After reading an excellent book on career development for the 21st century entitled Personal Distinction I performed an anonymous survey of peers, clients, friends and past relationships to understand how people see me. Prior to sending out the survey I took it myself in order to compare how people saw me vs. how I THINK I present myself. The results were aggregated together to give me a profile. It was a little scary to send that out. Sometimes you think you know what people think but do you really want to know for sure? Well, I held my breath and did it. Working successfully in the real estate profession requires certain brand attributes and it was important, although potentially painful to see if that is how I come across.
What I discovered was something quite different than I thought. For starters I was more critical of myself than other people were of me. Some of the attributes I thought were quite strong did not even show up on my feedback list.

Still the areas I scored high in were attributes that one would look for in a Realtor. For instance, my high score was in confidence followed closely by a tie In Dependable, Devoted, Experienced, Forward Thinking, Leader like, and Sincere.

Respondents saw my greatest skill as Communicating followed again by a tie with Managing Projects, Seeing the Big Picture, Solving Problems and Team Building.

Going forward, I can build on the strengths others see in me and try to diminish weaknesses. Working in a profession that does not have the strongest level of confidence among the general public requires diligence in understanding how we are perceived by others.

Testimonials and feedback are becoming more important than ever in running a successful business. I would be interested to hear how you get feedback and how you use it.

Vicki Brannock is a real estate professional in Prescott Arizona.
vicki@Prescott-re.com
www.Prescott-RE.com