Are you at Template?
What makes you different than the MLS listing every agent uses to help their clients find a home?
What makes you different than every real estate template that allows you to update your listings in the same size photo/same amount of text format?
What makes you different is the reason you sell more than your other agents….
IT’S YOU….
It’s how you approach your clients, how you present a home, and all the other many details that go into the sale and listing of your clients.
You and your style is what makes you stand out.
HOW MUCH MORE DOES A CUSTOM DESIGN COST?
1. You will have to give up learning curves….and just learn how to email your MLS links to us
2. You will have to put more of your time into selling and networking…because we are just a phone call away
3. you will have to get use to wanting to improve your image more because you can!
4. While you are getting use to your image, so is everyone else — so get ready to be recognized
AND ITS NOT JUST Real Estate….
It’s small business owners that offer what the big companies can never offer: INDIVIDUALIZED SERVICE.
For Example:
The boxes are here, true; and we all go there for things…. but when I want to paint my house, I go to the local paint store. Why?
Because he has a knowledge of paint: color, materials, etc. He can match a color from a tiny chip, not only because he has the machine to do it, but also because he has that experience of being a house painter for 20 years behind him. He knows what the machine says, and he tips the scales with his experience…. in my favor. And he knows color — so when I go in there with an ”idea” he can tell me from experience if I will get the results I’m hoping to get. And I trust his judgement because I do get the results I wanted… He guides me right!
Will a template explain that?
Each business with a dedication and a passion for what they do needs to hire a professional to listen to their needs, their goals, and the uniqueness of their business to not only hear what is being said, but to also read between the lines.
SO WHAT GOOD ARE TEMPLATES?
They are good idea starts. for $30 or so you can buy a template, show it to your professional designer and ask them to follow the good points you like in the template.
Some template companies have built in expensive programming that may be absolutely necessary for your business needs online — database programming saves tons of time and using a template is just common sense. This type of programming is too expensive for an individual to buy in a small business, but a company that sells a template with all the bells and whistles is worth it — IF you can have control over the masthead — that’s the part that is your individual stamp!
MAKE SURE THERE ARE PLENTY OF SPACES LEFT in addition to the masthead, that you will be allowed to have your designer submit something to your template company, that will distinguish you from your competiton. A custom flash masthead is sometimes the best fit in such a website because it offers a nice contrast to the conformity of the rest of the web site. But what about the ability to insert your photograph several times throughout the website — and customize your contact.
Any place there is repetitive information, the masthead and contact for instance, you should have the ability to individualize.
Then you have the best of both worlds: template with great programming back structure and custom design projecting your individual image.
SO HOW MUCH DOES IT REALLY COST TO GO ”CUSTOM”
It’s not like the diet juice companies that sell their product at such a high price that in order to afford it you do get sick.
It’s not like going to a box office supply company and taking your chances at getting a run of a mill designer or a super designer that won’t be there long.
A custom design is done by a person who loves what they are doing and stays up-to-date with their field — and after that, they love taking their skill and applying it to your need.
You have a look, an idea, a color scheme — a product and service — and all the business factors: contact, price, getting orders, receiving payment, getting seen – a custom designer will orchestrate this into one beautiful song, a beautiful eating experience, a platform where you may proudly stand and be seen by the world as the genuine thing. You talk the talk, you walk the walk.
Find out the price of a custom design – call a design company, from small to large, and get a feel for their pricing. Most of all, find out what they need from you, what kind of time it takes them to accomplish what they need to, and how much time will you need to get them what they need.
And remember Rome was not built in a day. Tell your designer exactly what you want to do now and what your plans are in the future. That way when the discussion gets to the budget, the designer will be able to give you a plan that will grow.
Visit:
www.isabelsmith.com
