Today some of the most successful teams in real estate are husband and wife teams. As a team, you need to make some important decision about the focus of your marketing materials.

Joe and Sharon Falco are top agents with S.J.& J.R., Inc.in the Chicago area. Both are licensed agents but they made the decision to use Sharon as the focus of their marketing materials due to her vivacious personality, feeling that would serve them best. Joe is mentioned, but he is never the focus and the name that is driven into the client's mind is always Sharon Falco. Joe is an ex-advertising man who knows that it is much easier to build a memorable campaign built around a single personality than it is to build it around a couple -- yet clients still feel totally comfortable working with Joe when the need arises. Both of them are actively involved in their business and both are critical to the massive success they have achieved.

Stan and Earle Whitmore, a successful team in Northern Virginia, have also made the decision to make Earle the focus of their marketing. If you go to their web site, it's hard to find even a mention of Stan's name. Stan works in the background managing the details of their marketing and administration.

The hardest part for the spouse who is not featured is that it can be hard on the ego. The spouse in the spotlight gets all the accolades and recognition even though it is truly a team effort. But again, this is usually the best way to go when you have one spouse who has a strong, outgoing personality and one spouse who is a little more reserved.

If both agents have strong personalities you need to tell a story that develops the personality of each one and then create a storyline that gives a compelling reason why you are working together. This strategy works well for Ron and Donna Anderson in Monument, Colorado. When people read about how Ron and Donna formed a family after each losing a spouse to cancer you get a sense of the strength of their partnership, both personally and professionally. This helps consumers feel connected to both of them. When consumers read about Ron's and Donna's individual backgrounds and personalities at their web site, TheAndersens.net, some people respond more to one or the other. Whomever the client feels most connected to is the person they call and ask for.

Creating this connection among consumers is harder for non-married teams, but it can be done. Debra Berman and Pat Kandel have built a massively successful business. The name Berman & Kandel is a household name in Marina Del Rey, California and they have a dominant market share in the area. They have a full staff of support people, but Debra and Pat remain the focus of all the marketing. Each of them have interesting personal stories that are effectively tied together through their story of personal friendship. When they formed their partnership in1978 they were truly pioneers, keeping a personal marketing focus that is still going strong today.

The mistake most teams make is that their marketing is not personal. Remember, slapping your picture onto a list of features and benefits is not personal marketing. Some of the worst real estate marketing I see is for an agent with a number of people working for them who decides to market The Johnson Team or The Smith Group. If you have a team of people on your staff, it's fine to talk about your support team in the body of your marketing materials, but your personality is what the marketing must be built around.

The key to team marketing is giving prospects a compelling and believable reason that your team exists. Remember, consumers today are very sophisticated. Research shows that people don't buy into claims of two agents for the price of one or that you will get twice the service. In fact, my research shows that most consumers think agents who work in a team usually do so because they want more time off, or don't want to work as hard as other agents. Once you have developed the emotional theme for your team, repeat it over and over again so that it takes root and grows in your client's mind.

Published: October 13, 2003

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.