I would like to tell a story that showed first hand just how important Brand Recognition is in today’s Global world. I spoke to a 7th grade class during career day recently, and had a revelation in the class room that day. I was already a part of the Remax Network, I already knew the merits of such a powerful and dynamic company that is known around the world as a leader in Residential Real Estate. Agents, buyers and sellers, landlord and tenants all know about that familiar balloon and those colors that both consciously and sub-consciously identify with Real Estate. It’s a given, right, everyone knows Remax…Outstanding Agents, Outstanding Results…Remax…Above the Crowd…

So, I was assigned my room and had a child usher me to the class. They were finishing a test and it was interesting to see them all peer up from their papers to see who had entered the classroom and sat by the teacher. As I waited for the quiz to finish up, boy did it bring back memories. You can’t have the vividness of such memories such as middle school until you actually take yourself back to that very moment and ‘see yourself’ sitting at that desk, taking that quiz, excited about the change of pace that would take place that day.

The time came for the teacher to introduce me, and I went into what it was I did as a job, as a passion, as my career. Now I have to be honest…I think what I do is pretty exciting. I negotiate deals, meet people from all around the world, get to work within some of the most luxurious homes and condos there are on this planet. Talk about escrow deposits and inspections, strategies and legal considerations, income and taxes, views and finishes. Amenities and services, ocean front or bay front, mortgages or cash, and so on and so on. Exciting stuff…right? When doing it, yes…when trying to relay to a classroom of 7th graders, I was unpleasantly surprised at the feeling that I wasn’t getting the excitement of my job across.

At the end when I was taking questions, one of the few students that raised their hand asked if I could give my contact information because their father was ‘thinking about becoming an agent‘. So, I took out my business card holder and passed out a card, another student asked for one, and I just decided to take a stack and pass around to all the kids in the class. And you see…that’s when it happened…

The chatter started immediately and the questions came quickly. You see, once they saw that RE/MAX Balloon, once they saw that RE/MAX logo in its distinctive Red, White and Blue colors, that’s all they needed to truly ‘understand’ what it was I did. ‘Talking shop’ about contracts and views and deals did nothing for the students, I didn’t correlate it well. It was in that very moment, when my time was up but the class was more talkative than it had ever been the entire presentation and many questions remained unanswered, it was then that I realized the power of Brand Recognition, and just how well RE/MAX has done that.

As this powerful ‘aha’ moment set in upon me as I walked down the hall I knew something…’Next year I am going to hand them my card first and bring some better visual aids, like I don’t know…the RE/MAX Balloon‘!