's funny. And true. It IS challenging writing a bio to sound superior and humble.
Unbelievable, but when you think about it, very, very plausible.. Too bad people can't distinguish themselves from "the rest" of the REALTORS. Way too many copycats... ;>)
Funny. My thoughts when I read the phrase were, for was that written? Surely not consumers.
Sophisticated??
technologically advanced marketing firm?
Hardly what I would consider keyword phrases to attract consumers.
But, what do I know?? I'm not very sophisticated.
HI MARY!
That makes a whole lot of sense. You've got to distinguish yourself apart from others all the time in this biz!
Thanks for sharing!
Oh Great, my bio is horrible, now you've reminded me that I need to rewrite it! I guess I can't put it off any longer...Thanks for the nudge.
Mary...
What a wonderful topic. We see this all the time. I've even seen it in the Rain. Amanda Hall quotes a woman she once knew with "Be Unique. Or Be Forgotten". I say folks need to at least think about that.
I recently was in a situation where I knew if I didn't stand out I would be lost in a crowd. I had to fill out a questionnaire so what did I do? I answered the questions with unusual remarks. I even asked them why they needed to know if I was female? :)
TLW...ROAR!
I chuckle when I see someone change their bio to be similiar to what mine is. I make a change, they make a change. I put on my "tag" line, which by the way is embedded on my website and other outside blog and theirs suddenly changes with the same phrase with the words rearranged. Please folks you aren't me and I'm glad you think if you emulate me you will somehow be me but it just isn't so:-)
Now I want to check out Cindy's bio (her comment above)!
But Mary - this is a terrific post about writing bios about ourselves. I find it to be extremely difficult to come up with unique things to write about when talking about...me! Yet I believe myself to be quite unique! I like the idea of googling whatever you come up with...just to make sure your words do not match 1000 others!!
Aaron - glad you liked it!
Sheila - too true!
Carole - I have seen your online stuff and it's good!
Missy - and just think, if you're "not yourself" starting with your bio, it's a whole lot harder to move forward when you finally meet the prospects face to face.
Rich - I never heard the phrase "differentiation selling", but it makes a ton of sense. Thanks!
Shane - that is a great idea. Interviews are great for blogs, so why not bios?
Trunda - you hit the nail on the head. Approachable, but outstanding....
Ann-Marie - and they do not get why copycating hurts everyone....
Lenn - the market to which those lines are addressed are high-end Silicon Valley areas. Part of the overused texts include (agent name) "brings a wealth of knowledge...". The idea is to work in terms that somehow state money, success, superiority. But you are SO right that it can totally backfire on consumers. There are some who love this approach (believe it or not), but I've had clients tell me that they would never work with *that* brokerage because it comes across as too snooty. To me, it's so heavy as to be off-putting.
Yvette - many thanks
Brett - LOL, you needed more to do, right?? :-)
Lovely Tutas - nice to see ya here ...thanks for the words and great story. I'd have loved to have seen the look on their face when they read your questionairre...
Cindy - I gotta check yours out!
Terrie - Google is a great way to see if someone's plagerizing just about anything...
Hi Mary...To differentiate means we have to get a bit personal. That's were we differ from one another. Many of us have had similar professional experience with the numbers of years varying.
Interesting topic.
Kate
So, I am getting ready to re-write my bios... Wanna feed me some lines here? Nobody will copy, honest...
I never thought I copying someone elses bio -- that is a new one. It is difficult to find the right words sometimes and I will get a couple of ideas, but no boilerplate.
Most agents I try to help say they do not have time to do all that I do, so they want to copy and paste everything. Well, you are going to look like everyone else then, you are so right on!
Copying a bio? Hmmmm....interesting and yet compels me to say, "Why?" Really...why would you want to copy somebody else's bio? You are you. Your experiences are not exactly the same as someone else's.
I don't understand...
I guess if they are that insecure...maybe that explains it. :-)
Good topic!
I would add to the boilerplate template sites that agents never take the time to personalize. This new agent should and hopefully will figure it out. Very good post for sharing.
When you sign up for a web page, such as homes.com, they give you a sample bio or introduction on the front page. Many agents never get beyond that. So the same thing is said over and over with each homes.com agent. Sounds as if you have something similar going on.
I'll bet you could track all those agents using this bio to having been affiliated with the company that actually authored those words in the past.
When you are a new agent, sometimes you get some very bad advice. Being original is sometimes difficult. We are all looking to see what the most successful agents have done or are doing.
I am a very creative person, but when it comes to spending marketing dollars I want to make sure that what I spend my money on is going to work.
I had never thought of googling phrases to see how often they show up on the internet. I will share that idea in our Technology Mastermind tomorrow.
Kate - thanks, I was guessing that's what it meant. Just never heard of it as an intentional approach before, but it makes sense.
Lane - LOL!
Joan - getting ideas is fair play :)
David - not having time to do something write is such a mistake in the long run, but you already know that and I'm sure you've told 'em!
Sheila - thanks. I think it's like how some people copy the format of an obit, if you know what I mean. They think, "oh, this looks good" so they imitate - but too much. Obviously if I get a 1030 hits for that one phrase, there's way too much imitation going on.
Debbie - exactly! That's the next thing. Usually it's bios on company websites. If John Q Public scrolls through, many time all the agents have 90% the same wording. If I were the manager....!
Barbara - yes, and on company websites etc. too. Agents never customize.
Don - nope, but they are all in the same region (Silicon Valley)!!
Kat - I'm glad it's an idea you can use! I sometimes do it with phrases from blog posts I've written just to see. Copyscape.com would be a good source for that too - I should sign up with them!
Mary, I have been wanting to work on my Bio for some time now. As you have said mine is one of those "me too" bios given to me by a coach I had a long time ago. Thank you
Mary - well, that was an interesting finding for sure. Not unexpected. Seems like so many agents say the same crap over and over as they market themselves as the neighborhood expert, the top producer, or whatever the phase is that is in vogue in the area. Good adive for folks seeking to set themselves apart. Those who don't aren't fooling anyone.
Jeff
Good point. There are many of the "canned" websites that have a already pre-made set of words in place and it is interesting how many never change them.
I agree with Jeff, I am also one of those people who has used other Agent's boilerplates for quite some time. After joining The rain, I realized that's just wrong!
You are so right. At the same time, it is very hard to write a bio.
I googled it and had to grin at the long list of "distinguished, sophisticated, and technologically advanced" few. Too funny!
Hi Mary,
I have seen this many times as well. I have also personally had someone decide back when I was a professional street entertainer that they liked my shtick so well they were going to copy it lock, stock and barrel... literally right next to me!
Fortunately, I think it is safe to say that neither you or I will ever have to worry about falling victim lack of originality :-)
Take care, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
Tisza
Hi Mary,
I have seen this many times as well. I have also personally had someone decide back when I was a professional street entertainer that they liked my shtick so well they were going to copy it lock, stock and barrel... literally right next to me!
Fortunately, I think it is safe to say that neither you or I will ever have to worry about falling victim lack of originality :-)
Take care, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
Tisza
Who knows you better than you? I don't understand it either.
I have always had a difficult time coming up with a bio. I remember one instance where I decided to use what I thought was a unique tag line. I started to use it and suddenly that line seemed to be everywhere. I nixed it almost instantly.
Mana - it's an interesting exercise to go through a brokerage's agent bio pages and see how many are the same. It'll convince you immediately to change yours! Go get 'em!
Jeff - and that was only one line of the bio. There were several that were canned. It seems to be more the norm than not.
Bob & Caroline - long before I was blogging, I was just changing those pre-written pages, and that alone made a huge difference in my seo and contacts coming from my websites.
John - well, it's a waste of airspace at least because it keeps you from being unique (and from being found on Google, too)
Christine - yes, but it's hard to prospect too. Often the important stuff isn't easy.
Teresa - it's wild, isn't it? Actually there are so many phrases like that in agent bios. I wonder if we could do a "top 10" for most overused?
Tisza - wow, that's amazingly blatent, huh? But there's ONLY one Tisza and I can't imagine that the imitator got very far.... Thanks for sharing!
Renee - people get busy, they are afraid to write, they think no one will notice...
Even if you choose to be original there is someone out there that will copy you and then someone that will copy them, etc, etc. Eventually the authentic you isn't just yours anymore. Than what do you do? Change your brand? Your image? Your taglines that have made you money and people know you by?
I think being copied is unavoidable unless you copyright everything and pursue litigation fiercely like some people do. But that takes time, money and consistent determination.
It's not always easy to write your own bio. I know of several agents that have someone do it for them so that it is unique and not copied. Ask a friend, co-worker or family member to do it for you. You can have several people write one for you and take pieces out of each to have a great bio and to entice people to hire you!
Rule # 2 : Do not write your bio in the third person.
Unless you run a multi-billion dollor company, everyone reading your bio knows that you wrote it yourself.
We don't expect Donald Trump to write a bio for his website, but we do expect Sally New-Agent to be writing her own bio.
I think it sounds good written in the first person anyways, because it's you talking about your accomplishments and background.
You see it every day, people would rather cut & paste then think original. Copy cat, cheater, ever hear of copyright? If not, at least give the guy your stealing the words from some credit & mix them up a bit. It's just as bad with web pages - there was an agent in my office who just wanted to cut & paste my website because he didn't want to type alot. I tried to investigate copy-protect but it would not be compliant on the site server. Good post.
I love it Mary, hmmm I never thought about stealing lines from other people LOL It is not easy to write about yourself and still do not think I have it right. I continue to work on it.
Hi Mary. Great post. I write ad copy for a living, or at least spend quite a bit of my time doing that. Well, we were recently working on updating our own company website for my marketing firm, and needless to say, I had to write copy for it. Took me pulling quite a bit of hair out of my head, too many drinks and frustrating sleepless nights to pull it off to where I was happy with it. Same with the bio - it's both, personal and professional, and the pressure to stand out sometimes gets to be too much. I have learned over the years that for me, it's easier to write anything for anyone else, if it's intended as a sales pitch than for myself. Somehow it's remarkably hard to say good things about oneself:-(
Sorry for rambling, but I can see a new and desperate agent browsing the net for existing bios to save the headache. I don't think it ever works, but true originality can be risky and not everyone is ok with it on the flipside - so they choose the safe, albeit, ineffectual route. Just my .002
Its sad that people have so little confidence in themselves that they have to copy what someone else says. Don't they realize that people will figure it out immediately when they actually speak with them. People want to connect with a person. It is important to be yourself.
Congrats on the well deserved feature post!
I would never copy anything, but let's face it... it feels safe to be unoriginal. But it's DANGEROUS. Oh, and, by the way, I think I need to update my bio soon.
My bio needs a lot of work; way too general!
Mary,
I couldn't agree with you more. When i first got into the business and was looking to write my bio ( I had not deals under my belt and no experience), I decided to write about what was important to me. Who Is Leander McClain? That's what I thought the potential clients wanted to know. So far, it has seemed to work for me. Thanks for the benefit of your wisdom
Leander
Mary,
I'm looking forward to reading more of your rules. Keep them coming. #1 is great.
Now, more than ever, writing a bio that connects you with your prospects is one of the best things you can do for your business. You do that by telling your story, letting the consumer know what makes you unique, what will make the reader "care" about you. You don't do that by citing boring stats and hollow service platitudes, and certainly not by "copying someone else's bio! I wrote a postcard message for my wife about how she helped a buyer become the first homeowner in her family, and it went on to urge others to not let this market (and the opportunities it presents) pass them by. Several agents asked my wife if they could use the story in their farm! Unbelievable.
Dennis LeBlanc, Vice President/Creative Director Hobbs/Herder.
Mary,
This is great information. As a new agent, it can be difficult to sift through all the suggestions and determine what will work and make me stand out. Thanks for this post.
Kiri
Good topic Mary.
I believe Mr. LeBlanc also raises a good point. I believe a prospective buyer or seller I would much rather hear about how you helped someone like them, than how awesome we are. I don't think the words "platinum producer" are worth the ink they are written in anymore.
Bill