‘We all have a book in us.’
It’s a phrase bandied around which I don’t agree with.
One thing I do believe is that we ALL have a story.
Especially around why we set up our businesses.
People love stories. It’s how we’ve been educated, entertained, and sometimes indoctrinated since we evolved from grunting at each other around a cave fire.
This is excellent news for estate agents as a lot of you have interesting and often emotional tales about why you began doing what you do.
These are called Creation Stories in marketing circles.
Innocent, the smoothie makers, have a belting one about seeing if their idea would work by selling their drinks for the first time at a festival.
They put up a sign saying something along the lines of ‘We’re thinking of resigning from our jobs to set up a company making these smoothies.’
There were two bins to put the used bottles in – one saying ‘yes, go for it’ the other saying ‘no, don’t give up the day job.’ The rest is multi-million-pound history.
Looking within our industry, you have some excellent creation stories.
Perry Power set up Power Bespoke because he was disgusted with the shockingly bad and dishonest service his mum had received when dealing with an agent. He set off on a mission to ensure no one ever went through a similar experience.
John Paul tells a captivating tale about what sparked his obsession with systems and processes and working on the business rather than toiling in it.
His father owned and ran a successful company before falling ill with terminal cancer. The business was over-reliant on John’s dad, so when he sadly died, there was little structure and systems to keep the business running successfully.
I became a journalist relatively late in life at 32. I’d always wanted to be one since I was a little kid. I always loved writing and rapping (another story) but came off the rails as a teenager and young adult and got in with the wrong crowd.
Following building up and selling a successful removal and storage business, I thought ‘f**k it, I’m going all out to follow that dream.’
So, I went for it hard and all the twists, turns, tears, tantrums, and tyrannical editors over the preceding years led me to this point – writing content for estate agents, in a journalistic style, which is something I love doing.
I’ve heard plenty of other stories from agents around why they started. The best ones are inspiring, revealing, and brave. The trouble is they aren’t shared publicly as much as they should be.
Saying you got into the business to make loads of money and drive a fancy car might be the truth, but it ain’t a creation story worth telling.
And it won’t win the hearts and minds of the community you serve unless all they care about is status and money.
Creation stories are great because they show people where you came from, the challenges you faced and why you are doing what you do.
They take the reader/viewer on a journey.
They are perfect for About Us pages and sharing on social media.
And probably the best thing about your story is … it’s yours, it can’t be copied and shows the person/people
behind the professionalism.
What’s your agency’s creation story?
Thanks for reading.
Jerry
